College of Education Research Policy

Policies on Extramural Grant & Contract Budgets

Amended and Accepted: August 2015

Amended and Accepted: February 2020

Faculty members in the College of Education (COE) are encouraged to pursue grants or contracts from public agencies and private foundations to support their research, teaching, or professional outreach activities. However, it is also expected that faculty members who hold tenure-track positions and who have obtained extramural funding have an obligation to continue to contribute to the meeting the mission and goals of their home department, the college, and the university. All COE grant and contract policies must be consistent and aligned with University of Utah policies.

Tenure-track faculty members who seek extramural funding: 

1. Must communicate their intent and planned scope of work first with their department chair.
2. Must have their FTE commitment to a grant or contract approved by their department chair prior to the submission of the grant or contract.
3. Will work with the Office of Faculty Research and Support to prepare, submit, and manage grants and contracts, including adhering to College and University processes and policies.
4. Must attain a commitment in writing from the chair for any course buy-outs, time releases, and/or salary replacement pre-proposal submission. This agreement may further be negotiated between the faculty member and current chair post-award based on circumstances and department needs.
5. May not commit more than .75 of their Full Time Equivalent (FTE) to any single grant or contract, or any combination of grants or contracts; and 
6. Must maintain a minimum teaching load of two courses per academic year, unless otherwise approved by Department Chair. 

Prior to approving any requests for course buy-outs, time releases, and/or salary replacement, chairs will consider: 

1. Departmental needs
2. Individual faculty needs
3. Availability of sufficient resources 

The following sections describe the specific policies that have been adopted by the COE Leadership Team concerning extramural funding.  

Fiscal Support for Grants and Contracts  

The costs for conducting all of the activities of a grant or contract must be included in a grant or contract budget unless disallowed by Request for Proposals. These costs include, but are not limited to, 

1. Salary and fringe benefits for faculty members who will commit a portion of their FTE to the operation and management of the grant or contract.
2. The salary and fringe benefits for all grant staff necessary for the operation and management of the grant or contract;
3. Salaries and benefits for all research or teaching assistants;
4. Student stipends
5. Tuition support;
6. Travel;
7. Supplies and materials;
8. Administrative support, if allowed;
9. Equipment; 
10. Indirect Costs; and
11. Subcontracts

Contributions or in-kind financial matches by the faculty member’s home department, college, or university are not allowed unless they are required by the funding agency or foundation. In addition, all in-kind, financial or otherwise, matches must be pre-approved by the cognizant department chair.

Faculty Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Commitment

University policy requires that each grant or contract have a designated Principal Investigator (PI) who has programmatic and fiscal responsibility for all grant or contract activities. The minimum FTE commitment of a faculty member who is serving as a PI on a grant or contract is 5% FTE during the academic year. The maximum allowable FTE commitment of a COE faculty member serving in any capacity on a grant or contract is 75% FTE. A faculty member’s FTE commitment on any grant or contract should be based on the actual number of days per year that s/he will dedicate to completing the proposed project activities. As indicated above, the grant or contract budget must include the salary and fringe benefit costs of this FTE commitment. The University of Utah does not permit salary supplanted by a grant or contract to be paid or provided to the faculty member as additional compensation or benefits (see HR Regulations).  

Faculty members who have no FTE committed to their department, the college, or the university during the summer semester may commit up to 1.0 FTE of their summer time to a grant or contract, although may not exceed 25% of that Employee's base salary annualized over a twelve-month period. Thus, a faculty member’s salary during fall, spring, and summer semesters may not exceed their Annual Base Amount (ABA) as calculated by the  university accounting office. As indicated above, the grant or contract budget must include the salary and fringe benefits costs of this FTE commitment. A faculty member’s compensation during the summer semester is based on his/her contracted salary during fall and spring semesters.

Faculty time during the nine-month academic year are provided by a combination of state and University resources and are allocated to the College and department to carry out its’ primary research, teaching, and service/outreach functions. When circumstances allow, departments are encouraged to use recouped salary and fringe benefit funds to support the Department’s research and teaching activities. Departments may establish internal procedures for allocating these funds in a transparent manner consistent with University policies. 

Teaching Release

Faculty members who have committed a portion of their FTE to grants and/or contracts may be released from a maximum of two courses per academic year unless otherwise agreed upon. In determining faculty release time, a full teaching load for tenure-line faculty is defined as four courses per academic year of Fall and Spring semesters (e.g., 2 courses per semester). The determination of the number of courses that a faculty member may be released from is based on the following formula:

1. One course release = 8,500.
2. Two course releases = 17,000.
3. Exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Department Chair in consultation with the Associate Dean prior to the grant submission. Such exceptions will only be approved when the Department Chair and Associate Dean determine that a faculty member’s additional teaching release is in the best interest of the department, the college, and/or the university. The faculty member seeking a release for more than two courses per academic year must present a detailed explanation in writing prior to the proposal submission to the Department Chair as to why an exception should be made to this policy. 

Use of Funds from Externally Funded Grants or Projects

Consistent with University policy, Departments whose faculty have allocated effort to grant(s) or project(s) may establish internal guidelines and procedures for utilizing these supplanted monies, or other resources. The University of Utah does not permit salary supplanted by a grant or contract to be paid or provided to the faculty member as additional compensation or benefits (see HR Regulations). Use of these funds should be considered in light of the following:

1. Department operational costs and necessity to maintain a balanced budget;
2. Departmental needs, including but not limited to, teaching and course requirements, student assistantships, administrative costs associated with contract or project requirements;
3. Provision of faculty travel, research support, or other costs necessary to support the research and academic mission of the Department. 

College of Education Recharge Operations

The Office of Faculty Research and Support provides the infrastructure for local fee-for-service grants and contracts through a College Recharge Center. These grants and contracts may not be used for federal grants or use of federal grant monies. Operation of the recharge center is managed by the Office of Faculty Research and Support and occurs consistent with the following principles:

• University policies for development of proposal and budget are used.
• Interagency agreements are used between the College and the external entity. •
• Subcontractors may be used consistent with University and State Procurement policies.
• Budgets must reflect actual costs of research and services to be rendered, including but not limited to personnel, benefits, and other costs.
• An administrative fee is assessed. The scale is provided below.  

The administrative fee for contracts and agreements through the College Research Operations is assessed based on the sliding scale provided. Costs generated here are used to provide College-wide funding for faculty research initiatives such as the College of Education internal grants competitions, funded matches for campus-level seed grants, and professional learning for faculty and staff.