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Office of Research and Grants

Promoting and Celebrating Scholarship

The Office of Research and Grants (ORG) promotes, supports, and celebrates research and grant opportunities to advance the Scholarship Cornerstone of Azusa Pacific University.

The research enterprise is an intricate and necessary part of higher education. Research provides a system to test, refine, and promote current and new ideas, be they in the arts, education, humanities, business, social sciences, or natural sciences. In so doing, research helps ensure that faculty and students in higher education continually prepare to meet present and future challenges in the world around them.

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A research fellowship can help you dig deeper into research that interests you and prepare you with applied experience in your career field. Discover seven tips for getting the right fellowship.

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ORG is committed to serving our community with excellence, promoting opportunities and assisting faculty in their research pursuits.

Our core values are:

  • Empowering others
  • Serving those we work with
  • Helping others make connections
  • Embracing and promoting accountability

We look forward to partnering with you during this academic year.

Graduate Student Publications

Graduate Student Publications (GSP) ensures that dissertations, doctoral projects, doctoral capstone projects, and theses from APU graduate students are published on ProQuest with appropriate professional styles and formats. In so doing, GSP:

  • Reviews dissertations and theses based on the current APU Style and Format Handbook for Dissertation and Thesis Publications (PDF), Fourth Edition, May 20241
  • Approves manuscripts for publication
  • Sends the publication approval to Registrar’s office for degree posting
  • Delivers students’ dissertations, doctoral projects, doctoral capstone projects, and theses to ProQuest for publication

Publishing Dissertations and Theses: Processes, Guidelines, and Resources

This course consists of seven modules that cover all requirements for graduate students to publish their dissertations and theses on ProQuest through GSP. Some features of this Canvas course:

  • Available to anyone with a home.apu.edu account
  • No charges, no assignments, and no grades
  • All resources are in one place

How to access the Canvas course:

Option 1:

Option 2:    

For More Information

Sharon Wang, PhD
Director, Graduate Student Publications
swang@apu.edu
(626) 387-5850

APU Internal Opportunities

Support for research and scholarship at Azusa Pacific University is demonstrated by the variety of opportunities for faculty and students, some of which are highlighted on this page.

The Faculty Research Council awards internal funding for faculty research. A total of $160,000 is provided by the Office of the Provost for the FRC to award each academic year. The FRC makes two calls for proposals resulting in competitive cycles: (1) UG/Masters faculty in fall; and (2) Doctoral faculty in spring. Both competitions include options to apply for research, planning, or publication assistance grants. The Faculty Research Council site provides specific information for FRC grants. Please direct your inquiries to Sandor Volkan-Kacso, chair of the Faculty Research Council, at frcgrants@apu.edu.

This 18-month program focuses on advancing early-career APU faculty in their pursuit of research and grants, scholarship direction, and academic plans, providing funding for and access to mentoring. Faculty fellows receive three total units of credit over 18 months to participate in this program as mentees. Mentors selected by the fellows will also be rewarded for participating in this program. In addition, mentees have access to a small budget for professional development and will be invited to participate in the ORG annual exchange events and other cohort gatherings. Faculty eligible for this program are those within five years of initial full-time APU appointment AND within 10 years of obtaining their terminal degree. Annual call for proposals is typically announced in the fall, with the program starting in January of each year. For more information, contact Marta Cenac-Mehedinti at mcenac@apu.edu or visit ORG’s mentoring site.

The SURE award program emphasizes the value of faculty mentoring undergraduate students as they engage in excellent research endeavors. The program identifies and funds eight undergraduate student-faculty research partnerships each summer, granting up to $1,500 to each pair. Deans recommend student-faculty teams for consideration of SURE awards based on research proposals and budgets the teams provide.

The SURE award program is on hold until further notice. Applications for this program are not being accepted at this time.

Undergraduate students who participate in research and have proposed presentations accepted at local, regional, or national conferences are eligible to apply for travel support to the director of undergraduate research. Funding is dedicated each year for this purpose; the individual level of support depends on the cost of travel and the availability of funds, with maximum awards being $400. Awarded funds can be used for the costs of transportation, meals, and lodging while on travel, and conference registration. Learn more at the Undergraduate Research website, or send an email to ugresearch@apu.edu.

Graduate students who have research presentations accepted at local, regional, or national conferences are eligible to apply for travel support from the Office of Research and Grants. No more than $400 can be awarded to each student per calendar year. The nature of the conference, the professional rigor of the presentation, and the availability of funds are factored into assigning the award amount. Awarded funds can be used for the reimbursement of transportation, meals, lodging, and conference registration.

To be considered for travel funding, students must submit an Undergraduate and Graduate Student Travel Grant Request, which includes a section to be completed by the faculty-mentor.

Each summer, APU provides opportunities for faculty to participate in three-day writing retreats at the Serra Retreat Center, an idyllic retreat campus in the Malibu hills. These retreats provide faculty a unique environment in which to focus on their personal scholarship; as such, the retreats are lean in scheduled activities, but exceedingly rich in time and motivation for faculty to advance their own research projects. Retreat dates are announced in the fall for the following summer. Invitations to apply are announced in early spring. For more information, contact the Office of Research and Grants at (626) 815-2082 or org@apu.edu.

Research and Scholarship

Scholarship is central to the mission of Azusa Pacific University. ORG is a partner with the Office of the Provost to support this mission with programming, methodological support, funding opportunities, and dissemination celebrating the creativity of APU faculty.

Fulbright Awards for Faculty

News and Updates

Cornerstone is the quarterly newsletter of the Office of Research and Grants. This newsletter is produced with the goal of informing and celebrating the APU community. Browse past newsletters categorized by academic year below. 

2020-21

2019-20

2018-19

2017-18

 2016-17

2015-16

2014-15

2013-14

Faculty Scholarship Updates celebrates the scholarly work of APU’s productive faculty team. New issues are released monthly and announced through the Office of the Provost’s email newsletters.

Examples of scholarly work included in Faculty Scholarship Updates are:

  • Publications
  • Presentations
  • Expertise shared
  • Exhibitions
  • Music performances
  • Outstanding awards
  • Special appointments

How to Submit

Submit your scholarly work(s) at the Faculty Scholarship Updates site or send an email to facultyupdates@apu.edu. You will be contacted by email to verify your submissions.

For More Information

Yvonne Rodriguez
Office Coordinator
facultyupdates@apu.edu
yrodriguez@apu.edu
(626) 815-2082

Contact Information

Email: yrodriguez@apu.edu
Phone: (626) 815-2082

Location

Duke Academic Complex, 2nd floor, School of Theology

apu campus

Footnotes

  1. While the APU Style and Format Handbook for Dissertation and Thesis Publications emphasizes APA convention, students’ departments determine which style manual is required for their discipline. The handbook identifies general format requirements that all dissertations and theses must adhere to. Within this general structure, each program specifies the style and format manuals, such as MLA, Chicago, Turabian, or APA, to be used by their students in dissertations and theses.