Faculty Development Funds are to be used solely for the purpose of contributing directly to teaching, research and creative work. All full-time faculty members will receive an annual fund of $2,500, which can be used for the following types of activities:
- Travel to conferences, research sites, festivals, professional meetings (i.e., conference or workshop registration; plane, train, and auto travel; hotel and per diem; taxi, car rental, and parking);
- Pre‐approved equipment purchases through the College (i.e., computers, laptop computers, tablets, printers and scanners; audio, video, or photographic acquisition or display/playback equipment - equipment will remain property of Emerson College);
- Development of courses (i.e., workshops, conferences or other travel in support of course development; subscriptions, books, materials, software, equipment, or podcasts; library or archive access);
- Creative work (i.e., materials and supplies; software and hard drives; outside equipment rentals; transcription, editing, and translation; production expenses, such as transportation, catering, and props; and post-production services);
- Purchase of books and scholarly offprints;
- Publication of monographs;
- Assistance with university publisher client advances;
- Membership of professional/academic associations
Other uses may be approved by the department chair and dean.
Funds may be used for a variety of purposes, including non-credit seminars, workshops, conferences, etc. that directly support research, teaching and creative work. They may not, however, be used to cover the cost of courses taken as part of a degree program or for credit at another institution. Faculty may also pursue professional development opportunities covered under Emerson’s tuition remission policy.
The Faculty Development Fund may not be used to directly compensate any Emerson faculty member, staff, or student. It may be used to hire outside help that directly supports research, such as transcribers, translators, etc.
The awards will be administered through the department chairs. Tenure and tenure-track faculty will be permitted to carry forward unused Faculty Development funds up to two years in a three-year period. Term faculty with three-year contracts will be eligible to carry forward unused funds on the same basis as tenure and tenure-track faculty. Term faculty with one‐year contracts, though not eligible to carry forward funds, will be eligible, however, for Faculty Development funds on a one-year basis only. Tenure, tenure-track faculty and term faculty with three-year contracts will be phased into the carry forward program based on the date of hire. Each full-time faculty member will have his/her own activity code. This code must be included on all related paperwork, expense reports, purchase orders, etc. At the end of the three‐year carry forward period, tenure, tenure-track and term faculty with three-year contracts will submit a brief summary outlining how they used the funds. The previous three-year cycle ended June 2018, and the next three-year cycle begins July 1, 2018 through to June 2021.