Call For Proposals: Provost’s Award for Teaching Innovations in the Age of AI
Overview
The Provost’s Award for Teaching Innovations in the Age of AI supports ambitious efforts that extend beyond incremental instructional changes to involve meaningful, large-scale redesign. This new award recognizes innovative approaches to enhance overall learning experiences in the Age of AI.
The emergence of AI has impacted teaching across campus. Proposals may focus on actively leveraging AI in a course(s) or developing new techniques for teaching when learning goals are best served without AI.
While improvements within a single course or discipline are valuable, priority is given to proposals with the potential for broader impact across multiple departments, units, or schools. Projects may address any aspect of the instructional process, including classroom engagement, learning design, assessment, collaboration, faculty interaction, and more.
All proposals must include a detailed budget and justification. We encourage proposals that engage/employ undergraduates. Proposals will be evaluated based on the potential impact of proposed funds.
This award is designed to support work with a clear commitment to assessment of impacts on learning. We are looking to support proposed innovations with a plan for assessment or the assessment of existing or ongoing innovations. We anticipate supporting multiple proposals and welcome submissions representing a broad range of disciplines, academic levels, and approaches to teaching and learning.
Award Amount
Awards provide total support of up to $5,000.
Restrictions: The award is not intended to fund regular instructional or administrative salaries, standard faculty leaves or faculty research—except in cases where the research directly supports the proposed curriculum innovation or enhances undergraduate teaching.
Eligibility
All full-time Northwestern faculty (teaching-line and tenure-line) are eligible to apply. Proposals may be submitted by individual faculty members or teams. Collaborative proposals across departments or schools are strongly encouraged. The work must be related to a class that the applicant is slated to teach in the next two academic years. Proposals must include endorsement by either a department chair or dean.
Submission and Timeline
For full consideration, complete proposals must be submitted via email to NNCI@northwestern.edu (in PDF format) by October 16, 2026. For ease of review, please name your PDF with the following convention LASTNAME1_LASTNAME2_proposal.pdf (where lastname1 and lastname2 are PIs).
We expect to review proposals and share decisions by mid-November. Submissions will be reviewed by a cross-campus faculty panel.
Projects can begin as early as winter quarter, 2027.
Application Materials Needed for Submission
- Personal information
- Proposal title
- Description of the proposed project, including the following information (350-word maximum):
- Project Description - Overview of the proposed work, potential impact and reach. Which class(es) will it impact and which quarters do you plan to teach them in the next 2 academic years?
- Innovation - Description of curriculum innovation, or intervention, and the role and/or impact of AI (e.g., What does AI make possible? How has AI necessitated the new teaching technique)
- Assessment Plan - How will the impact on student learning be assessed?
- Expected Deliverables
- Timeline and Milestones
- Endorsement of Chair or Dean
- Anticipated budget and justification
- A list of planned expenses including justification for each
- Dissemination Plan - How will findings or materials be shared with the Northwestern community?
- Please clarify how findings will be disseminated within your unit/school or across NU.
- This award assumes that you agree to partner with the Office of the Provost and NNCI on an event to share findings more broadly.