Guidelines and Procedures

The following is a summary of the award procedures and awards granted to faculty by the Faculty Development Committee.

Charge

The role of the Faculty Development Committee is to recommend allocations for travel, conferences, course release time, and other professional development activities (Medaille Faculty Handbook 4.12.4.1.9)

Faculty Development Discussion Group Proposal Form

Category Descriptions

• Category I (Faculty Travel Awards)
  • Funds in Category I support faculty (full-time and adjunct) travel to professional meetings as presenters or participants. Although a presentation is not required, applicants presenting a paper or serving in an official capacity may receive priority. Faculty who are traveling in their role as officers in a higher education organization may also apply in this category.
  • The domestic travel maximum award amount is $1500 ($500 for adjuncts)prior to April 1st; the international travel maximum award amount is $2500 prior to April 1st.
• Category II (Faculty Grants for Research and Creative Work)
  • Faculty Grants for Research and Creative Work are intended to support traditional forms of research (e.g., library, museum-based, field research, ethnographic) as well as creative products (e.g., creative writing, music, dance, visual arts, and multi-media products.).
  • The standard award limit in this category is $1,000.
  • Within this category, faculty may also apply for subsidized release-time during the academic year.

Award Procedures

• Complete the appropriate application (Category I Travel Awards or Category II Faculty Grants for Research and Creative Work )
  • All areas must be completed for consideration
  • The budget lines should be totaled
  • Understand the FDC does not pay for memberships or books/materials at conferences, etc.
  • Applications for course release time must be accompanied by a letter of support from the appropriate department chairperson.
• Submit all applications electronically to the chair of the Faculty Development Committee
  • Electronic applications are preferred, but paper application will be accepted.
  • No receipts (for travel having already occurred) are to be submitted with the application.
  • Any supporting documents (confirmation emails, letters of recommendation, etc.) should also be forwarded electronically to the Faculty Development Chair
• The Faculty Development Committee meets roughly every two weeks, and will discuss and vote on the application.
  Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis based on:
  • Intellectual and academic significance of the project, including its impact on the individual, teaching and learning at the college, and the scholarly and/or general community;
  • clarity and thoroughness of the proposal; and
  • project feasibility.
• The Chair of the Faculty Development Committee will notify the applicant in writing of the committee’s decision.
• The applicant would submit receipts after completion of award travel or work to the Academic Affairs Office with the appropriate form completed.
  • The college normally expects faculty to seek reimbursement for expenses, after completing the funded activity.
  • However, at times, faculty may, through the Academic Affairs Office, request a cash advance for all or part of their award amount.
• The VPAA reviews and signs the travel expense form and forwards it to the business office for official reimbursement.
• The business office will issue the reimbursement check.
  • In the case of course release awards, the award stipend will be directed to the department to cover the cost of hiring an adjunct for the course from which the faculty member was released.
• The faculty member will be required to attend the Faculty Recogntion Reception.
  • The college expects full-time faculty award recipients to share their experiences or information gained from traveling to conferences with the campus community. Awardees will be required to complete a summary of their conference in a slide that will be compiled into a collective Powerpoint Presentation to be shared at the Faculty Recognition Reception (typically held in April).
  • Recipients whose conference falls after the date of the Faculty Recognition Reception are expected to participate in the reception the following academic year.

Limitations

• Faculty members will only be granted one award regardless of category per academic year.
• Faculty travel awards (i.e., Category 1) carry the following stipulations:
  • Faculty (which includes full-time and part-time faculty) are eligible to receive one (1) travel award of up to $1500 for domestic travel (i.e. 50 States) or $2500 for international travel (which includes Canada).
  • Part-time faculty members are eligible for one travel award of up to $500 for travel.
• Course releases, when recommended by the Faculty Development Committee, carry the following stipulations:
  • The faculty member receiving the award may not teach more than 3 undergraduate or 2 graduate classes during the semester in which the course release was issued (i.e., a faculty member cannot teach an overload course in a semester they have received a course release).
  • Faculty members may receive a course release only once every 3 years (i.e. a course release granted for the Spring of 2010 would mean that the next possible course release that faculty member could earn would be for Spring 2013).
  • The Faculty Development Committee only recommends course release requests to the VPAA (i.e., it is ultimately the VPAA who grants course releases, in consultation with the department chair)

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