Travel Guidelines for the College of Health Sciences

 

The Dean's Supplemental Travel (DST) Fund Request Guidelines were created to systematically support faculty travel. In addition to these guidelines, each department awards travel funds to faculty members at the chair’s discretion. Faculty in the College of Health Sciences also have the opportunity to submit proposals to request additional funds from the dean’s office using these guidelines. These supplemental travel funds are available to full time faculty members who have exhausted their departmental funds and funding from external supports such as grant funded travel. In general, these funds can be used only for additional travel of the types listed under “Eligibility” below. A committee appointed by the Dean serves in an advisory capacity reviewing proposals and making recommendations to the Dean regarding the amount of funding to be awarded. The committee's goal is to provide substantial supplementary funds to support all College of Health Sciences faculty who need more than their departments' allocations to engage in a variety of scholarly activities. 

FUNDING LIMITS 

Combined departmental and college funding will be limited to $1000 for any single domestic or international trip. While the number of trips is unrestricted, total funding per academic year is also limited to $1000. Faculty will need to cover any unfunded balance with their own funds (or, of course, elect not to travel). 

ELIGIBILITY 

The Dean’s Supplemental Travel Fund is intended for faculty involved in some form of active participation related to their professional work at a conference or other scholarly venue, as well as faculty engaged in research or creative work. Below are examples of active participation that may be funded.  

  1. Presenting a paper/poster/creative work, etc. on original research at a professional conference  
  2. Serving on a panel or being a discussant at a professional conference  
  3. Chairing a session at a professional conference  
  4. Conducting research in the field  
  5. Participating in continuing education focused on assigned teaching areas 
  6. Accreditation
  7. Other (priority determined by case by case bases)

Faculty wishing to present their research do not need to have an acceptance letter in hand. The committee may rank proposals as if they were already accepted, but such proposals ultimately might not be funded if the papers or other scholarly presentations are not accepted. 

Furthermore, the committee will give higher priority to funding tenure-track and tenured professors who have not yet reached the rank of professor, since these faculty have greater need for opportunities to present their research. Faculty should also pursue external funds to support presentation travel and research activities. 

Faculty who need to travel for administrative purposes—to work on accreditation, for instance—are eligible for funding from Academic Affairs; they should send the standard travel request fund to the dean’s office and attach a note explaining the nature of the administrative travel. 

APPROVAL PROCEDURE 

To request supplemental funding, CHS faculty must submit a completed Dean's Supplemental Travel Form to the Dean's Office and complete a pre-approval in Chrome River. Faculty must use all of  their departmental funds prior to applying for DST funding. They will also need to include the following pieces of information with the requested attached documentation demonstrating the purpose of travel. 

  1. Purpose of travel – Please carefully describe the purpose of travel and how it relates to the department’s mission or College of Health Sciences initiatives (such as interprofessional education) as this information will be used by the committee to determine the recommendation for funding. (Example: “Present paper at NCNA conference” or “Chair session at ACA conference.”) 
  1. Total cost of the trip (use State guidelines for meals and mileage) 
  1. Additional funding sources - Using the “business use only” box (the large box on the right of the University Travel Request form), the department chair should indicate the amount of funding available from the department. Additionally, if other sources of funding are available, please include this information in the box as well. 
  1. If available, evidence of acceptance - If evidence of acceptance is not available, requesters should indicate “acceptance pending”, include a copy of the meeting solicitation, and indicate the anticipated notice of acceptance date. 

Proposals will be evaluated by the Travel Committee, which will make recommendations to the Dean. International travel may also require approval by the Chancellor. 

DEADLINES 

Faculty members are strongly encouraged to submit requests to the Dean's Office by the priority deadline of March 1st to allow the committee to allocate funds. If there is money remaining in the Dean’s Supplemental Travel Fund, the committee will review travel requests on a monthly basis (the second Tuesday of each month). The committee recognizes that some faculty may wish to travel prior to the priority deadline; therefore, travel requests will be reviewed prior to this date. The cutoff date for the fiscal year will be around June 1; thus, if you plan to travel in June, travel expenses may count against next year's allocations. Travel requests and reimbursement requests must conform to University procedures and deadlines. 

NOTIFICATION OF DECISION 

The Dean’s office will arrange appropriate notification of the decision for the department chair and faculty member.