Scholars Travel Fund (Faculty)

The Scholars' Travel Fund (STF) is a Campus Research Board program designed to support the dissemination of faculty members' professional work and expertise: e.g., travel support to Illinois faculty members in specific areas to present original papers or posters at scholarly events.

Please note that participation as a discussant, invited lecturer at individual campuses, and research – related travel are not supported. Support for other types of travel will be looked at on a case by case basis.

Contact Information

Program, Application and Award Administration Questions

Kelley Frazier - kdfrazie@illinois.edu, (217) 333-6771
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

Submission Deadlines

The application deadline dates for the Scholars' Travel Fund for the Academic Year 2013-2014 are given below. Applications must be submitted online at http://stf-app.research.illinois.edu no later than 3 p.m. on the deadline date (we are no longer accepting hard copy applications). The results will be e-mailed to the applicants within two weeks of the deadline date.

Submission Deadline	Result Release Date
Wednesday, July 10, 2013	Friday, July 19, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013	Friday, August 16, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013	Friday, September 13, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013	Friday, October 11, 2013
Wednesday, November 6, 2013	Friday, November 15, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013	Friday, December 13, 2013
Wednesday, January 8, 2014	Friday, January 17, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014	Friday, February 14, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014	Friday, March 14, 2014
Wednesday, April, 2, 2014	Friday, April 11, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014	Friday, May 16, 2014
Wednesday, June 4, 2014	Friday, June 13, 2014

Applicant Eligibility

The Scholars' Travel Fund support is limited to full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members, full-time lecturers, University High School faculty members, and Legacy Research Scholars in targeted units.

Funding is not available for emeritus/ae faculty or rehired retirees.

The number of trips a faculty member is eligible to receive support for during the fiscal year is dependent upon their rank. Each conference counts as one trip in the year in which application is made, i.e., regardless of when the conference is held.

Full professors, associate professors, and lecturers are eligible to receive one trip per fiscal year. The trip may be to a domestic or foreign destination.

Assistant professors are eligible to receive two trips per fiscal year. One of the trips may be to a foreign destination.

Retroactive funding will NOT be considered. The dates of travel must occur after the results release date. The release date is the second Friday after the deadline date. (i.e. Deadline date of April 2, 2012; results release date of April 13, 2012.) Funding to a conference will be provided for up to three presenters of the same paper. Each presenter must submit a separate application.

Eligible Departments

The list of eligible units will be formally reviewed in 2015

Click to view eligible departments

Support Available

Travel costs for domestic and international destinations are budgeted according to zones (5 for domestic, 6 for international). Rates are reviewed and adjusted annually to account for cost increases.

All travel outside the United States will be considered foreign travel. Click here for a list of the Travel Award amounts for various destinations. STF awards may be used for airfare, reimbursement of automobile mileage, conference registration fees, taxis, trains, busses, subways, business telephone calls, business expenses, toll road charges, parking charges, meals, and lodging in accordance with University and State policies. Payment of association dues cannot be supported by STF funds.

Award Administration Information

Effective July 1, 2012, the Research Board's Scholars' Travel Fund Program (STF) will use the TEM system as the primary mechanism to pay for allowable business travel expenses on STF awards. All documentation for STF award payment will be submitted via the TEM system. If conference registration fees are included in the amount of funding allocated in the award and they were paid on a P-Card this information will also be entered into the Notes Section of TEM. The STF web application will no longer be used.

In TEM:

For STF awards, the Project Title must be: STF XXXXX– AwardeeLastName. (This is an important requirement as it will allow us to identify the award and approve the transaction.)

Complete the Expense Report

For charges to be applied to the STF award, use the STF CFOP of C1-O207003-P207005

If a Conference Registration Fee was paid on a P-Card and is to be applied to the STF award as well, in the Notes Tab of TEM add a note indicating the cost of the fee is to be applied to the STF XXXXX–AwardeeLastName and providing the P-Card document number and the amount and date of the charge. (If the OVCR Business Office needs more information the P-Card document will be looked up in Banner.)

TEM will route the transaction to the OVCR for review and approval during the Charge Code Reviewer process.

QUESTIONS:

Contact Lauren Stokes at 333-9305 or via email at lstokes@illinois.edu

Application Instructions

Eligible Illinois faculty members need to apply via the electronic application submission system; paper applications are no longer accepted. The process has been streamlined and some prior requirements have been eliminated (e.g., publications lists, departmental contributions, unit approval). Applicants are able to save the application online and return to complete it later if they are unable to complete the process at one sitting.

A separate application must be submitted for each conference attended.

The online application is available at http://stf-app.research.illinois.edu.

Applicant Identification

Applicant Rank

Select rank

Department/Unit Name

Select department. In the case of a joint appointment, select the department or unit that will be processing the travel vouchers.

Conference Information

Enter the "official" dates of the conference. The "official" dates of the conference are the actual dates the conference will be in session.

Enter conference title.

Enter paper title.

Provide a brief abstract of the presentation describing its originality in the space provided. Please acknowledge here if there is a UI co-presenter. STF requires that there be a presentation of original research or artistic work.

Either upload a copy of the letter of invitation. If the letter of invitation is not in English, a translation is required. Or upload a copy of the Conference Flyer or other document from the conference that indicates the dates of the conference and the applicant's participation. The document submitted must be generated by the conference; items such as airline tickets and hotel bills will not be accepted as proof of the conference dates. Or provide a conference URL that shows the applicant's participation.

Save and Submit buttons

Clicking on the "Save" button will save your form without submitting it. This option allows you to return to your form in progress at a later time. When you return to the STF online application you will see a summary of the form you are working on and a link which will allow you to continue to edit your form.

Clicking on the "Submit" button will attempt to submit your form to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research for review. When you click the submit button the online application will validate the form fields. If a required field is missing the application will display a warning message indicating which field is missing. Once all of the required fields have been validated your form will be submitted for review and you will be sent a confirmation email. If you do not recieve a confirmation email please contact our office. Once a form has been submitted a summary of the form will be displayed on the STF Overview page and a view link will allow you to review (but not edit) your submitted form.