Grants and Scholarships Professional Council

Purpose

The Grants and Scholarships Professional Council (GSPC) supports İngiliz Dili Öğretimi ve Mesleki Gelişim Derneği (TESOL Türkiye) by seeking and securing grants and scholarships from foundations, government agencies and other sources for the purpose of creating adequate funding to enable TESOL Türkiye to achieve its mission of advancing the quality of English language teaching by contributing to the sustainable quality of teacher education and in-service professional learning in Turkey. The main objective of GSPC is to manage overall grant and scholarship efforts of the association.

Responsibilities and Duties

The GSPC has the following primary responsibilities related to its purpose:

researching grant and scholarship opportunities from government and non-government agencies (US RELO, British Council, educational institutions and publishing companies and so on) to enable the sharing of professional knowledge, information and expertise

engaging with donor agencies

gathering internal and external data to support grant and scholarship requests

drafting and revising grant proposals and supporting documents as required by the donor organization

submitting grant proposals to the Board of Directors for approval

tracking grant proposals

preparing budgets and financial reports as required by funding agencies

preparing progress reports and summaries to keep funding agencies and the Board of Directors informed of the activities funded by the grant

keeping TESOL Türkiye members informed of available scholarship opportunities

preparing the criteria for the selection of scholarship beneficiaries and submitting these for approval to the Board of Directors

managing grant and scholarship databases

Duties of the Grants and Scholarships Professional Council Chair

The GSPC Chair – preferably the Treasurer of TESOL Türkiye – oversees the members of the GSPC and is primarily responsible for:

delegating tasks to the members of the council

ensuring that deadlines are met for drafting, editing, revising and submitting proposals for grants and reports of progress

ensuring compliance with grant regulations

reviewing proposals as well as financial and progress reports

monitoring the budget

documenting payments and expenditure

keeping the Board of Directors informed of proposals, progress and financial issues and obtaining input and signoff on content

The GSPC shall consist of 3 to 4 members and a Chair. Members are appointed by the TESOL Board of Directors through an application process, the details and calendar of which are announced on the TESOL web site. The application solicits information regarding the applicants’ knowledge of the strategic direction of the association, length of involvement with TESOL, professional training, and relevant experience. Once appointed, council members make a one-year commitment to serve. They may seek to renew their GSPC membership by re-applying for the role once again during the application process. The Board of Directors ensures adequate membership to enable to the GSPC to carry out its duties and responsibilities.

Membership Criteria

Applicants should have strong communication, writing, computer literacy and organizational skills. They should be familiar with project management and budgeting. When selecting members to the GSPC, the Board of Directors, in addition to the above criteria, shall take into consideration the balance between state versus foundation university representation on the council as well as the balance between geographical representation.

Grants and Scholarships Professional Council Members

Sinem Atamsoy Koşar (Ege University) - Liaison/Chair

Melis Akdoğan Gündoğdu (TOBB ETU) – Co-Chair

Ferah Şenaydın (Ege University)

Pınar Sekmen (Freelance)