Faculty Handbook 2012 - 2013

This funding is for attendance at teaching workshops, conferences and seminars. The request should be made to the Provost's Office and include a rationale and itemized budget.

The purpose of the PD Account is to provide each full-time, tenured or tenure-track member of the teaching faculty (who is not already being supported by some other professional development account, such as the Michele Myers PD Account) with an account of $3,000 a year to support teaching and research. This account is unique among Denison's professional development funds in that it is a quick-access account. It decentralizes the process and makes access to the funds easy. These funds will take the form of individual accounts with specific numbers, accessible through Banner Self-Service Finance.

The PD Accounts fund any legitimate professional expense, such as faculty travel for research or attendance at professional meetings, journal subscriptions, memberships, books, software, research aids, and supplies. It also supports research-related items or materials not already covered by the College through a departmental or other account. It does not support teaching materials that should otherwise be covered by departmental budgets. Nor does it support student research or travel, both of which are covered by separate budget lines. Because the College already provides a computer for each faculty member, the fund also does not support the purchase of a second computer. It does not cover the purchase of a home computer (including netbooks), which may be purchased through the Salary Advance Program for the Purchase of Home Computers. It does, however, support the purchase of personal digital assistants that serve as mobile research and communication tools. PD funds up to $500 may be used to purchase an iPad, Xoom, Galaxy, or similar tablet. (Use the Cash Allowance form to authorize purchase of cell phones, PDA's, iPads or tablets, monthly mobile phone or internet access services, etc.) Any equipment purchased with these funds becomes the property of the College. However, the special conditions of this professional development grant enable faculty members to keep the journals, books, and other similar purchases made for personal use. All other items purchased with university funds become the property of the university. A maximum of $3,000 may be carried over in any given year.

Faculty members should discuss the use of the PD Account funds with their chairs if they have any questions about what is or is not an appropriate use of the funds. If chairs have any questions about gray areas, they or the faculty member should contact the Provost's Office (Susan Garcia).

These funds may be accessed by sending a request for payment (with receipts), a faculty travel report, or a purchase requisition to the Provost's Office. Purchases made with a Denison P-card should be reconciled according to instructions provided by Accounting.

New faculty in tenure-track positions are allocated up to $5,000 per year for their first three years in support of teaching and research. Department chairs will approve expenditures from these accounts. Funds may be used for travel to conferences or research sites, books, subscriptions or memberships, page charges for journals, and the like. Faculty members who receive a Fairchild grant are expected to use this account as their first resort for professional expenses, including travel to conferences. See PD accounts for procedures.

Denison provides a 36-month interest-free loan of up to $2,500 for full-time teaching faculty to purchase home computers. Contact the Assistant to the Provost in the Office of the Provost, x6243.

Established in 1942 through the generous bequest of a Denison alumnus, Elmer Jones, DURF is an independent foundation whose sole purpose is to support the research of Denison faculty members. The income earned each year from the investments made from the original bequest underwrites the material costs of doing research, such as funding for the following: travel to research sites, equipment and laboratory needs, student research assistants, preparation of materials for publication, survey costs. DURF grants do not fund stipends of any kind. The deadline for application normally is in late January. Applications are reviewed by the DURF Board, which makes the final decisions. The DURF Board meets in early March to consider faculty applications, interview applicants, and make the awards. Further information and application forms can be found on the Provost's Office web site. Questions should be addressed to the Associate Provost for Faculty Development, Susan Garcia.

1) General Funding

DURF funds support equipment needs, research materials, travel, fees to attend institutes, book subventions, student assistants for faculty research, and the like. The primary consideration in evaluating an application is the nature and quality of the research project proposed. Grants will not be made for general sabbatical leave support, or for costs associated with producing a doctoral dissertation. Limited assistance for the publishing of a book that reasonably could be expected to produce financial benefit to the author might be awarded. DURF provides no stipends. Awards in this category normally range from $1000 to $8000, and preference is usually given to faculty with continuing contracts at Denison.

Each year the DURF Board provides the Office of the Provost a small DURF Contingency Fund, used to assist faculty research and scholarship with small grants (normally not over $500). Requests for a contingency grant should be made to the Associate Provost for Faculty Development, Susan Garcia. The Contingency Fund cannot be used to meet large requests from faculty during the year. Large requests must be made through the annual DURF application process.

Denison belongs to a group of colleges whose faculty may enroll in one of four annual scholarly seminars organized by the University of Chicago specifically for faculty in the Midwest geographical region. Denison covers the expenses of attendance at these seminars, whose topics represent a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary interests. Announcements about the seminars appear in the Faculty Newsletter and in emails to the teaching faculty.

Each year the GLCA (Denison's college consortium) sponsors teaching workshops for its members. In the past, these have included topics in teaching and learning, teaching and technology, and the introduction of issues of diversity into courses. Denison covers the costs of its faculty members' attendance at these conferences. Faculty will be notified about these conferences as they are announced by the GLCA.