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University Libraries (UL) faculty are encouraged to participate actively in professional organizations devoted to librarianship and subject specialties. To support this aim, the Dean of UL annually allocates a portion of the library budget for faculty travel. Its purpose is to support travel to, and expenses for, professional meetings, conferences and pre-conferences, institutes, workshops, and other developmental programs. Also, a faculty member may apply for travel support to do research at other institutions. See Section 3342-7-13(c) of the University Policy Register for the travel expenses eligible for reimbursement.

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Administrative travel is travel required in order to perform administrative duties such as representing Kent State at meetings of organizations of which Kent State is an institutional member. The following types of travel are eligible for administrative travel support:

1) Programs undertaken at the request of the Department to provide individuals with training that will benefit the entire Department.

2) Travel to meet potential donors or to evaluate/accept/collect a gift-in-kind donation.

Administrative travel is normally initiated and approved by the traveler's immediate supervisor and the appropriate Assistant Dean in consultation with the Dean, who is responsible for the final approval. Full reimbursement will be provided for administrative travel.

Professional travel includes travel to organizational conferences such as ALA. It is requested by the faculty member. Its primary purposes are professional enrichment and service to professional organizations.

The UL Travel Budget is designated to cover expenses incurred for professional travel and is administered by the Faculty Professional Travel Committee (FPTC). In accordance with the UL Bylaws, the College Advisory Committee (CAC) appoints the Chair of the FPTC and, in consultation with the Chair, the two remaining members.

In addition to the UL Travel Budget, faculty can apply for support for professional travel from external sources as well as the University Teaching Council and the University Research Council.

All members of the UL faculty (tenure-track, tenured, and term) holding appointments on the Kent Campus are eligible for travel support. UL faculty in the Regional Campuses are not eligible to apply for support from the Faculty Professional Travel Budget.

The travel year runs from July 1 to June 30. The Dean will issue a statement to the FPTC by July 1 indicating the travel budget for the fiscal year. Once the FPTC receives this information, it will review the list of eligible faculty, determine how much is to be allocated to each and notify the UL faculty. At this time, the FPTC will begin recommending support based on the new budget for any travel that occurs after July 1.

A proportion of the unallocated funds from the previous year's fund will be carried over to each fiscal year. The proportion to be carried over will be determined by the Budget Officer, based on the percentage of all unallocated monies that UL is permitted by the University to carry over from the previous year's budget.

The Faculty Professional Travel Budget allocation will be distributed between two accounts, Fund A and Fund B. Each member of the UL faculty will receive an allocation from Fund A proportional to his/her contract status (full-time or part-time). A tenure-track or tenured member of the UL faculty can apply for funding through the Fund B allocation once his/her Fund A allocation is depleted. Members of the UL faculty holding term appointments are not eligible for travel funding from the Fund B allocation until May 1, and then only under special circumstances as described below.

1) Fund A will make up 60 percent of the total Faculty Professional Travel Budget and will be allocated proportionately among the UL faculty. Each member of the UL faculty will be notified by July 31 of the amount allocated for him/her to spend in Fund A for travel expenses at his/her discretion.

2) Fund B will make up the remaining 40 percent of the Faculty Professional Travel Budget. The FPTC will recommend funding for individual travel requests out of Fund B based on the tenure status of the traveler and his/her reason for traveling.

Funding recommendations from Fund B will be made according to the following priorities:

1) Untenured tenure-track faculty presenting, conducting research, or serving as a member of a committee

2) Tenured faculty presenting, conducting research, or serving as a member of a committee

3) Untenured tenure-track faculty attending a conference, workshop, or educational program

4) Tenured faculty attending a conference, workshop, or educational program

Under no circumstances will an individual be awarded out of Fund B more than 25 percent of the original total amount of money in that fund in a single year.

Any funding not encumbered in Fund A by May 1 will revert automatically to Fund B. Funding requests for travel taking place after May 1 can be funded through an individual's Fund A allocation if received by April 30. Tenure-track and tenured faculty members continue to be eligible for funding from Fund B even after their allocation from Fund A reverts to Fund B. Under special circumstances (i.e., late invitation to present, late conference announcement), requests from term faculty for funding through Fund B will be considered after May 1. In these instances the amount awarded will not exceed the remainder of the individual's Fund A allocation.

A faculty member may submit requests for funding up to two weeks after the end of the event for which funding is desired. However, the FPTC would prefer to receive funding requests in advance of actual travel.

Applications that are incomplete will be returned to the traveling faculty member who will then need to resubmit a request for review and action at the next regular meeting of the FPTC.

In order to minimize delays in reviewing and processing of a request, the following guidelines are provided to assist faculty in submitting applications:

1) A faculty member completes a travel reimbursement request form and saves it as a draft using the University "Expense Reimbursement " system. When completing the form, the traveling faculty member should indicate the type of travel (administrative or professional) and his/her role (i.e., presenting, attending, committee member) in the "Notes" field of the form. The draft form should be printed and the printed copy should be submitted to the traveling faculty member's supervisor. After approving the proposed absence, the supervisor routes the form to the Budget Office. After processing by the Budget Office, the request is routed to the Chair of the FPTC for each "professional travel" request.

2) Once the FPTC reviews the form and makes its recommendation, the Chair completes the "Recommendation for Faculty Professional Travel Funds" form, attaches it to the print-out from the "Expense Reimbursement" system, forwards it to the Budget Office, and then notifies the faculty member of the funding recommendation from the FPTC.

3) Upon receipt of the forms, the Budget Office routes them to the Budget Officer for final review and action. At this point, the faculty member will receive an email notification stating the approved funding level.

4) Within one month of returning from travel for which reimbursement has been approved, the faculty member revises the draft expense reimbursement for actual expenses, submits the request for approval and forwards a print-out of the request with all relevant receipts to the Budget Office. The faculty member's authorized reimbursement may be forfeited if not received within one month of travel due to the need to encumber funds. If for some reason the faculty member cannot submit receipts within a month, he/she should notify the Budget Officer, who may be able to extend the submission period.

5) If for some reason the faculty member does not attend a conference, etc., for which reimbursement authorization was approved, the Budget Officer and the Chair of the FPTC must be notified immediately.

Finalized applications become part of each faculty member's personnel file and are open for review. The Chair of the FPTC will retain copies of travel requests for the current fiscal year and the preceding two fiscal years.

The Chair of the FPTC will prepare a financial report for the late fall semester and late spring semester meetings of the UL faculty. The Chair of the FPTC will also prepare an annual report at the end of the fiscal year. It should be submitted to the Dean of University Libraries and the CAC by July 31.

FACULTY PROFESSONAL TRAVEL COMMITTEE

Recommendation for Faculty Professional Travel Funds

Name ________________________________________________________________

Date: ________________________________________________________________

Meeting (name and date): ________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

 Role of traveler: ________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

 Request approved: _____________________________________________________

 Request denied: _______________________________________________________

 Amount of funding recommended: ________________________________________

Chair, Faculty Professional Travel Committee, Date ___________________________

Library Budget Officer, Date ______________________________________________

Adopted by UL Faculty: 5/10/2005;
Revised by CAC: 9/14/05