SEC Faculty Travel Grants

• Applicants must be full-time faculty members (primary appointment) at UM at the time of application and travel.
• Grants may be requested for between $500 and $2,000 dollars per applicant. UM expects to award between 7 and 15 grants through this program.
• The travel must occur between August 1 and June 30 of the NEXT FISCAL YEAR.
• Travel must be to other SEC university campuses. Travel to off-campus locales like research sites, centers, extension offices, etc. is permissible, provided the sites are affiliated with the host unit or university and related directly to the collaborative endeavor.
• Travel funds may be used only for the travel-related expenses of the traveling faculty member (e.g., transportation, lodging, meals, etc.).
• Eligible Activities: The visiting faculty member may consult with faculty and/or students, offer lectures or symposia, present a recital, or engage in whatever activities are agreeable to the visitor and host unit.
• The program may not be used in conjunction with outside employment, and each UM faculty traveler will be responsible for arranging coverage of any UM duties while traveling.
• If two or more faculty are intending to travel together for the same collaborative purpose (for example, a duo or trio of performing artists proposing to perform together during their visit):
  • Obtain one invitation letter from the host collaborator, mentioning each UM faculty traveler by name.
  • Each faculty member must submit their own application, listing only those portions of the expenses that they will be responsible for, such as their meals and hotel room.
  • Each faculty applicant should include a copy of the one invitation letter with their application.
  • If one member of the group is covering the costs of transportation for the entire group (e.g., car rental, gasoline, mileage, parking fees), that faculty member should budget those transportation costs on their own application, and explain in the justification which expenses are for themselves only (e.g., meals and hotel rooms), and which expenses this traveler will be paying on behalf of the group (e.g., car rental, gasoline, parking fees, mileage, etc.).
  • Each member of the group should indicate in their own application that this is a group trip, and reference the other UM travelers by name.
• If a proposed trip will involve visits for a related purposes to multiple destinations, either in the same tour, or at different times during the year, they must all be SEC institutions. This is because only travel costs directly attributable to visits to SEC institutions can be charged to the grant. SEC travel grants should not be requested for trips involving visits to non-SEC institutions.
• Proposal/Application Format:
  • Include a description of the activities, what the expected benefits will be (research, teaching, scholarship) to UM, the applicant’s career, and/or the larger community.
  • The host institution and unit.
  • A detailed budget and justification.
  • A one short (<125 word) biography of the applicant.
  • A head shot of the applicant that is exactly 1,000 x 1,000 pixels in size.
  • An invitation letter from a representative of the host institution, outlining expectations for the visit, and if available, the preferred visit dates.
• Proposals should be submitted by completing the online application form.
• Faculty at other SEC schools wishing to travel to UM should apply through their own institution’s SEC travel grants program. If you want to invite a faculty member from another SEC university to visit UM, send them an e-mailed invitation, and reference this program. They can check with their institutional points of contact to see what the process if for requesting SEC faculty travel funding through their institution.
• See also: https://www.thesecu.com/programs/sec-faculty-travel-program/.

1. Q: May UM faculty may apply for SEC Travel Grant funds to HOST a conference that faculty from other SEC institutions will attend?
   A: No. However, if you plan your conference far enough in advance, faculty from other SEC institutions can apply for SEC funds through their own institutions to attend.
2. Q: May SEC Travel Grant funds be used to pay for group meals involving host institution participants?
   A: No. At UM, Group Meals are not considered travel expenses. The SEC Travel Grant funds are to be used for travel expenses only.
3. Q: May one SEC Travel Grant be proposed cover a one or more trips to multiple destinations for the same thematic purpose?
   A: Yes. However, all destinations on each trip should be SEC institutions, and the maximum travel grant amount is applied to the grant in total–not to each trip or destination.
4. Q: May multiple faculty apply to travel on the same trip, to the same destination, for the same purpose?
   A: Each faculty member should submit their own SEC travel application to cover the expenses they will be responsible for, and should indicate in the application that this is part of a proposed group trip with the other applying faculty members.

9/1 – 4/30:        Applications for traveling the FOLLOWING FISCAL YEAR may be submitted through an online submission form

5/1 – 6/15:        Applications will continue to be received and evaluated until the entire $10K has been committed.

5/30; 6/30:     At the end of each of these months, ORED will notify applicants whether their applications submitted have been selected for inclusion in UM’s application to SEC.

July 1:               Target date for submitting UM’s application to SEC.

July 31:             Last possible date to submit UM’s application to SEC.
Also, last possible date for travel for current year SEC faculty travelers.

Aug 15:             Each traveler’s post trip summary report due to ORED (oredfacultytravel@olemiss.edu).

Sep 30:             Last day for UM to submit 1-page summary to SEC office describing how previous year’s travel grant was used, including a description of the collaborations.

Jason Hale
Director of Research Development, ORED
for UM faculty questions about qualifications/process
Secondary UM Contact for SEC visitors to UM
jghale@olemiss.edu, 662-915-3922

Virginia Chavis
Associate Provost
The University of Mississippi
Primary UM Contact for SEC visitors to UM
vlrougon@olemiss.edu, 662-915-7193