Bringing Theory to Practice

About the Campus Participation Program

The Bringing Theory to Practice Project is now in its fourth year of existence, involving over 300 institutions and funding over 60 campuses. Participating institutions are the strength of BTtoP - promoting the Project’s mission and goals throughout their campuses, extending their efforts into their communities, and contributing to the general environment of higher education.

The first major effort made by BTtoP to develop and evaluate new strategies and contribute to the evidentiary basis needed to establish linkages among engaged learning, student health, and civic engagement was the Demonstration Site program. The original seven institutions funded served as “demonstrations” of the type of student engagement and learning environment that BTP strives to support on on college and university campuses.  Please see Demonstration Sites for more information.

While the Demonstration Sites Program produced substantial knowledge, it has been limited in its scope.  To address concern over selection bias, BTtoP created a fourth-tier level of funding—the Intensive Site.  Part of the Demonstration Site program, the Intensive Site projects are working to improve upon the work already being done at the Demonstration Sites by reaching 100% of a target population.

BTtoP also offers Mini-grants, Student Programming grants, and Program/Research Initiative grants. The Mini-grant and Student Programming grants are generally awarded to institutions wishing to initiate or extend conversations that lead to planning, implementation and assessment of program or research projects.  Program/Research Initiative grants are awarded to those institutions planning to implement or extend program or research projects/initiatives on their campus.

While the BTtoP Project is a source of financial support, we also offer strategic advice for campus planning and evaluation. Dr. Ashley Finley, National Evaluator for BTtoP, created a BTtoP Toolkit Instrument (available in the Resources section) that encompasses assessment of the core purposes of the Project.

See About the RFP for details regarding deadlines and submission. Grant reporting information will be detailed in the grant award letter.

Please contact Project Assistant Dylan Joyce ( joyce@aacu.org) with questions regarding grants.