Education and Career Development Committee 2022-2023 Report
Active committee members: Randall Borror, James Stamey, Sharron Bouquin, Tracey Wiley, L.E. Alexander (Co-chair), Laura Pratt (Co-chair)
This year’s committee focused on two primary responsibilities: Professional Development Grants and the Carolina Family Scholarship.
- Professional Development Grants –
Professional Development Grants provide permanent University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill employees with up to $500 in funding to help cover professional development opportunities. The grant covers work-related education and training and can be used for conferences, certificates, non-credit classes, or similar instructional opportunities. In other words, it covers anything related to or contributing to the professional skills of the individual employee and not already covered by other resources at the University.
The committee is responsible for creating the Qualtrics application, collecting submitted applications, scoring the applications, and following university policy in regard to payments and reimbursements. This year, the committee refined our application and award letter processes to better reflect the information needed for the Concur travel system.
Between the spring 2022 and fall 2022 PDG application periods, we received a total of 76 applications. In total, 34 employees were selected to receive funding for their professional development opportunity. The committee was able to award these employees with a total of $11,747.16. Recognizing that there is an overwhelming need for financial support for the professional development of UNC-CH employees, we have requested a total of $20,000 for the upcoming fascial year – an increase that will make a difference for employees across campus.
- Carolina Family Scholarship –
The Carolina Family Scholarship fund was established in 2004 to provide need-based scholarships to the children of employees attending any of the 16 UNC campuses or community colleges in North Carolina.
This committee is responsible for the administration of the scholarship. We create the application, work with a committee of faculty and staff to review the applications, and then collaborate with the Office of Scholarship and Student Aid to ensure the funding is properly distributed. In the summer of 2022, we received 24 applications for this scholarship. We were able to award 8 students $2000 each, bringing that to a total of $16,000 to be used to further their education at UNC system schools or community colleges. We hope to be able to award a similar amount this coming summer.