Part-Time Faculty Travel Grants

Travel Grants are given to assist continuing Part-Time Faculty traveling to recognized conferences, workshops, and meetings of professional development or professional affiliations related to LMU's teaching mission. The travel must

  • be directly related to or based on the applicant's own teaching at LMU (identify courses),
  • cover teaching aspects that are relevant for other instructors at LMU and beyond, and
  • have a clear and direct connection to the enhancement of teaching and learning by focusing on the teaching methods of collegiate or graduate level teaching (not disciplinary content) or on the scholarship of teaching and learning (identify teaching aspects of interest).

Travel for professional development in the use of a particular pedagogy that will be incorporated into or has been part of the applicant's teaching, travel to present a paper related to the scholarship of teaching and learning at a conference focusing on college teaching, or travel to present a paper on pedagogy related to the applicant's own teaching at a disciplinary conference at the collegiate level are examples of travel. The travel has to be about the "how" of teaching, not (exclusively) the "what."

Applicants are required to provide clear evidence for the direct relevance of the travel for their teaching and pedagogical approach; for instance, it is not sufficient to attend a conference that also features some teaching-related sessions. The application has to identify the sessions to be attended and convincingly demonstrate the relevance of such sessions for the applicant's courses at LMU; the final report requires providing evidence of having attended teaching-related and relevant sessions. Attending conferences or sessions only to deepen or expand knowledge in a subject area, whether in one's own or another field, is not covered by this grant. Priority will be given to applications for travel that is exclusively or strongly focused on teaching and where the connection to the LMU teaching has been clearly established; priority will also be given to Part-Time Faculty members who have clearly documented how the lessons learnt will be incorporated into future teaching of the relevant course(s) at LMU.

To reiterate: Applications need to clearly establish what the applicant plans to review and adapt (and how) in his/her teaching and how the conference supports that goal. It has to be clear how the conference attendance is relevant for the "how" of the applicant's teaching (pedagogy), not just the "what" (content). The application needs to provide sufficient details about the conference and the applicant's teaching.

Travel Grants are awarded subject to available funds and in a competitive manner. The Committee on Excellence in Teaching with an additional Part-Time Faculty member reviews all grant applications and makes funding recommendations to the CTE Director. Part-Time Faculty members cannot receive more than one Travel Grant per academic year. Previously rejected travel grant applications will not be reconsidered at a possible later deadline. Generally, priority is given to applicants that have not recently received LMU travel support. Travel Grants can be used to partially cover travel that satisfies the conditions outlined here (the whole travel has to satisfy those conditions); all additional funding of the same travel, whether internally or externally funded, has to be clearly documented and only the unfunded part of the travel can be covered with an LMU Travel Grant.

Part-Time Faculty members can apply at the earliest in their second semester teaching at LMU and must be teaching sufficiently regularly at LMU (at least once in 2 years). Part-Time Faculty members need to be scheduled to teach the relevant course(s) within the next two semesters. Generally, Part-Time Faculty members need to be teaching at LMU during the semester in which they receive travel support. Successful applicants will have to share the lessons learnt and any material gathered upon return to campus - the exact format is to be determined in consultation with the CTE Director.

All applications need to be accompanied by a strong letter of support by the Department Chair/Program Director/Dean or a designee of theirs commenting on

  • the connection between the travel purpose and the Part-Time Faculty member's LMU teaching,
  • the impact the travel is expected to have on the Part-Time Faculty member's teaching,
  • the role of the Part-Time Faculty member's course(s) in the department/program curriculum at LMU,
  • the opportunities for sharing lessons learnt and new teaching approaches (incl. material) with department/program faculty and beyond (also via the CTE),
  • the availability of similar or related development opportunities at LMU,
  • the Part-Time faculty member's anticipated teaching at LMU in the next two years clearly indicating for each course how firm the commitment to the indicated teaching is (contracted, bulletin, confirmed, leave replacement, ...).

Grants cover direct travel- and conference-related expenses up to $1,300 against original receipts and upon submission of an expense report (food expenses and miscellaneous costs are not covered) and a satisfactory final report and determination of an appropriate format to share the experience within one month of travel. Generally, grant payments can be made only whilst a Part-Time Faculty member is employed by LMU and on the payroll. Grant applications will be considered only for the semester or academic year indicated. Reimbursements are made only for travel as described in the grant application and as approved. For details, see the guidelines and form below. Additional application deadlines may be announced if funds are available.

Grant award decisions are informed by this evaluation rubric.

Make sure to read the guidelines here and in the travel grant application pdf below carefully. Contact us if you have any questions.

Travel Grant Application 2018-19