Released Salaries from External Grants and Contracts
Policy regarding Released Salaries from External Grants and Contracts
CONTENTS
1.0 PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to describe the circumstances whereby state-funded salaries for faculty, administrators, and classified staff working in the Academic Affairs Division may be allocated when externally funded grant money is available to cover those salaries. The policy also summarizes some procedures that involve actions taken across departments and units within Academic Affairs.
2.0 DEFINITIONS
2.1 Released Salaries — Salary dollars which become available because faculty, staff, and/or administrators assume work duties associated with grants or contracted research.
2.2 Lapsed Salaries — Salary dollars earned by faculty, staff, and administrators which can be reallocated to the Provost when the positions have been vacated because of retirement, sabbatical, leave without pay or terminations of any type.
3.0 POLICY
3.1 Salary funds that appear in the budgets of a unit that reports directly or indirectly to the Provost will be released to the deans of that unit when an external funded grant obtained by the unit "buys" the time of faculty, administrators, or staff in the unit.
3.2 The academic department must use a portion of the released funds to pay for adjuncts teaching classes that would normally be taught by the faculty member whose salary is being released. If the faculty member is released for only a portion of her or his time, then the dean of that unit may recover the difference between the cost of the adjunct and grant funding for salary. For example, a faculty member normally teaching four courses funded for one course release would generate one fourth of her or his annual salary from the grant. The difference between that amount and the cost to hire one adjunct for one course would remain with the school. These actions remain subject to review and reconsideration by the Provost.
3.3 If the unit uses funds to purchase the time of a staff member or administrator, the unit must demonstrate that the work assigned to that individual can be accomplished fully by any temporary replacement before any funding (the difference between the salary for the staff member and the replacement) shall be released to the unit.
3.4 Faculty and staff seeking grants which fund activities in more than one unit or department will declare in writing to the chairs, deans, the Provost, and the Vice President for Research what they determine will be the appropriate distribution of released salary. Normally, the released salary will accrue to the departments or units from which the faculty members are released. For interdisciplinary grants, some special recognition of the faculty member who writes and/or administers the grant and her or his department may be in order.
3.5 Salary funds that appear in the budget of a unit that reports directly or indirectly to the Provost and that are "lapsed" because of sabbaticals, vacancies, leaves without pay, retirements, or other reasons except the accumulation of funds from external grants will be reallocated to the Provost to cover the costs of instruction in the unit and elsewhere.
3.6 The Provost retains the right to suspend this policy when institutional financial exigencies are extreme. Otherwise, the presumption of ownership of for released salaries rests with the schools that generate the external grants funds which cover the salaries until the Provost modifies this policy.
3.7 Faculty and staff, subject to the approval of their dean and department chair or unit director, may devote any portion of their time to a grant or contract.
3.8 Released salary funds are state-appropriated monies and must be expended within state guidelines. Thus they cannot be carried forward across fiscal years. Released salary funds should be used to enhance teaching, service, and research activities and improve research facilities within the department to the benefit of faculty and students.
4.0 JUSTIFICATION
Releasing salary money back to the schools and units that raised it provides an incentive to continue to seek external grants. In effect, there is a presumption of ownership for released salaries to the units that attract externally funded grants.
5.0 POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
Staff in the Research and Grants Administration, Academic Affairs, Business Affairs, and Controller's Offices have the responsibility for developing specific procedures to coordinate the distribution of released grant funds.
6.0 REPORTING
At the end of each academic year, the Director, Research and Grants Administration will send the Provost a report itemizing how released salaries were used to support departmental programs.
Sponsor: Drs. Gordon Jones & Wayne Patterson Date: September 25, 1995
Recommendations: Deans Date: March 4, 1996
Review: Deans and Directors Group Date: March 21, 1996
Final Approval: Provost Date: April 4, 1996
Revised: Provost Date: January 31, 2006