Sept. 16, 2026 - Sept. 15, 2027

The College of Humanities and Sciences recognizes that travel and other professional development opportunities are needed. Therefore, the College of Humanities and Sciences has a dedicated pool of funds for professional development. To ensure that the limited funds we have for this purpose are used effectively, all faculty professional development requests will be processed by the dean’s office in consultation with your department chairs and/or school directors. Funds can be used for travel (i.e. conferences, archives, subject interviews), training, software, and/or book production costs.

Please use this form to request funds associated with your professional development (research and/or other activities in line with your promotion pathway).

If attending a conference, faculty must be presenting their work to be eligible for travel funds. Eligible travel expenses that can be covered by this fund include:

• Registration fees, if applicable.
• Transportation
• Parking 
• Hotel 

Please note:

• Food cost and/or per diem are not eligible expenses. 
• Only faculty presenting at a conference will be eligible for travel support for conferences.
• The presentation does not have to be accepted at the time of submission for the professional development request, but acknowledgement of acceptance will need to be provided before the pre-approval for the travel is processed. 
• The exact conference details are not needed at the time of submitting your request. Approximate dates can be used if dates for the travel are not yet determined. For example, if you know you will be submitting to present at one national conference next summer, but do not yet have conference details, still make the request relying on estimates from prior year’s travel to a similar conference.
• Non-conference travel that supports your promotion pathway (i.e. travel to an archive or to conduct an interview) is eligible for funding consideration if it is advancing training and/or research projects.

Please submit requests for use of these funds between September 16, 2026, and September 15, 2027. Faculty must submit this form by 5:00 pm on September 1, 2026. Complete a separate form for each professional development proposal. 

Those faculty with access to dedicated funds (i.e., start-ups, PI indirects, retention funds, endowment/6-ledger funds, and/or external grants) must use these funds before being eligible to receive resources from the CHS professional development fund.

Applications received after the priority deadline may be reviewed on a rolling basis, contingent on available funding.

If you have any questions, please email Associate Dean for Research, Angela Reynolds (areynolds2@vcu.edu).