Dean’s Grants are designed to fuel the innovative scholarship of faculty and students, offering them the opportunity to secure funding, showcase their ideas and push the boundaries of teaching, learning and research.
Research Grants
- “Improving Methodological Rigor: An Analysis of Sampling Practices in Mixed Methods Instructional Technology Research.” Researchers: Olha Ketsman and Julie Corrigan (Concordia University-Montreal, Quebec, Canada).
- “Student-Athletes’ Perceptions of Three Dual Task Concussion Testing Paradigms.” Researcher: Tyler Wood.
- “Coaching Early Childhood Teachers to Support Children’s Communication Development.” Researchers: Lin Zhu et al.
- “Portraits of Language and Cultural Preservation Among Southeast Asian American Postsecondary Students.” Researcher: Jacqueline Mac.
- “Clinical Wisdom and Therapeutic Outcomes in Counseling.” Researcher: Peitao Zhu.
Instructional Innovation Grants
- “And the Kick is Good! Using Extra Points Classroom to Connect Theory to Practice.” Researchers: Farah Ishaq and Neal Ternes.
- “A Generalizability Theory Analysis of Northern Illinois University’s Initial Teacher Licensure Assessments.” Researcher: Todd Reeves.
Dissertation or Thesis Completion Grants
- “Survivors of Historical Intergenerational and Familial Trauma Scale for Black American Descendants of Enslaved People: A Development and Initial Validation Study.” Graduate Student Researcher: Loryn Kimbrough.
- “Entre Machismo y Marianismo: Gender Role Beliefs, Acculturative Stress and Well-being among Latines.” Graduate Student Researcher: Yasmin Ramos.
- “Evolving Care: A Case Study Using the PARiHS Framework to Examine Student-Athlete Mental-Health Service Delivery.” Graduate Student Researcher: Grace Louis.
Morgridge Impact Grants, meanwhile, align with the spirit of the LD and Ruth G. Morgridge Gift Agreement to NIU.
The Morgridge family’s believes that “long-standing societal issues can be addressed through education and by taking a positive approach” to create solutions rather than “becoming stuck on what hasn’t worked in the past.”
Funding focuses on enhancing lifelong education for participants; launching new initiatives that have the potential to grow in scope, size and/or external funding; improving the visibility and work of the college; and utilizing multidisciplinary teams to complete specified objections.
Four projects were chosen:
- “Building Culturally Responsive Teaching Communities and Partnerships through Intensive Professional Development Experiences.” Researchers: Joseph Flynn, James Cohen, Dana Isawi and Michael Manderino.
- “Professional Development for Enhancing Support and Effectiveness in Teaching Scientific Argumentation with Technology.” Researchers: Pi-Sui Hsu, Mariana Ricklefs, Thomas Smith and Reva Freedman (NIU Department of Computer Science).
- “Exploring the Relationships Among Socio-Emotional Learning of Students and Teachers, Instructional Quality, and Elementary Reading Achievement.” Researchers: David Paige, David Nieto, Eric Junco, Hyoju Ahn, Diana Bonilla and Razak Dwomoh.“
- Child-Teacher Relationship Therapy with Early Childhood and Elementary Education Teacher Candidates.” Researchers: TJ Schoonover, Razak Dwomoh, Michelle Sands and Lin Zhu.
Members of the college’s Research Committee are eager to see what is learned: All faculty projects must be completed, with all grant funds spent, by June 30, 2027. The deadline for graduate students is June 30, 2026.
