Graduate Travel Funds

Application for Graduate travel funds

There are three possible venues for receiving graduate student travel funds:

  1. English Department Funds (via John Curran, DGS)
  2. AEGS Funds (via AEGS)
  3. Graduate School Funds (via Tom Marek, Graduate School)
    • Because travel money in the ENGL department budget (#1) varies from year to year, there is no guarantee of any set sum for graduate travel; that said, in any given year, if the chair has determined that ENGL department money may be set aside for graduate travel, the chair will inform the DGS. The DGS, in turn, will solicit travel requests from graduate students and use the established criteria to award the money. Travel requests should include: (a) reason for request and (b) budget.
    • Any travel money awarded by AEGS (#2) will be handled via the AEGS Application form.
    • The student may apply to the Graduate School for funds.

Notification of graduate travel fund awards

Graduate students will be notified of different travel awards by different university offices:

  1. For Departmental funds, theDGS will notify graduate students of their travel awards. TheDGS will:
    • Send emails to individual graduate students, copying the chair and Wendy Walsh
    • Indicate in these emails (a) the amount, and (b) the venue.
  2. For AEGS Funds, AEGS will notify graduate students of their travel awards.
  3. For Graduate School Funds, Tom Marek will notify graduate students of their travel awards.

[NOTE: from these emails, the chair and Wendy will keep a running list of awards]

Reimbursement of awarded graduate travel funds

Graduate students must submit reimbursement claims for their travel fund awards to the following places:

  1. To claim Departmental Funds, graduate students must submit, to Wendy Walsh in the ENGL Department within two weeks of travel, the following:
    • Copy of e-mail notification of travel award (from DGS for departmental awards)
    • Receipts
    • Travel Expense Form*
  2. To claim AEGS Funds, consult AEGS.
  3. For Graduate School Funds: 
    • Awards will be determined based on merit—of both the student and the conference. Students will be required to submit a C.V. with their application. Priority consideration will be given to international and national conferences over regional conferences.
    • Applications will be accepted throughout the year. They will be reviewed monthly by the Graduate School.
    • The $300 cap has been removed. The amount of each award will vary. Awards will be issued based on the merit of the student and the conference, and will depend on our available budget.
    • The requirement to apply before travel has taken place has been removed. However, applications must be submitted in the same semester as the travel.
    • GSRTA application link

* Only one Travel Expense Form needs to be completed per trip; however, because a graduate student may be requesting reimbursements from more than one fund for any given trip, each reimbursement request should include: (1) a copy of the Travel Expense Form and (2) a brief memo detailing how much money is being requested from each fund. Please note: graduate students are responsible for keeping track of their awards from different funds.