Travel Funds
1) Graduate School Travel Awards Opportunities for Funding
The Graduate School offers awards for travel for doctoral research and for travel to professional meetings and conferences. Please note, students' support letters must be written by her/his advisor.
2) Religion Department Travel Awards
The Religion Department awards funding for travel to graduate students who are making presentations at regional, national or international conferences, ($100, $250, or $300, respectively) based upon the availability of departmental funds. Please note that a national conference may be considered regional based upon its proximity to Baylor University. Graduate students who wish to avail themselves of this opportunity for funding will need to complete a travel request form which must be submitted at least four weeks prior to travel and approved by Dr. Weaver, Religion Department Chair. When completing the travel request, students must also provide documentation of their upcoming participation at the conference (program listing student's name, copy of an email confirming the invitation to present, etc.), and a letter of support from their advisor attached to the travel request at the time of submission.
To enable efficient handling of your request for departmental funds, and to ensure adequate time for you to receive travel approval prior to the meeting date, submit the travel request attaching documentation confirming conference presentation and letter of support from your advisor, four weeks prior to the meeting dates. An original signature (physical or digital) is required on the travel request.
Prior to travel students must obtain a Texas Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemption Certificate for hotel stays within Texas. The certificate must be presented by the student to the appropriate hotel personnel. Baylor University does not reimburse for hotel taxes incurred within the state of Texas.
For additional information regarding Baylor University travel guidelines and policies click here.
Student Accounting Procedure Following Travel
In response to the changes initiated by the Graduate School regarding travel awards, the Religion Department has implemented the following policy for accounting of travel awards.
Regardless of whether or not a student received Religion Department travel funding only, Graduate School travel funding only, OR FUNDING FROM BOTH, students must keep ALL receipts for up to a year. Please note the following procedures:
- Immediately upon return from travel schedule email the Academic and Student Support Associate including a statement indicating that you presented at the conference(s) as expected. You will need to submit your statement within 15 days of your return.
- The Academic and Student Support Associate will submit a travel award disbursement through Baylor Scholarships.
Steps 1-2 above are for accounting purposes following travel only. The process for applying for travel funds from the Religion Department has not changed. Please see the Graduate School website here for information about the process for applying for travel funds from the Graduate school.
3) The Glenn O. and Martell B. Hilburn Endowed Graduate Research Scholarship Fund
The Glenn O. and Martell B. Hilburn Endowed Graduate Research Scholarship Fund was established in honor of Dr. Glenn Hilburn, chair of the Religion Department, 1983-1998. The intent of this fund is to support research by graduate students. Selections for awards are made by the Religion Department Graduate Administrative Committee on September 1 and March 1. Applicants for a scholarship award from the Hilburn Fund must have completed one full-time equivalent year of graduate studies in the Department of Religion at Baylor University. The fund is typically used to underwrite the costs of dissertation research, with awards of up to $4,000. Normally students will have passed preliminary examinations, and will have a letter of support for their project provided by her/his advisor. Click here to access a guide to the process entitled How to Secure Funds.