Faculty Start-up Fund

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Program Description

Hiring new faculty into the academy each year is a fundamental and key component for achieving our strategic vision.  New faculty allow a refocus of resources on emerging disciplines and research, on enhancing programs destined for preeminence, and on innovative approaches to excellence in all mission areas.  These new faculty require resources to meet their “start-up” needs.

Proposals

By September 1 each year, the Provost will solicit requests for start-up funds from the Deans of the ten academic colleges, Honors College, Libraries and Bands.  The proposals should be submitted by October 1 and should identify each new anticipated hire for the following academic year including position description, department, faculty rank and estimated start-up costs.  Start-up costs for equipment should be listed separately from all other start-up costs, which can be combined and reported as one amount for each faculty position.  Other start-up costs can include items such as faculty summer support, graduate student or post-doc salaries, fringe benefits, travel, and supply and expense allocations.  Expenses for remodeling, relocation/moving, or facility construction should be excluded from these start-up requests.  The proposed sources of start-up funding should be reported showing the amount requested from the Provost and the amount to be provided from the college/school/unit and other sources.

At the same time that each unit submits the October 1 start-up needs for anticipated new hires, the units should also submit a summary of all anticipated hires that will receive Provost start-up funding from one of the Provost hiring initiatives (ex., Strategic Opportunity Hire Program). 

The college/school/unit will submit a follow-up analysis to the Provost by June 30 each year that reports the actual hires for the next year and their actual start-up amounts.  

At the same time that each college/school/unit submits the June 30th actual hire analysis, a separate summary of all faculty hires for the next year that will receive Provost start-up funding through one of the Provost hiring initiatives will be required  .  Where Provost hiring initiatives allow it, units may request supplemental funds from the Faculty Start-up Fund.

Review and Allocation Process

The college/school/unit will be notified of preliminary commitment decisions from the Faculty Start-up Fund by November 1 each year so that this information is available early in the recruitment process.  Units will be advised of final allocation amounts by July 31 following a review of actual hire information.  The transfer of funding will occur after the final allocations are determined. See Exhibit 1 for the Proposal and Allocation Schedule.

A number of factors will be considered in the review and allocation process:  equipment requirements and non-equipment needs; number of positions; request per CUL; allocation per CUL; allocation as a percentage of request; contribution by the unit; and comparison to prior year allocation. The compilation of this information will be used by the Provost as the basis of the preliminary allocations decision. Actual hires and actual start-up packages will be factored into the final allocation amounts. Note that the start-up funds available to the Provost are fixed, so allocations to individual colleges can vary from year to year. The overall number of hires and start-up needs of the colleges may impact an individual college’s allocation.

Reporting of Expenditures and Balances

Required reporting of actual expenditures and unexpended balances on all start-up allocations completing the five year availability period will be due October 1. This reporting requirement also applies to start-up funds allocated through all other Provost initiatives.  Dual Career Program, Strategic Opportunity Hiring Program, and Expansion Plans start-up reports should be shown as a separate subset, while all other start-ups can be summarized together.  Exception: When a tenure-clock extension has been approved during the authorized five year start-up period, the original five year period will be extended by the time equivalent to the tenure clock extension.

The report will need to provide information per faculty hire.  Total expenditures are expected to be shared between sources of funding and in the same percentage as originally allocated in the award letter.  The Provost share cannot exceed either the dollar allocation or the percentage share of total expenditures as initially committed. 

Any actual unexpended balances remaining from the Provost allocation will be returned to the central Provost Faculty Start-up Reserve for reallocation.  In effect, start-up funds not spent in five years must be returned.  Refer to Exhibit 2 for a scenario on the calculation of unexpended balances for return.  This report will be required annually (due October 1st) and should be submitted with the proposal for start-up funding. 

Unexpended balances from start-up allocations to faculty who terminate during the reporting period should be included and shown separately on the next annual report that follows the termination. 

Exhibit 1:  Process Schedules

Exhibit 2: Management of Provost Allocation