The Department of Communication aims to provide graduate students with an annual travel allowance to assist graduate students with travel fares to academic conferences so that they may present research papers or posters.

The Graduate Student Travel Fund is currently supported by revenue from sales of Department course packets. An annual travel allowance of $500 will be provided to each eligible graduate student, as long as funds are available. Funds may not be carried over by a student from one year to the next.

To be eligible, a graduate student must be in good standing and be active in the Department. This means that: (1) students who are on academic probation are not eligible to receive travel assistance from the Department until they return to good standing, and (2) students who are not enrolled in units and who are not presently active, on campus, in our Department are not eligible to receive travel assistance from this fund. (If the conference is in summer and the student is not enrolled, then they must have been enrolled in spring and be registered for fall units in order to be eligible.)

To receive funding, eligible students must first provide documentation of acceptance of their solo or co-authored research to the conference. They must also confirm that they will be the presenter of this research. This documentation should be provided to the office staff that is managing travel purchases and reimbursements.

Travel assistance funding may be used to pay for transportation, lodging, food (up to $42/day), and conference registration fees. Funding may not be used for poster preparation fees, society memberships, or the purchase of alcohol.

Policy Effective September 15, 2014