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GSS Travel Awards

The GSS Travel Awards application is closed for the 2024-25 year. We anticipate the application re-opening during the first week of the fall 2025 semester.

Graduate and professional students who will be presenting research on behalf of UT at in-person or virtual professional conferences may receive support to help with travel costs. Only students who are presenting first authors will be funded through this mechanism. In an attempt to help fund as many students as possible, students are allowed only one GSS Travel Award per academic year.

Departments and/or colleges should help support the cost of these trips. Students are expected to notify their advisor(s), department head, and college dean of travel in advance of submitting this application in order to request funding. Students must submit their applications prior to attending the conference (with the exception of the first review period). Any approved funding will be paid upon receipt of the appropriate documentation following the trip through Concur. Please note that this application is used solely by the GSS Travel Awards Committee for funding deliberations and is not connected with the UT travel reimbursement system (i.e. Concur). This application does not serve as an official travel notice to UT and is not intended as a method for requesting funding from your department/college.

There are six travel periods throughout the academic year and GSS Travel Awards Committee will review the requests at the dates listed below. Because funds are limited, students that are seeking travel assistance are encouraged to apply as early as possible.

Travel Period 1 – September 1, 2024 – October 31, 2024

  • Priority deadline – October 4, 2024
    • Students that apply by the priority deadline will be notified by October 25, 2024.
  • Extended deadline – October 11, 2024
    • Students that apply by the extended deadline will be notified by the end of travel period 2.
    • Applications for travel period 1 will not be accepted after this date.

Travel Period 2 – November 1, 2024 – December 31, 2024

  • Priority deadline – November 1, 2024
    • Students that apply by the priority deadline will be notified by November 22, 2024.
  • Extended deadline – November 8, 2024
    • Students that apply by the extended deadline will be notified by the end of travel period 3.
    • Applications for travel period 2 will not be accepted after this date.

Travel Period 3 – January 1, 2025 – February 28, 2025

  • Priority deadline – November 22, 2024
    • Students that apply by the priority deadline will be notified by December 13, 2024.
      • Due to the university’s switch to DASH and a freeze of travel expense entries, we will not be sending the letters until the week of January 6, 2025.
  • Extended deadline – December 2, 2024
    • Students that apply by the extended deadline will be notified by the end of travel period 4.
    • Applications for travel period 3 will not be accepted after this date.

Travel Period 4 – March 1, 2025 – April 30, 2025

  • Priority deadline – February 7, 2025
    • Students that apply by the priority deadline will be notified by March 7, 2025.
  • Extended deadline – February 14, 2025
    • Students that apply by the extended deadline will be notified by the end of travel period 5.
    • Applications for travel period 4 will not be accepted after this date.

Travel Period 5 – May 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025

  • Please note, if your conference is scheduled after the day you are graduating, you are not eligible for a GSS Travel Award.
  • Priority deadline – March 21, 2025
    • Students that apply by the priority deadline will be notified during the week of April 28.
    • We have been delayed in sending out the letters. We are trying to check in with students who have not claimed their awards from earlier travel periods so that we can reallocate their unused funding to students in this period. This is taking longer than expected and is delaying our send date until sometime during the week of April 28.
  • Extended deadline – March 28, 2025
    • Students that apply by the extended deadline will be notified by the end of travel period 5.
    • Applications for travel period 5 will not be accepted after this date.

Travel Period 6 – July 1, 2025 – August 31, 2025

  • Please note, if your conference is scheduled after the day you are graduating, you are not eligible for a GSS Travel Award.
  • Priority deadline – April 16, 2025
    • Students that apply by the priority deadline will be notified by May 10, 2025.
    • Applications for travel period 6 will not be accepted after this date.
  • There is no extended deadline for travel period 6. There is a hard stop to all application changes and signatures by May 1, 2025.

Requests submitted for travel after August 31, 2025, cannot be fulfilled at this time. Students are encouraged to check back on this website during the fall 2025 semester for information regarding submissions after this date. Please submit only one travel award application at a time – if you need to make changes after submitting or feel that you need to resubmit, please email gsstravel@utk.edu.

 

In order for your application to be complete, it must be received by the deadline for the travel period. Submissions past the deadline for your desired review period will not be considered by GSS. The GSS Travel Awards Committee will meet after each posted deadline, and students receiving a GSS Travel Award will be notified in the parameters listed above. Applications submitted well in advance (i.e. before a deadline prior to the desired review period) will be considered during the review period that their travel occurs in.

You will receive an email when all signatures (advisor, department head, college dean) have been received. If your travel falls between two review periods, you must apply for the earlier review period in order to be eligible for reimbursement.

After receiving a notice of funding approval from the GSS Travel Awards Committee, students will work with their advisor and/or departmental business office to submit travel requests through Concur. In order to be eligible for travel reimbursement, all UT travel policies and requirements must be followed. Specific details regarding GSS Travel Award funding procedures will also be included in student award letters. Any questions directly related to travel awards should be directed to gsstravel@utk.edu and gss@utk.edu in order for a prompt response. Due to the high volume of questions and submissions, please allow 1 business week for responses to emails.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Students who are first presenters (for the conference) but not necessarily first authors (for the final journal publication/project) are eligible for a GSS Travel Award. When submitting the application, you will be asked to provide evidence that you are the first presenter at the conference (acceptance must list your name, see additional Q below about timing).

The GSS Travel Award can be used to cover the expenses listed under “Coverage”. To ensure the largest number of applicants benefit from the awards, most of the students will receive partial expense coverage.

Students must apply for the earlier application period to be eligible for a GSS Travel Award. Your application should be submitted to the travel period with the corresponding coverage period that your conference falls under.

Students are eligible for one GSS Travel Award per academic year. Students are advised to list the conference with largest travel expenses in their GSS Travel Award application.

Students are eligible to receive one GSS Travel Award per academic year (following the committee’s periods). If you do not or cannot accept your award, please contact the committee ASAP. You will be eligible to apply for another award within the year only if you notify the committee in a timely manner to decline your award or revoke your application.

Yes, students with no proof of acceptance can apply for a GSS Travel Award and will be informed if they receive a GSS Travel Award but no award letter will be issued until the GSS Travel awards Committee receives a proof of acceptance.

Students are eligible to reapply for a GSS Travel Award as long as they have informed the GSS Travel Awards Committee in a timely manner of their decision to decline the previously received GSS Travel Award. Students are limited to one GSS Travel Award per academic year. 

Any funds expected to be received other than funds from the advisor(s), department, and college are considered as “other funding”.

Students are limited to one award per academic year, Summer and Fall 2024 are not part of the same academic year. So the answer is ‘yes.’ Any conference presentations that are September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2025 are considered part of the 2024-25 academic year.

No. Students who will have graduated before their conference travel happens are not eligible for a GSS travel award. This also applies if you are graduating in the summer. For example, if you graduate July 1, but your travel happens in June, you are still eligible for GSS funding if you meet all other award criteria.

We have condensed all of this information into a Travel Awards Guide.

Page updated 4/25/25