School of Medicine & Public Health – Sharing of Research Expenditures and Faculty Salaries on Grants

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Policy Number:
SMPH-3005
Old Policy Number:
30.05
Responsible Office:
SMPH Office of Fiscal Affairs

School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) Policy

Rationale/​Purpose:

The current model on campus allows faculty members to submit grants through other departments, divisions, centers, or units in addition to their home department. Each department/division /center/unit may choose whether to expand edits to allow other departments to incur charges against the grant or not. Some departments/divisions/centers/units do not expand edits, which then limits the amount of indirect costs returned to the home school or college of the faculty member. This policy intends to provide a consistent approach for research expenditures when a grant supports research activity in multiple departments/divisions /centers/units, so the indirect cost return is appropriately allocated.

Definitions:
Core grant
For indirect cost allocation purposes, a P30 (Center Core Grant), P50 (Specialized Center), or UL (Linked Specialized Center Cooperative Agreement) grant.
Faculty
Professors, associate professors, and assistant professors on the tenure track, clinical health sciences track, or clinician-teacher track.
Grant
Externally funded research in fund 133 and fund 144. This does not include clinical trials.
Long-term responsibility of faculty salary
For the duration of the employment of the faculty member.
Principal investigator (PI)
The individual who bears ultimate responsibility for all activities associated with the conduct of a research study, including compliance with federal, state, and local laws, institutional policies, and ethical principles. The PI remains ultimately responsible even when some aspects of the research are delegated to other members of the research team.
Where research is primarily performed
Where the majority of the research and administrative work for the total award is completed. Exceptions include fee-for-service providers who would not be treated as project collaborators and therefore would not receive indirect cost credit.
Policy:

Effective Date:

Effective July 1, 2019, edits must be expanded on the anniversary date of existing grants, which includes competitive renewals and non-competitive continuations for any new awards that are set up.

  1. Sharing of Research Expenditures

    1. Faculty salaries

      1. The determination of the starting salary for a new faculty hire should be discussed with the dean's office before proceeding with negotiations with the recruit.
      2. Responsibility for a faculty member's salary rests typically with the appointing SMPH department, but there are circumstances in which this responsibility is shared:
        1. When a faculty member is jointly appointed between two departments, the responsibility for the faculty member’s salary will be shared in accordance with the appointment percentages.
        2. When a faculty member's recruitment is initiated by a research center, the long-term responsibility for the portion of the member's salary that is not covered by grants or other sources (e.g., campus faculty cluster funds) will be shared by that center and the member's home department. The terms for sharing salary will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis at the time of recruitment, under the supervision of the dean's office, and recorded as a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the center and the department.
        3. Extramural support for the salary of a faculty member with split appointments within SMPH will be distributed between the involved departments based on appointment percentages. Such percentages will be negotiated at the time of appointment and may be adjusted at any time with the approval of the faculty member, the involved departments, and the SMPH dean's office.

    2. Laboratory space assignments

      Laboratory space assignments should follow the SMPH Office Space Usage and Allocation policy

    3. Research expenditures shared between SMPH departments

      Sharing of research expenditures enables the involved departments to recover campus indirect cost return (IDR) funds. The following guidelines for processing research expenditures apply to grants involving more than one SMPH department:

      1. Departments will open edits on 133 and 144 grant projects awarded to an SMPH faculty PI when that faculty member is appointed in two departments having shared responsibility for the faculty member's salary.
      2. Salary support from grants will be prorated between the involved departments, with the split based on the appointment percentages, unless alternative arrangements are made by mutual agreement and approval by the dean's office.
      3. Pre-dissertator graduate student support will be coded as expenditures through the student's academic home department.
      4. Support (e.g., stipends, salary, and fringe benefits) for graduate students in dissertator status, post-doctoral fellows, research associates, scientists, researchers, and other research staff will be coded as expenditures of the unit where their work is primarily performed.
      5. Equipment costs will be coded as expenditures of the unit where the equipment will be housed and maintained.
      6. Supplies and other direct costs on research grants will be coded as expenditures of the unit where the corresponding research activities are primarily performed.

    4. Research expenditures shared between an SMPH department and a research center

      In some instances, faculty who are appointed to an SMPH department have their research space within an SMPH or campus research center, which typically also administers the grant. In these cases, the following processes will be used to share research expenditures between the home department and the center.

      1. Since the home department bears ultimate responsibility for the faculty member's salary, the edits for faculty salary on grants awarded to an SMPH faculty member in a research center will be opened to the home department in order to recover the salary and the associated indirect cost return from campus.
      2. When a research center assumes long-term responsibility for part or all of a faculty member's salary, distribution of salary support on grants awarded through the center will be prorated accordingly between the center and home department.
      3. Pre-dissertator graduate student support will be coded as expenditures through the student's academic home department.
      4. Support (e.g., stipends, salary, and fringe benefits) for graduate students in dissertator status, post-doctoral fellows, research associates, scientists, researchers, and other research staff will be coded as expenditures of the unit where their work is primarily performed.
      5. Equipment costs will be coded as expenditures of the unit where the equipment will be housed and maintained.
      6. Supplies and other direct costs on research grants will be coded as expenditures of the unit where the corresponding research activities are primarily performed.

  2. Responsibilities

    1. The primary unit/home (owning department) is responsible for the overall management of the award, including establishment of subprojects or expanding edits.
    2. Other units spending on subprojects or expanded edits on the main project must adhere to the expectations regarding dollar limitations and are fully responsible for inappropriate charges.

  3. Exceptions

    1. The only exceptions to this policy are:
      1. Core grant leadership/administrative cores of the department or center, such as UW Carbone Cancer Center or the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.
        1. If there is an identified leadership/administrative core and/or the department or center has guaranteed the salary for a faculty member regardless of grant support, then edits on that core grant should remain with the department or center.
        2. Other cores are not covered under this exception.
      2. Training grants, such as T32, KL, TL awards.
      3. Clinical trials.
    2. In exceptional circumstances, this policy may be reconsidered on a case-by-case basis by agreement between the participating units and approval of the SMPH dean's office, the senior associate dean for basic research, biotechnology and graduate studies, and the senior associate dean for finance.
Related UW-Madison Policies:
Related UW–Madison Documents, Web Pages, or Other Resources:

Policy Administration

Approval Authority:
Dean, School of Medicine and Public Health
Policy Manager:
SMPH Finance Director
Contact:
SMPH Finance Associate Director -- Karla Thompson, krthompson@wisc.edu, (608) 263-4932
Effective Date:
04-03-2019
Date Issued:
04-03-2019
Revised Dates:

10-22-2020, 12-13-2019, 11-13-2023

Retrieved:
02-04-2025 22:09:15