All faculty have opportunities for professional development. Because of limited funding, there are some restrictions. The departmental travel budgets have been allotted $1,000 for each full-time faculty member [4] . This amount was selected because it was viewed as the typical amount needed to participate in at least one national professional conference during the year. Additionally, LSUA typically supports faculty participation in state conferences such as the annual Teaching in Higher Education (THE) Forum, a technology conference at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge [5] . LSUA is also represented by a faculty/administrative team at the Conference of Louisiana Colleges and Universities (CLCU) [6] .

On-campus development opportunities are offered on a regular schedule. The most significant on-campus opportunities for many faculty are the offerings from the Educational Technology Department [7] . A variety of specific technology support activities are provided, with a heavy emphasis on the effective use of Desire2Learn (D2L), a program that supports e-learning enhancements to traditional classes and/or entirely e-learning classes [8] . Additionally, the State of Louisiana offers a variety of professional development opportunities at no cost to state employees. State employee training schedules are available at the Louisiana’s Comprehensive Public Training Program website [9] . Many of the state sponsored employee development classes are offered at LSUA during a typical year. During the 2005-2006 year, there will be several professional development opportunities on a range of issues from tenure and promotion, to legal issues in higher education to"brown bag" scholarly presentations.

The University received a $1.2 million Title III grant which includes the creation of a Professional Development office in years three and four of the grant. Initial work on this grant centers on the creation of an Advising Center but as part of the capital construction activities associated with the Advising Center, the University has begun identifying space and creating future offices for the Professional Development Program. When fully operational, the Professional Development Program will provide assistance with grants, ideas for curricular change, assistance in assessment strategies, sponsorship of teaching circles, mentorship for new faculty and expertise in the use of assessment results. The success of the program is partially dependent on the raising of private dollars. Assuming success of those initiatives, the office will be operational in 2009-2010. [10]

The Deans compile a list each year of faculty who participate in off-campus workshops, conferences, and other development activities. [11] Although the 2004-2005 list is not complete, it should be more extensive than in the past because of increased development funds.