Changes in the Funding for Ladder Faculty Travel to Professional Meetings

January 23 , 2005

To:       Department Chairs in the Faculty of Arts and Science
             Deans of the Schools of Architecture, Art, Divinity,
             Drama, and Music
From:  Charles H. Long, Deputy Provost
Re:       Changes in the Funding for Ladder Faculty Travel
             to Professional Meetings

I write to remind you of changes in the policy governing ladder faculty when they travel to professional meetings in order to read a paper or chair a meeting. These changes were instituted in July of 1999. This policy is no longer contained in the Faculty Handbook, but it will soon be posted on the web sites of both the Provost and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

1) The maximum annual allowance was increased from $450 to $600 for tenured ladder faculty and to $1,200 for those in the non-tenured ladder ranks.

2) The components of travel that may be reimbursed within that maximum were expanded. The faculty member may be reimbursed for transportation (with no maximum for ground transportation), registration fees, accommodation, and meals at the University's per diem rate.

3) Eligible faculty who spend less than the annual maximum on one qualifying trip may use up to the remaining balance toward one or more other trips.

Click here for the application form to access these funds.

The following statement incorporates these changes and will be posted on the Provost's web site: http://www.yale.edu/provost/ and the web site of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences: http://www.yale.edu/fas/.

FUNDS FOR TRAVEL TO PROFESSIONAL MEETINGS

Policy and Eligibility

For eligible ladder faculty in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and in the Schools of Architecture, Art, Divinity, Drama, and Music, the Provost's Office will provide funds for travel to professional meetings at which the individual is reading a paper or chairing a session. For tenured faculty, the maximum amount of reimbursement is $600 per academic year; for nontenured faculty, the maximum is $1,200 each academic year. Eligible faculty are: all those appointed to the ranks of Lecturer Convertible, Gibbs Instructor, Gibbs Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor, as well as persons holding part-time appointments in the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor. Persons who hold visiting or part-time Adjunct appointments are not eligible. In certain cases persons holding full-time Adjunct appointments in the Professional Schools are eligible; consult the office of the appropriate dean.

The faculty member must be employed by the University at the time of the trip. For faculty living away from Yale for an extended period of time while on a paid leave of absence, reimbursement will be based on a round trip to the meeting from that place of residence. Faculty who are on unpaid leaves are not eligible.

To qualify for a travel grant, the faculty member must actively participate in the meeting by reading a paper, chairing a panel, serving as an officer of a professional association, or contributing as a stated participant in a formal discussion. Speaking or delivering a paper as a lecturer or visitor at another university does not qualify for use of these funds, unless the event is a meeting that includes faculty from other universities. A department chair or dean who believes that some activity not listed above qualifies as formal participation should consult the Office of the Provost in advance of the trip.

For travel either abroad or in the United States, the University will authorize, up to the maximum, a grant equal to the lowest available coach airfare from New Haven, New York, Bridgeport, or Hartford to the airport closest to the meeting and return. The grant thus calculated may then be used as reimbursement for whatever mode of travel the recipient finds most convenient.

Reimbursement will be based upon actual travel costs incurred from New Haven directly to the city of the meeting, subject to the maxima set forth in the travel grant. If the traveler chooses to use his or her personal automobile, reimbursement will be at the University's current rate of mileage, but not to exceed the cost of the lowest available airfare. Within the maximum of the grant, the faculty member will be reimbursed for conference registration fees, accommodations, and meals at the University's set per diem rate. Mileage and per diem rates are changed on a yearly basis, and these rates can be obtained from the Comptroller's Office Fact Sheet accessible at http://www.yale.edu/ppdev/Guides/bluepages.pdf or from your departmental business manager or assistant.

Within the annual maximum ($600 for tenured faculty and $1,200 for nontenured), the funds may be spent on one or more qualifying trips.