Faculty Professional Development Funds

Faculty professional development activities are identified as those for personal professional advancement for Libraries faculty. This may include both attendance or more substantive participation at meetings, workshops, institutes, or conferences of professional organizations for the purpose of maintaining currency in the profession. The individual allocation for the fiscal year is determined as soon as possible following budget development, usually by June. If you do not know the exact amount of travel money available to you, please contact Chandra Echols. Release time to attend professional and committee meetings is available to all faculty, subject to the limitation of maintaining schedules of library services.

Funding: Faculty Professional development activities are reimbursed by assignment of an equally distributed flat rate of funding each fiscal year. Decisions about which conference(s) to attend and what amount to spend on each are made by individual faculty members. In addition, a supplement to the flat rate may be awarded to librarians who participate in a more substantive way than basic attendance depending on the availability of funds. More substantive participation may include: giving a presentation, participating in a panel or poster session, editing a publication, conducting a workshop, serving as an officer on a committee, or participating in some other significant way in a meeting or conference.

A supplement must be expended for the conference for which it is awarded. Reimbursement for this category of travel is based on the amount the Libraries has designated that year to spend for travel. Funding for individuals under this category will not be affected by the availability of money from other sources, such as grants, compensation for teaching, or outside invitation.

*Funds are allocated on a fiscal year basis. If the flat rate of funding is not expended in one year, it cannot be carried over to the next fiscal year.