Faculty Senate Travel & Instructional Development Grant 

Travel Grants

When possible, full-time faculty travel funds in departments may be supplemented with a Faculty Travel grant. Depending on available funds, adjunct faculty may also apply for travel support. Applications for Faculty Travel grants are reviewed and distributed by the Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) with the input and recommendations of the Advancement of Teaching Committee. The purpose of this fund is to assist faculty with professional travel, particularly related to enhancing instructional effectiveness and Scholarship of Teaching and Engagement.

 

**All funds for the AY 2024-2025 have been allocated. Please return back July 2025.**

 

Instructions and Guidelines

Before Travel

  1. Submit the online application form (Faculty Travel Grant). 
  2. Faculty must submit their application at least ten working days in advance of the expected travel. No applications submitted after the travel has commenced will be considered for funding.
  3. Consistent with UVU procurement rules, once faculty travel is completed, the faculty member is responsible for submitting a copy of their Concur Expense Report to OTL within 30 days of the final travel date. Copies should be emailed to [email protected]. If the Concur Expense Report is not received within 30 days, the department may not be reimbursed for the faculty travel.  
  4. The funds requested are to be supplemental to department, school or college funds. Travel grants will be no greater than that provided by the department, school or college. If the department, school or college has indicated the travel has value but has not provided funding, grants will only be considered for travel directly related to improving pedagogy and/or scholarship of teaching, learning, or engagement. Note: Full funding of requested amounts is unlikely in this situation.
  5. If the application form is incomplete or if the budget section is not calculated correctly, the application will be returned for possible later consideration, or voided.
  6. Please submit requests as soon as possible. The funding for the Travel Grant is limited. Funding is only available until the fund is depleted. Each applicant will only be granted funds for one trip. Faculty may submit more than one travel application, but must indicate which are their first and second choices.
  7. Faculty who are granted travel funds will be notified by OTL within two weeks of the committee's decision via email.

After Travel

The faculty member must submit a copy of their Concur Expense Report to OTL within 30 days of the final travel date or the grant will be voided.

To obtain your Concur Expense Report, please go into:

Concur>

Expenses tab>

Click on the trip>

Click on Print/Email dropdown, and then email it to [email protected]

In the body of the email, include your department’s Banner index number.

 

NOTES: 

  1. Travel will be paid initially out of the department's funds. Reimbursement funds will then be transferred into the department's account after OTL receives the Concur Expense Report. If the Concur Expense Report has not been received within 30 days following the travel, the travel grant is void.
  2. Travel grants are not interchangeable. If a faculty member has been granted funding for a conference, and the faculty member decides to attend a different conference, then the previous grant becomes void. If faculty are awarded a grant and decide not to attend the approved conference, they should inform OTL immediately.

Decision Criteria

Criteria used by the Advancement of Teaching Committee (AOTC), under the auspices of Faculty Senate:

  1. All proposed travel must be deemed to ultimately represent a potential benefit to UVU students.
  2. Applications will first be evaluated along a dimension of purpose of the travel.
    1. Highest priority is for travel to a pedagogical or teaching-related conference in the area of higher education, whether a general or discipline-specific conference or a conference on the scholarship of teaching and/or engagement.
    2. Secondary priority for travel is to a professional conference focusing on discipline-specific content.
  3. Additional funding is available:
    1. When the faculty member is presenting a paper or chairing a symposium at the conference.
    2. When the faculty member will mentor or support one or more students in presenting a paper, poster, or participate in a symposium.
  4. In reviewing applications, the committee may designate an application to have special merit based on unique aspects of the proposed travel. This designation indicates that the committee believes attendance at the conference will significantly benefit UVU.

facutly travel rubric

Dissemination of New Knowledge

Because UVU is a teaching institution and these travel grants are taxpayer funded, faculty recipients will be expected to share the results of what they learned with the UVU community. This process is similar to the regulations set by federal and national grants. This sharing process can take several forms including: participation in UVU symposia or conferences (such as the Scholarship of Teaching and Engagement [SoTE] conference), presentations to department faculty and/or departmental majors, presentation at an Office of Teaching & Learning workshop, or other ideas as suggested by the faculty member or their department chair.

  1. Notify OTL of how and when you complete this obligation. 
  2. If you plan to travel again next year, indicate on the application how you disseminated your travel gains. 
  3. Failure to comply with this obligation may result in the applicant's ineligibility for consideration of travel grant support by the AOTC for the subsequent two years.
  4. In the absence of a Chair for the AOTC, or during periods where most committee members may be absent (e.g. summer semester), the Associate Director of OTL may make any necessary decisions regarding travel grants, after making attempts to gain input from the Chair of the AOTC or members of the committee.
 

Instructional Development Grants

The OTL oversees a fund which may be used for a variety of purposes including: promoting the development of new courses and curricula that will benefit students, supporting efforts to encourage engaged teaching, supporting faculty efforts in scholarly work focuses on teaching, student learning, and to support other worthy efforts as evaluated by the Office of Teaching and Learning together with the Senate's Advancement of Teaching Committee.

 

**All funds for the AY 2024-2025 have been allocated. Please return back July 2025.**

 

Instructions and Guidelines

Administration of grants

  1. Parties eligible to receive funding from the Program include all full-time faculty, department chairs (on behalf of curricular development in their departments), and the OTL [for carrying out specific projects approved by the Advancement of Teaching Committee.)
  2. All parties seeking a grant from the Program shall submit a proposal to the OTL. This proposal must include all of the following elements: Upon receipt by the OTL, all proposals will be date stamped.
    1. Contact information for the party submitting the proposal.
    2. A purpose statement that describes the goals and anticipated outcomes of the project and explains how the grant will be used. Please include how the project will enhance teaching or student engaged learning at UVU.
    3. A detailed budget itemizing the elements of the proposal, not to exceed a maximum possible amount of $750.
    4. Signature of the applicant and the applicant's immediate supervisor with a statement from the supervisor reviewing the proposal.
    5. If the proposal is granted, the applicant will proceed to expend funds in line with the proposal budget. It is important to note that the funds will initially be drawn from the individual's department. Upon completion of the project, the applicant will provide receipts to the OTL for all expenses with itemized explanations, if necessary, and the department will then be reimbursed. If receipts are not received within 60 days of the end of the project, the grant may be considered void unless prior arrangements have been made and agreed to by the applicant and the OTL.
  3. Retroactive proposals, those that seek reimbursement for projects already carried out, will not be considered.