Teaching successful grant writing to psychology graduate students

Grant writing is a part of many psychology careers, but psychology departments seldom offer grant-writing courses. In 2000, Virginia Commonwealth University's (VCU's) Department of Psychology began offering a course focusing on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Research Service Award (F31). In 2 years, 16 students completed the course, and 6 submitted F31 proposals. Mean VCU priority scores were significantly better than the mean for all competing F31s submitted to the same institutes. NIH funded all 6 VCU proposals. This article describes the course and its key aspects. Grant-writing courses offer short-term rewards and potential long-term benefits to students, faculty, and psychology departments.