Tenured faculty earn Professional Development Units (PDUs) for engaging in professional development and growth activities.
Earning PDUs enables faculty members to advance on the salary scale. Untenured professional/technical faculty may also earn PDUs to maintain vocational certification.
For details about PDU's, please see the Faculty Contract.
At the beginning of the academic year, revisit your TEP. Select PDU earning activities that will help you to meet the outcomes outlined in your TEP.
Submit the form to your dean for prior approval unless the activity is a graduate level course or a personal enrichment activity. All other activities require prior approval.
To receive credit for PDU generating activity, you must usually provide supporting documentation. This documentation might be a conference agenda, a transcript, a time log, a calendar, or a written report. Please see the PDU form to decide which documentation is appropriate for your activity.
Submit your completed PDU form and supporting documentation to your dean (professional/technical faculty should submit forms to Janis Wright).
Photocopy your completed PDU forms, with all supporting documentation, and file the forms in a safe place.
Documentation for PDU's must be submitted within one year of the completion of the activity. PDU documentation submitted after the first day of summer quarter will be evaluated for the following academic year.
Disputes over the validity or acceptability of an activity will be resolved by a Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) consisting of three faculty and three administrators selected by the Vice President for Instruction.
Check the PDU form to see what documentation is required for your 'PDUable' activity. Typical documentation includes transcripts, conference brochures, and time logs. Research and development PDUs require the submission of a comprehensive report. What should you do? Gather the appropriate documentation and resubmit the PDU form the following year.
What can you do? First, avoid this mistake by seeking prior approval. However, if the activity was undertaken because it indeed has value to the faculty member and/or program, perhaps the teaching effectiveness plan needs to be updated. The teaching effectiveness plan is a dynamic document. Revisit it with you dean to see how the plan might be updated to better reflect new directions that could include the desired activity.
What can you do? Prior approval is important because it helps avoid misunderstandings about linkages to the teaching effectiveness plan, funding, and required documentation. However, if an oversight occurs, plead your case with your dean. If the activity is related to or specified in the teaching effectiveness plan, it has a good chance of being approved.
You may only apply for PDUs for one year after completing the activity. Submit the PDU application immediately after completing the PDU activity, or by the first day of summer quarter.
Faculty members who are interested in participating in faculty development activities that strengthen the college mission and/or Annual Priorities have the ability to make written requests directly to the Vice President of Instruction. These are one-time-only funds, but the funds can have wide-ranging application. Funds may be used for a specific professional development activity, such as a conference or workshop; or funds may be used for an event or activity, such as an art gallery show, campus speaker series, or arts magazine debut.
The written request must explain:
Carl Perkins professional development funds, available only for professional technical faculty, are intended to fund activities that either help faculty stay current in their given field or promote program improvement. Applicants must write a short narrative in which they describe:
The application is submitted to the Dean for Workforce and Continuing Education and is review by the Workforce Education Team. Funds are allocated on a first come, first serve basis, although consideration is given to how funds have been dispersed among eligible program faculty. Additionally, recipients of these funds must submit a short written report before the end of the academic year summarizing the actual outcomes of the activity including the actual or expected impact on the professional/technical program.
Exceptional Faculty Grants provide for projects or services that promote student learning. Projects may relate to existing or to new programs, courses, or services. Awards can be used by full and part-time faculty to pay for in-service training, temporary or replacement costs directly associated with faculty development programs, conferences, travel, publication, and dissemination of exemplary projects; to supplement the salary of the holder; or to pay expenses associated with the holder’s program area. Applications are emailed to all faculty during winter quarter from the LCC Foundation office and are read by a review committee consisting of at least two faculty, an LCC Foundation member, and a dean who serves as chair of the committee. Applications are due each year by 5:00 p.m. on the first instructional day of spring term and must be completed by the end of the fiscal year (June 30) of the award year to receive funds.
Projects generally do not exceed $2,500 and must support one or more of the themes and goals of the College’s Strategic Plan or Technical Educational Plan. Except under unusual circumstances, grants are not funded on a continuing basis. Recipients must submit a brief report to the Office of the Vice President and Dean of Faculty or their designee when their project is complete as well as share the results of their project with the general faculty. The project must be completed and all paperwork and required documentation must be turned in before June 30th of the award year to receive grant funds.
The Faculty Development Committee disperses funds to full and part time faculty for activities that promote professional
growth. The Committee is composed of one representative from each department and is
chaired by the Vice President of Instruction. The Vice President of Instruction's
Executive Assistant is the secretary for the Faculty Development Committee. The Committee
meets at the beginning of the academic year and creates an updated set of guidelines
for disbursement of funds as well as quarterly due dates for applications which are
shared with full and part time faculty.
Faculty who apply for funds must fill out two documents:
If the applicant wants to travel outside Washington State, the prior approval must be signed by the President of the college before submitting. Once a travel request has or has not been approved by the Committee, the applicant will receive a letter from the Vice President outlining the action taken by the Committee.
