Re: Academic Year salary on NSF grants Herbert B. Chermside 09 Oct 2003 07:21 EST
I have raised the question of salary support for 12-month faculty. Below is my question and NSF's answer. I must say that NSF's answer, " the general NSF policy is that we do not want to augment the total salary of faculty members during their term of faculty appointment," is a little disingenuous, considering that A-21 specifies that grant funded salaries must be based on "base salaries" and must represent a % of the 100% salary for the period. But NSF has had the practice of not paying AY salary for 9-month faculty for many, many years. Chuck From: "Strausser, Beth A." <xxxxxx@nsf.gov> To: "'xxxxxx@vcu.edu'" <xxxxxx@vcu.edu> Subject: RE: 12 mo Faculty salary Hi Chuck, Good to hear from you. Jean asked me to get back to you and mention that she was out sick all last week. I was away unexpectedly as well so we're just now playing catch up. In any case, to answer your question, the general NSF policy is that we do not want to augment the total salary of faculty members during their term of faculty appointment. So, for example, if a PI is on a 9 month research appointment, then the University is already paying them to conduct research and requesting salary would normally be inappropriate. In the case of a 12 month appointment, where they must bring in their own funds and are not getting salary support from the University, then PI's may request salary from NSF. They will need to justify the reason for that in the budget justification. That being said, just because they request it, does not mean that NSF will be able to fund it. Just as you are feeling the squeeze in academe, so some of our programs have budgetary constraints of their own. I hope that helps clarify this issue somewhat for you. Take care and have a good weekend. Beth Strausser NSF Policy Office >From: Herbert B. Chermside [mailto:xxxxxx@vcu.edu] >Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 2:56 PM >To: xxxxxx@nsf.gov >Subject: Fwd: 12 mo Faculty salary ...snip... >Fax 804-828-2521 >OFFICE e-mail xxxxxx@VCU.EDU >Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu >http://www.research.vcu.edu/ospa.htm At 05:51 PM 10/8/2003, you wrote: >Hi-- > >It has been our understanding that NSF did not generally pay for what we >call course buyouts (where the teaching load of a faculty member is >reduced if s/he can get a grant to pay for a piece of his/her salary). >One of the senior faculty members here says that she was informed by >people that this isn't the case. Looking on their website, it seems >unclear, except for this passage from the NSF grant proposal guide: > >"NSF regards research as one of the normal functions of faculty members >at institutions of higher education. Compensation for time normally >spent on research within the term of appointment is deemed to be >included within the faculty member's regular organizational salary. >Grant funds may not be used to augment the total salary or rate of >salary of faculty members during the period covered by the term of >faculty appointment or to reimburse faculty members for consulting or >other time in addition to a regular full-time organizational salary >covering the same general period of employment" > >But this passage seems to be talking more about increasing someone's >compensation, which we're not doing. I called NSF and was told to speak >to someone in the Policy office, who hasn't gotten back to me yet. I >also did a search on Google and saw a few other universities mentioning >that NSF would not support a buyout. > >Does anyone have any hard info/experience with this? > >Thanks in advance, >Fred Averick >Sponsored Research Administrator >Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences >New York University >251 Mercer Street >New York, NY 10012 > > >====================================================================== >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: Biotech One, Suite 113 Virginia Biotechnology Research Park 800 East Leigh Street Richmond, VA 23219 Voice: 804-828-6772 Fax 804-828-2521 OFFICE e-mail xxxxxx@VCU.EDU Personal e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu http://www.research.vcu.edu/ospa.htm ====================================================================== 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") ======================================================================