The purpose of this study is to understand how community college faculty make meaning of their experiences with grants in order to expand their professional identity as Principal Investigators (PIs) and co-Principal Investigators (co-PIs). Extramural funding provides resources to community colleges that supplement support for teaching and learning, provide opportunities for professional development and support the contribution of faculty scholarship to the classroom and beyond. A constructivist grounded theory qualitative design was used for this study. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 faculty who have been awarded NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grants using semi-structured interview questions to understand the narrative of their lived experiences during the grant development and award management journey. The basic social process theory of Emergent Grant Perspective arose from the data analysis and appeared to be an intrinsic part of meaning making for faculty as they shared the stories of their grant development journey. The three main elements of Emergent Grant Perspective included "Growing Relationships, Connections Create Perspective" and "Broader Impacts Expand Scholarship." Findings provided evidence of an emerging perspective that was both processual and evolving, and was also often different for faculty than the perspective at the beginning of the journey. Implications of this study can provide college administrators and sponsored research staff with a greater understanding of the self-authoring process of successful community college grant PIs. The findings support enhanced professional development opportunities and best practices for community college faculty engaged in grant processes. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]