After a two-year hiatus the Academic Professional Development Fund is back - fully funded and ready to assist academic professionals seeking advanced training.
"We know our faculty members spend time developing their expertise," said Elyne Cole, associate provost for human resources. "This fund helps academic professionals develop skills directly related to their jobs. It's so they can be experts, too, as they provide support."
The fund, seeded with money from the Chancellor's Office, was available for several years before it was stopped two years ago because of general campus funding challenges and a call for travel expense cuts.
"Many academic professionals wanted the opportunity," she said, "but for many, their departments just couldn't afford it."
Cole said it was reinstated with new funds last year, but so far participation has been less than expected. She said there is a concern that many APs are not aware the program has been brought back.
Since June only $22,000 of the available $75,000 has been used, with 45 APs receiving approval for training grants. The maximum amount for an individual grant is $500. Requests must include a departmental commitment to supply matching money.
Cole said the money can be used for food, travel and lodging expenses, off-site training, seminars or industry-related conventions. The grant also can be used to cover expenses for an AP asked to deliver a paper or speech at a conference.
A committee comprising the Provost's Office and the Council of Academic Professionals considers grant applications.
"We're trying to get the word out that the development fund has been reinstated," she said. "The chancellor and the provost would like to see all of the funds that are available used."
She said the depth and breadth of applicant training requests is impressive.
"We have people applying from very different disciplines," she said, which range from computer sciences to veterinary medicine.
Konstantinos Yfantis, an academic professional and acting manager of teaching and learning for Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services, said the training he received from a 2011 grant is paying on-the-job dividends.
He used the fund's grant money, along with unit matching money and a conference scholarship, to attend a Society for College and University Planning regional conference.
"I've gotten a lot of benefits from it," he said. "I've met information technology professionals from peer institutions and it's allowed me to better connect with my IT colleagues throughout the region. It was a great opportunity to form connections and I've benefited greatly."
Yfantis said the extra training focused on integrated planning and used ideas that had already been tested and implemented in a university environment.
"It's something I have tried to bring back to my organization," he said. "Planning is something I preach around here; my colleagues have been very receptive."
Cole said Yfantis' experience is fairly typical.
She said some of the approved training is fine-tuned to target a specific job classification while some of it also can be used to advance institutional goals. She said one of this year's applicants is attending a conference featuring a workshop on how to successfully apply for difficult-to-obtain scholarships.
"These are experiences they might not normally get to have," Cole said. "It's not just for technical skills. This gives them exposure to new ideas and techniques to help them more efficiently and effectively do their work."
More information on the Academic Professional Development Fund can be found online.