Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Which transactions no longer require the review and approval of OFA? How are they processed?

Effective September 1, 2017, certain transactions that have no effect on academic appointments, titles or status will no longer require OFA review. These are to be submitted directly to the CUIMC Payroll Office for approval and processing. These are:

Position Salary Transactions:

  • Increase in salary
  • Decrease in salary
  • Re-distribution of wages across earn codes (i.e., Base, RAD, A1, A2)
  • Change from PT-zero salary to PT-salaried (with no change in appointment status)
  • Change from PT-salaried to PT-zero salary (with no change in appointment status)
  • Job Data Transactions:
  • SSN change
  • Office Location/phone number change
  • Visa Renewal that does not impact appointment term
  • Change in marital status
  • Change in “vanity” names
  • Correction to job data – based on original submission

Can I hire a Postdoc Fellow (clinical or research) to work in my lab as a Postdoc Research Scientist? What documentation is needed?

Yes, but only if the training grant allows – no more than 10 hours/wk

OFA will require:

  • Nomination form adding the second position of Postdoc Research Scientist, signed by both departments
  • Chair’s recommendation letter
  • CV
  • Permission to allow Postdoc Fellow to do additional work for Salary Form

An OOR has left and returned to his/her home country and didn’t give a resignation letter. The person has not responded to emails. How can I terminate her/him?

A letter from the supervisor to the Dean explaining the situation is to be submitted to OFA.

What is the process to change an officer’s position from Staff Associate (Researcher) to Lab Manager? This Staff Associate is no longer conducting research in the lab and the PI would like to change her/his title accordingly.

OFA will require:

  • A letter of resignation/email from the Staff Associate.
  • A PAF to reclassify the position from a Staff Associate to a Lab Manager
  • A note to send to HR

When a professor retires, how do you make them emeritus?

After they retire, senior members of the faculty with the rank of professor may be awarded the distinction of professor emeritus in recognition of distinguished service to the University and eminence in their discipline. The emeritus designation may also be conferred on full- or part-time faculty holding the title of professor at (affiliated hospital or institute), professor of clinical (department), clinical professor of (department), professor of professional practice in (department), and adjunct professor.

A letter of recommendation from the faculty member’s chair or dean along with her/his CV is submitted to OFA. Refer to the faculty handbook section on Emeriti Faculty.

How long is the term of a short-term visitor and can it be extended?

Based on the current guidelines, short-term visitors may not remain at the University for longer than three months without an appointment as an officer of research or the designation of visiting scholar or visiting scientist. Exceptions may be made in cases where the visit is in connection with a formal degree requirement in which case evidence from the college/university will be required.

Can a short-term visitor be compensated?

Short-Term Visitors may not be compensated. In some special instances, with authorization, visitors may receive a sponsored internship stipend, such as the National Institutes of Health Supplements Providing Summer Research Experiences for Students and Science Educators.

Can a short-term visitor be involved in hands-on research/clinical care?

Short-Term Visitors may include high school students, visiting undergraduates, post-baccalaureates, and other observers (who observe, but do not practice, research or clinical techniques or processes) or trainees (who receive training in research or clinical techniques or processes, including practice with appropriate supervision).

Are academic officers entitled to severance pay?

Once an officer holding an appointment as an associate research scientist/scholar, research scientist/scholar, senior research scientist/scholar, staff associate, or senior staff associate has accumulated five continuous years of compensated, full-time, non-instructional service, the University will provide a layoff allowance when the individual’s association with the University ends as a result of a sudden and unexpected loss of funding.

The amount of the layoff allowance is graduated according to length of service. Officers who have completed five full years receive the equivalent of one month’s salary. That sum increases by a month’s salary for each additional year of service up to a maximum of six months’ salary for an officer with 10 or more years of service.

An officer may be given the layoff allowance only once. Those who resume a compensated appointment at the University, whether full- or part-time, within 18 months of the layoff are expected to return the entire amount of the layoff allowance.

Under what circumstances is the up-or-out date changed for a tenure-track faculty?

Under Section 71c (2) of the University Statutes, the Office of the Provost may stop the tenure clock of non-tenured faculty if they assume the primary responsibility for the care of a child less than a year old, even if they do not take a leave of absence for that purpose. An officer is considered the “primary parent” if he/she is a single parent or, where there are two parents, if the other is working full time or is enrolled as a full-time student. Faculty may have the tenure clock stopped in this manner for up to one year of appointment for each of two children.

In addition, the tenure clock is stopped when a faculty member is placed on an exemption from teaching duties leave of absence. This changes the up-or-out date. Upon written request, and with the approval of his or her department and the Dean of his or her Faculty, a full-time officer of instruction holding a term appointment of professorial rank may be granted leave of absence or full exemption from teaching duties for a period up to and including one academic year. The first year of such leave or exemption from teaching duties will not count as part of the maximum number of years of service allowed for term appointments, per Section 71 b of the University Statutes.

Under the CUIMC Parental Leave Plan for Officers of Instruction, what is the duration of the leave, and is it inclusive of or in addition to the maternity-related medical leave of 6 to 8 weeks?

The Parental Leave Benefit for Officers of Instruction provides up to 13 weeks of paid parental leave at full salary within the first year after the birth or adoption of a new child but may continue beyond that year. 

The parental leave plan is designed to replace the combination of medical and/or child care leaves for individuals who meet the eligibility requirements.  This means that the 13 weeks are inclusive of the 6 or 8 weeks of maternity-related medical leave.

Is the approval of the Office of Leave Management Required for the Faculty Parental Leave?

No. Providing the child’s expected date of birth and following up with the birth or adoption certificate will suffice.

Who is eligible for appointment as Staff Associate (PT-zero salary)?

Predoctoral students from other universities whose faculty advisors want them to work with University faculty or officers of research for a period of not more than one year are also appointed as Staff Associates.

What is required to get authorization to hire spouses in the same unit/department?

The Chair or Director will be required to provide a letter addressed to Dr. Anne Taylor (cc OFA) that includes:

  • A proposal to hire the spouses and the rationale
  • Lab into which they are to be hired (name of PI/supervisor) and proposed effective date
  • The name and title of each spouse
  • Their role/project and specify whether they will work on a common project or on independent projects
  • Confirmation that neither spouse will be in a subordinate position and will have no influence on salary or performance evaluation of the other
  • Statement that the spouses have been advised of the expectation of professional conduct/interactions in the lab

What paperwork is to be submitted to grant a postdoc an adjunct appointment upon the completion of this training so that this individual may retain access to CU systems (for the completion of publications or research)?

The documents required are the PAF for the title change, Chairman’s letter, a CV and a Resignation letter.

How soon after a faculty member is appointed to the advanced rank (Associate Professor or Professor) on the tenure track should she/he be proposed for tenure?

Faculty members appointed on the tenure track at advanced ranks who are research focused should be reviewed for tenure within three years of their appointment effective date.  

Those who are clinicians with 20% or greater clinical responsibilities should be reviewed for tenure within five years of their appointment effective date.

Under what circumstance can an officer of research appointment be terminated due to sudden and unexpected loss of funding?

Examples of situations that result in the sudden and unexpected loss of funding are: abrupt closure of a lab; sudden termination of a research program; closure or elimination of a department/center/institute and death of a PI.

Are Faculty Search Request Forms required for all instructional faculty, or does it depend on the title?

Faculty Search Request Forms are required for all instructional faculty who will be hired with a title of Assistant Professor or above.