Professional Improvement Allowances and Grants

The Greenville University philosophy regarding professional development assistance is that these grants are investments in the future for the sake of making faculty members more highly useful to
the institution. In no sense are they to be considered as bonuses for past service.

1. Professional Improvement Allowance Policy

• The Professional Improvement Allowance may be used by full-time faculty members for any of the following expenditures: professional memberships, journals, and books; professional meeting expense; graduate school expense; and professional travel.
• Professional Improvement Allowance
  • For journals, and books; professional membership fees; $500.00 annually will be available, AND
  • For attendance at a professional conference, professional travel, and accommodations an additional $200.00 annually will be available for faculty expenses, OR
  • For presenting at a professional conference, professional travel, graduate school expense, and accommodations an additional $400.00 annually will be available for faculty expenses.
  • The total allowable PIA funds is $900.00
• The chief academic officer must approve exceptions to these guidelines.
• The faculty member must request reimbursement by filling out the appropriate form and submitting it to the academic affairs office. Requests for reimbursement must be accompanied by evidence of payment (receipts, invoices, canceled checks, etc.).
• The academic affairs office will send a check request to the business office. Payment will be made after the fact except that, if necessary, travel expense may be requested in advance and a final accounting made after returning to campus.
• A separate expense record for each full-time faculty member will be kept in the academic affairs office. Funds are not transferable from one fiscal year (June 1 to May 31) to another or from one faculty member to another, except with prior approval to fund a major travel expense and/or professional development opportunity in the second year.
• Limited funding over and above the Personal Improvement Allowance may be available.

2. Professional Development Grants
Each school will occasionally have funds set aside for professional development purposes. The allocations from this fund are to be made by the school dean.

• Rationale:
  These grants are to be designed to produce the greatest benefit to the University and to help enhance the academic program of the specific school—to help the University prosper. Since one of the principal purposes of the University is that of instruction, one of the objectives of each grant should be to improve the quality of instruction that is given by the school. The effect of a specific grant should be broader than the influence upon an individual. The process of developing and carrying out these grants should benefit groups, whether departments or the school, rather than supporting and influencing the activity of one individual faculty member.
• Procedures and Guidelines:
  Decisions about the grant will be made on the basis of a written proposal which will include:

1. a list of objectives,
2. activities to be carried out,
3. statement about how the effectiveness of the grant will be evaluated,
4. a timeframe, and
5. a budget.

Each grant recipient must agree to prepare a written final report. The report will be made available to the faculty and possibly a formal presentation will be made to faculty members in some program such as the Faculty Forum.

The funds will be used to support activities other than the reimbursement for faculty time. In some cases, however, time of faculty may be recognized during the summer by way of a stipend.

If the project in the proposal carries beyond the end of the fiscal year, funds may be reserved for expenditure during the subsequent year.

A grant may be used to support out-of-pocket sabbatical leave expenses if the other criteria above are also met.