Deadline for USI's Signature Initiative - Living Wisely is October 23

The University of Southern Indiana's beginning and trajectory embody key characteristics of an engaged university. These include responsiveness to community needs and aspirations, accessibility of expertise and resources to external constituencies, and a commitment to creating and sustaining community partnerships. The idea of a Signature Initiative arose and evolved during the process of developing USI's 2016-2020 strategic plan.

The Signature Initiative - Living Wisely seeks to support research on how social and community factors affect the health/well-being of individuals. Many of you have heard presentations by Dr. Joey Barnett, USI alumnus and faculty at Vanderbilt University. He has worked with USI faculty and staff for more than two years to refine this initiative.

Please note this is a call for interest in participating, not a request for a fully developed proposal. You will find details of the information you need to submit for this first phase of the initiative at http://www.usi.edu/signature-initiative. The deadline for submission is October 23, 2017.

This first phase of the initiative will identify possible research teams in anticipation of the second phase, which will guide teams through a process of refining the scope of their research project.

The goals of the Signature Initiative - Living Wisely are:

• To foster multi-disciplinary scholarly work that impacts faculty, the University, and communities by leveraging faculty expertise and existing partnerships to address complex challenges facing communities.
• To provide a vehicle for USI faculty and community partners to create meaningful relationships that have positive impacts.
• To enhance USI's contributions to new collaborative multi-disciplinary methods of inquiry that seek to address current and emerging complex societal challenges.