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

An FDA budget must include summer salary. Summer salary will be paid via Payroll and subject to all applicable taxes and deductions. FDA cannot fund total effort in excess of 100%. For 9-month faculty, FDA summer salary will be processed as a non-teaching Additional Job with FTE in Workday, and the timing must be coordinated with other summer commitments. For 12-month faculty (research faculty titles), FDA will be handled depending on existing overall FTE: as either (a) an ad-hoc costing allocation change in Workday to adjust compensation funding sources during the summer period May 16-August 15, or (b) as additional FTE.

FDA funds cannot be used for One-Time Payments, cash advances of any type, award payouts, membership fees, or graduate student compensation or expenses.

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:

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

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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). 

  • For information about specific scenarios, see UT FDA Guidelines 2024-25 FINAL.docx > Section B. Timing.

• 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:

  • "Eligibility" section of EVPP: Faculty Development Award

  • UT FDA Guidelines 2024-25.pdf

  • 2024-25 COE guidelines at EVPP: Faculty Development Award > "College and School FDL Guidelines" in right-hand side bar > "College of Education" 

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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:

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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.