New support program for faculty family care during academic travel

Many U-M Medical School faculty have been limited in their ability to attend meetings/conferences due to the demands of caregiving. This limits their ability to gain national reputation and has led to disparities in caregiver promotion rates, making this a DEI issue that can be addressed with targeted intervention. 

This is an important time to provide additional resources to support faculty in their professional development.

In response, the UMMS Dean’s Office has developed a pilot program that will provide:

• Caregiving travel expense support (up to $1,000 annually, taxable) for tenure, clinical and research track faculty in the early stage of their careers.
• Examples of expenses that might be covered: cost of travel to bring your child to the meeting/conference, childcare for your child while at a conference, child or elder care while you are away from home.
• This support will allow faculty to attend meetings, conferences, workshops, or other professional development offerings. Such support demonstrates our understanding of the needs of the faculty and will further support equity in promotions. 

PLEASE NOTE: This program is intended to support caregiving expenses incurred for family members of faculty traveling for academic purposes. This program is not intended to support expenses the faculty member incurs directly for their own travel.

Applications to request support for travel to meetings in 2023 will be accepted quarterly. Confirmation will be received at the beginning of each travel quarter. The due dates are as follows:

• Dec. 31 for academic meetings that would occur between Jan. 1 and March 31
• March 31 for meetings occurring between April 1 and June 30
• June 30 for meetings occurring between July 1 and Sept 30
• Sept. 30 for meetings occurring between Oct 1 and Dec 31

Learn more and apply.

Questions may be directed to Paul Salow at psalow@umich.edu.