Call for Project Proposals: Cross-Disciplinary Faculty Research Excellence Awards

The faculty cross-disciplinary collaboration initiative is pleased to announce the call for applications for the 2026 Faculty Cross-Disciplinary Research Excellence Awards. This call is specific for project proposals that generate synergy across diverse disciplines and promote innovation in cross-disciplinary research, all in alignment with TTU’s strategic initiatives.

Breakthrough Award in Cross-Disciplinary Research (1 @ $15,000 )

The Breakthrough Award is for one year and aims to advance collaborative, innovative research that addresses complex societal problems using an interdisciplinary approach. Applications must include pilot data to demonstrate an emerging cross-disciplinary collaboration and the growth of a developing idea. We welcome applications from faculty teams in various departments and/or disciplines, working on unique and collaborative projects expected to achieve significant breakthroughs.

Exploration Awards (3 @ $ 5,000)

These Exploration Awards are designed to foster cross-disciplinary, collaborative, and creative ideas that have the potential to establish unique institutional research partnerships towards and exploring innovative pathways for addressing global challenges / solutions within the context of the strategic research initiatives of TTU.

Eligibility:

• Only full-time TTU faculty members are eligible to apply.
• Applicants may collaborate between various departments or provide evidence of involvement from multiple disciplines.
• Collaboration must show equitable contribution to the project.
• Collaborators must demonstrate that some percentage of their position is dedicated to research or creative activity.
• Applicants can submit a single project, indicating the specific award category they are applying for.

Awards:

Proposals will be reviewed by the Cross-Disciplinary Executive Committee for merit in meeting the criteria.

The top 3 Breakthrough Award proposals and the top 5 Exploration Award proposals will be selected as finalists. Finalists will be contacted to present their research ideas at the conference in a 10-minute talk at the TTU Promoting Cross-Disciplinary Faculty Collaboration in Research conference (April 22, 2026) for final judging. The best Breakthrough project will receive $15,000, and the top three Exploration projects will each receive $5,000.

Timeline:

Proposals are due March 09, 2026. Finalists will be contacted by April 06, 2026, for presentation April 22, 2026. Submit completed proposals to Dr. Elize Bisanz (elize.bisanz@ttu.edu).

For inquiries or further information, please contact Dr. Elize Bisanz (elize.bisanz@ttu.edu). We look forward to receiving your innovative proposals and advancing groundbreaking research through cross-disciplinary collaboration at TTU.

View the full CFP

 

Spring 2026 AI Mini Conference: Teaching from the Same Side in the Age of AI 

The TLPDC will hold the next AI mini conference on Friday, January 16, 2026. Start your semester with clarity, confidence, and community. This mini-conference offers practical, ready-to-use approaches you can apply to your courses the very next day. No overhaul required. Whether you teach large lectures, discussion-heavy seminars, labs, or online courses, Teaching from the Same Side equips you with humane, research-informed strategies that reduce friction, improve student buy-in, and protect your time.

Join us to refresh your teaching mindset and leave with strategies you can use immediately. Can't attend? Recordings and reference materials will be provided to all registrants.

Register now

This year, our conference will feature Dr. Michelle Miller. Dr. Miller is the author of Minds Online: Teaching Effectively with Technology (Harvard University Press, 2014), Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World (West Virginia University Press, 2022), and a new book titled A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names: Why You Should, Why It’s Hard, How You Can (University of Oklahoma Press, 2024). Dr. Miller completed her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and behavioral neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles and currently serves as a Professor of Psychological Sciences and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow at Northern Arizona University.

Keynote | 10 a.m. - Noon | Teams

Teaching from the Same Side in the Age of AI

Surveillance-driven, adversarial pedagogy is unsustainable in contemporary higher education. This is especially true given that generative AI now presents students with nearly undetectable ways of evading coursework they don’t see the value of, and now that more faculty are questioning whether they want to spend their limited time and energy on this kind of surveillance. Teaching from the same side (TSS) offers an alternative lens through which to view the teaching relationship, one that sidesteps transactional and enforcement-driven interactions in favor of working together toward the common goal of learning. Drawing on established frameworks including pedagogy of kindness, transparency, and alternative grading, TSS invites us to shift our focus away from totaling up points and toward learning goals. This interactive talk will review the research background and need for TSS, engaging participants in structured reflection and practice exercises for bringing teaching materials and practices into alignment with TSS principles.

22nd Annual Advancing Teaching & Learning Conference 

The 22nd Annual Advancing Teaching and Learning Conference at Texas Tech University will be held virtually on Friday, February 20, 2026. The Teaching, Learning, & Professional Development Center is excited to feature Dr. Cate Denial, author of A Pedagogy of Kindness.

Register now!

Morning Keynote | 10:30 a.m. - Noon

What does it mean to practice a Pedagogy of Kindness? This presentation will explore three tenets of compassionate teaching: justice, believing students, and believing in students. We'll reflect together on what kindness (and its lack) has meant to us within academia, and how we can - piece by piece - assemble a kind approach to pedagogy that meets the needs of our students and ourselves in a time of great change. The session will end with thinking about kindness toward the self and include a period of free-writing for participants.

Afternoon Workshop | 1 - 2 p.m.

This is a reflective workshop that will build on the morning keynote. Participants will discuss real examples in small groups and have the opportunity to refine language in their syllabus and on an assignment. The focus will be on communicating welcome and belonging to students, and participants should walk away with concrete examples of how to move forward in kindness. Please bring a syllabus and an assignment from one of your courses and be prepared to work on them as part of the session!

Learn more about the keynote speaker, Dr. Cate Denial

2026 Engaged Scholarship Awards Open Now!

The President's Engaged Scholarship Awards Program recognizes Texas Tech faculty from all disciplines who demonstrate exemplary and sustained commitment to engagement with community partners. Recognized faculty apply their teaching, research, or creative activity to address a significant community need or larger social issue, trying to find solutions that may improve the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities. They actively collaborate with members of the community (locally, statewide, nationally, or globally), regarding them as equal partners in the process, sharing knowledge and expertise, and working together to generate new knowledge for the mutual benefit of both the community and the university.

The President's Engaged Scholarship Awards consist of two separate awards: the President's Excellence in Engaged Scholarship Award and the President's Emerging Engaged Scholarship Award. 

Learn more about the awards and how to apply.

Submission for the 2026 awards deadline is February 13th, 2026.

The Outreach & Engagement Awards Ceremony will take place on April 13, 2026, at the National Ranching Heritage Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Follett Bookstore and TTU Libraries OER Adoption Initiative

The University Libraries and Follett Bookstore are partnering on an Open Educational Resources (OER) Adoption Initiative. Full-time and part-time faculty can:

• Receive a $750 stipend for using an OER - easy money!
• Submit short and simple application; stipends awarded on rolling basis.
• Easily utilize existing OER; no need to create your own.

The Follett Bookstore and TTU Libraries Open Educational Resources (OER) Adoption Initiative is funded by the TTU Follett Bookstore and supported by TTU Libraries. This initiative is intended to help increase OER adoption efforts in core curriculum classes at Texas Tech University. Generally, awards will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis and priority will be given to faculty who have never received funding from the Follett and TTU Libraries Open Educational Resources Adoption Initiative in the past. Funds received will serve as a one-time payment stipend to recognize the time and effort needed to select and adopt existing OER in a course.

Funding is limited to $750 per faculty member, per academic year. Awards will be taxed as a lump sum payment. Funds will only be granted to instructors of record who are interested in adopting pre-existing OER or other freely accessible material in their classrooms and they are not currently using OER or other freely accessible resources (such as open access or library-licensed materials). If faculty wish to create OER, they are encouraged to email the Online/OER Librarian (libraries.oer@ttu.edu) to discuss other funding opportunities.

Apply Now!

Learn more or email libraries.oer@ttu.edu.

American Association of University Professors (AAUP)  started in 1915, was instrumental in establishing main principles of shared governance in academia, still in place today. 

Texas Tech University Chapter was established in December of 2021 to serve ALL of its faculty involved in teaching and research- tenure-track, non-tenure track, full-time and part-time, as well as graduate TAs.  

As academic freedom is increasingly under attack on campuses throughout our country,  we work hard on behalf of our faculty to protect their freedom to speak up and to choose what to teach. 

Join your colleagues at Texas Tech University in speaking out and defending what's important to YOU.