Faculty Development Award (FDA)

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FDA is available only to eligible professional-track faculty.
For information on Faculty Development Leave (FDL), a program available only to tenured faculty, see Faculty Development Leave.

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What is FDA?

See EVPP: Faculty Development Award.

The Provost's Faculty Development Award program is intended to recognize excellence in the University’s professional-track faculty and provide resources to support their professional development. Application is open to all ranks of benefits-eligible professional-track faculty in the lecturer, instruction, practice, research, clinical faculty title series. The award provides up to $10,000 to support up to two years of the professional development opportunities and activities of each awardee. Funding can be used for summer salary, or can be split between summer salary and an operational account to be used by faculty member for purposes of research or professional development.

The number of FDAs to be awarded per year is limited, and faculty to receive FDAs will be selected through the process described on this page.

How can FDA funds be used?

The total budget cannot exceed $10,000 and may include only allowable items that support research and professional development activities as described at UT FDA Guidelines 2024-25 FINAL.docx, section A.3 “Allowable Expenses for the FDA.”

FDA funds cannot be used for One-Time Payments, cash advances of any type, or award payouts. If summer salary is included, it will be paid via Payroll and subject to all applicable taxes and deductions.

COE does not have any college-specific guidelines beyond what is stated in the UT guidelines.

Note: A budget summary is included in the required application document COE FDA Timing and Eligibility Checklist referenced in step 2 of the “Application process” instructions on this page.

When can FDA funds be used?

With department chair approval, FDA awardees applying in fall 2024 may begin their two-year period of FDA activities as early as the first summer after application (summer 2025), or as late as the second summer after application (summer 2026).

Example 1: FDA activities across a two-year period beginning at the earliest permitted start time (May 16, 2025) following application:

Academic Year 2024-25

Academic Year 2025-26

Academic Year 2026-27

Academic Year 2024-25

Academic Year 2025-26

Academic Year 2026-27

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Summer

Apply

 

FDA starts

 

 

 

 

FDA ends

 

 

 

Year 1

Year 2

 

Example 2: FDA activities across a two-year period beginning at the latest permitted start time (May 16, 2026) following application:

Academic Year 2024-25

Academic Year 2025-26

Academic Year 2026-27

Academic Year 2027-28

Academic Year 2024-25

Academic Year 2025-26

Academic Year 2026-27

Academic Year 2027-28

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Summer

Fall

Spring

Summer

Apply

 

 

 

 

FDA starts

 

 

 

 

FDA ends

 

 

 

 

 

 

Year 1

Year 2

 

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Timeline for application year 2024-25

For FDAs either a) Summer 2025-Spring 2027, or b) Summer 2026-Spring 2028

  • September 3-October 1: Application system open  

  • October 4: COE Faculty Affairs completes applicant eligibility review  

  • October 9-November 8: COE committee review of FDA applications  

  • November 9: Deadline for COE review committee to forward recommendations to Dean 

  • November 10-17: Dean review  

  • November 18: Dean sends FDA awardee recommendations to EVPP 

  • December 18: EVPP notifies awardees  

  • February 17: FDA recipients’ acceptance forms due to COE Faculty Affairs 

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Eligibility

Faculty are encouraged to confirm their eligibility prior to applying. Eligibility will be confirmed by the COE Assistant Director for Faculty Affairs and the Provost’s Office prior to review. 

To be eligible to apply for an FDA, a faculty member must meet all of the following criteria at the time of application:

  • Current professional-track position in any rank in the instruction, practice, clinical, research or lecturer title series. 

  • At the time of application, has served in a professional-track position of at least 50% FTE in both the fall and spring terms during each of the two consecutive academic years immediately preceding the academic year of FDA their application (i.e., in both 2022-23 and 2023-24). 

  • Has met or exceeded expectations on their annual reviews in their two most recent years of benefits-eligible service preceding this FDA application (i.e. 2022-23 and 2023-24).

    • If applicant did not receive annual reviews in their two most recent years of benefits-eligible service, the department chair/immediate supervisor must contact EVPP Faculty Affairs to request an exception, and the exception must be approved.

  • Any previous FDA awarded ended no later than summer 2023.

  • Department chair and/or immediate supervisor approve the proposed timing of activities in their FDA application. 

  • Proposed FDA budget totals no more than $10,000 and includes only allowable items that support research and professional development activities as outlined in Section A.3 of UT FDA Guidelines 2024-25 FINAL.docx.

  • All requirements described at the following:

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Application process

  1. Before applying, please carefully review the "Eligibility" and "Conditions for recipients" sections on this page.

  2. COE application process:

Responsible party

Step

Action

Responsible party

Step

Action

Applicant

1

a) Discuss the timing of the proposed FDA with their department chair. For timing options, see section 1 of COE FDA Timing and Eligibility Checklist.

b) Review all University and College eligibility requirements for the award - see FDA > Eligibility on this page.

2

Initiate and route COE FDA Timing and Eligibility Checklist:

a) Complete items I-IV of "Applicant completes" section and sign.

b) Department chair completes and signs the appropriate section of the form.

c) Applicant forwards form to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu for review and completion. 

COE Faculty Affairs

3

Review COE FDA Timing and Eligibility Checklist, complete, and return to applicant. (Applicant will include completed form in their application materials.)

Applicant

4

Submit application including all requested materials through the Provost's online system prior to the deadline. Note that extensions to the stated deadline will not be granted.

Applications must include all of the following documentation in order to be considered complete:

Provost’s Office

5

Online application system closes.

COE Faculty Affairs & Provost’s Office

6

Review each applicant's materials and confirm their eligibility in the application system.

Department chair

7

Receive an email notification that applicants are awaiting their review. Only materials from eligible applicants will be made available. 

8

Review applications online and makes recommendations.

COE FDL review committee

9

Review applications based on APS and COE policies, and sends recommendations to Dean.

Dean

10

Review applications based on COE FDA committee recommendations, and forwards final recommendations to Provost's Office.

Provost’s Office

11

Review Dean's recommendations and makes final decisions according to CSU allotment. Notifies applicants of their decision.

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Processes for awardees

To accept the FDA

  1. The Provost's Office will notify awardees via email just prior to the winter break. Notification emails will include an attachment: page 1 will be the award letter, and page 2 will be an Acceptance Form.

  2. Recipient should sign the Acceptance Form and return to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu. Please note the deadline to return the form, stated on the form itself.

  3. COE Faculty Affairs will obtain the Senior Associate Dean's signature, record relevant award info, and add the fully-signed form to the faculty member's Dean's Office personnel file on Box.  

  4. COE Faculty Affairs will forward the fully-signed form to the Provost's Office, and will cc the recipient's department Chair and Administrative Manager.

Upon completion of the FDA

The faculty member must submit a report documenting the following:

  • Activities and products

  • Impact of the FDA on their professional development

  • Accounting of all grants supplemental to the FDA

A report template is available at EVPP: Faculty Development Award for Professional-Track Faculty > "FDA Award Report." Failure to submit the report by the deadline will make the faculty member ineligible to receive another future FDA.

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Information for administrative staff

Funding

The Provost's Office will transfer funds to COE for processing according to CSU guidelines. For FDAs taken as an operational account, the Dean's Office will transfer the funds to a departmental account.

Workday processing

In COE, FDAs taken as summer salary will be processed by the faculty member's primary department, funded by an account designated by the Dean's Office. For 9-month faculty, this will be processed as a summer Additional Job (non-teaching) in Workday. For 12-month faculty, this will be processed either as a temporary increase in SWH for faculty appointed at fewer than 40 SWH, or as a temporary costing allocation change for faculty already appointed at 40 SWH. Upload a copy of the signed FDA acceptance form to the Workday Business Process, and in the comments, add "Approved FDA."

APS will record FDAs in the faculty member's Workday profile. Go to "Academic" > "Current Appointments." In the "Identifier" column, look for FD (Faculty Development). "Track Type" will be FDA (Faculty Development Award).

 

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Please send suggested additions to this page and notifications about broken links to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.