Guidelines for Supporting UTK Faculty Members Who Are Recipients of External Awards

October 2009

Introduction

With faculty of the caliber that UTK continues to attract, it is not surprising that they are increasingly recipients of national/international (external) awards and grants. Typically, these might include Fulbright Scholarships, as well as awards from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for Humanities, and National Academy of Education. However, the list of these highly visible awards is even more extensive (see the AAU listing of these awards and Appendix 2 for campus contacts for additional information). Not surprisingly, these come with differences in the amount and type of financial awards as well as restrictions on their use. Therefore, it is difficult to standardize the way in which they are managed. Having said that, it is also apparent that some guidelines would be welcomed, as both the receiving faculty members and their deans and department heads are required to deal with these gifts as well as their consequences, including the potential for costs experienced by the faculty members’ departments.

A group of faculty members (including past award winners) and administrators met to create a set of guidelines or recommendations which might be used to administer external grants and awards on the UTK campus. The following represents a set of objectives and recommendations that we consider to be “best practice.” The intention is that they describe the spirit of administering these awards within which specific processes can be developed to suit each unique situation.

Objectives

The following objectives should be used as the foundation for administering external awards as they impact UTK faculty and the larger campus.

• To support and encourage faculty participation in these awards and grant programs.
• To guard against the creation of any disincentives for faculty participation, including financial, workload and other considerations.
• To keep the faculty members “whole” with respect to their current salary, a continuation of their benefits, and covering additional expenses that are associated with the award (e.g., travel, out of town/country living expenses, etc.)
• To not unreasonably disadvantage the department or college to the extent that the faculty member’s participation becomes a burden, financially or otherwise.

Recommendations

While it may be impossible for every award to be managed in exactly the same fashion at UTK, the following prescribes the ideal practice of administering external awards as a means of meeting the objectives stated above.

Professional Development Leave

To the extent that the award requires the faculty member to be away from campus for an extended period, the faculty member will be awarded Professional Development Leave for the duration of the award period, and s/he will be subject to the terms of that policy regarding their salary from UTK (i.e., one semester of leave from campus at full pay or two semesters of leave at ½ of her/his salary). This will occur regardless of any previous leaves for professional development that the faculty member might have been awarded by UTK, as well as his/her tenure status or time of employment at UTK.

Financial Compensation

The spirit of the financial compensation associated with these awards is that the faculty member’s UT salary and benefits, as well as any expenses associated with the work and/or travel done in conjunction with the award, should come from a combination of the following funding sources:

1. the award itself,
2. the faculty member’s current UTK salary,
3. departmental and college funds for faculty development,
4. the Office of Research, and
5. the Office of the Provost.

Generally, the faculty member would receive the award monies from the sponsoring organization and the remaining funding sources listed above would be used to “top off” the faculty member’s compensation in such a way as to meet the objectives stated above. Because some financial awards are made directly to the faculty member, while others come to the institution, it is impossible to prescribe exactly how this combination of funds should be administered.

Other Financial Considerations

In the ideal, it is hoped that the amount of the financial award plus the faculty member’s UTK salary should be at least sufficient to meet Objective Three above, covering the faculty member’s compensation, benefits, and expenses. Beyond that, the following scenarios might be considered.

• If additional funds remain after covering the faculty member’s needs, it is expected that the department and/or college should have access to those funds to compensate for expenses associated with the loss of the faculty member’s participation in his/her normal departmental activities and workload, e.g., covering the faculty member’s instructional responsibilities.
• To the extent that the award and faculty salary exceeds the amount needed to achieve all of the objectives stated above (both faculty and departmental/college expenses), it is desirable for the department to retain any additional funds to be used in a manner that enhances professional development needs within the department. It is not expected that the faculty member should benefit financially from the award above and beyond covering his/her normal salary plus additional expenses associated with fulfillment of the award.
• To the extent that the combination of the award and the faculty salary falls short of achieving all of the objectives stated above, it is assumed that departmental, college, and campus funds will be creatively combined to allow the faculty member to take advantage of the award without penalty to her/himself. There is no set formula for combining these funds, and in each case it will depend upon the financial abilities of the department, college, and campus at the time of the award.  

Office of Research Involvement

It is expected that each faculty recipient of these awards will be registered through the Office of Research. Typically, this entails their completion of the “Yellow Form” (the Sponsored Projects Approval Routing Form).

Role of the Department (or Unit) Head

It is the primary responsibility of the department head to arrive at a funding solution that is satisfactory to all concerned by coordinating the funding sources noted above, as well as to compensate for any hardships that the department might encounter as a consequence of the award. It is also the responsibility of the faculty member to engage her/his department head as early as possible in the process (preferably prior to application) so that scheduling, compensation, coordinating funding sources, and a variety of factors may be agreed upon as soon as possible.

Considerations for Hosting Award Winners At UTK

We also anticipate that UTK will continue to serve as host to visiting scholars who may be recipients of the above rewards. Again, while a standardized approach is neither appropriate nor possible to describe, the following considerations are desirable where possible.

• The need for appropriate temporary living quarters for visiting scholars is paramount. We expect that these accommodations should be available through UTK Housing, and we hope that a few of the nicer “apartment style” living spaces on campus may be reserved especially for this purpose. Housing will be compensated for this expense by the visiting scholar and/or the appropriate UTK department/unit. We also hope that these accommodations will be convenient as well as providing the visitor with a sense of what it is like to live in a US community.
• Whenever possible, the visiting scholar should be supplied with an office, as well as appropriate levels of administrative and IT support.
• The visiting scholars should have access to typical campus resources for research support, including library privileges and IT access.
• Whenever possible, the visiting scholar should be encouraged to participate in the life of the department/college/campus, including but not limited to faculty forums, social activities, governance meetings (without voting privileges), meetings with appropriate campus-level administrators, etc.
• Each visitor will have a faculty host responsible for facilitating integration throughout the stay, and hosting should count as part of the faculty member's service activities
• English language support for visitors and family members should be provided through the English Learning Institute (ELI) or other structured learning venues.

Optional Support for Visiting Scholars

The following possibilities for visiting scholar support depend entirely on resource availability, but might include the following.

• Money for travel to conferences, etc.
• Graduate student support
• Health insurance
• Welcome receptions
• Other