Faculty Development Award for Professional-Track Faculty

• Tuesday, August 8, 2023 @ 10:00 am CT – Information Session for Deans, Associate Deans and College Contacts
• Friday, September 1, 2023 @ 11:00 CT – Information Session-Professional-Track Faculty
• Tuesday, September 5, 2023 – Application Portal Opens
• 5pm CT, Tuesday, October 3, 2023 – Application Portal Closes
• Monday, December 18, 2023 – Decision notifications Distributed

To be eligible for an FDA, the professional-track faculty member must:

• Hold the rank of assistant professor (or lecturer), associate professor (or senior lecturer) or full professor (or distinguished senior lecturer) in the relevant professional-track title series.
  • Each College and School can specify their priorities for professional-track faculty in the following eligible professional-track title series: adjunct, instruction, practice, clinical, research, lecturer.
• Have served as a benefits-eligible professional-track faculty member at UT Austin in the fall and/or spring terms during at least 6 different academic years
  • Before the first FDA, and
  • In between FDAs (see Guidelines for details)
• Have served as a benefits-eligible professional-track faculty member at UT Austin in at least one of the fall and spring terms during each of two consecutive academic years immediately precedingthe year of application for the FDA.
• Have met or exceeded expectations in their annual review during at least three of the most recent academic years in benefits-eligible service at UT Austin preceding the application for the FDA.
  • See the UT FDA Guidelines, for details about how to handle if a unit (department, etc.) failed to conduct annual reviews of the candidate in the three benefits-eligible years prior to FDA application.

Note that each College/School might have additional eligibility criteria and might have certain criteria they use to prioritize FDA recipients.

See UT and College/School-specific FDA Guidelines for further details and examples.

• The FDA offers up to $10,000 to support up to two years of faculty development activities.
• The FDA can be used to cover professional development activities during a period lasting not more than two years.
•  The earliest that an FDA’s activities can start would be the summer of the academic year of application. o   Thus, for fall 2023 applications, the FDA activities can start as early as summer, 2024.
• The latest than an FDA’s can start is the summer of the academic year after the academic year of application.Thus, for fall 2023 applications, the FDA activities can start as late as summer 2025.

Note that applicants must have received approval from their supervisor in support of the timing of the FDA activities that they are requesting before submitting their FDA application for review.

Each College/School has identified the options for allowable uses of the $10,000 budget associated with each FDA. These options are required to include the possibility of using some (or all) of the money for summer salary as long as the percent effort of the faculty member for a summer of the FDA cannot exceed a total of 100% across the three summer months. Note that FDA salary can only be used to support faculty development-related activities during the summer of the award.

Some College/Schools offer EVPP-approved additional alternatives to the summer salary option. If that is the case, the total for the allowable expenses is still capped at $10,000.

See College/School-specific FDA Guidelines for details.

The application materials will be gathered using a centrally hosted system and require the inclusion of

• Short CV (not longer than 4 pages), and an
• FDA Proposal that includes:
  • Abstract (100 words maximum) that briefly summarizes the purpose of the proposed FDA. The Abstract should not use unnecessary or undefined acronyms and should include the following information:
    • The faculty development activities to be supported by the FDA
    • Benefits and anticipated impact of the FDA on the:
      • Faculty member’s professional development and on the
      • Faculty member’s department, CSU, and/or the university.
    • Faculty Development Proposal (not longer than 2,000 words) that describes and justifies the proposed FDA and associated activities, the location where the faculty will do the work during the FDA, details about how the FDA activities will contribute to the candidate’s professional development and impact on the faculty member’s program, department, and UT Austin;
    • Itemized Budget that must include allowable items and costs with a total that sums to not more than $10,000. For summer salary, the rate and duration should be specified and note that the cost of fringe benefits does not need to be accounted for when budgeting for salary;
    • Bibliography (optional, not longer than two pages); and
    • Additional College/School-Specific Materials (if relevant – see College/School Guidelines).

FDA Award Report
Within six months of completion of FDA-related activities, the faculty member must submit a report documenting FDA activities and products (where relevant) and the impact of the FDA on the faculty member’s professional development. A failure to submit the report by the deadline will make the faculty member ineligible to receive another FDA. Note that additional follow-up information might be requested to assess the effectiveness of the FDA program.

Download the FDA Award Report template (PDF).