Standard V. Administration and Finance

V.7 Institutional funds for research projects, professional development, travel, and leaves with pay are available on the same basis as in comparable units of the institution. Student financial aid from the parent institution is available on the same basis as in comparable units of the institution.

The School budgets travel funds for each faculty member, to facilitate their travel to professional and research conferences. These funds may supplement grant-funded travel, or be the sole source of support for faculty travel. These funds cover transportation, lodging, and any conference registrations.

The University directs discretionary funds derived from indirect costs associated with research grants (“Research Discretionary Funds”) to the iSchool in order to foster faculty research endeavors. Faculty propose innovative or strongly-collaborative projects which will enhance the School’s research reputation. The Associate Dean and the Dean then allocates a portion of the discretionary funding to support equipment purchases, student research assistants, or travel to further the research agenda. See Appendix FAC 2 for a list of funded research at the iSchool or visit this Web page for an up-to-date list of active research projects.

The University also supports faculty through periodic sabbatical leaves. A sabbatical leave may be awarded to a tenured faculty member who has served at least six years after initial appointment in the tenure stream or after return from a previous sabbatical leave.  Periods of absence without pay are not counted as part of the six years.  If a sabbatical leave is delayed at the University's request, the period before a subsequent sabbatical leave may be shortened by an amount not exceeding the extent of the requested delay.

Sabbatical leaves may be approved for either a full appointment year at one-half salary, or one-half the appointment year at full salary.  Teaching for a faculty member on annual appointment who is awarded a six-month sabbatical leave at full pay is arranged so as to minimize the effect of the leave on the teaching program of the faculty member’s academic unit.

Student financial aid at the iSchool includes funds from a variety of sources including the University’s allocation to the School, endowed scholarship funds, and funded research projects. The University’s portion of scholarship/stipend funding is determined through an institution-wide model known as Tuition Revenue Generation.

MLIS students receiving financial support from the iSchool budgets

As can be seen in the chart above, the proportion of MLIS students receiving some form of financial support from the iSchool has increased over the last two years.