About

Announcement Memo

This pilot program is a part of President Machen's continuing efforts to support and enhance professional development opportunities for faculty. FEO awards are intended to advance the academic/professional/scholarly abilities of faculty members and to advance the University overall.

New central funds made available for FEOs shall supplement (not replace) funds available for sabbatical or professional development leave programs. A faculty member can receive a centrally funded FEO in the same year as a sabbatical or other professional development leave.

FEOs are intended to be more flexible in nature, duration, and funding than sabbaticals or professional development leaves. Thus:

• FEO funds shall be expended primarily for salary/benefit offset, travel costs and/or fees for conferences or similar learning experiences. However, FEO funds are generally not intended to fund such things as equipment/supply purchases, pilot studies, or similar items for which other sources of support are available.
• Summer salary can be requested for those on 9-month contracts who propose summer FEOs. Up to 1.0 FTE can be requested.
• FEOs shall not be granted for periods longer than fifteen (15) weeks.
• Faculty members from any unit may apply for an FEO in any amount.
• Non-traditional/flexible types of FEO proposals are encouraged in order to maximize the likelihood that faculty members from all colleges can be offered meaningful FEOs.
• A maximum number of FEOs may be awarded annually to each college, in order to increase the likelihood that over time faculty members in each college can participate in the FEO program. The maximum number of FEO awards per college shall not exceed 5% of the number of college faculty.
• A central FEO Task Force with broad cross-discipline representation shall review applications endorsed and forwarded from the respective colleges and shall recommend centrally-funded FEOs to the Provost for final approval. ?