University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS) Faculty Family Care Academic Travel Support
Many UMMS faculty have been limited in their ability to attend meetings/conferences due to the demands of caregiving. This limits their ability to gain national reputation and has led to disparities in caregiver promotion rates, making this a DEI issue that can be addressed with targeted intervention. This is an important time to provide additional resources to support faculty in their professional development.
In response, the UMMS Dean’s Office has developed a pilot program that will provide caregiving travel expense support (up to $1000 annually, taxable) for tenure, clinical, and research track faculty in the early stage of their careers. This support will allow faculty to attend meetings, conferences, workshops, or other professional development offerings. Such support demonstrates our understanding of the needs of the faculty and will further support equity in promotions.
PLEASE NOTE: This program is intended to support caregiving expenses incurred for family members of faculty traveling for academic purposes. This program is not intended to support expenses the faculty member incurs directly for their own travel.
Examples of eligible expenses
- Cost for child’s travel to the conference venue
- Cost for childcare services for a child traveling with you to a conference venue
- Other incremental costs incurred while traveling due to a child traveling with you (added lodging costs, for example)
- Cost for child or eldercare rendered for those not traveling with you while you attend a conference
Applications to request support for travel to meetings in 2024 will be accepted quarterly. Confirmation will be received at the beginning of each travel quarter. The due dates are as follows:
- Dec 31st for academic meetings that would occur between Jan 1 and March 31st
- March 31st for meetings occurring between April 1 and June 30
- June 30th for meetings occurring between July 1 and Sept 30
- Sept 30th for meetings occurring between Oct 1 and Dec 31
Funding Statement
We are planning to fund 10 awards each quarter due to limited funds in this pilot phase.
In our funding decisions, we balance awardees by track (Tenure, Research, Clinical), we prioritize presenters at meetings initially (we recognize and will fund attendees in the future should the program continue), and we will try to represent as many departments and divisions as possible.
This is a pilot program. Given the response and indicated need, we are hopeful we will be able to not only continue but potentially grow the program in the future. We encourage you to re-apply for future meetings during the remainder of the year if you are not initially successful.
Questions may be directed to Paul Salow at psalow@umich.edu.