Purpose

Grants to supplement the costs of professional travel to conferences and workshops for faculty development are available through the Committee to Enhance Learning and Teaching.  Proposals concerning teaching and learning will have the highest priority.  In adjudicating among proposals, the Committee will consider:

• The significance and impact on teaching and learning at VU;
• The originality or freshness of the idea in the proposal;
• The purpose of travel (in order of priority):
  • Workshops/conferences for pedagogical development (e.g. Lilly Conference on College Teaching and similar),
  • Workshop attendance for knowledge/skills/information to bring to the classroom,
  • Presentation of papers directly related to teaching and learning,
  • Presentation of research papers unrelated to teaching and learning,
  • Workshops/conferences for professional development/credentials/accompanying students.

• The level of support available for travel within a unit;
• Previous awards to an applicant - priority may be given to applicants who  have not previously received this award;
• The alignment with department and university-wide student learning objectives. University-wide student learning objectives can be found in the undergraduate catalog.
  
  

Note:  Travel for international service learning trips or for conference attendance related merely to positions held in professional organizations will not be funded by this committee.

Eligibility

All full-time faculty members, as well as part-time faculty who have taught at Valparaiso University for at least three years and are returning for the subsequent year, are eligible to apply for travel grants.

Awards

Normally the Committee will award $5,000 each semester in travel grants, with a limit of $1,000 per grant for travel within the United States and $2,000 per grant for international travel.

If the Committee does not receive enough applications, or if not enough applications are deemed worthy of an award, the full budget will not be spent in that year.