The Dean’s Exploratory Research Underwriting Program provides funding to support research explorations at the development stage where no definite outcomes may be predicted. Preference is given to faculty who have not received support from the School’s Research Reassignment or Research Grant programs. Grants are made by the Dean based on recommendations by a panel of the School’s Assistant and Associate Deans. Grant range is up to $5,000. Recipients may reapply for support each time a call for proposals is made, but the expectation is that Research Underwriting awards will lead to successful applications for support from the Research Grant and Research Reassignment programs or external funding.

2007/2008 Awards

Elissa Armstrong, Art Foundation Program
For materials for explorations in non-traditional ceramics techniques. $2,000

Melanie Buffington, Department of Art Education
For research including surveys and interviews on preferred content and structure of K-12 professional teaching portfolios. $2,000

James Farmer, Department of Art History
For travel and related costs for an expedition to the summit of Yanantin mountain in Peru in search of Inca ruins that may be related to structures on Machu Picchu in 2008. $4,000

Hope Ginsburg, Art Foundation Program
For travel and Website development for the participatory site SPONGEspace.net which she initially developed at MIT. $2,773

David Greennagel, Department of Music
For a research survey assessing the impact of licensed music educators on the Virginia Standards of Learning benchmark scores at the elementary school level. $400

Susan Iverson, Department of Craft/Material Studies
For attendance at a specialized weaving workshop and production of work at the Jacquard Center in North Carolina. $2,000

Lea Marshall & Adam Chamberlin, Department of Dance & Choreography
For support of a study of dance and choreographic aesthetics and technical production at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. $2,500

Rab McClure, Department of Interior Design
For support of research in the role of metaphor and analogy in the design of surface building materials. $3,000

2006/2007 Awards

Bob Paris, Kinetic Imaging
For The War Show – A Virtual Web-Based Exhibition: $4,896

“In my recent video exhibition, Disturbance, the ghostly remains of the 1992 Los Angeles riots were excavated to consider spectacle, social disaster and historical erasure. The War Show continues this technique of transforming concrete artifacts from popular media into a probing inquiry of American social history. Funding will support construction a virtual exhibition, one that would come to life on the internet and, perhaps later, be transformed for physically installation in a museum or gallery environment. A web designer will be hired to implement this vision. The aim is not merely to put assembled work online, but to shape the work uniquely to the medium.”

Nancy Lampert, Art Education
For Critical Thinking as an Outcome of Art Education: $5,000

“Funding will support an expanded research study on critical thinking as an outcome of art education to be implemented during 2007-08 in association with a community-based after-school arts program for children in the Carver neighborhood. The study will be conducted in collaboration with the Friends Association for Children in Richmond and findings will support applications for federal and foundational funding. The research builds upon a pilot study conducted in 2006-07 using an inquiry-based curriculum engaging children in open-ended creative problem solving and aesthetic discussions and critical analysis of various artworks, including their own. Findings demonstrating a statistically significant increase in the children’s average scores were presented in Paris in January, 2007, at the Pompidou Centre European and International Research Symposium, Evaluating the Impact of Arts and Cultural Education.”

Linda Lee, Fashion Design and Merchandising
For Establishment of a Design Workshop in Guatemala: $2,950

“The Department is developing an ongoing relationship with the Maya community including the establishment of a design workshop in Xela, Guatemala, that will provide benefits to the community, research opportunities for faculty, and support service learning for Fashion Design & Merchandising students. Funding is requested for equipment to support research and workshop development. Other sources of external funding will also be sought for related initiatives. As part of the ongoing relationship, Professor Linda Lee will conduct research on traditional Maya textiles at the Ixchel Textile Museum in Guatemala City leading to anticipated publication and curatorial activities related to an upcoming exhibition in the Anderson Gallery.”