Academic Staff Professional Development
Currently there are no funds available for the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 program. Funds will be available again for the Fiscal Year 2013-2014.
A. Background and Purpose
B. Eligibility
C. Writing Guide
D. Deadlines for Application
A. Background and Purpose:
This program exists specifically to provide grants for professional development, renewal, and retraining of academic staff. Because it is characterized by innovation, the program can provide a variety of forms of support. You are encouraged to discuss ideas with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs staff. Awards under this program will not exceed $1,000 from ORSP. Support for this program is provided by the UW System, Office of Academic Affairs.
Three types of activities are supported under this program:
- Travel Support: to learn new skills required to meet a present academic challenge or to develop skills and gain experience necessary to assume a different role within the academic community. Travel for workshops and specialized training is allowed under this program; however, tuition will not be provided for credit-bearing courses. Routine travel to professional meetings is not typically funded; however, specialized workshops or training sessions associated with annual professional meetings may be supported.
- Consultant Support: to seek advice or obtain information and services from an expert. Funds may be used to bring consultants to campus and to cover necessary expenses for materials for attendees at on-campus workshops, or to support on-line workshops or consulting.
- Project Support: to enable academic staff to implement a project that incorporates significant personal professional development. These projects should lead to the development of new skills, or knowledge that prepares the applicant for career advancement, new assignments, or performance of current assignments with greater expertise. As for all grant programs, any non-expendable materials purchased are the property of the University.
B. Eligibility:
All academic staff with at least a .5 FTE appointment are eligible to apply under this program. Departments and colleges or academic staff units and divisions are expected to contribute to the cost of the proposed professional development activity. Proposals for workshops or other projects will not be funded if the event has taken place prior to the proposal submission.
C. Writing Guide:
New Online Application Process
The Professional Development (Academic Staff Professional Development) application will now be processed in the BPLogix eForm system using electronic stamps associated with your university ID as your signature. For more information about BPLogix and instructions, see our Eforms page. Click here to log in to BPLogix using your UW-Eau Claire ID and password.
Initiating the Eform
The faculty mentor must initiate the Professional Development Form. To start an Eform, select ORSP in the lower left quadrant of BPLogix. Then select Professional Development (Once in the form, select 'Academic Staff Professional Development'). Fill out the form. The narrative can be uploaded as an attachment to the form. Fill in the names of the individuals in the routing order area at the bottom using the userpicker button. This must be done prior to submitting the application to ensure that those in the routing process have access to the form to approve it.
Submit the application when complete. When you click 'Submit' or ‘Send’, the form will be routed to the next person in the workflow who must approve the form before it is sent to ORSP (e.g., Faculty/Staff Initiator sends to Chair, Chair sends to Dean, Dean to ORSP). The initiator should receive an email that confirms the form has been submitted along with a PDF of the form. When first submitting the form, the initiator will receive an email that confirms the form has been submitted along with a PDF of the form. If you do not receive the email or have any questions about this, please contact ORSP or 715-836-3405. NOTE: Any person in the workflow can generate the form to PDF by selecting "Print" at the bottom of the form, and printing to Cute PDF.
If you need to pause before finishing the form, click "Save to Edit Later." The form will remain accessible from the top left quadrant of BPLogix (under MY TASKS). Once you submit the form, it may be tracked, but NOT changed, in the top right quadrant (Running Workflows) while it is being reviewed by others. NOTE: If you keep opening forms from the bottom left quadrant, you will have several duplicate forms. Try to avoid this. You may delete duplicate forms by opening the form and clicking the button at the bottom "Delete Form and Workflow."
The proposal consists of:
- Professional Development Form (Select 'Academic Staff Professsional Development' in the form)
- Applicants must clearly explain and justify all requested expenses in the budget explanation section of the form
- Attach a Narrative (2 to 4 numbered pages in a word-processed document) to the BPLogix form addressing each of the following:
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- Project synopsis, describing activities pertinent to professional development
- Benefits of the proposed activity to the applicant and to others
- Plan detailing how, when, and to whom information from the activity will be disseminated
- List of the applicant's Academic Staff Professional Development funding awards in the past 5 years
- If more than one person is included in a travel request, special justification regarding the need for multiple participants must be provided in the narrative.
D. Deadlines for Application:
Submit your proposal to the dean (or equivalent) by the quarterly deadline dates: September 1, 2012, December 1, 2012, March 1, 2013, June 1, 2013 to the dean (or equivalent). Only one copy is required. If this date falls on a weekend or holiday, proposals will be due the next working day.
A decision will be made by the end of the month in which the proposal is submitted.
