Purpose

The College of Forest Resources and the University of Washington recognize that, in selected cases, special salary considerations are warranted for purposes of retention. The policies described herein provide a mechanism to handle this situation.

Overview

An A/B Salary Model may be used for purposes of retaining eligible faculty. The Model has two components. The first component (A) is a tenured faculty member's state supported level. The second component (B) is obtained from externally generated funds ("soft money"). It relies on the faculty member's ability to generate sufficient and consistent funding from eligible grants and contracts or other self-sustaining activities. The total base salary paid to the faculty member is the sum of the A and B components.

Eligibility

Only tenured faculty at the Associate and Full Professor levels are eligible. Untenured faculty are not eligible. Only tenured faculty with sufficient and consistent funding will be considered eligible. The Division Chair will determine that the faculty member's external grants/contracts or self-sustaining activities will yield sufficient funds for the proposed B component of the faculty member's A/B Salary. Neither the College of Forest Resources nor the University of Washington will provide any funding to support or maintain the "soft money" B portion of an eligible faculty member's salary.

Terms and Conditions

A faculty member can request to have the proportion of his/her tenured appointment decreased (in decrements of 10% up to a total of 20%) to allow him/her to utilize external funding to increase his/her base rate of salary. For example, a faculty member can decrease his/her state FTE to 90% (relinquishing, in this case, 10% of his/her tenure) while maintaining the full amount of his/her state supported salary. Adding the 10% from external funding sources (the B component) creates a new base salary, to bring his/her total FTE back to 100%. Faculty are still responsible for carrying out all responsibilities associated with the state support allocated to the position. Overall teaching loads, the length of the service period, research and service commitments, student supervision, and all other faculty duties remain unchanged.

Participation in the A/B Salary Model requires the faculty member to relinquish a portion of his/her tenure. The A/B Salary Model is subject to review and approval on an individual basis by the Division Chair, the Dean, and the Office of the Provost.

If the external funding sources for the B component become unavailable at any time, the faculty member will receive only the state portion (A component) of the salary rate, and be without salary for the B component.

The A/B Salary Model does not affect outside consulting limits. It does not have any effect on UW policy and rules regarding Intellectual Property generated by faculty activities. All rules of the University continue to apply.

Retirement contributions are based on total salary regardless of the source. Therefore, retirement contributions will reflect the actual A/B Salary total. Retirement contributions will be commensurately reduced when external funding for the B component is not available.

This plan is irrevocable once adopted.

Process

The faculty member determines if he/she has consistent and sufficient appropriate external funding sources to participate in the A/B Salary Model.

The faculty member meets with the Division Chair and requests the A/B Salary Model. The Chair determines the possible % FTE allowable to convert to external funding sources.

The Chair sends the faculty member a letter (draft letter). The faculty member signs and forwards the letter through the Dean to the Provost for approval. The signed agreement becomes a part of the faculty member's University file. Copies will be returned to the faculty member and the Dean's Office.

The Dean will inform the payroll coordinator for the College to prepare the appropriate payroll documents and send them through the normal signature channels.