I think this subject deserves list discussion -- there are so many
different ways of doing it!

First, a war story, that is to the point:
A few years ago our state was facing a nasty budget crunch, and the
governor decreed an accross the board pay cut for state employees.  We were
using the payroll system to deliver fellowship stipends (we'd been doing it
for twenty years!) -- so postdoctoral fellows , on fellowship grants, got
cut.  And the institutioal executives could not understand why these
fellowships were not employment.  It took a letter from a senior NIH grants
officer to make it clear that if thesse fellos' stipends were cut, the
institution could loose ALL NIH grnats immediately.

Moral:  "Post-docs" are many things and need to be more clearly identified.

Some comments interspersed:

At 03:11 PM 8/9/99 -0500, you wrote:
>We are in the process of reviewing position classifications for "postdocs,"
>and I would like to find out how other institutions handle these types of
>positions.  I'm primarily interested in the more typical postdoctoral
>positions that might be broadly defined as being grant-funded and occupied
>by individuals with Ph.D. degrees who are doing focused research under a
>mentoring relationship with a faculty member.  I am also interested in
>learning about any other types of postdoctoral positions that might exist
>(for example, positions that are primarily teaching-oriented).  I am
>interested in learning:
>
>1.  What are the most typical position titles for postdocs?  For example,
>we typically use Postdoctoral Research Associate or Postdoctoral Fellow.

These two titles seem to clearly differentiate the "postdoc" with an
employment relationship from the "postdoc" who is supported by a
fellowship.  Our accountants suggested that the IRS might want to see a
differentiation in their activities in order to differentiate "employment"
from "scholarship/fellowship"
relationship with the university.  However, reality is that they may be
working side by side in the lab and no differentiateion be obvious.  For
this reason, our guidelines on differentiation are explicit that they
actually may be perfroming identically, and the nature of the funding makes
the differentiation.

>
>2.  Are they treated as Staff or as Faculty, and do they receive staff or
>faculty benefits?

My institution has no clear policy, but the practice is "PhD = faculty".

>
>3.  Is there a formal or informal limitation on the length of time they can
>remain in postdoctoral positions (positions with "postdoctoral" titles)?

Again, we have no institutional policy -- but I suggest that such a policy
is an excellent idea.  (Relatedly, a senior faculty member commented
yesterday that one of the greatest disservices we can do is to give a
person a doctorate when they really don't deserve it: they can't do
doctoral level work independently, but are over qualified for other positions.

>
>4.  What are their duties.  In particular, do they have teaching
>responsibilities?

Varies from case to case, though employees are more likely to do some
teaching than fellows.

Chuck

>
>Any feedback list members could provide would be most helpful.  Feel free
>to respond directly to me at <xxxxxx@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu>.
>
>Thanks,
>
>___________________________________________
>Randall J. Legeai
>Assoc. Director, <http://www.tulane.edu/~govtaff/>Institutional Program
>Development and Gov't/Agency Affairs
>Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA
>(phn) 504/865-5758 ext. 1846.  (fax) 504/865-5274
><http://www.tulane.edu/~govtaff/rlhome.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")
>======================================================================
>
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/views/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")
======================================================================