The pool of funds for Professional Development continues to be very small. Travel also continues to have restrictions, especially for international travel. However, the department is committed to continue prioritizing the necessary funds to allow for the greatest number of our Faculty and P&A (Teaching Faculty) to be able to appropriately conduct their research and professional development activities as needed.
Keiko has created a budget worksheet with all the chart strings you have access to spend from in the coming year (that we have been made aware of) and includes a note at the top of the chart about Department Travel & Professional Development. To access these funds, please submit a Professional Development Request Form no later than November 30, 2023 with your spending request details for us to earmark the appropriate amount of your available funds for your expenses. Even if you are not 100% sure of your plan details, if you know you will spend funds it will be important to share any info that you do have with us. While we will do our best to honor all requests, any spending or requests beyond the due date will not be guaranteed funding from the Professional Development funds since funds provided by the college are very limited.
You are not required to track your expenses on the budget worksheet, and the office staff does not track them for you, but it is a helpful way to remind yourself how much money you have in each account. If you'd like a copy of your budget worksheet, please contact Keiko.
Additionally, the department requests that any discretionary research spending accounts be utilized before making a request of the limited departmental funds.
Requesting information from everyone in advance allows for matching expenses to individuals and specific travel events more accurately for speedier approvals. Any savings due to fewer than anticipated requests give the department the necessary flexibility to be as generous as possible with the limited available funds we have toward current or future year priorities in supporting travel and development.