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Graduate Student Professional Travel Grants
Requesting a Grant
Attending and participating in professional conferences is a very important part of any career. As a graduate student, you are eligible for reduced conference registration rates and you are at a perfect time in your career to experience the networking, knowledge sharing, and overall exhilaration a state or national conference in your field provides. The Graduate College would like to help you attend.
For the 2012-2013 academic year, the College of Graduate & Professional Studies will fund up to $250 for in state and $500 for out of state travel for graduate students who would like to attend a professional conference in their area of study.
Notes:
Funding for more than one conference per student will be dependent upon budget constraints, however, if a student is presenting or receiving an award we will most certainly support more than one conference request for that student.
Funding for more than 10 students attending any single conference will cover only registration, travel, and hotel up to the amounts stated above. Meals will need to be covered by the student.
Request a Travel Grant: The process
- Complete the Request for Conference Travel from by clicking on this link: Request
- Email Dr. Perry, Dean of the College of Graduate & Professional Studies (perryjr@longwood.edu) AND your program advisor to let them know you have submitted a travel request form.
- An email response will be sent to you and your advisor, letting you know if your travel has been approved.
- Work with your advisor and the departmental administrative assistant to complete an RTA (Request for Travel Authorization) and pay for all travel arrangements just as a Longwood faculty member would.
- Be sure to keep all your receipts when you travel. If you are flying, keep each of your boarding passes. Receipts for meals are not required.
- When you return from your trip, work with your advisor and the departmental administrative assistant to complete a TER (Travel Expense Reimbursement) form.
- We will reimburse the department (up to the amounts listed above)
- after the travel and upon receipt of verification of expenses incurred (a copy of the completed travel expense reimbursement form must be sent to Susan Finch, CGPS). Any amount spent over the amount we provide will need to be covered by the student or the department. We will not cover any expenses incurred if the trip is not taken.
- after we receive your photo(s) and reflection (see #9 below)
- Susan Finch, in the College of Graduate & Professional Studies, handles all the transfers and works with the departmental administrative assistant upon receipt of the paperwork.
- Graduate students who attend professional conferences are asked to have one or two photos of themselves at the conference (or presenting) taken and to provide a one or two paragraph reflection upon returning. Send these to: perryjr@longwood.edu and finchsg@longwood.edu within one week of your return.
We would like to put these up on our website so everyone can see how professionally involved our graduate students are!!
28 Graduate Students Attend State Conference
Click on the above image for a larger photo!
Twenty-eight graduate students from the School Library Media program attended the Virginia Association of School Librarians (VAASL) Conference in Hampton, Virginia on November 10, 2012. The conference theme was “Librarians as Leaders”. They were joined by their Longwood faculty, Dr. Audrey Church, Ms. Frances Reeve, and Mrs. Karla Collins.
Christine Allen
Attending these sessions gives librarians ideas from other librarians from all over the state. It is a place where we can come together and share successes and ideas that are working in our own libraries.
Ashley Barker
I had the privilege of listening and learning from some of the best and brightest librarians, authors, and leaders in my future professional field. I attended 15 different sessions that provided me with a wealth of information that I cannot wait to share with my fellow associates and students.
Melissa Bledsoe
I really cannot express the importance of being involved in such a meaningful, professional organization such as this. I have been attending the conferences since 2000, and each one just gets better and better. I always leave the conference feeling inspired with wonderful new ideas and willing to learn and adapt to the challenges my students will face as they become the best critical thinkers of the 21st Century.
Cindy Bush
I especially enjoyed the session on "self-censorship" which addressed the inadvertent censorship of materials in some school libraries. Examples include using a restricted shelf for questionable material, not buying books of controversy, or limiting student choices to a range of reading levels. Students have a constitutional right to full access of materials within the library, and it is our duty to uphold this intellectual freedom. After attending this session I am more aware of student right and librarian responsibility, and I will do my best to promote these values in my own library.
Carrie Ellen Campbell
The highlight of this year's conference for me though was the opportunity to present a concurrent session on self-censorship by school librarians. I presented at two sessions and spoke to approximately 30 of my peers. I am incredibly passionate about advocating for and protecting freedom of expression and intellectual freedom. The reception was overwhelming! Not only did these people want to hear what I had to say, they also shared my feelings and passion, and, they asked me for advice! The most overwhelming outcome, though, was that several people actually requested that I present again on the same topic next year! I happily agreed that I would submit a proposal for next year's conference in Williamsburg....so in the meantime, I'm collecting data, evidence, and stories to share.
Judy Deichman
I found the keynote address an inspiration in both my professional and personal life. To be a leader takes many forms and dispositions and the three speakers gave candid, varied accounts of their paths to leadership.
Sheila Dunn
The conference provides us with fresh ideas, new technologies, and opportunities to collaborate and share with peers over that course of a few days. I attended a fabulous session presented by Nancy Hally (Longwood 2008 School Library Media program graduate) from Henrico County. She showed us how her students created book reviews using a flip camera. She converted the reviews them to QR codes and put the QR codes on a name plate in the front of the book that the student reviewed...this is a fabulous idea that I will definitely implement in an elementary school setting!
Leigh Francis
This was my first professional conference and I felt it was of great value to me for my future career as a school librarian. The network of supports and resources there are most valuable.
Cheryl Gamble
The theme of this year’s conference was “Librarians as Leaders” and, it provided a wealth of opportunities for networking and professional development. I attended workshops that provided many ideas to enhance my instruction this year. I met authors, learned more about their writing process, and expanded my knowledge of their works, so that I may better assist students in their reading choices. I participated in sessions that addressed new standards regarding teacher evaluation…This was an incredible opportunity for me to share ideas with many librarians from around the state.
Jessica Graves
The conference was a phenomenal experience! My only regret is that I merely attended one day. That will NOT be the case next year. I have already marked my calendar for next year’s conference, which will be held in Williamsburg from November 7-9, 2013, and am looking forward to it!
Barbara Haas
Last year I attended the conference as part of a class I was taking at the time. It was like Disneyland for librarians. I had never been in the same room with so many other people who were all so passionate about the same things that I was! I learned so much and met so many interesting people.
This year, I was at the tail end of my student teaching when I attended the conference. Although I didn’t have a job, I did have months of teaching experience under my belt. Whereas last year I reveled in the experience of being at the conference, this year I was able to glean practical information from the sessions that I attended. (And I admit, I still reveled in the experience of being with hundreds of other school librarians!)
Krista Hartenbach
It was an extremely informative and invigorating experience! I enjoyed being able to connect with fellow educators from across the commonwealth as we discussed important issues relating to learning and literacy….Listening to author Gordon Korman was a truly a highlight of the conference! Several of our fifth graders are enjoying his chapter books and I know they are eagerly awaiting my report back.
Bettina Hinckle
The conference offered many opportunities to expand the scope of our knowledge and to make excellent network connections with other librarians from across the state. At the conference, there were national speakers, that included leaders from our profession and authors that we and our students admire.
Sarah Honaker
“Top 10 Topics and Trends” was a very valuable session presented by Dr. Audrey Church, former VEMA president and coordinator of the School Library Media program at Longwood University. Dr. Church focused her report on one very important topic in Virginia school libraries: performance-based teacher evaluation. We were given numerous sources of information for the seven Virginia standards and evaluation criteria including documentation and rubrics for formative assessment, SMART goals, student growth impact studies, and VDOE teacher training.
Michelle McBride
Prior to the conference, I had seen postings on LM_NET about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), so I was thrilled to see NaNoWriMo as the subject of a concurrent session at VAASL. I work with a fourth grade student who struggles in many subject areas, but has an incredible imagination. Each week, she creates a story to go with a leveled reader wordless picture book. Sometimes I cannot write fast enough to capture all of her ideas. With the student version of NaNoWriMo, she could set her own goal for how many words to write. At the end of the program, students can receive three paperback copies of their novel for the cost of shipping (approximately six dollars). I would love to see the look on her face when her published book arrives!
Katherine Rakes
I learned about other technology resources and tools to use in my future library classroom. These tools include internet sites and programs to assist in finding and evaluating resources; software programs to enhance our social and educational aspect of our book clubs and reading groups, and free audio books from publishers to assist in reading and learning differentiation.
Tim Reger
I was excited to have the opportunity to attend the Virginia Association of School Librarians Conference for a second time. After spending my first year as a librarian, I knew there was much I could learn. All the sessions I attended proved to be informative, helpful, and/or enlightening as I move forward in bringing my library into the 21st century and serving our 21st century learners.
One of the highlights of the conference is always the Longwood school library media program alumni gathering. I so appreciate the energy and love these folks have for libraries and education. They do a wonderful job of making everyone feel welcome and the door prizes are great, too!
Elizabeth Shelton
The last session which I think is most valuable to our school was about bullying. I was given lessons to use when teaching about bullying. It allows the students to really see from all perspectives whether they are the bully, the one being bullied, or a bystander. There are some great children’s books out there that will work well for our students. I plan to start implementing these lessons at the beginning of each school year when we really focus on bullying.
Mary Sonifrank
I really enjoyed this conference and came back to my school so refreshed. The energy at this conference was wonderful and uplifting. I attended several different types of sessions, but getting new ideas is always my favorite part. I can't wait to get back and share things with my colleagues. I believe it is important to be a member of an organization to stay connected and I gain so much from each one that I attend.
Suzanne Stockman
One thing that I have already shared with teachers at my school is Live Binders. Livebinders.com is exactly what it claims to be, basically a three ring binder on the web. It allows anyone to take all of the resources they have accumulated such as websites, PDF's and other things and organize them by topic. I have created several binders already and shared them with my coworkers, and have scheduled a session to show others in the building how to create their own.
Jennifer Szoch
…We have the resources and knowledge [we need as librarians] because of the conferences we attend and the information we receive from them. The VAASL conference was one of the most beneficial resource conferences I have and will definitely be a priority in the coming years.
Kim Tate
I have a list of new book blogs that I am adding to the library wiki I created this past summer for reading promotion and self-selection. I will also use these blogs to model “blogging”and digital citizenship for my own classroom as my ninth grade students begin our own “Blogging About Books” site
Shannon Taylor
I listened to two authors presentations. The first, Kelley Starling Lyons, talked about how to bring black history alive to our students. And the second was Gordon Korman, who talked about how to reach more boys and get them to be lifelong readers. Both sessions were invaluable.
Meredith Trotter
One of the resources mentioned [at a session] that I will use both as a current classroom teacher and as a future librarian is Virginia Career VIEW. This is a free website that would give students a fun and informative way to explore possible careers.
Caroline Vick
The first general session of the VAASL Conference made an impact on me because the speakers discussed how they became involved with VAASL. Their stories made me realize how important it is for me as a future librarian to be involved with a professional organization.
Kim Watkins
I am excited to share the new ideas I learned at the conference with the teachers and to use them in the library. I am especially excited to put the techniques of using social networking to create better access for the students. In class, we discussed the sessions we attended so I was able to benefit from the other students going, also.
Stephanie Willis
My favorite session would have to be hands down "The Best $20 I Ever Spent”. The presenter, Kim McCallister (Longwood 2011 School Library Media program graduate) is a new librarian who uses QR codes and a webcam for students to check out what's new in the library. Students love using this resource to watch book trailers [and] her check out numbers are skyrocketing!
