The Dean’s Office, in collaboration with the Professional Development Committee, will consider requests for conference participation or flex funds to support research for 2023-2024, with with a nominal cap of $1200. Please make your requests by November 1, 2023, if at all possible, even if the details of your participation are not yet clear. Rolling applications will be accepted until April 1, pending availability of funding. Faculty who need to make changes should contact the Dean’s Office as soon as those changes are known. If you have other sources of funding (grants, start-up, or endowed professorships), or if a conference offers any sources of funding for applicants, please plan to use to those sources first. For 2023-2024, faculty no longer need to separate Faculty Flex requests from conference travel requests, as long as the total request does not exceed $1200. See the Flex Plan document for examples of reimbursable items and an FAQ. Please fill out the funding request survey here.

International travel will be supported by the College subject to CDC/State Department advisories.

Professional development funding will be offered on a limited basis to part-time faculty as either travel or flex funding. Funding will be pro-rated at a limit of $150 per course taught. Funding must be used during an active teaching semester and does not carry-over from one year to the next. Part-time faculty can apply for funding through the survey – please reach out to professionaldevelopment@ursinus.edu with any questions.

When requesting reimbursement, please complete and submit a check request or travel reimbursement form, located on the Business Office website, along with scanned copies of your receipts within 90 days of conference participation. If receipts are not submitted within 90 days, reimbursement may be delayed. Send all reimbursement paperwork to professionaldevelopment@ursinus.edu. 

Please take a chance to fill out the Faculty Good News form which can be found here, to tell us more about what you have been up to.

Sabbatical leaves allow faculty members to engage in scholarly activity that will contribute to their long-term effectiveness as teachers and scholars at Ursinus and in the academic profession. Typically, tenured faculty members are initially eligible in their seventh year of full-time service at Ursinus to submit an application for sabbatical leave. Please see the Faculty Handbook for more details. The Office of the Dean will send yearly announcement of application deadlines. 

The Pearlstine Fellowship is a fund to advance the scholarly agenda of faculty, including the scholarship of teaching and learning.

For the 2024-2025 academic year, the committee welcomes applications in support of projects that will substantially advance a faculty member’s professional trajectory. The committee welcomes first-time applicants. While the first priority will be tenured faculty, nontenured faculty will also be considered. The Pearlstine award may be used during a scheduled sabbatical and may supplement external grants for research to make a leave possible. Selection will be based on the applicants’ proposal and the relation of the project to the three-year professional plan. If a course release is requested, please explain why teaching relief during the 2023-2024 academic year is necessary to the completion of the project. Pearlstine funds may not be used to defray living expenses while away from campus. 

Application deadline: April 1. Submit an application.

These grants fund students in the humanities division who assist a faculty member in their scholarship, providing an opportunity for students to share in the scholarly work of professors. Grants of up to $500 per project are available to pay student assistants. Applications are due September 30 for the fall semester and February 1 for the spring semester. 

In the event of unusual expenses exceeding $1000, there are a few Supplies and Support Grants available that support faculty members needing supplies, materials or those with other needs to conduct their summer research or creative projects. Grants must be used to support direct expenses. Some examples: lab supplies; art supplies; specialized software; data sets, analysis, or processing; professional services (e.g. editors, translators). Include an itemized budget. Funding may not be used to support conference travel. The maximum amount awarded is $2,000. Application deadline: March 15. Submit an application.

The fund generates funds for small awards on a competitive basis to faculty to support laboratory research projects in which both faculty and students participate. Funds may be used for the purchase of capital equipment, chemicals and general supplies. Application deadline: May 1. Submit an application.

The College is committed to finding ways to support faculty scholarship and professional development even outside of the above programs, whether through internal funds, or help with securing outside support. Please reach out to the Dean’s Office to discuss your needs.