General Description

The purpose of the Provost's Professional Papers Account is to support attendance by faculty members at conferences where they are presenting papers or participating in the discussion of papers. The account is designed to supplement, not to replace, the departmental travel allocation for faculty members. A maximum of $800 toward the cost of attending a national meeting is available for each full-time faculty member per year.  Up to $1,500 may be reimbursed for presenting a paper at a meeting outside the North American continent. These funds are available for all full-time faculty members. When a full-time faculty member is attending a meeting to be a discussant for a paper, or as an officer of the professional organization, a total of $800 may be reimbursed even for international conferences. This limitation applies even if the faculty member both participates as an officer and serves as a discussant. Adjunct faculty will be reimbursed up to $400 for participating in or presenting a paper at a conference.

Faculty may request funds to cover the costs of attending a meeting to present a second paper within the same fiscal year (June 1 to May 31). A portion of PPP funds will be held in reserve to support the attendance of tenure-track, non-tenured faculty at professional meetings to present a second paper each year. Tenure-track faculty should apply for these second round funds as soon as their paper is accepted, and they can be reimbursed with second round funds at the time of attendance. In the 2007-08 academic year, due to one-time funding from the President's Office, funding may also be available for tenured faculty to present a paper at a second professional conference. In cases in which a faculty member requests funding to attend two conferences, only one conference can be reimbursed at the $1,500 level.  The second conference will be reimbursed at the $800 level even if it occurs outside the North American continent. For unusual situations (e.g., exceptionally expensive international conferences or uniquely important professional opportunities), please feel free to contact Kathleen Cain in the Provost's Office to explore additional funding possibilities.

For all Professional Papers, approval of funds must be obtained before each conference using the appropriate application form. Funds will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis, so please apply for support as soon as your paper is accepted. You may find our online application form here.

The Provost is able to provide support for professional development for lecturers if the funding requested is to attend a conference directly related to the courses being taught or if the conference is directly related to the administrative duties associated with the position. This fund is intended to support attendance at conferences or workshops without a requirement of presenting a paper or participating in the conference in a formal way. The award amount is similar to the departmental travel allowance for tenured and tenure-track faculty--$500 maximum. Lecturers should submit this form.