The mandate of the SCHS Professional Development Committee is to support and advocate for individual and group professional development within the School of Community and Health Studies thus advancing its capacity for a high standard of teaching and learning practice, leadership and scholarship.

To pursue this mandate, the SCHS Professional Development Committee has established the following goals:

• To promote professional development opportunities in the School of Community and Health Studies.
• To encourage departments to plan group professional development opportunities based on faculty, administration and support staff input, request and needs.
• To review the disbursement and the allocation of money based on estimated and actual expenses.
• To advocate for presentation funds; locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.
• To encourage sharing of newly acquired knowledge.

The Committee allocates Professional Development (PD) funds according to the following criteria:

• Full-time employment status of the applicant.
• PD fund allotment over the past three years.
• Relationship of proposed PD experience to priorities/goals identified by the college department, individual faculty and staff, and the PD goals.
• Identified skill or field of experience not presently exhibited.
• Relevance of PD event to the curriculum development, teaching/learning process, and to the individual or group’s renewal.

• Applicant must complete a PD request form.
• PD request must be submitted as early as possible, preferably 12 weeks in advance of the event.
• Submitted requests are reviewed at the next PD Committee meeting.
• The applicant will be notified via email by PD chair person. Should the request be denied, rationale for the decision will be included.
• The applicant will submit to Ruby Johnston the completed expense form along with the appropriate documentation for reimbursement of funds.

Submit PD request form to:

• During the Fall and Winter semesters:  Ann Martens, Chair, PD Committee, C-206 Ashtonbee
• During the Summer semester:  Christine Dell'Elce, Room 352 Morningside 

Please note:

• If PD event is to take place during an academic year, the applicant must obtain approval for time from her/his manager prior to PD request submission.
• All decisions are subject to college-wide policy.
• Professional Development monies are not to be used to fund professional membership fees, subscriptions, software and/or capital assets. These expenses are to be funded from the operating budget.

The PD Committee begins its quarterly meetings at the start of the fiscal year (April) to review requests and begin the allocation process.

Funding provided for Professional Development varies year to year and additional funding can become available at different points in the year.  Consequently, we encourage the submission of requests throughout the year.

Decisions will be made at the meeting that is most closely scheduled to the application submission date.  Where there is a high volume of applications without  a timely scheduled meeting, the committee will make decisions through electronic communications.