Professional Development Grant

Purpose and Guidelines for Funding Approval

General Guidelines

The following guidelines are intended for Academic Affairs employees with a full-time teaching, patient care or administrative assignment. The guidelines also apply to currently-employed adjunct faculty who have completed 36 months of continuous College employment within the immediate past 48 months. Palmer College supports professional development of its teachers by providing funds to participate in events that have a positive impact on students, the chiropractic profession or the College community. The Faculty Enrichment Committee will consider funding requests for activities that bolster teacher development, certification, scholarship and leadership as outlined below. Requests may be granted a range of support including full or partial funding, release time or any combination of these options. Approval will be based on available resources and College goals and priorities outlined in the Strategic Plan. *

Teacher Development - professional development for educators

· To acquire knowledge and skills of value to the college academic program (education, management, assessment, project specific)

· To support sharing of information and networking among professional peers

· To benefit from the acquisition of new information and experience among the College community

Certification - technique specialties, programs of less than one year’s duration

· To bolster faculty credentials (important to accreditation, student satisfaction and funding of federal grants)

· To develop authoritative resources

Scholarship/Leadership

· To support Palmer teachers who present posters/papers/lectures

· To provide access to current information and trends relevant to assignment (administrative, special project, discipline)

· To gain current information and networking advantages

*VISION II: THE PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE

A) EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION
Strategy 3: Commit resources for ongoing faculty development to create a highly competent and self-motivated faculty that is acknowledged as the profession’s best teachers, mentors, chiropractic practitioners and role models. (II-A-3)

Strategy 5: Develop the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of faculty and students to enable them to critically evaluate and contribute to the development of knowledge related to chiropractic. (II-A-5)

Priorities and Criteria for Support:

In general, greatest funding or highest priority will be granted to those proposals that have the greatest positive impact on Palmer students and the College community. Continuing education requirements are not a priority for this program. The following information outlines, in general terms, the goals and expectations of the Faculty Enrichment Committee in considering requests for professional development funding.

1. In general, 100% funding or highest priority will be granted to those who request funding to:

· Present at a conference

· Attend training to develop a new skill

· Represent the College at professional meetings

2. Higher priority will be granted to those presenting at a conference than to those attending

3. Lowest priority will go to those requests directed at solely maintaining an individual’s credentials

Considerations/Process

1. The Faculty Enrichment Committee will accept requests for support and funding through a grant process.

2. Support and funding decisions will be made taking the following into consideration:

· Relevance to College needs and Strategic Plan

· Positive impact on students and the College community or the chiropractic profession

· Nature of request (teacher development, certification, scholarship/leadership)

· Quality of the program or offerings

· Cost or level of funding requested (full, partial, other)