Professional Development Plan (PDP) Guidelines

In order to assure the continued development and excellence of its personnel, the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater has initiated an employee program to invest in professional development and professional travel opportunities. Professional Development Plan (PDP) funds will be made available on an annual basis for each UW-W staff member. The guaranteed minimum amount available is based upon your classification, FTE, and period of employment during the fiscal year. Faculty are eligible for $1,000 per FTE, academic staff are eligible for $500 per FTE, and classified staff are eligible for $250 per FTE. Part time employees with yearly appointments at 0.50 FTE or greater are also eligible and will receive a prorated guaranteed amount. Funding for the PDP will be provided through a 67% contribution from institutional reserves and a 33% match from divisional resources. Supplemental funding may be provided through the division to augment PDP awards.

Individual staff members will receive their total PDP funding within a single division even if their appointments are split between divisions. Staff with split appointments will receive their funding in the division where they receive their merit evaluations. Each division having staff with split appointments will be required to provide a proportionate share of the required matching funds.

Each employee must annually submit an acceptable development plan to gain access to their guaranteed PDP funding. Each division will have a written PDP management plan that will specify where the locus of control (divisional or departmental) will be in conducting the meeting with the faculty, academic staff, or classified personnel within the division for the purpose of approving individually proposed plans. Divisions will also need to specify whether budgetary control will be at the divisional or departmental level so that a separate org code(s) can be set up for each division (department) to track PDP budgeted allocations and expenditures. The total amount of guaranteed funding for each division will be based on the total FTE at 50% or greater hired by the beginning of the academic year. Employees may jointly choose to consolidate individual PDP funding to attend an enhanced group development activity.

Professional development and professional travel requests are restricted to job-related or career-development opportunities. These include training, workshops, conferences, coursework and presentations of papers or research. The program is not intended to cover the cost of courses taken primarily for personal benefit, supplemental library fees, individual memberships, or research costs.

Requests for the use of PDP funds should be submitted according to your respective divisional plan as early as possible, but absolutely no later than January 31 for funding that will be used during the current fiscal year ending on June 30. All travel and other development activities must be completed by June 15 in order to ensure that expenses get coded to the correct fiscal year. Travel reports must be completed and submitted for reimbursement no later than the June cutoff date for all travel reports. Individuals will not be allowed to accumulate PDP funds across fiscal years.

If pre-approved, costs in excess of the guaranteed base will be the responsibility of the division. Without pre-approval, excess expenses must be covered by the staff member.

All PDP funds expended for professional development must meet state travel guidelines in order to be reimbursed. Any incidental personal expenses incurred at the time of the professional development activity will not be reimbursed.

Administration of this program will require tracking of PDP related expenditures by individual, thus all expenses must be paid by the employee using personal funds/credit card or the UW travel card. Group development activities are exempted from this requirement. Employees will be reimbursed up to the guaranteed amount upon receipt of a completed travel voucher and appropriate documentation. Financial Services will provide a tracking mechanism for individual PDP balances provided that campus procurement cards are NOT used for PDP related expenditures. (Use of procurement cards would lump all expenditures and make it impossible for Financial Services to track individual awards and balances.) If the division (department) chooses to utilize procurement cards, it will be responsible for tracking individual PDP balances.