HEO/CLT Professional Development Fund

On monday I had spoken with some of the people responsible for the HEO/CLT Professional Development Fund. I spoke with PSC-CUNY regarding the “PDF” (up to $3K every academic year). I wanted to get a stereomicroscope, sieve pans, picking brushes, and other equipment to continue my grad school research, along with membership in a few societies and some reference books. Ms. Slifkin stated that you can’t get equipment, but then at the same time said that you can use it for anything that involves professional development. I had started describing it as something that we can incorporate into our classes, which apparently is no good because it’s supposed to be something that the college wouldn’t get us. I was able to get the names of the people on the committee for this fund.

Joy Johnson
from Medgar Evans College in Brooklyn 718-270-6210 joy@mec.cuny.edu
Bob Suhoke
from City College in Manhattan 212-650-8154 suhoke@sci.ccny.cuny.edu
Linda Slifkin
PSC-CUNY fund Rep 212-354-1252 No email


Ms. Johnson re-stated that the materials can’t be something that the college would be normally ordering. She stated that she has seen it go through for chemical reagents, and then answered that it is at least conceivable that it could go through for the larger equipment. She also stated that there was nothing like a ‘line item veto’, where some items in a proposal could be approved and others rejected. The whole application is either accepted or rejected.

I spoke with Mr. Suhoke on Tuesday. He was even more adamant that the funds not be used to obtain equipment or materials for the department, and that, in the case of the above example of a stereomicroscope, its obvious that any department would already have one. However, he did admit that it was possible, though it would be extremely difficult, to make a convincing case that the equipment would only be used for personal, professional, use, unrelated to the functioning of the department. He stated that reference books and society memberships would be much easier to obtain. He stated that it was possible to submit two applications at once, one for the equipment, and another for the reference books and memberships and the like.

I wrote this information up and printed out some copies to give to some of the other CLTs who I've spoken to who've said that they are interested in the grant.