Faculty Travel Grants (FTG)

The purpose of the Faculty Travel grant (FTG) program is to provide funding to help enable faculty to present at conferences and professional meetings. Eligible faculty may receive a total of up to $1,400 per academic year for expenses incurred for presenting at up to two conferences per academic year.

For conference presentations occurring between September 1, 2024 and August 31, 2025, please apply for a Faculty Travel Grant here.

There are several eligibility criteria as listed below that must be satisfied.

Conference Presentation Eligibility

A faculty member is eligible to use FTG funding to support presenting at a conference or professional meeting whether the presentation is in-person or online and for domestic or international conferences.

Funding Access Eligibility

The FTG program is intended to support early and mid-career faculty who do not have access to the following types of funding that could support their presenting at a conference:

• Remaining start-up funding,
• Substantial discretionary research funding (e.g., endowments, indirect cost return funds, gift funds), and/or
• Significant grant funding.

Faculty Title and Rank Eligibility

Given the faculty meet the Funding Access Eligibility criteria (see above), the following titles and ranks of faculty are eligible to receive an FTG:

• Tenured / tenure-track faculty, and
• Benefits-eligible Professional-Track Faculty who at the time of application meet the following requirements:
  1. May hold any of the following ranks
     • Assistant professor or lecturer, or
     • Associate professor or senior lecturer, or
     • Full professor or distinguished senior lecturer, and
  2. May be appointed in the following title series
     • Lecturer series, or
     • Professor of Instruction series, or
     • Professor or Practice series, or
     • Clinical Professor series, or
     • Research Professor series, or
     • Adjunct Professor series, and

3. Must have served as a UT Austin employee with a 50% FTE (or higher %FTE) role as a professional-track faculty member in both the fall and spring terms during each of two consecutive academic years (i.e., AY2022-23 and AY2023-24) immediately preceding the year of application for the FTG at UT Austin.
   • For employees who hold a staff and faculty appointment, the faculty appointment must be at least 20 hours a week (50% FTE) in both the fall and spring terms of the two preceding years
   • The two years of service prior to the FTG application year must be at UT Austin – faculty cannot elect to combine service from a prior institution for the FTG

4. Must be serving as a 50% FTE (or higher %FTE) professional-track faculty member in both the fall and spring terms during the academic year of the FTG application at UT Austin.

The following personnel are NOT eligible to receive an FTG:

• Faculty with a primary appointment in the Dell Medical School or the Law School
• Postdocs
• Classified personnel and staff
• Faculty who are currently on personal leave without pay
• Faculty who are retired (including emeritus faculty)

Conference Presentation Professional Expenses

The FTG funding, totaling not more than $1,400 per individual faculty member per academic year, can be used to reimburse faculty for conference presentation expenses (including conference registration, transportation, lodging, meals, and extra childcare as detailed below) for not more than two conferences per academic year (fall, spring and summer terms).

If a faculty member applies for FTG funding to defray expenses for presenting at more than one conference, then the faculty member must complete an FTG application for each of the two conferences.

Note that some Colleges and Schools might have additional restrictions in terms of the number of conferences (one or two) for which a faculty member can receive an FTG per academic year. And Colleges and Schools are allowed to set a minimum reimbursement amount. For example, an FTG request for a total amount less than $100 might not be eligible for reimbursement.

Funds may be used to support presentation at online conferences, and for international or domestic travel to present at in-person conferences.

These are the ONLY expenses that are allowed for FTG reimbursement:

• Conference / Meeting Registration Fee 
  • Membership fees are NOT allowable.
• Airfare – economy airfare to/from the conference.
  • Airline tickets are NOT allowed to be directly billed to the Faculty Travel Grant account. If the faculty member’s flight is canceled, the airline will issue the faculty member a credit instead of the university.
• Ground Transportation – Taxi/Uber/Lyft to and from the airport, hotel, or conference site.
• Lodging with Meals (“per diem”) – reimbursed at the single occupancy rate.
  • Within Texas, total limit of $260/day.
  • Outside Texas (continental United States), total limit of $375/day.
• Meals only – $51/day.
• International Travel Outside the U.S. – total limit of $425/day.
• Extra Childcare Expenses – See section below.

Faculty may be reimbursed for travel expenses during the conference plus up to one day before the conference starts and one day after it ends for allowable travel to/from an in-person conference. Travel expenses submitted for reimbursement must follow current University policy and guidelines. Please contact your CSU/departmental contact with specific questions.

Note that reimbursement for allowable travel-related expenses for the conference (lodging, meals, transportation, and registration) are non-taxable reimbursements. Reimbursement for extra child-care expenses incurred because of the travel are taxable. Cash advances from FTG accounts are NOT allowed.

Extra Childcare Expenses

Faculty may claim certain childcare expenses incurred due to travel, (still subject to the total $1,400 yearly limit for expenses per eligible faculty member). The faculty member must sign a document affirming the added expenses are due to travel and are above and beyond normal childcare expenses incurred by the faculty member. These expenses will be paid as a taxable reimbursement.

The following provides some allowable extra childcare examples:

• Having to pay a sitter for overnight care of your child (if not a regular expense) so that the faculty member can present at the conference.
• Paying for a childcare service provided by the conference.

Please note that FTG funding cannot be used for direct billing or reimbursement of airfare/meals/lodging for the child or caregiver.

To claim reimbursement, please complete the Confirmation of Extraordinary Childcare Expense form.

Attending a conference or meeting (and not presenting) does not qualify the faculty member to receive FTG funding. The FTG program also does not support presenting a seminar, taking part in a lecture series, attending a workshop, or giving a colloquium at another university or similar venue that is not a conference or professional meeting. And FTG funding cannot be used for typical childcare expenses normally incurred by the faculty member.

Faculty must submit their application to receive an FTG at least 2 weeks prior to the start of their travel to the conference or prior to their participation in an online conference to allow time for application processing and approval. Applications must be approved (not just submitted) prior to travel (or prior to the start of the faculty’s participation in the online conference). Retroactive applications will be denied.

Faculty should contact their CSU/departmental contact for CSU-specific expectations.

Travel Management Services offers additional information about the professional travel planning process.

If you are traveling outside the United States, additional approvals may be required. Check the Texas Global Restricted Regions List, continually updated to reflect travel conditions to foreign countries, including special requirements for entering certain countries. Refer to the university’s International Travel Process.