College of Agricultural & Life Sciences - Faculty Buyout of Teaching

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Policy Number:

CALS-1010

Responsible Office:

CALS Dean's Office

College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) Policy

Rationale/​Purpose:

Although formal teaching is an expectation for faculty, there may be some cases where a faculty may have funding and desire to request buyout of their teaching duties. This policy ensures a fair and equitable review of these types of transactions.

 

Scope:

This policy applies to tenured and tenure-track faculty members using extramural funding as a source for funding the teaching buy-out.

Policy:

1. A faculty member buying out of a course is expected to participate fully in service and administrative duties; the buy-out is strictly for teaching and must not be construed as approval for a full-time appointment to research. The policy outlined in this document is for partial release from coursework while a person is in residence at the university and fulfilling all other duties, except for their teaching duties, or a portion thereof.
2. Teaching buyouts will be at a standardized level of 25% of the faculty member’s institutional annual base salary per course, for the year of the buyout. 
   1. Corresponding fringe benefits will also be charged to the source project.
   2. These funds will reside in the college, and departments can request funds to hire an instructor to fill the unmet teaching needs.
   3. Faculty are encouraged to keep in mind that the expectation of being a professor is formal instruction and therefore it should not be assumed that repeated or consecutive teaching buyouts will be approved.
3. A faculty member requesting to buyout a course in the next academic year must discuss with their chair as early as possible.
   1. The chair may deny the request if it comes too late to allow for accommodation of the teaching need in the semester in question.
   2. If the chair approves the request, it should be submitted to the associate dean for faculty affairs for dean’s approval.
   3. The chair and dean also reserve the right to decline the request.
4. Faculty are responsible for complying with all University and Sponsor policies pertaining to effort commitments: salary charged to a sponsored project must be allocable and align with activity on the project.

Related UW-Madison Policies:

CALS 7010 College of Agricultural & Life Sciences - Teaching

Policy Administration

Approval Authority:

Dean and Director, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

Policy Manager:

CALS Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs

Contact:

CALS Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs -- Heather White, Heather.White@wisc.edu, (608) 263-7786

Date Issued:

05-09-2025

Retrieved:

06-16-2025 07:55:59