Graduate Student Senate Travel Award

One funding possibility for graduate student travel to conferences is the Graduate Student Senate Travel Fund. Guidelines and submission dates for this fund are available on the Graduate Student Senate’s Travel Award web page.

The Graduate Student Senate (GSS) in cooperation with the Dean of Students and the Dean of Graduate Studies awards funding for graduate and professional students to travel, present work, and participate at scholarly conferences and events. Three travel award announcements are made throughout the year, designed to roughly coincide with the academic term periods. These awards are based on financial need and are given to provide partial reimbursement of certain allowable expenses such as transportation, lodging and registration expenses. Applications are considered by a committee composed of graduate students, faculty members, and university administrators.

In order to be considered for a travel award, your application must be filled out completely and returned to the Office of the Dean of Students with the required supporting materials. Travel award applications should be given to Kayla Whitt (323 HPER, kwhitt@utk.edu or 974-1271), who is responsible for handling requests for travel reimbursement for the Department.

Application Process

1. Fill out the online application on the GSS web site.
2. You will receive an email with a PDF of the application and signature pages. Students should print this document, have their advisor sign it, and then submit it to the department along with the CEHHS application. Make sure to plan ahead and allow extra time for this process.
3. KRSS will submit the original signature pages to GSS.

Guidelines

1. In keeping with University policy, all sponsored travel must receive prior approval. Travel support requests submitted at the time of actual travel or after travel has occurred will not be accepted.
2. Travel requests should be submitted at least three weeks prior to travel date to allow review, consultation and decision-making.
3. All requests for college support will be reviewed in the Dean’s Office; some will be vetted through the Executive Committee.

Deadlines

In order for your application to be complete, it must be received by the Dean of Students office no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day of the application deadline. It is critical that the student submit the application to KRSS well in advance to ensure that it is processed in time to meet the College deadline.

If you have any question about the GSS Travel Fund Application process, please contact gsstravel@utk.edu.