Impact of Terminated Grants on Faculty

Session Abstract: In January 2025, Executive Orders caused changes in federal funding agency priorities and resulted in the termination of grants held by researchers across the country. Tenure-track faculty, especially early career faculty, rely on grant funding to maintain the scholarly productivity necessary for promotion. During the tenure review process, committee members consider each candidate’s active grants and potential for future funding as evaluation criteria. To prepare tenure and promotion committees for reviewing cases, it is imperative that they are aware of the differential impact these grant terminations have had on faculty, especially in regard to gender, race-ethnicity, and field of study. We will present a process for using institutional data to create a resource on terminated grants, propose rapid data collection methods for exploring the impact of these terminations on tenure-track faculty, and discuss next steps for disseminating this information to leaders and committee members.

Keywords: Tenure and Promotion, Faculty Affairs, Federal Grant Termination, Institutional Data, Funding