Faculty Development Award (FDA) Guidelines
Updated August 8, 2025
Overview
Purpose: The Faculty Development Award (FDA) is intended to recognize excellence in professional-track faculty and to provide resources to support professional development opportunities and activities for professional track-faculty at The University of Texas at Austin.
Effective: This page includes information for the Fall 2025 application deadline for FDAs that can begin as early as Summer 2026.
*APPLICATIONS CLOSED OCTOBER 1, 2025*
Eligibility Criteria
FDA application information and other requirements are provided on the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost website.
Core Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must hold the rank of assistant professor (or lecturer), associate professor (or senior lecturer) or full professor (or distinguished senior lecturer) in the relevant professional-track title series when applying. Eligible professional track title series include instruction, practice, lecturer, clinical, and research series. Instructional titles will be prioritized.
Applicants must have served as a UT Austin employee with a 50% FTE (or higher %FTE) role as a professional-track faculty member in both the fall and spring terms during each of two consecutive academic years immediately preceding the year of application for the FDA.
Applicants must be serving as a 50% FTE (or higher %FTE) professional-track faculty member in the fall and spring terms at UT Austin during the academic year of the FDA application.
Applicants must have met or exceeded expectations in their annual reviews during the two most recent academic years in service at UT Austin preceding the application for the FDA.
Applicants must wait at least two academic years after a prior FDA has concluded to be eligible to apply for the next FDA.
Application Information
Application Materials
Short CV (limit: four pages)
FDA Proposal that includes:
Abstract (limit: 100 words) that briefly summarizes the purpose of the proposed FDA. The Abstract should not use unnecessary acronyms and should include the following information:
The faculty development activities to bo supported by the FDA
Benefits and anticipated impact of the FDA on the:
Faculty member's professional development, and on the
Faculty member's department, college, and/or the university.
Faculty Development Proposal (limit: 2,000 words) that describes and justifies the proposed FDA and associated activities, the location where the faculty will do the work during the FDA, details about how the FDA activities will contribute to the candidate's professional development and impact on the faculty member's program, department, and UT Austin.
Itemized Budget that must include allowable items and costs with a total that sums to not more than $10,000. For summer salary, the rate and duration should be specified.
Bibliography (optional; limit: two pages)
Where to Apply
Applications can be submitted September 2, 2025 - October 1, 2025 via the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost website.
Allowable Expenses
The FDA offers each recipient up to $10,000 to support faculty development activities. Approved activities and expenditures include:
Summer salary for the faculty awardee as long as:
The percent effort of the faculty member for the summer of the FDA cannot exceed a total of 100% across the three summer months (*please be advised that holding concurrent assignments, such as summer teaching assignments, may impact the award amount; the combined assignments cannot exceed a total of 100% across the three summer months.
Salary is used to support faculty development-related activities during the summer of the award.
Conference participation or other professional development activities.
Course development or other teaching-related activities.
Research, scholarship, and creative activities.
Award Timing
The earliest an FDA’s activities can start is the summer of the academic year of application (e.g., if applying in Fall 2025, FDA can begin as early as Summer 2026).
The latest an FDA’s activities can start is the summer of the academic year after the academic year of application (e.g., if applying in Fall 2025, FDA can begin as late as Summer 2027).
Funds must be expended, and activities concluded within two years of the award start date.
Post-Award Requirements
Within six months of completion of FDA-related activities, the faculty member must submit a report documenting FDA activities and products (where relevant) and the impact of the FDA on the faculty member’s professional development. Note, a failure to submit the report by the deadline will make the faculty member ineligible to receive another FDA. Additional follow-up information might be requested to assess the effectiveness of the FDA program.
Review Committee
Committee Membership
The FDA review committee is comprised of two recent FDA awardees and one tenured member of the College’s Professional Faculty Advisory Committee (PFAC), an ongoing committee that advises the College and makes recommendations connected to policies and support for professional track faculty.
FDA review committee members serve two-year terms and are appointed by the Associate Dean for Academic & Faculty Affairs.
Committee members review FDA applications and make recommendations to the Dean.
Committee members are ineligible to apply for an FDA while serving on the review committee.
Review Process
The FDA application period occurs annually in September-October based on Provost’s Office deadlines.
The Dean’s Office review all applications for eligibility and removes ineligible applicants. The offices of Academic Affairs and Human Resources are responsible for communication, verifying eligibility and tracking.
The FDA review committee reviews FDA applications in October-November based on Provost’s Office deadlines.
When evaluating applications, committee members should consider FDA core eligibility criteria, the quality of the proposal, and benefits to the faculty member’s professional development as well as benefits to the department, college, and/or university.
The committee’s review and recommendation should reflect the professional, evidence-based judgment of each member involved and must not be positively or negatively influenced by a candidate’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, disability, citizenship, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
University Policies
University policies for FDA and FDA-related activities can be found on the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost website.
Contact
For questions, contact: la-academic@austin.utexas.edu