 |
|
|
| Dependent Care Travel Awards for Faculty |
January 2008
The Elsevier Foundation awarded UC Irvine a New Scholars Program Grant for its Professional Development Program for Tenure Track Faculty Parents of Infants and Toddlers. The Elsevier Foundation New Scholars Program is a national competition dedicated to increasing the participation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in our nation’s universities, colleges, and laboratories.
UCI’s highly regarded ADVANCE Program for Faculty Equity and Diversity will manage the award to support an innovative pilot program for tenure-track faculty who are parents of children up to twenty-four month. Up to 60 qualifying faculty will receive travel awards to subsidize childcare costs associated with participation at conferences and research meetings. In the fall and in the spring, a call for requests will be disseminated to tenure-track faculty. The ADVANCE Program will oversee the selection of Professional Development Awards.
This award--the first for the University of California—addresses a major hurdle for participation in STEM and other crucial fields. Pre-tenure faculty face a unique challenge in reconciling the demands of career and family responsibilities. The tenure track period overlaps with the critical childbearing and childrearing years. For new faculty parents, the costs associated with childcare for essential travel to share and disseminate new knowledge can be a hurdle and, in some cases, a career barrier. UCI is not alone in recognizing the importance of dependent care travel awards in the advancement of innovation and discovery. Among members of the elite American Association of Universities (AAU), Stanford University and Harvard University have established such programs for their talented faculty. This pilot program will complement the University of California “Family Friendly” policies and ensure that UCI remains a national center for world-class research, education and service to the community and the state of California.
For more information, see the Frequently Asked Questions