HEO-CLT Professional Development Fund

The City University of New York/Professional Staff Congress

Professional Development Fund

for the Higher Education Officer and College Laboratory Technician Series

**PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES CAREFULLY.  ALL PROCESSES ARE NOW FULLY ONLINE.**

HEO-CLT PDF Committee Staff: [email protected]

GUIDELINES

A. Description The HEO-CLT Professional Development Fund was won as part of the 2000-02 PSC/CUNY collective bargaining agreement and was the first time CUNY HEOs and CLTs were granted support for academic and professional pursuits (Article 33: Faculty and Staff Development). This academic year, approximately $800,000 will be made available for small grants to approximately 500 applicants from campuses University-wide in the Higher Education Officer and College Laboratory Technician series, as well as CLIP and CUNY Start instructors, Non-Teaching Adjuncts, and EOC Lecturers.

B. Eligibility In order to be eligible to apply, you must:

1. Be in one of these series titles: Higher Education Officer, College Laboratory Technician, CLIP Instructor, CUNY Start Instructor, Non-Teaching Adjunct, EOC Lecturer.
2. Be in your full-time title for more than six months by the start date of the proposed activity. (For Adjunct CLTs and Non-Teaching Adjuncts you must work an average of 10 or more hours per week during the semester in which you apply, and you must have worked an average of 10 or more hours per week for four consecutive, non-Summer semesters, immediately preceding the semester in which you apply.)
3. NOT be in an excluded title.
4. NOT be on Travia Leave when the application is submitted or when the proposed professional development activity will take place.

C. Use of Funds Applicants cannot propose events that have already taken place, and proposed events must correspond to the Due Dates listed in section G.

YES – Acceptable proposals may include

1. Conferences, workshops and trainings that require travel outside of the NY metro area (limit of possible 5 days for allowable expenses, relative to the event dates)
2. Local or online conferences, workshops, trainings, and certificate programs
3. A semester of schooling at an accredited college or university (CUNY or non-CUNY), which could include tuition, fees, and books listed on the relevant syllabi for the semester
4. Research projects and field studies (not required by applicant’s job or department)
5. Upcoming membership dues for a professional organization

NO – Funds will not be approved for

1. Personal vacation or travel not related to a documented event
2. Salary, wages, or stipends for employees, research assistants, research participants, etc.
3. Computers, tablets, cameras, or other technology, equipment, or materials.
4. Certain travel expenses including taxis, shuttles, trams, buses, commuter rail or gas to/from airport, tolls, parking fees, baggage fees, entertainment tours, etc.
5. Activities that the Committee deems not relevant to the development of skills, resources, or credentials necessary to complete the professional duties or career advancement of a person in their eligible CUNY title.

D. Application and Award Process

1. Read these entire Guidelines about the Fund before applying. There is a Timeline Checklist below to help guide you along the process after you understand the guidelines.
2. Check the Upcoming Due Dates and Current Application Link section at the bottom of the page. Due dates are relative to the documentable start date of a proposed event.
3. Verify with the PSC Membership Department ([email protected]) that you are in one of the eligible titles listed above, if you are not sure. You should have this information on hand in your appointment letter, but if you contact membership, ask specifically “What is my title and how long have I been in that title?” And “I want to verify that I am not in an ‘excluded’ title.” Membership will not answer other questions about the Fund.
4. Verify with the Committee Liaison that you have not exceeded your award limits (see Limitation on Awards section, below), if you are not sure.
5. Use the Current Application Link listed in Section G below to open an application in SmarterSelect. You can look through the application, draft and save your work, return to edit and review before making your final submission.
6. Once you have fully drafted your online application in SmarterSelect, you can fill out the request for the Supervisor Approval Form. Enter your supervisor’s contact information and SmarterSelect will email your supervisor with a link to submit the online Supervisor Approval Form in your application. Give your supervisor plenty of notice before their deadline, which is seven days BEFORE the application deadline. After you send the request to your supervisor via Smarterselect, print your application as a PDF and email it to your supervisor to notify them that Smarterselect will be emailing with a request. Your supervisor’s signature indicates review of your application, verification of your title and workload, and approval of the time needed to participate in the activity (maximum 5 days), should it occur during regular work hours. Awardees are not required to charge the time (maximum 5 days) spent at a professional development activity to their annual leave. Awardees may choose, however, to conduct the funded activity on their own time for which they will not receive remuneration.
7. After sending the request to your supervisor to sign the Supervisor Approval Form, click Submit; your application status will change to “Pending” until your supervisor signs the Supervisor Approval Form, which will change the status to “Submitted” (but only if you’ve already clicked Submit). Applications that are still under the status “Incomplete” or “Pending” supervisor approval will not be reviewed by the committee, so follow-up with your supervisor to sign the form and double-check that you have properly submitted your application before the deadline. When you click Submit, you will receive an auto email to confirm receipt.
8. Review your application after you click Submit. Applications that are “Submitted” will not be approved if any of the following occur: the uploaded documentation is irrelevant or incomplete (you must print-to-PDF the entire web page that includes the URL, and do not upload full conference brochures); Supervisor Approval is not completed by the request deadline; two or more fields contain the same copy/pasted answers in the details section or the same paragraph is copied multiple times to meet the word requirement; or if it appears that multiple applicants have copied/pasted the same answers between their individual applications. The technology cannot prevent you from “submitting” an incomplete or inadequate application, so it is your responsibility to review your application, which you can edit any time before the deadline. After the deadline, the application is locked and you cannot make any additions or changes. Incomplete applications are no longer available to edit or use for future due dates, so do not apply early with the wrong application link.
9. Shortly after the deadline, the HEO-CLT PDF Committee will begin reviewing the submitted applications. The Committee includes HEOs and CLTs from various CUNY campuses and departments. Each application is read by two committee members. If there is a disagreement in the decision between the first two readers, a third reader will determine the outcome. Decisions from the Committee are final.
10. Approximately three weeks after the deadline, applicants will be notified of the Committee’s decision via the email used to register the application. See the Upcoming Due Dates schedule below to determine when you will receive a decision email. Make sure your email account is prepared to accept an email from [email protected], so your decision email does not bounce back or go to spam.

E. Reimbursement Process

1. If awarded, all details regarding the reimbursement process and reimbursement policy will be made available with the decision email. Award totals are estimates and reimbursements will be made within the limits of the reimbursement policy.
2. The HEO-CLT PDF is a reimbursement grant, so awardees must pay for and complete the approved activity before requesting reimbursement.
3. Any changes to the proposal—including non-attendance of the proposed activity—must be reported to the awardee’s supervisor and to the HEO-CLT PDF Committee Liaison.
4. While preparing to participate in the approved activity, awardees should keep track of all itemized receipts, credit card statements, conference materials and other documents that will support their reimbursement request.
5. Awardees will be given access to a link to the online Reimbursement Request Form where awardees will write their Activity Report (approximately 200-400 words), list their requested expenses with uploaded receipts and credit/bank statements, show proof of course completion (if awarded tuition), and report the address where a check can be mailed.
6. Completed reimbursement requests that are received by the 15th of a given month will be reviewed that same month and a check will be mailed by the end of that month. Reimbursement requests received after the 15th of a given month will be processed by the end of the following month.

F. Limitations on Awards

1. Preference is given to applicants who have not yet received awards from the HEO-CLT Professional Development Fund.
2. To ensure broad access to grants, applicants who receive four grants over any length of time from the HEO-CLT Professional Development Fund, must wait a three-year break period after the year for which the fourth grant was paid before being eligible to receive another grant from the Fund. If you are unsure about your award history, please contact the Committee Liaison before submitting an application. After the three-year break period is completed, an eligible applicant can apply for four more grants before triggering the next three-year break period.
3. An eligible applicant may apply for and be given multiple awards in one grant-year (which runs September 1 and August 31 [Fall through Summer semesters]) but the total of those awards cannot not exceed $3,000. (It is best to use one grant each grant-year for an otherwise cost-prohibitive amount, rather than to use multiple grants on smaller expenses in one grant-year.)
4. Multiple applications can be submitted at one time, but each professional development activity must be proposed in a separate application. For requests related to a semester of schooling, each semester must be applied for in a separate application. (For Fall or Spring semesters at CUNY, it is best to use the Tuition Waiver via your HR office, and use the PDF on Winter or Summer semesters when the Tuition Waiver does not apply.)
5. If an eligible applicant proposes an activity that costs more than $3,000, and the Committee approves the request, the maximum possible award will not exceed $3,000.
6. The amount of money available from the HEO-CLT Professional Development Fund to employees at any CUNY campus will be proportionate to the number of eligible employees at each campus.
7. The Committee may limit the number of grants awarded to employees from the same campus requesting to attend the same conference or professional development activity.
8. The PSC/CUNY HEO-CLT Professional Development Fund will consider and possibly award grants for activities that are receiving additional funding from other sources, but if specific expenses are waived or paid for by the college or another party, the Fund cannot reimburse for those specific expenses.
9. Applications requesting awards for less than $250 will not be considered.

G. Upcoming Due Dates and Current Application Link 

There are five application due dates each year so prepare ahead by using the calendar below.  When you know the start date of your proposed event, check the calendar to determine which due date you must meet in order to apply on time.

You do not need to be registered for an event/course or accepted to a program/conference in order to apply.  The application is to explain to the Committee about a proposed event in the near future. If the event organizer has not yet published their full agenda in time for the due date, do not delay your application. Complete the application with as much information as is available on the organizer website (or via direct email exchange with the organizer), or reach out to the Committee Liaison to determine the best way to complete your application in time.

H. Timeline Checklist