The Center for Research on Vermont is launching a new research award, the Frank M. Bryan Vermont Scholar Summer Research Award, to fund faculty and scholars engaged in Vermont research. The Center will provide a one-time stipend of $5,000 for a Vermont scholar.

The funding is open to any faculty member or researcher in Vermont. Full-time nine-month faculty will be given preference, but all researchers are encouraged to apply.

Preference will be give to proposals that:

• Clearly address a Vermont research topic with sound methodology and potential to publish
• Support a trajectory that projects future related Vermont research
• Add value to and are likely to be incorporated into teaching (either through the researcher's own teaching or supporting other educators)

“The mission of the Center for Research on Vermont is to encourage and promote Vermont research,” said Richard Watts, director of the center. “It made sense both to create a research award that could help inspire important new work and to name it after one of the great Vermont researchers in UVM’s and the state’s history.”

Researchers interested should submit the following by Jan. 10, 2014:

• Name, contact information, including address and affiliation (if any).
• Summary of proposed research (2-4 pages) which should include a discussion of how the $5,000 will help achieve this research. (Note that it can extend or build on current or new funded research, or it can be a new area of inquiry). A brief work plan for the period June 1, 2014 – Aug. 15, 2014 that will guide the researcher's summer research activities and approximate hours expected to work. 
• Three references of colleagues familiar with your work and one letter of reference.
• Two-page CV or resume.

Applications are due Jan. 10, 2014. Decisions will be announced by Jan. 30, 2014.

Frank Bryan taught in UVM’s Political Science Department for 36 years before retiring this year. He has authored or edited six scholarly books and authored more than 40 scholarly articles and book chapters. A reviewer in Political Science Quarterly called Real Democracy: The New England Town Meeting and How It Works “the best book I have ever read on local government.”

In 1986 Bryan both received the Andrew E. Nuquist Town Government Award from the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and was named a “New England Local Hero” by New England Magazine. His more recent honors and awards include the Medallion Award from the National Association of Secretaries of State (2010); an honorary degree from Marlboro College (2008); and the Curtiss/Loyzelle Green Mountain Boys’ State Director’s Award for more than 20 years of delivering the keynote address at Boys’ State (2006).