Center for International Business Studies

TRAVEL FUNDING NOTICE: Effective 3/1/07, new federal guidelines were enacted requiring USDE approval for all foreign travel funding using grant funds. Therefore, all applications for foreign travel funding must be submitted no later than 60 days prior to travel in order for us to review your application and obtain federal approval for travel funding. This includes travel to Canada and Mexico.

The Center for International Business Studies (CIBS) has a limited amount of travel funds to partially support Mays faculty and Mays doctoral students for (1) presenting international business papers at recognized conferences, (2) conducting on-site international business research, and (3) collecting international data. Preference will be given to Mays faculty and Mays doctoral students who have received partial financial support from their department or from other sources. Grants will be limited to a maximum of $1,000.  (NOTE: This funding is only available for Mays Business School faculty and doctoral students.)

STEP 1: APPLICATION GUIDELINES FOR FUNDING INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRAVEL:
(Submit application 60 days prior to travel!)

Prepare the following information in written form.

1. Your name, status (e.g. faculty or doctoral student, rank) and complete address including telephone number, e-mail address and mail stop number.
2. Name, location and dates of the conference. Is this an annual meeting or a special conference?
3. Outline your planned activities. If presenting a paper, please provide title of the paper and whether the conference organizers have accepted the paper. Identify any co-authors of the paper and whether they will also be attending the conference. Only one author will be eligible for funding. CIBS will not provide travel support for presentation of the same IB paper at different conferences. In addition, travel funds will not be available for participation as discussant and session chairs.
4. Do you have alternative sources of funding, (e.g., from your department, professorship), the College or from any other source? If yes, please state the amounts available and sources of funding. If no, explain why alternative sources are not available.
5. Have you received travel funds from CIBS or its sub units (e.g., CIBER, BIE, NABPP) over the past 12 months? If yes, please detail the amounts, dates and conferences attended.
6. Outline the benefits that you, your department, and CIBS would receive from your activity.
7. Prepare a estimated travel budget to include the travel costs for this trip. Include (1) registration fees, (2) meals and accommodations, (3) transportation costs, and (4) any special costs. Deduct the amounts available from other sources, and identify the amount requested from CIBS.
8. Provide any other information you consider relevant to this decision.
9. Submit application to: Dr. Julian Gaspar, Executive Director, CIBS, 230 Wehner, Mail Stop 4116 at least 60 days in advance of the travel date.

Once received, Dr. Gaspar will review each funding application, and will reply by email notification regarding the application status and CIBS commitment.

STEP II:  ONCE FUNDING HAS BEEN AWARDED:
CIBS IB Travel Funding is normally from our CIBER grant federal funds, which have very specific guidelines that must be strictly followed. Therefore, the faculty member receiving the commitment should contact Claudia Orum for "funding guidelines" at least 45 days prior to traveling. Visit the CIBS Travel Resources page for important information in planning your trip.

STEP III:  SUBMITTING YOUR EXPENSES FOR REIMBURSEMENT:
Once your trip is complete, we request that you download the CIBS Travel Procedures & Packet form, complete the form and submit the form with your original travel expense receipts to us as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days after you have returned. If your expenses are being reimbursed by CIBS and by your department or from another TAMU account, please bring ALL your receipts to CIBS first, and we will prepare the travel vouchers for both the CIBS commitment AND for your department.

When you submit all your expenses for a trip to CIBS, that allows us to choose which of the expenses that most specifically meets the federal guidelines that we must follow, and pay those from CIBS funds, while also utilizing your department's funding (usually local and more flexible funds) for the other expenses that cannot be paid for by CIBS funds. This will provide you, the traveler, the utmost possibility of being fully reimbursed for your travel expenses.

CIBS FUNDING NOTICE:  CIBS funding commitments do not carry forward and may not be used for another project or other travel that has not been specifically described in your application.

If something happens and you cannot make the trip that you have received the CIBS commitment for, we request that you notify Claudia Orum, and she will cancel the CIBS commitment. This will release the committed CIBS funds to be used toward another commitment. If you need funding for future IB related travel, you are welcome to submit a new application for that travel.