With COVID still with us, many faculty are wondering if they can use conference funds for activities other than traditional conferences. The answer is "yes" !!!

Article 35 of our Contract (Conference Leaves) states that conference funds can be used for:

• class fees for projects associated with column advancement, PG&D, or sabbatical
• conferences (e.g. webinars, virtual trainings, classes, online workshops, etc.)
• professional meetings,
• activities designed to improve the professional competencies of the members,
• activities shall be pertinent to the educational objectives of the department and college.

The District allocates $250,000 each year to the Faculty Conference Fund, and this money is swept if it goes unused, so please find a way to treat yourself to some form of online training.

The funds can be applied to activities for this academic year (starting July 1, 2020), so if you've already paid for an @One course or some other training, you can apply for reimbursement.

For more information, please reach out to the Conference Leave Committees:

At Mission College - Haze Dennis, haze.dennis@missioncollege.edu and Wendy Shan, wenlei.shan@wvm.edu and Brian Miller brian.miller@missioncollege.edu

At West Valley College - Michelle Francis, Michelle.Francis@westvalley.edu and Bickie Choy, Bickie.Choy@westvalley.edu

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What about those legacy funds?

Remember when the District only gave each FT faculty member $200 per year for conferences? Back during those ye olde days when cars ran on gas, many faculty did not attend conferences regularly and so those funds would slowly build up year-after-year until they got used, or not!  Those funds are attached to individual faculty members and are referred to as legacy conference funds. Those amounts will be swept away on April 30, 2021.  

If you think you have legacy conference funds and want to use those funds then there is a slightly different process for using that money.

• Contact the Office of Instruction and request your legacy conference fund balance and the budget number.
• Submit to your dean a conference request using these funds. Use the District's Conference Attendance Reimbursement Form (click on "Forms" and leave the travel section blank if not applicable).  The request does not go to the Conference Leave Committee - it goes to your dean.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on conference funds, either in general or how to better use this benefit during COVID etc., please reach out to us!