• The Ratcliffe Center for Creative Entrepreneurship (RCCE) is a comprehensive center to meet the evolving needs of students and alumni by embedding in its education business skills and 21st-century entrepreneurship training systems, delivered in a comprehensive range of strategies.  The RCCE serves MICA students at all stages of undergraduate, graduate, and continuing/professional (Open Studies) education. 

RCCE Faculty Teaching Grants Prospectus

The Ratcliffe Center for Creative Entrepreneurship (RCCE) Faculty Teaching Grants provides up to $1,250 in funding to support courses that infuse entrepreneurial concepts into curriculum and teaching​ ​at MICA.

Important Dates & Deadlines

Applications Open - Tuesday, November 4, 2025 - APPLY

Applications Close - Sunday, November 30, 2025 at 11:59pm

Awards Announced - Friday, December 5, 2025

  • The funds can be used to help seed projects, programs, trips or speakers in coursework designed to teach entrepreneurial skills.

    The course must align with one or more of the Program Learning Objectives for Creative Entrepreneurship:

    1. Create formal and informal business plans

    2. Demonstrate competency in creating financial projections and managing operating budgets

    3. Write grants and project proposals

    4. Develop comprehensive marketing plans and strategies

    5. Communicate effectively through visuals, verbally and in writing

    6. Apply project management and leadership skills on projects, and with people, and teams

  • All full-time faculty are eligible to apply for RCCE Faculty Teaching Grants. Part-time faculty who are teaching during the semester immediately prior to the grant period are also eligible to apply, but must secure endorsement from their Chair/Director. Previous awardees are eligible for funding in consecutive rounds only if they have closed out their grant from the previous round by the current round’s deadline. “Closed out” is defined as submitting all expenditures and filing a grant report with the RCCE.

  • The RCCE Faculty Teaching Grant review committee will determine the awards. The criteria used in the decision-making process are outlined below. The panel may determine that one or more proposals receive partial funding.

  • Grant proposals will be evaluated using the criteria outlined in the rubric below. Proposals must articulate how they align with one or more of the Program Learning Outcomes for Creative Entrepreneurship. 

    Priority is given to proposals that introduce entrepreneurial concepts into course content, assignments, or classroom projects. Preference is given to coursework that includes assignments for students to produce tangible creative deliverables across creative disciplines. 

    ​In the event that two or more proposals are considered to be of equal merit by the committee, priority will be given to an applicant who did not receive an award in the previous awards cycle.

Faculty Teaching Grant Awardees

  • Karl Williamson - Course: Design Lab II

    Lisa Perrin- Course: Illustrating for Surface Design

    Shandra Strickland- Course: Advanced Book Illustration

    Paul Jaskunas- Course: Publishing Culture

    Jia Liu- Course: Digital Illustration

    Joyce Hesselberth- Course: Junior Illustrations II

    Priyanka Kumar- Course: Studio Remix RISO Lab

    Christine Lee Chiang- Course: Prototyping

    Melanie Stegman- Course: Special Topics: Collaborative Development of a Video Game

    Normandie Luscher- Course: Hand Letters

    Kristian Bjornard, Hayelin Choi, and Maureen Weiss- Course: Flexible Design Studio

    Sandra Maxa and Rebecca Bradley- Course: Graphic Design/Illustration Collaborative Studio

    Carla Vivian Cordova Chacon- Course: New Media 4D

  • Iliana Quander- Course: Experimental Fashion

    Rejja Camphor- Course: The Art of Reflection - Crafting Vision and Voice for Expression

    Ada Pinkston- Course: Painting, Drawing, and General Fine Arts

    Lauren Adams- Course: Senior Thesis

    Micah Woods

    Jia Liu- Course: Digital Illustration & Illustration for Kids

    Whitney Sherman - Course: Entrepreneurship

    Lisa Perrin- Course: Illustration & Entrepreneurship

  • Spending for grants must be completed within the semester the ​funds are awarded.

  • Faculty who are selected for funding will be able to access funding through their department P-card. Recipients are asked to request use of their department card and to track their FTG purchases in a log to be shared as part of your grant reporting package. When using your department card, make sure to reconcile your transactions with receipts and code it to the RCCE department while also providing a clear description in the memo line " SP'26 RCCE Faculty teaching grant purchase: Explanation of item". The department code will be shared in an email following the announcement of awardees.

  • The grantee is expected to upload a summary report to the Start-up Tree platform outlining the use of the grant funds within sixty calendar days of the project’s completion. The report will be at least 500 words long and include: the name of the course, the semester taught, the number of students in the course; an overview of new activities and how they relate to one or more of the Creative Entrepreneurship Program Learning Outcomes; notable outcomes; student work samples; student quotes related to the activity; and the grantee’s self-evaluation of the project. 


    Note that this report will be used as a record for the RCCE and may be shared throughout the MICA community. Additionally, faculty recipients may be called upon to share their project in intra-institutional events.  Faculty may also be invited to share entrepreneurial assignments in a college database and resource library for other faculty interested in integrating similar activities into future courses.

  • Previous Info Session Recording