Faculty Overbase Rules for Non-Represented Faculty
Approval of the Provost is required for any exceptions to these guidelines.
During a single Academic Year (September-August), CRC Full-Time, Non-Represented Faculty may earn, in addition to their regular salary:
- Up to a total of 3/9ths of their base salary for the current academic year for additional teaching and/or summer research.
- Summer term courses are counted toward the total 3/9ths. Additional guidelines below:
- Non-Represented faculty can earn up to 10% of their base salary for teaching a Summer Term course not a part of their regular load covered by their base salary. There is a limit of 2 Summer Term courses per year with a $12,000 overbase limit on each Summer Term course.
To seek approval for an overbase payment in excess of the limits (i.e., the 3/9 total or the 10%/$12,000 limit per Summer Term course) for CRC faculty, please submit the faculty overbase request template form located here and obtain approval prior to processing the payment in SAP. The form should be forwarded to the Faculty Affairs’ Office at apfac@bu.edu. If approval is received, please attach that documentation to your SAP form when implementing the payment.
Faculty Overbase Rules for Represented Faculty
Approval of the Provost is required for any exceptions to these guidelines.
During a single Academic Year (September-August), CRC Full-Time, Represented Salaried Lecturers and Instructors may earn, in addition to their regular salary:
- up to 10% of their base salary for teaching a Summer Term course not part of their regular load covered by their base salary. Each four (4) credit course has a minimum per credit rate of $2,100, or a minimum summer term rate as determined by the University, whichever is greater. There is a limit of three Summer Term courses per year.
To seek approval for an overbase payment in excess of the limits (i.e., up to 10% of base salary for a Summer Term course) for CRC faculty, please submit the faculty overbase request form located here and obtain approval prior to processing the payment in SAP. The form should be forwarded to the Faculty Affairs’ Office at apfac@bu.edu. If approval is received, please attach that documentation to your SAP form when implementing the payment.
Overbase Rules for Staff
Classroom teaching by full-time staff rather than faculty members can raise concerns in light of student and parent expectations and the potential for a perception that instruction provided by staff may not uniformly be of the quality of the full-time faculty. At the same time, we recognize that there are occasions in which instruction by staff members is appropriate and of high quality. This memo is meant to help guide circumstances for using staff in a teaching role and the required approvals, if any, and is effective immediately.
First, in some exceptional circumstances, it may be appropriate to include teaching responsibilities in an offer letter to a staff member. Such staff should have degrees, credentials, and experiences commensurate in regards to teaching with what you would require when hiring regular faculty (eg., PhD for many programs, and a MS in some others consistent with your past practices). Such staff would be coded as instructor of record, and their performance review should take their teaching into account.
Staff Categories Requiring Provost Approval
- Postdocs whose packages do not include teaching
- Non-unionized staff teaching credit-bearing academic courses in degree or certificate granting programs
Staff Categories Not Requiring Provost Approval
Schools and colleges may permit those staff listed below to teach without Provost approval so long as the unit: (i) vets them in the same way it would part-time faculty; (ii) is confident the staff member will continue to perform their full-time job; and (iii) provides the staff member with an “appointment” letter (similar to Attachment A) making clear teaching is outside the scope of the “day job” they are expected to continue to perform; what their teaching “title” is; and that HR’s records will not contain that title; compensation; and that they remain covered by the Employee Handbook, not the Faculty Handbook:
- Postdocs whose packages include teaching
- Research staff (i.e., members of the research job family)
- Non-unionized staff leading co-curricular offerings (0 credits, targeted toward building community and commitment to the University; and specialty courses – e.g., Questrom career courses)