Date:       May 6, 2013
To:          AFT Full-time Bargaining Unit Members (faculty, librarians and professional staff)
From:       Ralph Edelbach, Chair, Career Development Committee
Subject:    Career Development Proposals for Summer & Fall 2013

Introduction:

The CD program is designed to aid full-time AFT unit members in the development of a positive program of professional growth and career development. The two primary objectives of this program are to:

1) improve instruction

2) meet the expressed direction/mission and needs of the college.

In reviewing proposals, the Career Development Committee looks for evidence that the activity will support those goals.

Proposal Development:

Please keep these guidelines in mind when developing a proposal:

The Career Development Committee encourages applications for activities which:

develop the applicant's abilities in an appropriate and agreed upon new career area, and/or
enable the applicant to contribute to the college in new and enhanced ways, and/or
enable the applicant to have a broad impact on a department, group, or the college.

Proposals may be submitted by either individuals or departments. Examples of possible proposals include:

attending a focused seminar in one's professional area.
developing expertise in new or related areas and to incorporate that knowledge into instruction.
developing competencies in new technologies and methodologies which improve instruction and to assist in integrating those techniques into the curriculum.
to hire an expert in a discipline to help a department or group develop new competencies.

3. Career Development awards for travel and registration costs, workshops, courses, etc. concentrating on specialized areas should meet the previously stated criteria. Workshops/courses should have significant educational content and be appropriate for the individual's TCNJ career.
Requests to travel to general professional conferences lacking appropriate training or development components should be directed to departments or schools and not to the CDC. CD awards are not made for giving a presentation or conducting research.

4. Career Development awards to bring experts to lead on-campus faculty-development activities should meet the previously stated criteria and may be discipline-based or contribute to the work of faculty in multiple departments.

5. Requests for graduate course work funding should be submitted to the Office of Human Resources, as indicated on the Tuition Reimbursement Form.

6. Requests for alternate assignment to support research should be sent to the Committee for the Support for Scholarly Activity (SOSA).

Proposal Submission - Proposals are to be submitted electronically by Monday, May 27, 2013.

1. The Career Development Proposal Summary Sheet (PSS) must be the first page of your proposal. Information concerning reimbursement rates for meals, lodging, mileage, etc. needed for completing the PSS can be obtained from the TCNJ travel web page.

2. There is provision for the signature of your dean/director on the Proposal Summary Sheet. That signature indicates that your proposal either is or is not "consistent with the expressed direction/mission and needs of the college." The PSS with the required signature should be scanned as a PDF and included as an attachment when you submit your proposal by email.

3. Using MS Word, complete a proposal following the Career Development Proposal Format. Since only a few disciplines are represented on the Career Development Committee, it is important that all information included in a proposal be as clear and pertinent as possible.

4. For proposals requesting funds to attend off-campus activities, a current brochure or flyer containing specific information about the proposed activity should be provided as a link on your proposal or scanned and attached as a PDF file. If information is not yet available for this type of an activity, a brochure for a past event of the same type should be submitted.

5. For proposals involving on-campus workshops, provide information about the presenter(s), a draft outline of the activity, and how many faculty are expected to attend the activity.

6. Your proposal must be submitted by email to cardev@tcnj.edu with “CD Proposal – Summer & Fall, 2013” in the subject line.
Your email should have the following attachments:

a. A Proposal Summary Sheet (signed by your dean/director) in PDF format

b. A proposal (following the Proposal Format) in MS Word

c. A brochure or flyer for the activity for which Career Development funding is requested, scanned in PDF format. If a paper version of the brochure is not available to be scanned, a link to a website describing the activity should be included as part of the proposal.

Proposals received after the deadline of Monday, May 27, 2013 cannot be considered.

Receipt of your proposal will be acknowledged by email.

Proposal Review and Approval Process:

1. Based on the nature of a proposal and/or the number of proposals qualifying for support, either full or partial funding may be recommended by the CDC, or a proposal may not be recommended for any funding based on the criteria described above.

2. The CD committee will meet shortly after the RFP due-date to review proposals and make funding recommendations to the Provost. You will receive notification from the CD committee concerning its recommendation on your proposal, but official approval is made by the College President. You will receive written notification of the President’s decision from the Office of Academic Affairs.

3 Applicants should not make any commitments relative to their proposal until officially notified in writing by the Office of Academic Affairs. The Career Development Committee's recommendation is not official approval of the activity.

Retroactive Funding:

If the committee feels an activity completed since October 3, 2012 is consonant with the career development guidelines and money is available, either partial or full funding will be recommended to the Provost.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me at edelbach@tcnj.edu or X 2783