Revised March 22, 2019
The commitment to full academic activity in the Rossin College is represented as 100% effort during the twelve-month fiscal year (FY). The Rossin College divides this effort into four categories: (1) research and scholarship, (2) teaching and educational training, (3) administration and leadership duties, and (4) service to the university and the scholarly community.
The University provides the nine-month academic-year (AY) salary of tenure-track and teaching faculty members to compensate them for 100% effort during the nine academic months, which is equivalent to 75% effort over the full fiscal year. The remaining 25% of annual effort is defined as “summer” effort and is compensated as salary from extramural grants and other sources (e.g. additional teaching, program administration). Typically, a faculty member may not receive more than 12 times the monthly base compensation in a given year. Because effort is defined in terms of a portion of an individual’s total professional effort, a faculty member may not expend more than 100% effort at any time.
Expectations of Tenure-Track Faculty Members
As per this policy, the nine-month (AY) salary provided by the University for tenure-track faculty members that are fully research active, is based on a “40/40/20” division of effort, including 40% (3.6 months) of compensation for intramurally-funded (“unfunded”) research effort, 40% (3.6 months) of compensation for teaching, and 20% (1.8 months) of compensation for service. The base teaching load for these faculty members is three course sections per academic year, or the equivalent of 1.2 months of effort/compensation per section taught. (Note: The typical “section” is a 3 credit lecture, but academic departments may define sections for their own programs and set teaching workloads accordingly.)
It is also expected that faculty members who are fully research active will make significant effort to raise extramural grants and contracts to fully fund their research programs, including three months of their own salary so that they reach 100% (12 months) of effort and compensation. A faculty member who is fully research active with full “summer” salary support from extramural grants would have a 12-month workload allocation of 6.6 (3.6+3) months of research, 3.6 months of teaching, and 1.8 months of service.
Faculty members who are not fully research active are expected to teach more than three sections per year, and to have an proportionally modified effort allocation. For example, faculty members (including teaching faculty members) who are on nine-month contracts, but who are not research active should teach six courses per year and have a effort allocation of 0/80/20. Faculty members who are partially research active should teach four or five courses and have a proportional effort allocation between research and teaching (at a rate of 1.2 months/section). Teaching faculty members with 12-month appointments are compensated for 80% teaching (eight courses) and 20% service over the year.
Academic Year Salary from Grants
Fully-research-active faculty members can pay academic year salary from grants, following the policies of the University and the funding agency. This AY salary can be used to reduce the individual’s teaching load: in particular, 1.2 months of AY salary reduces the teaching load of a fully research active faculty member from three courses to two courses per year. The resulting salary “savings” will be used by the College to compensate for lost teaching workload. (Note: Other applications of these funds may evolve over time.)
Salary Cost Sharing on Grants
Faculty members can use their intramurally-funded research effort in multiple ways, such as undertaking preliminary research on new projects, writing grant applications, working on publications other than reporting on currently-funded projects, and effort on funded projects that do not reimburse for faculty effort. Dedication of effort to sponsored projects that does not provide salary support is a form of cost sharing. A faculty member’s total research cost-share effort is included as a portion of an individual’s total professional effort, a faculty member may not expend more than 100% effort at any time.
Administrative Caps
Administrative Caps are additional salary provided to individuals who have taken on extra responsibility to compensate them for this added responsibility. They do not represent additional effort expended, and thus are excluded from effort calculations. All caps are assigned by the Dean.
Summer Teaching
Courses taught during the summer must be agreed upon by the department and the Dean’s office, and will be approved based on need and on course enrollment. The faculty member will be compensated for a full section (as defined above) at a rate of 1.2 months of AY salary, and the associated 1.2 months of effort will be expended during the calendar months in which the course is taught. All teaching assignments will be made by the Department Chair.
Additional Compensation
A 12-month faculty salary (excluding caps) is intended to compensate a full-time position, which represents 100% effort to the University across the year. Thus, the earning of additional compensation beyond the 12-month salary is not typically acceptable.
It is possible to take on additional responsibilities during the academic year and be compensated accordingly, as long as some of the effort compensated by the University base (AY) salary can be completed during the summer months. The resulting arrangement must guarantee that the faculty member is not receiving more than 12 months of salary over the fiscal year and is not expending more than 100% effort in any given month. Such arrangements must be approved by the Department Chair and the Dean.