4/18/04

Professional Development Support at the University of Tennessee
(A report compiled by the Faculty Senate Professional Development Committee)

I. The Office of Research
A. Scholarly Activity and Research Incentive Funds (SARIF) -- the Office of Research manages $1,100,000 per year in incentive funds to support research and creative activities. Due to the source of funds, the SARIF fund is intended to support faculty endeavors associated with the Knoxville campus. Faculty associated with IPS, the agricultural campus, UTSI, or the Health Sciences Center are referred to the chief research officer of their unit for similar funding needs. SARIF funds can be requested to support projects in which Knoxville faculty are collaborating with faculty from other units. There are six separate programs to provide SARIF funds:

1. The Exhibit, Performance, and Publication Expense Fund (EPPE)- helps faculty defray expenses involved in placing the results of their scholarly activity in the public domain by publication, performance, or exhibit.  Applications may be submitted any time and are reviewed monthly.  Awards are usually $500 or less.

2. The Summer Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) Fund- provides support for graduate assistants to work with faculty on their research during the summer.  Applications are due in early March.  Awards are $3000 (plus maintenance fees if not funded by any other means.)

3. The Small Grant Fund- funds available to active or beginning researchers for pilot studies, start-up, foreign travel to make an invited presentation or exhibit, faculty/staff trips to visit granting agencies, workshops and conferences held at UT, grant bridging, or seed money for new research activities.  Requires 1:1:1 match by department and college.  No formal application deadline.

4. Foreign Travel Funds- pays 1/3 of cost of foreign travel for faculty to present the results of their scholarly work at meetings and conferences (requires match by department and college).  Funds are limited.  No formal application deadline.

5. Grant Matching on External Proposals
Primarily used to provide matching funds on equipment proposals.

6. SARIF Equipment and Infrastructure Fund- used to provide support for equipment purchases, upgrades, and repairs for building modifications required to accommodate new research equipment.

B. Additional Internal Resources
1. Professional Development Awards- awards grants up to $5000 to support research and creative projects, which are often (but not always) carried out in the summer.   Cannot be used for faculty salaries or travel.  No submission deadline.

2. UT Chancellor’s Awards for Research and Creative Achievement- established to honor faculty who have achieved recognition in their fields, and to stimulate research and creative achievement integral to the UT mission.

C. External Funding Sources
UT Community of Science (COS) provides UT Faculty and Staff with resources to search for funding opportunities, potential collaborators, and publicize their own research.
Other funding information resources also exist.

Most of these funds are restricted to full-time tenured or tenure track faculty.  All are more fully described on the Office of Research website at http://research.utk.edu/ora/awards.html

II. Faculty Development Leave
Full-time tenured faculty with a minimum of six years full-time campus service since any previously granted professional leave (or six years at the time of an initial professional leave) are eligible to apply for a one-semester leave at full base salary, or a two-semester leave at one half base salary.  More information on faculty development leave, including the application form, is available at: 
http://provost.utk.edu/facultyleave.shtml

III. The Innovative Technology Center (ITC)
The Innovative Technology Center supports faculty members’ efforts to enhance teaching and advance learning though the use of instructional technologies.  A number of grant and workshop opportunities are available.

A. Teaching with Technology Grants- Each year these grants will be awarded to five departments that each have two to five faculty members who will collaborate to create at least five modular pieces of instruction that are delivered on the Web.  Departments will receive $15,000 each, which can be used to purchase computing equipment and/or hire students for development tasks.  For more information, go to http://itc.utk.edu/grants/.

B. Faculty First Grants- These grants provide design and development help for faculty who are interested in incorporating instructional technologies into a course or course component.  For more information, go to http://itc.utk.edu/grants/.
 
C. Project SET (Sharing Educational Technology)- A UT system initiative that offers grants to develop web-based modules on topics related to instructional technologies.  For more information, go to http://edtech.tennessee.edu/set.shtml. Completed modules are located at http://edtech.tennessee.edu/modules/.

D.  Wireless Instructional Initiatives Grant- Support for faculty groups interested in integrating best practices for teaching and learning, establishing innovative teaching practices, and exploring research possibilities with wireless laptop computers.  For more information, go to http://itc.utk.edu/grants/wii2003/default.shtml.

E. ITC Workshops- The ITC offers a wide variety of free workshops to UT faculty who are directly involved in teaching.  These workshops cover the course management system, communication tools, digital media, HTML, instructional technologies, learning strategies, and productivity tools, among other things.  For more information, go to http://itc.utk.edu/workshops/.

F. Other Services and Opportunities
The ITC provides free consulting on a limited basis with UT faculty and teaching staff on all aspects of the development process for instructional technology projects.  They also offer extended consulting services on a for fee basis.  For more information, go to http://itc.utk.edu/contract/consult.shtml.

ITC maintains the Development Lab, a multi-platform development laboratory with the necessary peripherals, software, and resources for designing, developing, authoring, producing, and evaluating online courseware and multimedia prototypes. Some  equipment is available to check out for classroom use. For more information, go to http://itc.utk.edu/resources/.

ITC offers training for faculty use of the technology-enhanced classrooms (TECs) at the beginning of each semester and on-request.  For more information about TECs, go to http://itc.utk.edu/resources/smartclassrooms/.

The Educational Technology Colloquy focuses on the effect of educational technology on teaching, learning and research. The group debates issues related to intellectual property, promotion and tenure, shift in job responsibilities, commercialization of the academy, transformation of the traditional classroom experience, student expectations, etc. For more information, go to http://itc.utk.edu/colloquy/.

IV. UT Libraries Support Services

The purpose of the University Library System is to provide professional development support services to faculty, staff, and students by providing access to print and electronic books, journals, databases, and audiovisual media and by providing instruction in how to use these resources effectively. 

http://www.lib.utk.edu
The Library Web Site, accessible from the university's home page, is the gateway to information about library services as well as to catalog and database searches.

The "Services" section of the Library Web Site  (http://www.lib.utk.edu/aboutlibs/) contains links to available services, including Interlibrary Loan; the Library Express service that provides pick up and delivery of library and interlibrary loan materials to departments; the Data Services unit that specializes in providing access to quantitative data sets; Instructional Services, the unit that provides individual consultations, on-line tutorials in library skills, and classroom instruction; and Digital Media Services, the unit that assists faculty with both digitizing material and securing copyright permissions for their use. The Studio in the Media Center is a multimedia production lab for faculty, staff, and students.

Services of reference librarians are available in person and via AskUsNow, an e-mail based service accessible from a button prominently displayed on the Library's web pages.

Electronic Services offer personalized assistance in effective use of electronic resources such as full text journal articles and is constantly testing and monitoring researchers' experiences with new and trial databases. Check the upper right corner of the Databases web page for a link to "new and trial subscriptions."

The Library Workshop Series is an important professional development service. Information about upcoming sessions in the Library Workshop Series is posted on the Libraries home page. The workshops are one-to-two-hour sessions on topics on various topics (introduction to bibliographic databases, bibliographic software, electronic data sets, creating library-based course assignments, understanding plagiarism). Workshops are open to faculty, staff, and students who pre-register by visiting the website http://www.lib.utk.edu/instruct/workshop/

Subject librarians, listed under "Departments and People" in the Services section of the Library web site (http://www.lib.utk.edu/refs/reference/services.html) should be contacted to discuss possible acquisition of library materials.  

New Faculty Funds are available to purchase items (one-time orders, not ongoing subscriptions) to enhance collections in new faculty areas of specialization; these funds can support a new faculty member's research and/or teaching activities.  Generally these are available for three years after a new faculty member is hired.  For more information, see  (http://www.lib.utk.edu/colldev/newfac.html)

On-line forms facilitate requests for a faculty study in Hodges Library, Interlibrary loan and Library Express service, materials purchase, and course reserves.
 
Libraries' A-Z  (http://www.lib.utk.edu/atoz/) is an index to these topics and many other FAQs about Library Services.

V. Center for International Education
The Center for International Education director’s office administers the Fulbright Program, which is a federal program for faculty.  Interested persons may contact the Center or obtain information on the Fulbright program at http://www.cies.org

Foreign travel funds are also available (see Office of Research at the beginning of this professional development support document).