FACULTY SENATE UPDATE
THE VALUE OF PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL
(published in March 2007 UHC News)

Professional travel is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the role of the professor.  Examples of travel includes trips to professional association meetings, trips to conferences in the professor’s specialty area, trips to discuss research proposals with potential grantors, and trips to actually conduct research or to present lectures.  The layperson sometimes views professional travel as a luxury – at the taxpayer’s expense – and will raise an eyebrow when the meeting in question is held in San Diego or Miami.

            Faculty need to do a better job explaining that professional travel is not a luxury, but is an integral feature of the role of the professor.  Even in the era of the Internet and email, there are certain activities that are carried out best by in-person communication.  Attendance at annual meetings of professional organizations, for example, allow faculty to talk to a wide range of publishers’ representatives to help grow an idea for a book or to generate interest in existing book proposals.  Attendance at meetings also encourages faculty to become active in their organizations.  This activity can lead to early knowledge of opportunities to participate in edited books or special journal issues.  Meetings mean networking and establishing professional friendships that can result in faculty exchanges or grant proposals.

            There is a tacit value to traveling to present guest lectures or to participate in scholarly symposia.  Professors can refresh and enliven their thinking on the intellectual or research questions on which they work everyday by discussing them with new colleagues, and different students.  Given all the departmental, college, and university tasks in which professors are expected to engage, we occasionally need a little time to get away, to reflect on our research, to read a journal article on the plane ride home we would not get a chance to read at the office.              

            My point is that professional travel should not be viewed as a luxury or a reward: it is a necessity for faculty at a major research university.  Currently, faculty generally travel one of three ways: on their own grant money, on often meager departmental travel funds, or – increasingly – at their own expense.  We should aim for the standard common to other major research universities: funds to attend one major professional trip each year.  To accomplish this goal, we need to locate new sources of support.  An endowment for faculty excellence would help us see professional travel support as an investment in our professors.                

Joseph A. Kotarba
Faculty Senate President