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Staff Professional and Career Development Policy - College of Education

The College of Education is a learning organization, and we are committed to investing in our most precious resource, our people.  Learning organizations are adaptive, flexible, and embrace a culture of learning that promotes the growth and progress of its employees.  As such, the COE has developed a professional development and career development policy to help facilitate this culture of learning and to grow and nurture our talent.

These policy guidelines are designed to provide our staff with the tools, opportunities, and resources that will enable them to advance their job-related abilities and pursue broader career growth opportunities within the college and beyond.  

Definitions

Professional Development

Professional development centers on efforts to gain new skills and knowledge in order to advance current job-related performance and success. It can involve efforts to keep up with new technological, systems, and processes, learning about new developments in a field, and improving existing skills.

• • Example: A COE Administrative Associate is directed by their supervisor to attend a workshop focused on a new database system for tracking travel approvals and documents.

Career Development

Career development is the ongoing process of setting career-related goals and establishing routes to achieving them. Career development is focused on growth and advancement towards future roles and positions.

• • Example: An Administrative Manager asks to attend a lecture series focused on the intersection of connected technology and college student learning.

Both professional development and career development activities can include formal trainings, courses, presentations, seminars, conferences, and/or workshops led by expert facilitators. These activities could also include more informal presentations from webinars (e.g., UTLearn modules), lectures (e.g., Dean’s Distinguished Lectures), podcasts, organized book groups, asynchronous or self-paced online courses.

COE Professional Development

• Employees should have access to routine initial and recurrent training and professional development necessary to intentionally develop their job-related skills.
• Supervisors are expected to lead conversations about employee professional development needs and expectations at least annually, as part of the performance review process.
• Supervisors are expected to allow for time away from an employees’ normal job duties to engage in training and professional development activities.
• Participating in required professional development activities is considered paid time.
• Units are expected to internally manage budgets to accommodate costs, if any, associated with expected professional development activities.

COE Career Development

• Well-performing employees should have access to career development opportunities beyond any planned or required professional development activities.
• Employees may initiate conversations with their supervisor about possible career development activities at least annually, as part of the performance review process.
• Approval of specific proposals for career development activities are at the discretion of the supervisor.
• In general, employees may request up to eight hours of paid time per year to participate in career development activities. Supervisors may approve additional hours for career development.
• Supervisors are expected to allow for time away from an employees’ normal job duties to engage in career development activities.
• Participating in career development activities is considered paid time.
• Employees eligible for career development are those who: (1) are full-time A&P and classified staff who have completed at least one-year of uninterrupted service to the college, (2) are not on a performance improvement plan, and (3) received a “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations” rating, or equivalent, in their latest performance appraisal.
• The Office of the Dean may make discretionary funding available to provide supplemental support for career development activities with specific associated tuition/program or travel expenses.

Timekeeping for Professional and Career Development

Employees must count training and professional development activity on their timesheets and enter it as hours worked. Overtime or comp time cannot be claimed on days where professional development hours are reported, and the overall work time reported for the week must not exceed 40 hours. Please reach out to COE-HR@austin.utexas.edu with any timekeeping questions.

 Professional and Career Development Resources

• Staff Professional Development Grant
• Staff Tuition Assistance Program
• LinkedIn Learning
• UTLearn
• UT Learning & Development Resource
• Deans Distinguished Lecture Series and various other seminars/events at UT
• UT Library
• Podcast, free online courses etc.

Staff Supplemental Career Development Program and Process - College of Education

The College of Education has established a discretionary fund to provide supplemental support for career development activities that include tuition/program fees or travel expenses.

This supplemental program is not designed to provide funds for routine initial or recurrent professional development activities; per COE policies, professional development expenses should be managed with unit-level funds.

Where possible, employees are encouraged to utilize already available, and free, UT resources to participate in career development activities.

Since funding resources are limited, this supplemental program it is not designed to be the sole source of funding for career development activities that involve expenses, but may be used in combination with funding possibilities from college units, an employee’s home department, and/or an employee’s personal funds.

Eligibility for Professional Development Fund

• All full-time A&P and classified staff who have completed at least one-year of uninterrupted service to the college
• Employees who are not on any performance improvement plans
• Employees who received a “meets expectations” or “exceeds expectations” rating, or equivalent, in their latest performance appraisal

Use of Funds

Funding may support expenses for career development activities in the following areas:

• Workshops, or program fees
• Conference attendance fees
• Tuition costs for organized courses (in person or online)
• Certain professional certification costs

Unacceptable use of funds includes, but is not limited to:

• Any expense that does not support the mission of the University of Texas at Austin and/or the College of Education
• Any expense or activity that is prohibited by UT Austin and/or COE policies and procedures
• Expenses that are not directly related to current and/or anticipated roles
• Any request not supported by the applicant’s supervisor

 Application

1. Applications for career development supplemental funding requests should be submitted directly by the employee via email to: COE-HR@austin.utexas.edu
2. Applications will be reviewed, accepted or rejected three times per year:
   1. September
   2. January
   3. May
3. Applicants should clearly address three areas in the application: (1) a description of the activity they are proposing (e.g. attend a conference), (2) the objective behind their requested activity (i.e., how it will benefit their work and COE), and (3) the expected outcome of the activity (e.g., the development of a skill that leads to more efficient services)
4. Applications should also identify the time needed to be away from work, and a coverage plan explaining how that time away will minimize impact of operations of the unit or department
5. Applications must have the written support of the applicant’s direct supervisor, which must include a statement of how the activity directly supports the career growth and development of the employee in terms of their current, anticipated, or potential future roles within the college
6. Applications may be submitted throughout the year with a minimum of 60 days prior to the start of the proposed activity

The submission of an application does not imply any guarantee of funding.

Application Review & Approval

Applications will be reviewed by the Office of Dean, with final funding decisions made by the Dean.

Typical funding awards are expected to range between $50 and $250, although the dean may fund additional amounts based on the unique circumstances and availability of other funds provided by the home unit. 

An employee may receive funding no more than once per fiscal year.

Funding priorities will be based on:

1. How the proposed request will directly impact the applicant’s career development as it relates to their current and/or anticipated role within the college
2. The supervisor’s statement of support, including how any impact of time-away from work will be mitigated.
3. Number of prior awards made to the applicant, with preference given to first-time applicants
4. Availability of funds