Professional development conference travel is back —  in a big and expensive way. As a result, the CIE travel budget ran out of money by the end of fall semester. Many faculty were surprised and

 disappointed to learn that CIE could not fund early summer conferences this year.

In an attempt to distribute funds more equitably going forward, CIE has come up with a new, one-year plan for conference travel. We will reassess our plan next spring (or sooner) to make sure we are accomplishing our goal of allowing more people to access conference funding. We have discussed this plan with department chairs. 

Here’s the short version: If you used CIE funds for a conference this current fiscal year, CIE won’t cover your costs for next year. To be more specific, if CIE paid for your conference between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, you are NOT eligible for funding for a conference between July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.  

Important exceptions include new faculty, who are guaranteed conference funding for all three years of their provisional status. Also, conferences that cost less than $500 will be approved as long as there are funds. In addition, CIE is initiating a new funding cap. If the conference is more than $4,000, faculty will need to cover the additional costs. Other than for provisional faculty, conference funding is guaranteed only as long as the money lasts. 

Please request funds as soon as you can for FY 2025. We are tweaking the FY 2025 form, and will open the link before the end of the month. You can estimate expenses if hotel rates and other costs for spring 2025 conferences are not yet announced. 

We understand that this is a dramatic change from the first-come, first-serve policy that has been in place for several years. So here is an explanation of the different factors that have driven our new plan: 

• Increasing conference costs: A quick analysis by CIE showed that conference costs were up 25 to 30 percent between FY 22 and 23. 

• A rolling budget: We began FY 24 with a surplus in the individual PD fund and expect to end the year with a small deficit. This year, our individual PD budget was funded at $100,000.  We are hopeful for a budget increase when the FY 25 budget is announced. 

• Contractual obligations: New faculty are required to attend two conferences a year for each of the three years that they are on provisional status. We had 12 full-time and 2 part-time provisional faculty this past year. We will have 12 or more faculty on provisional status this coming year.

• NISOD: We pay conference costs for NISOD winners. This year only one faculty will attend NISOD. Next year, it could be two. 

• Alternative funding sources: PD for nursing faculty was paid out of a separate grant this year. Several provisional faculty used these grant funds. Also, faculty in occupational programs were encouraged to apply for Perkins Funds before requesting CIE funding. This freed up CIE conference funds. 

• Faculty numbers: Although the number of full-time faculty is decreasing, PD conference travel is available to adjunct faculty on the same basis as full-time faculty. Therefore, the number of faculty eligible to access funds is not a major factor. 

Please contact me if you have questions. We are happy to explain and we welcome ideas for next year.