Though there may be a few more (or less) steps in your particular process of requesting funding, here are the steps you will need to take to get funds reimbursed (if funding is available). [Thank you, Dr. Reid, for providing much of this information to me last semester]
- Confirmation/Acceptance Letter: You will, of course, need to apply to and be accepted by a local or national conference.Once your presentation/panel/workshop/paper is accepted, you should receive either a print or email congratulatory letter. Print this letter and, if it was sent electronically, save it. This is the first part of your packet.
- Request for Travel Funds Support Form: On the TAMU-C web page, under Graduate Studies, you will find a page for Graduate Forms and Guidelines. Here you will find the form Request for Graduate Student Travel Support. Please print and fill this out. This is the second part of your packet.
- Abstract: Your abstract should be slightly altered to reflect "past tense" (i.e. rather than "I will present" you would write "I presented" etc.). This should be no more than two pages in length.
- Letter of Support from Research Advisor: This is the professor best acquainted with your presentation. If, say, the genesis of your paper was a class assignment, you would ask the professor of that class for a letter. If that professor is not available or you are presenting a completely new paper, you might ask a professor you are currently taking to read over your work and write a paper for you. Remember to give professors plenty of time to do this for you, no less than a week.
- Letter of Support from the Department Head: Of course, this is Dr. Donna Dunbar-Odom, but, if she is not available (and she will not be Spring 2012), you would ask Dr. Susan Stewart. Again, you should provide at least a week of time for them to write the letter for you.
- Registration, Receipts and Boarding Passes: The graduate school will ask you to provide proof of your actually having attended the conference (c'mon, you didn't think "free money" was gonna be as easy as a couple of letters?). Be sure to keep all of your relevant receipts, keep your registration confirmation (and ask for one if you didn't get it), and keep your airline boarding passes (again, you may need to ask for these).
- You only have 30 days after a conference to apply for funding, so you want to have most of this done before you leave, so you can simply make copies of all your receipts, pull together your packet, and turn it in to the graduate school.
- Sometimes it takes a while to get your funds, so please don't attend a conference counting on the funds to be immediately reimbursed upon your return. I've heard of people getting funds an entire semester later. Just be patient.
- Be graceful, humble, and grateful - many schools do not provide travel funds for graduate students. Many times, without your knowing, our own faculty pitch in their hard-earned money to support our travel. This is "free money" because you would have to attend these conferences regardless of funding (you know, if you want to have a fighting chance of getting hired somewhere). So try to keep the griping about slow reimbursement or minimal funds to a minimum.
- Enjoy your conferences! If, for some reason, the funds dry up or something else happens, at least you will be able to say you had a good time - and that's well worth the expense.
