Faculty Development

Application Submission

To be considered for funding, faculty development requests must be printed and received by the Office of Academic Affairs no later than the 15th of the month, at least 30 days prior to professional development activity.

Please do not code any P-card purchases to the Faculty Development FOAP. Your college/department will be reimbursed by Academic Affairs after the Travel is completed.

Confirmation of Presentation for Application

The FDC's primary purpose is to provide financial support to faculty who represent the institution as conference presenters and organizational officers. Applications for attending a conference are only considered in May if funds remain.

For conference presentations, please submit documentation of your proposal acceptance with your request. This documentation can be as simple as an email from a conference official congratulating you on the acceptance of your paper or poster.

If you are a member of the board or executive council of a conference or association and are requesting funds for your administrative duties, please submit the following:

• Explanation of your activities or responsibilities to justify your need for attendance at university expense.
• Formal verification (e.g., webpage printout listing officers, letter/e-mail communication) from the organization documenting the office/position that you hold relevant to the conference/meeting.

Funding Notification

The Faculty Development Committee meets monthly to review requests. Faculty are notified by email, from the Office of Academic Affairs, of the committee's decision.

Co-Presenters and Co-Authors

Only one award is given per presentation. When there are co-presenters, the equivalent of one award may be given to one of the presenters or may be split between co-presenters. If the presentation involves co-authors, and more than one author is attending a conference, faculty will need to justify why more than one author is requesting attendance at university expense and rank the authors in order of importance. Multiple presentations for the same conference where authors trade lead authorship roles will be considered as co-authors and will need to split a funding award or justify why more than one author is attending.

Funding Limits

The committee considers the following per trip maximum funding guidelines for in-state, out-of-state, and virtual activities:

Type	In-State	Out-of-State	Virtual	International
Participating in a conference or workshop1	$600.00 USD	$800.00 USD	$800.00 USD	$1,000.00 USD
"Participating" is defined as presenting a paper or poster session, performing, serving on a panel, teaching a class, seminar or workshop, or fulfilling administrative duties as a member of a board or executive council of a conference or association.

Faculty may submit multiple funding requests for future travel per academic year prior to the February FDC meeting. The amount awarded to any faculty member for a first request during this period should not exceed $600 for in-state travel, $800 for out-of-state or virtual travel, and $1,000 for international travel. Subsequent requests may be funded up to the balance of a like or higher award. For example, a faculty member who initially secures $700 for an out-of-state trip could still apply for $100 towards a second out-of-state trip or $300 towards an international trip but nothing towards a second trip that was in-state. 

Faculty may submit additional requests for future travel or for retroactive funding after the February meeting when any unused funds allocated to an academic unit revert to a general pool for awarding to faculty from any academic unit.

Guidelines for funding from the general pool include the following priorities (in order):  

1. Advance requests for first time funding during the academic year, including funding for May or June activity.
2. Retroactive requests for first time funding during the academic year.
3. Advance or retroactive requests for funding during the academic year when the maximum award per faculty member has already been awarded to that faculty member, that is in-state $600, out-of-state and virtual $800, and international events, $1000. 

Allocations cannot cross fiscal years and May travel allocations not claimed and processed through the finance department for reimbursement prior to the university’s June budget deadline will be deducted from the next fiscal year allocation. The Committee may approve applications for activities occurring in July and August based on availability of faculty development funds in the next fiscal year.

Travel Expenses

Faculty and their academic unit are expected to incur the initial expenses associated with the faculty development activity and are then reimbursed accordingly once the activity is completed and post conference verifications are received.

Faculty Development Travel Training

The preparation of standard travel claims and Faculty Development travel claims are the same. Please sign up for travel training as soon as possible. The travel training focuses primarily on managing travel electronically through Concur. Travel claims should be initiated as a Concur Request (Pre-Approval) and completed as a Concur Expense Report* (reimbursement voucher). Use only your Academic unit’s FOAP for these items. Faculty Development funds will be transferred to the Academic unit’s FOAP listed on your request.

If you have any questions regarding faculty development claims, please contact Academic Affairs at 918-444-2060 for more information.

For additional information on standard travel procedures visit the NSU Travel Procedures.

*This is not the Expense Report required for P-card purchases.

Typical Faculty Development Sequence

1. The Faculty Development Request (signed by college Dean) and a copy of the invitation to present are sent to Academic Affairs.
2. Memos for essential travel (California and International Travel Only) are completed and forwarded to the President’s office.
3. When essential travel has been approved by the President’s office, the Faculty Development request, essential memos, and invitation are sent to the Faculty Development Committee Chair pending the monthly meeting.
4. The committee meets once a month and votes on pending requests.
5. Letters of award and all travel documentation are returned to the requester/traveler.

Reimbursement

Faculty must submit the Concur Travel Expense Report no later than 30 days following the end of the trip. Unsigned, incomplete, or incorrect claims will be returned and will delay processing of reimbursements. Oklahoma State travel reimbursement regulations also apply to claims with Faculty Development funding.

Activity Summary

Faculty must submit a short (one page or less) summary of the activity and its value to the individual's professional development as part of the Faculty Development reimbursement process. The summary may be in memo form, addressed to the FDC, and must include the faculty member's name, the conference title, and dates. If the activity summary is not provided, the funds will be returned to Faculty Development.

Non-Use of Funds

It is extremely important that faculty who receive faculty development awards notify the Office of Academic Affairs if they are unable to expend the monies. Early notification allows the money to be redistributed to another faculty member. Written notice of the non-use of encumbered funds must be received no later than March 1 of the current fiscal year.