Faculty Professional Development Committee

1. Meet regularly to review and discuss funding requests from full-time and adjunct staff members interested in attending a variety of different professional development venues including, but not limited to, conferences, workshops, symposiums, retreats, etc.
2. As a voting member, participate in the Professional Development Coordinating Committee's responsibility to develop a strategic plan for the college's professional development and to allocate professional development resources to the professional development committees, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Instructional Technology Center.
3. Make recommendations regarding awards and award amounts with consideration given to established committee operating guidelines, procedures, and priorities as well as funding availability.
4. Encourage attendance at events of interest to faculty in collaboration with Faculty Senate, Center for Teaching and Learning, and other groups.
5. Disseminate information regarding upcoming professional development funding periods and submission deadlines.
6. Serve as a resource and liaison to representative area faculty seeking support.
7. Maintain a website with committee functions, membership, minutes, application guidelines and evaluation information.
8. Represent faculty professional development on related PD committees campus and district-wide.

Recipients may be either full-time or adjunct faculty.

Funding cannot be used to support tuition for credit-based classes.

The activity must demonstrate direct benefit to students, staff, and/or the college and should also relate to the employee's assignment and/or professional growth.

In addition to describing how attendance at this event activity will influence his or her professional development, applicants must identify and explain how the event relates to the State PD Guidelines and ARC's ISLOs and Strategic Goals.

All applicants have a funding cap of $1,500 per academic year. If more than one applicant from an Area requests funding to attend the same event, the committee reserves the right to partially fund or deny the requests. Applicants presenting at the same event will be considered separately.

For department retreats, funding is limited to $50 per person, not to exceed $500 total for all attendees combined.

The Committee reserves the right to deny and/or partially fund any request.

Applicants will receive notice of their funding status within one week of the Committee's decision.

1. Requests from applicants who have never received prior funding.
2. Requests based on recency of prior funding (if applicable).
3. Applicants who are scheduled to present or facilitate.
4. Applicants in receipt of funding support from other sources, such as their Area/Department, Perkins/VTEA, the Basic Skills Committee, grants, etc.
5. Proposals demonstrating clear support of campus goals and focus areas and direct benefits to students and staff.
6. Applications made prior to commencement of the activity.  
   Applicants attending events that span academic calendar years must plan accordingly. Requests for Professional Development funding must be submitted before the activity occurs and within the appropriate funding cycle.
7. Former applicants who have completed a post-activity evaluation report.
8. In-state professional development opportunities.

Requests for Faculty Professional Development funding are subject to the following additional considerations:

• The proposed activity must be demonstrably necessary and beneficial to the quality of American River College’s educational offerings and services.
• All Professional Development (PD) funding requests—including online, local, and travel-based activities—must be submitted through the Travel Authorization and Reimbursement (TAR) process and comply with applicable Los Rios Community College District requirements, timelines, and documentation standards.
• Applicants must have Area Dean support for travel-related requests.

Travel approval, reimbursement, timelines, and documentation requirements are outlined in the Travel Authorization & Reimbursement (TAR) Claim FAQs and the Travel Section Guidelines.