Professional Development Funding

Professional Development Allowance (PDA)

The following PDA amounts will be in place for the fiscal year 2025-2026 (July 1 to June 30):

Tenured and tenure-track faculty not supported by start-up funds or funds from an endowed chair will receive $2000.
Lecturers, senior lecturers, and senior adjunct faculty will receive $1500
Tenure-track faculty who are currently in their first three years will receive the PDA amount specified in the terms of their appointment letters.
Visiting faculty may apply for up to $1500 in ASID funds (see below).

Eligible faculty requiring additional funds for their professional development may also apply for ASID funds (see below ).

Activities Eligible for PDA or ASID Funding Include:

Travel to a professional conference, workshop, or meeting related to one’s scholarly research or teaching
Registration for professional conferences that are virtual or online
Travel for short-term independent research (e.g. field site, archives)
Journal subscriptions and memberships in professional societies
Research materials such as books, software, supplies, photocopying and expendable supplies and minor equipment. The funds are not to be used to support items or activities otherwise supported by departmental or program budgets such as computer, office furniture purchases, or teaching materials directly associated with a scheduled class. However, books to research a new course are appropriate uses of professional development funds.
Editing, indexing, preparation of figures, writing coaching, or other costs associated with the preparation and publication of scholarly materials. Please contact the Associate Dean for Faculty Development before using your PDA for this purpose.
Limited wages for student assistance in support of a research project.

Limitations and Disallowable Expenses:

Faculty with a PDA planning to apply for ASID funds should limit their non-travel expenses to $800 per fiscal year.
Any equipment or other durable resources (e.g., laptops, iPad, lab/studio tools, books) purchased with PDA/ASID funds will become property of the College. All computing devices, including tablets, should be purchased through WCTS. Please also consult with WCTS before purchasing software.
PDA or ASID funds cannot be used to purchase individual commercial memberships such as Amazon Prime or personal cell phone or local internet services.
Whitman College funds cannot be used to pre-pay professional development expenses that will later be reimbursed by an outside agency or organization.

Spending Guidance:

The following policies are those most relevant to Professional Development spending. Faculty should familiarize themselves with and follow the spending guidelines in the Whitman College Travel and Business Expense Policy.

Lodging: Costs must not exceed $300 per night (not including taxes or fees). Any lodging costs that exceed this threshold (such as for high cost of living destinations) must be pre-approved before the trip. Using VRBO or AirBNB for business purposes is not allowed, even if doing so would reduce expenses for the college. The one exception is that the college will pay for a private residence to be used by faculty only when conducting research for a period of two weeks or longer. Faculty should contact Mary Raschko about this situation before booking the accommodation.
Meals: Employees traveling for business have the option of paying for meals in one of two ways:
- Pay for meals with their college-issued pcard, submitting detailed receipts for every meal on their monthly expense report, and limiting meal costs to $75 per person per day; or
- Receive a per diem for each individual meal based on the destination location of the business trip per the General Services Administration (GSA) and only during the time period the employee is traveling. For details about the per diem option, see the Travel and Business Expense Policy, page 21.
- In either case, meal expenses are usually limited to $500 total during professional travel.
Airfare: Travelers should be prudent and book the most economical means of travel that is reasonable for their business purpose. However, the college does not expect employees to purchase tickets in the “economy saver” (or similar) fare classes. Upgrades for extra legroom or premium seats are not allowable expenses and should be purchased on a personal credit card, not booked on a Whitman credit card when purchasing the original ticket. Travel or flight insurance is not an allowable business expense and should not be added to flights when reservations are made.
Car Rental: Either a rental car or college-owned vehicle is always preferred when an employee is driving alone or with others for business Whitman's contract with Enterprise and National usually waives drop-off fees; ask Qi Jia for the direct bill code.
- Please note that gas for vehicles is reimbursed only for rental or College vehicles.
- Rental vehicles are covered under the college’s insurance policy; therefore the traveler should decline Collision Damage Waiver insurance and Liability Damage Waiver insurance offered by rental car agencies.
- In circumstances where driving a personal vehicle is necessary, mileage will be reimbursed at the current IRS rate. The college’s purchasing cards may not be used to refuel a personally-owned vehicle. Please contact Qi Jia for reimbursement. Employees should only drive other employees or students in a personal vehicle after obtaining prior approval.

A completed and signed IRS Form W-9 must accompany reimbursement requests for invoices from an individual, landlord, or any unincorporated entity, such as childcare providers, non-commercial lodging or independent service providers. In the case of credit card purchases for these services, there is no need to obtain a W-9. For the work that is completed by a non-U.S. citizen/service provider, a different tax form may be required. Note the payments to a non-U.S. citizen will take a much longer time to process. Please contact Qi Jia for more information.

Reimbursements

Faculty should use their Whitman purchasing cards for professional development expenses whenever possible. Reimbursement requests should be kept to a minimum. When necessary, please work with Qi Jia on reimbursement requests; itemized receipts for reimbursement should be submitted within 30 days of the completion of any travel.

PDA Roll-over

Professional development funds not used during the current fiscal year may roll over to the next fiscal year only if:

No ASID funds have been received during the current fiscal year.
The faculty member demonstrates that the rollover funds will be used to fund a specific project during the new academic year (for example: a sabbatical project; attending an expensive international conference) and the regular PDA is not sufficient to support the project.

Requests with detailed justification to roll over PDA funds must be submitted to the Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty, c/o Qi Jia, no later than May 31st. The maximum amount that can roll over is $2,000. The rollover PDA must be used for the designated project and any unused rollover fund will go back to the general pool.

Aid to Scholarship and Instructional Development (ASID)

ASID funds are available for faculty whose professional needs exceed their PDA as well as for visiting faculty who do not have a PDA.

Timeline: Faculty should submit their proposal for review by the ASID committee according to the following deadlines:

September 1 - projects to be completed between October 1 and March 31.
November 1 - projects to be completed between December 1 and June 30.
February 15 - projects to be completed between March 1 and September 30.
May 1 - projects to be completed between July 1 and November 30.

Requirements for applying for ASID funding:

The faculty member must complete an application and submit according to the timeline above.
Faculty who receive a PDA must have spent no more than $800 in non-travel expenses within an academic year and must indicate that on the application form.
Faculty must have designated the use of their PDA funds before requesting additional funds from ASID.
Faculty in tenure-track positions, for whom scholarly work is an ongoing expectation, should expect to receive no more than $3,500 per year in ASID funding ($4,000 if international travel is required). Faculty in other types of appointments can typically expect no more than $1,500 per year although some projects could be considered on an exceptional basis. Applications for amounts above $1500 should indicate how the need is unusual for the faculty member applying or differs from most faculty’s scholarly or pedagogical needs.

In making its decision, the Committee will take into account in the follow factors:

The significance of the project or presentation in the context of a faculty member’s field
The relation of the project to the faculty member's professional responsibilities
Tangible results of previous ASID grants
The faculty oversight of their past PDA/ASID funds
The amount requested compared with the total amount of funds available

Inquiries about late or off-cycle applications should be directed to Mary Raschko. The ASID committee will not consider retroactive applications for funds already spent.

To Apply, please submit an application to the Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty, via this link.

ASID application (PDF)

Provost and Dean of the Faculty