The Maurice L. Mednick Memorial was created in 1967 in honor of a young Norfolk industrialist who died from accidental causes and whose family and business associates wished to perpetuate his name by establishing a memorial that would emphasize his and the donors’ strong interest in higher education.
Administration of the Mednick Memorial Fund is vested in the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges to encourage the professional development of VFIC college teachers and improve their academic competence through fellowships for research and advanced study.
A committee of VFIC business trustees and college presidents oversee the selection of research proposals for funding on an annual basis. The committee encourages each of the colleges to submit at least one proposal. Typical research awards are in the $2,000 range, as investments allow. This program is only open to faculty teaching at one of the fifteen VFIC member schools.
November – VFIC/Mednick Committee representative contacts the college presidents and chief academic officers at each of the VFIC colleges with information about the availability of funds for faculty research via the Mednick Fund. Typically, information about anticipated funding is provided to help guide faculty in their requests (i.e., “grants in the range of $2,000 will be available”).
February – deadline for research proposals from the member colleges. Colleges submit one proposal. VFIC staff distributes copies of the proposals to the members of the Mednick Committee.
March – Mednick Committee meets via conference call to discuss the proposals and make decisions about funding. On some occasions, the committee has returned some proposals and asked the faculty members to provide additional details about their request.
April – Fellowship winners are notified.
July – Mednick funds are provided to the member colleges with the annual distribution.
May (following year) – final reports are due from faculty that received grants.