Administration of SPH Faculty Salary Coverage.

Primary faculty at SPH are expected to cover their salary through a mix of teaching, research, administration, service and citizenship, and other activities within Boston University. This approach provides flexibility, unconstrained by rank or track, allowing each faculty member to engage in a mix of activities that best match their interests and strengths. While Section V.2 describes faculty expectations, the following sections describe the administration of faculty salary coverage at SPH.

A. Salary coverage during the initial appointment period.

Faculty who are within their initial appointment period are expected to engage in the activities described in their offer letter, which may or may not align with the standard salary coverage rubric.

In some cases, the initial appointment period includes ‘protected time’ so that the faculty member may grow their portfolio of external funding. While faculty with protected time are not required to be fully covered per the standard salary coverage rubric during the initial appointment period, the expectation is that they will still make every effort to grow their research and cover their salary via external sources as soon as possible. Each year at the Annual Faculty Review, faculty in their initial appointment period are expected to summarize their efforts to pursue external funding during the previous year and share their plans for the year ahead, toward the goal of minimizing the amount of protected time required. This process ensures the Chair is well informed and therefore positioned to be as supportive as possible.

During the initial appointment period, faculty salary and fringe for all internal activities (e.g. teaching, administration, service and citizenship) are charged to the department faculty recruitment account. Faculty salary and fringe for externally-funded activities (e.g. grants and contracts, gifts and endowments, or from another non-SPH source within Boston University) are charged to the designated accounts. Faculty on parental or medical leaves of absence are charged to the university-wide leave of absence account.

B. Salary coverage for externally funded activities.

The Boston University Policy on Effort Reporting requires that all faculty accurately report and certify the effort they actually work on externally funded projects. Faculty must commit to, and perform, the level of effort they certify on their grants and contracts. Any significant changes in the level of effort devoted to funded projects must be promptly reflected in effort reporting certifications, and prior approval must be obtained in accordance with University and sponsor requirements. It is expected that faculty maintain compliance with effort commitments to ensure the integrity of effort reporting and adherence to sponsor guidelines.

Accordingly, SPH faculty may not devote more than 95% of their effort to Sponsored Projects during any appointment period, recognizing the need to reserve time for internally-funded activities such as teaching, administrative responsibilities, proposal preparation, and/or service. Faculty with higher levels of internally-funded activity should adjust their level of effort committed to Sponsored Projects to accurately represent their internal commitments.

Additionally, a faculty member serving as a Principal Investigator on a grant or contract is required to commit a minimum of 1% of their effort to the project. The associated salary and fringe must be charged to the project, unless a written letter of institutional support from the Dean has approved an alternative arrangement.

C. Salary coverage for activities conducted within BU but outside of SPH.

SPH faculty periodically take on administrative roles, leadership roles, or engage in other activities (e.g. teaching, mentoring) elsewhere within Boston University but outside of SPH. If the engagement is modest and acknowledged with an honorarium up to a maximum of $1,000, then the faculty member may accept the honorarium as an overbase payment (as described in Section VIII.3). However, if the compensation exceeds $1,000, then the funds must be applied toward the SPH salary, administered consistent with the approach for administering all other salary coverage at SPH.

When funds are offered by a unit on the Charles River Campus (CRC), it is usually best for the SPH faculty member’s salary to be charged directly to the specified CRC account rather than have the funds transferred to SPH. In most cases, if the faculty member’s salary is charged directly to the CRC account, then the associated fringe costs will be added automatically (and will not be drawn against the total amount allocated by the CRC unit). However, if the funds are transferred to SPH and then charged, the total allocated amount would need to cover both salary and fringe. Due to these administrative differences between BUMC and CRC, it is essential for the faculty member to clarify these details before agreeing to take on the additional work, ensuring they understand how much of their salary they can expect to be covered. The details of such arrangements must be documented and pre-approved by the Dean (or the Dean’s designee).

D. Exceeding salary coverage expectations.

Faculty are expected to meet their salary coverage expectation for the calendar year (e.g., full-time faculty are expected to have at least 100% salary coverage in a calendar year). When faculty choose to take on additional responsibilities such that they exceed their salary coverage expectation for the year, this may result in savings for the School. In such cases, 50% of the overage is administered as savings for the School and 50% of the overage is made available to the faculty member (minus their over-the-cap costs). Over-the-cap costs represent the portion of salary that is allocated to a sponsored award but not covered by the award due to a salary cap.

For example, suppose a faculty member has an annual base salary of $160,000 with an initial coverage plan that includes 45% teaching, 45% external funding, and 10% service and citizenship. If the faculty member elects to take on additional activities associated with 15% salary coverage (e.g., teaching an additional course, adding new external funding, directing a PhD program), then the overage of 15% would represent $24,000 in total savings to SPH. The faculty member would therefore be eligible to receive an allocation of $12,000 (assuming no reduction for over-the-cap costs). Overage allocations are always paid from the SPH central budget.

Faculty may elect to receive up to 25% of the funds as overbase pay (i.e., additional income) with the balance as a deposit to their individual discretionary account. For example, in the scenario above, the allocation to the faculty member would be $12,000. If 25% were taken as overbase, this would equate to an overbase payment of $3,000 (requiring an additional $936 to cover the associated fringe at the current rate of 31.2%), with the remaining $8,064 being deposited to their discretionary account. Alternatively, if 100% were taken as discretionary, then the full $12,000 would be deposited into the faculty member’s discretionary account.

The allocation of the overage to the faculty member will be issued in July of the following calendar year, allowing time for the necessary administrative steps. Faculty are eligible for this allocation provided that their level of engagement is an average of at least 50% FTE during the 12-month period of performance (i.e., full calendar year). Associate deans and faculty who are no longer employed by SPH at the time of disbursement are not eligible. Faculty who take a school-approved leave of absence (i.e. sabbatical, maternity leave, sick leave) are eligible to receive an allocation for exceeding salary coverage expectations only during the portion of the year when they are not on leave.

The School will include $1 million per year in the annual operating budget for these annual allocations. If the total allocation exceeds the budget of $1 million, then the maximum allocation per faculty member will be capped accordingly. Each year, the Dean will share the data with Governing Council. Following three years of data, the Dean will review the relevant financial details with the School Finance team and determine whether an adjustment to the annual budgeted amount is warranted. All allocations must be approved by the Dean.

E. Administering salary coverage shortfalls.

Occasionally, faculty may fall short of meeting their salary coverage expectations (e.g., full-time faculty with less than 100% salary coverage in a calendar year). Just as faculty may benefit when they exceed their salary coverage expectation (as described above), faculty are also expected to share the cost when they fall short of their salary coverage expectation.

In these cases, 50% of the shortfall will be covered by the School and 50% will be deducted from the faculty member’s discretionary (up to a maximum withdrawal of ½ the total balance), limiting the impact that one down year may have on their discretionary fund. If a faculty member’s discretionary account does not contain sufficient funds to cover their portion of the shortfall, the remaining balance will be charged to the School. Note that if the shortfall is the result of a coverage decrease (e.g. course cancelled by School for low enrollment) that is communicated by the School to the faculty member following the start of the calendar year, then the lost coverage will not be administered as a shortfall for that calendar year.

For example, suppose a faculty member has an annual base salary of $160,000 with an initial coverage plan that included 45% teaching, 45% external funding, and 10% service and citizenship. If the faculty member’s salary is only 30% covered via external sources during the calendar year, then the shortfall of 15% would represent $24,000 in salary. The School would cover $12,000 and the faculty member’s discretionary account would cover $12,000, to the extent possible. A faculty member with a balance of $100,000 would have the entire $12,000 withdrawn from their account. However, a faculty member with a balance of $14,000 would only have $7,000 withdrawn from their account (i.e. capped at ½ the total balance) and the remainder would be charged to the School.

The withdrawal of funds from the faculty member’s discretionary account will occur in July of the following calendar year, allowing time for the necessary administrative steps. The administration of salary coverage shortfalls will mirror the administration of salary coverage overages in that withdrawals for shortfalls will only occur in years when allocations are also made for overages as described in Section X.D above). Additionally, since allocations for overages were last made for performance in calendar year 2023, the administration of shortfalls will not commence until faculty have received one year of overage allocations. Specifically, overage allocations will be made for faculty performance during calendar year 2026 and the administration of shortfalls will first be made for faculty performance in calendar year 2027.