Re: Post doc and Res.Associate Defined Herbert B. Chermside 27 Dec 2000 10:47 EST
Let me add a special warning to Charlie's note: If you use the payroll system as a mechanism for distributing fellowship stipends, be extremely careful that all involved, including senior research and finance executives, understand that these stipends are not payments for services rendered. Stipends must be treated differently from salaries and wages for tax and other purposes. Having different names for these positions is a major help. "War story" in point: Some years ago a new governor's first action was to cut all salaries of state employees by 5%. Because my employing state university did use payroll to distribute stipends, these were cut also. It took a threat of having all NIH funds cut off (because NIH set the stipend levels and reducing them would violate those grants systematically) to make administration realize that stipends are not for services rendered, and were not subject to the governor's fiat. In the process of resolving that mix-up, the institution created a commentary which can be trotted out any time someone tries to use the test that "post-doctoral researchers" and "post-doctoral fellows" work side by side in the lab doing the same things as a proof that stipends are the same as salaries and wages. Chuck At 10:10 AM 12/27/00 -0500, you wrote: >Roberta- > >We use the term "research associate" as a job title for payroll >purposes. The vast majority (all?) of these people are in "post-doctoral" >status. The term "post doc" is often elongated to "postdoctoral fellow" >but the latter may suggest that the person has formally received a >fellowship. It is probably a good idea to administratively categorize all >post docs (i.e. non-faculty research/academic staff holding doctoral level >degrees) in the same way so they get the same benefits and to recognize >their common plight. They can be paid differently according to >experience, source of funds, etc. > >Charlie > >At 09:26 AM 12/27/00 -0500, you wrote: > >We are in the process of drafting a postdoc policy. We want to describe > >what the term post doc is and what the term research associate is and also > >what the differences are between the two. If anyone could offer any help > >with this, it would be greatly appreciated. > > > >Roberta > > > >Roberta C. Nary, CRA > >Director > >Office of Sponsored Programs > >(781) 736-2119 > >(781) 736-2123 fax > > > > > >====================================================================== > > Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including > > subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available > > via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") > >====================================================================== > > > > > > >====================================================================== > Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including > subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available > via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") >====================================================================== Herbert B. Chermside, CRA Director, Sponsored Programs Administration Virginia Commonwealth University PO BOX 980568 Richmond, VA 23298-0568 Express Delivery Only: Sanger Hall, Rm. 1-073 11th & Marshall Streets Richmond, VA 23219 Voice: 804-828-6772 Fax 804-828-2521 OFFICE e-mail xxxxxx@VCU.EDU Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu http://views.vcu.edu/ospa/ ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================