Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty Funding for Research and Travel

Annual Allocation for Research and Travel

On July 1 of each academic year, $3,000 is deposited in each faculty member’s travel and research account. The allowance is for travel to professional meetings or for research purposes. It is administered as flexibly as possible. Submit invoices or receipts directly in Workday for payment or reimbursement. All expenditures must be submitted no later than early in July for the prior year’s allocation, with the exact deadline to be communicated by email each June.  Please note that funds cannot be carried over from one fiscal year to the next.

Modest Requests for Support

Please contact Associate Provost Pawan Dhingra with modest requests for funding for research and travel. For funding for field trips, please complete this form.

Travel 

Faculty, staff, and students traveling one hundred miles from home or more on a college-sponsored trip have an emergency medical assistance benefit through Five Colleges, Inc. with AIG Travel Assist.  A college-sponsored trip is any trip related to a faculty member’s research, courses, or official college business. Examples include professional/academic conference attendance, research, or official college visits.  The benefit covers the Amherst College employee only; dependents and spouses are not covered, but coverage can be purchased through AIG travel assist by the employee. For more information, visit Health and Emergency Medical Assistance. For more information please see the Travel Policy.

Student Research Assistants

Support for student research assistants is available through the Gregory S. Call Academic Internships Program. Faculty may also make use of their own research funds to support student assistants. Faculty who are supervising student research assistants should be aware of college employment policies. All students who are to be paid through the college payroll should obtain Student Employment Authorization Forms from the Office of Financial Aid, and rates must conform to college schedules.

Library Support for Research

If faculty members notice gaps in their fields in the library’s collections and want to have books purchased, they should contact the research and instruction librarian for their department.

Research Support Funds Spending Policy

This policy outlines how college research funds can be spent—i.e., which expenses may be charged against faculty research accounts—to ensure that expenses are recorded in an accurate and timely manner and that the college complies with tax regulations under the Internal Revenue Code.  Please note: this policy does not address research expenses that are being supported through external funding, such as grants (as specified by the college and federal guidelines). 

Definition: Amherst College Faculty Research Funds 
The college allocates research funds to individual faculty and to departments to support the Amherst faculty’s research and other scholarly activities.  This funding includes “start-up funds,” Faculty Research Award Program (FRAP) funds, Special Faculty Research funds, the provost's annual allocation for faculty travel and research, and department funds.