Faculty Resources:

Walden Research Grants

The Don E. Ackerman Grant in Educational Leadership supports research that advances leadership in education through better understanding or practice. The grant provides funding to support research that contributes either theoretical or applied knowledge that may potentially change education at the Pre-K through 12 educational levels, in any educational field or educational position. Research conducted by investigators in academic field outside of education, such as public health, science and technology, business, mental health, counseling and social work, that addresses a relevant to Pre-K through 12 education are encouraged to apply.

This grant opportunity, funded by the Walden Presidential Research Grant Program, is designed to encourage research conducted in the name of the university that contributes to the continuing improvement of teaching and learning through leadership. Grant funds are to be used to support the direct cost of research.

Please contact grants@mail.waldenu.edu with questions about the Don E. Ackerman Research Grant in Educational Leadership.

Walden University was a groundbreaking, distance education institution, before distance education was a recognized scholarly field. Over the years, Walden has educated thousands of individuals, who share the institution's distinct mission of facilitating positive social change though education. To achieve its academic goals, the University developed some unique pedagogy and andragogy to complement and enhance the more traditional teaching approaches; however, it is imperative that we continue to explore research and evidence-based learning frameworks that can be leveraged to improve how we deliver learning experiences to our students.  

Dr. Eric Riedel worked at Walden University from 2005-2019, serving for the last eight years as Chief Academic Officer and Provost. During this time, Dr. Riedel worked with faculty and staff across the university to advance the Walden learning model with improvements to learning outcomes assessment, academic support, classroom innovations, accreditation, academic policy, governance, and faculty development. He believed Walden’s fundamental contribution to higher education was the unique student learning experience fostered by faculty and staff and encouraged its continued development and broader dissemination. 

The Faculty Research Initiative Grant (FRIG) program supports excellence in scholarly work by providing funding for select faculty research projects deemed to be of exceptional merit.

The program is open to all faculty who have been employed by Walden for a minimum of six months and is intended to provide “seed money” for the development of faculty research agendas. Funds can be used to support pilot research projects, small-scale research studies and to supplement new areas of investigation that are spin-off studies or sub-studies of larger on-going research projects.

Grants of up to $10,000 are available for research projects conducted by one faculty principal investigator from Walden. Collaborative research projects, in which two Walden faculty members are co-principal investigators, are eligible for grants of up to $20,000.

Walden University recognizes that education contributes to healthy individuals, communities, and society, and, as a leader in the field of distance education aims to produce scholar practitioners who further contribute to healthy individuals, communities, and society through positive social change. The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) model, premised upon the idea that socially imposed forces are causative factors that influence life and learning (Sanderson et al., 2021), is a central tenet that informs Walden’s mission of education for good. As such, the university values research that investigates issues of educational justice and equity across the educational life span (Beyond the Social Determinants of Learning, 2021) that add to, or even challenge, the current understanding and practice of the SDOH in the context of distance education. 

The Social Determinants of Health in Distance Education Research Grant program invites research proposals that address a topic relevant to the intersection of the SDOH, educational justice and equity, and distance education. Proposals for research conducted by investigators in all academic fields are encouraged to apply.

The purpose of this grant opportunity, funded by the Walden Presidential Research Grant program, is to encourage research in the name of the university that contributes scholarship on distance education and its relationships to, and impacts on, educational justice and equity, and the Social Determinants of Health more broadly. Grant funds are to be used to support the direct cost of conducting research.

Walden realizes that the scholars and practitioners within the university community may be engaged in social change activities or have a desire to develop research and applied projects that directly relate to social change. The Research and Applications for Social Change Grant was established to enable members of the Walden community to make a significant and meaningful change in academic and social communities, both locally and globally.

The grant will be awarded to the applicants who submit outstanding proposals that reflect the university’s mission to foster social change through research and the education of scholar-practitioners as well as Walden’s determination to uniquely effect positive social change worldwide.

The Research and Applications for Social Change Grant is one of the mechanisms used to select Walden Social Change Fellows. Consequently, faculty and student recipients of the Research and Applications for Social Change Grant will be members of the Walden Social Change Fellows Program (SCFP). Fellows will be expected to conduct their proposed research and participate in SCFP program activities (as detailed in the SCFP guidelines). 

Please contact grants@mail.waldenu.edu with questions about the Research & Applications for Social Change Grant Program and the Social Change Fellows Program.