Funding for Our Future

Ideas that Make a Difference Across Our Campus

Much of the President Carolyn Ringer Lepre’s vision for Salisbury University stemmed from meetings with hundreds of faculty, staff, students and area residents during her first six months at Salisbury to learn about their views of the University and its strengths, challenges and opportunities. From a shared focus on student and academic success to a desire for deeper community engagement and inclusive excellence, Lepre discovered what was most important to stakeholders.

“I learned our people are everything,” she said. “Time and again, I heard what makes our University special is how deeply we care about one another and about our students.” So valuable was this input that Lepre announced the creation of a new Strategic Innovation Fund of $500,000 annually for three years to fund proposals from the SU community for projects and programs that help achieve her vision for the University. This will give SU’s students, faculty, staff and others the opportunity to have a direct impact on the institution’s future.

Strategic Innovation Funds may be used for a wide variety of projects, including developing new interdisciplinary research clusters, building community and industry partnerships, supporting undergraduate and graduate student recruitment and retention, funding ideas that will help SU operate more effectively or efficiently, or other potentially high-impact ideas that require seed funds to test concepts or build momentum.

Last fall, the first round of proposals garnered over 40 applicants and the first five programs to benefit from the funds were announced at the President’s State of the University Address.

These projects have the opportunity to change Salisbury University for the better – and there is still money left to be invested. Resubmissions and new proposals are being sought during the spring semester to ensure SU fully invests the $500,000 committed to ideas that make a difference across our campus.

To support academic excellence and inclusive practices, SU will partner with the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), a recognized organization dedicated to improving student success through the implementation of evidence-based, inclusive teaching practices. The project’s significance and its impact on SU and the broader community are noteworthy, including an estimated return-on-investment of more than $1.1 million at the end of three years from student retention.

Strategic Innovation Fund Projects – Fall 2023