Dependent Care Travel Stipend

University of Utah Health strongly supports faculty who are working to balance family wellness with scholarly and professional obligations. With initial funding from the Castleton Family and donations from U of U Health leaders, funds are available to individual faculty members to offset the costs associated with dependent care (e.g., child, ill/disabled partner, or elder care) expenses while traveling to attend professional meetings, conferences, workshops, study sections, and other professional development offerings away from home.

This pilot funding mechanism is aimed at improving the career success of diverse faculty. This stipend will support up to $1,500 per faculty member, per fiscal year, for approved expenses.

Eligibility

• Applications are limited to health sciences faculty (Schools of Medicine and Dentistry; Colleges of Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy; and the Eccles Health Sciences Library). Faculty on the tenure, research, clinical, or lecturer tracks may apply.
• The program only supports domestic travel expenses. 

Expenses covered by the travel stipend may include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• Reasonable daily wages (unless the caregiver is a family member), transportation, lodging, and estimated meal costs and incidentals for the caregiver, either at home or during travel to, or onsite at the conference meeting location.
• The cost of transporting the dependent to a conference/meeting location, and reasonable costs associated with travel for the dependent. Entertainment expenses are not reimbursable.

Recipients must verify that funds requested for dependent care are due to travel for university business and are above and beyond normal dependent care expenses (e.g., normal day care or caregiver expenses).

Given the personal nature of this support, payments will be made as taxable additional compensation to the faculty member. Contacting your tax professional to discuss the impact of this compensation on your taxes is advised.

Application Cycles

Requesting faculty members should complete and submit the online application by the deadlines listed above. A review committee comprised of representative members from University of Utah Health Sciences will meet in September, January, and May to review and respond to submitted applications. Following review, applicants will be notified of a decision within one month.

Reimbursement of expenses for travel that has occurred more than 4 months prior to the application deadline will not be considered. Faculty members should plan to apply for funding in advance of their chosen activities.

Prioritization of applications will be based on:

• Quality and significance of the scholarly activity to be supported by the award
• Potential impact of the proposed activities for career development

Questions about eligibility for the program, or other queries, can be directed to Heather Christensen, heather.christensen@hsc.utah.edu or 801-585-6283.

Forms

Call for Applications
Budget Template