Administrative Policies

Program Description

Purpose:

The purpose of the Grant Incentive Funding is to encourage faculty and professional staff to seek external funding, which will enhance research and scholarship, enhance best practices in teaching/learning outcomes, and advance the mission of the university. The mechanism for doing so is to provide an annual incentive payment to faculty and staff who are effective in securing extramural funding that pays for a portion of their salaries.

Associated Benefits:

• recruitment and job satisfaction of faculty and professional staff who can effectively compete for extramural funding
• stimulation of scholarly activity associated with becoming grant competitive
• salary incentives for successfully receiving a grant award
• salary savings and facilities/administrative (formerly known as indirect) costs in departmental budgets through increased grant activity

Provisions:

To participate in the program, a faculty/professional staff member will include all or a part of his/her base UCA salary and fringe benefits in a new or renewal grant or contract budget. The incentive payment will be made to the faculty/professional staff member in accordance with the following policy criteria. Such payment(s) will be made either in a lump sum or in multiple payments over consecutive months in such a manner as to assure adherence to all prevailing laws and policies. The payment(s) will be subject to applicable withholding.

Program Criteria

1. An eligible recipient may be a faculty member (including those with administrative reassignment below the level of dean) or professional staff.
2. The extramural funded salary must be for at least one month during the fiscal year for both 9- and 12-month appointments.
3. The incentive payment will be calculated as 50% of the salary paid by grants during the fiscal year just ending, up to a maximum of 25% of the faculty/professional staff member's annual salary for 12-month appointments or academic year salary for 9-month appointments. Legislated line item maximum salaries may further limit the incentive payment. Such a limit will be identified at the time of the original request (see #5). Calculation of any incentive payment shall exclude the value of any fringe benefits. Any incentive payment made shall not modify the employee's base salary.
4. The salary support must be derived from either (a) federally funded competitive research or training grants or contracts with facilities and administrative costs (also called indirect costs) or (b) grants from industry or foundations that pay appropriate facilities and administrative (indirect) costs. Only grants and contracts generating salary savings and the full amount of facilities and administrative costs allowable by the grant program qualify.
5. A request by a faculty/professional staff member to seek an incentive payment under the policy must be submitted to the department chair or unit head during the same fiscal year that the salary savings occur. Approval by the department chair/unit head and next higher administrative level will be contingent upon meeting the criteria and purpose of the policy. The provost or appropriate vice president is responsible for the final approval.
6. Salary support derived from extramural funds must fully pay all direct costs and the grant budget must include federally negotiated facilities and administrative (indirect) costs as allowed by the grant guidelines.
7. The faculty/professional staff member must exhibit satisfactory performance in all assigned duties as determined by his or her chair/unit head and dean/vice president. Included is the responsibility of providing good fiscal and administrative management of all extramural funds for which he/she is principal investigator and completion of necessary reports in a timely and effective manner.
8. Faculty/professional staff members who wish to take part in this incentive program must seek written approval in advance, as described above in #5. In addition, availability of any payments under this policy is subject to the availability of state appropriations, and to any applicable state or federal laws, regulations or policies.
9. Modifications to any aspect of this policy may be implemented at any time, as determined by the provost. Such modification may occur through amendment of this policy or through written notice to the deans/heads of affected units.
10. Participation in the program is voluntary and is not mandated upon either the faculty/professional staff member or the university. Participation is contingent on available funding. The university reserves the right to suspend or terminate this program or the participation of any faculty/professional staff member at any time.

Comments and suggestions about Administrative Policies are appreciated.
Administrative Policy contents comments to: Susan Lilly, SusanL@uca.edu