Emergency Funding for Faculty Scholarship

Effective Date: 24-JAN-2024

Policy Statement:

This policy outlines the guidelines and procedures for providing emergency funding to faculty members to ensure their ability to complete scholarly activities under exceptional circumstances. It aims to address unforeseen challenges that may hinder a faculty member’s progress in their scholarly pursuits. It is not designed as a method to fund the routine expenses of scholarship.

Scope:

This policy applies to all faculty members (tenure track, instructional, RHE) of the College of Arts and Sciences who are actively engaged in scholarly activities.

Policy Guidelines:

1. Definition of Emergency Needs:
  a. Emergency needs refer to unforeseen circumstances that significantly impact a faculty member's ability to complete their scholarly work, such as equipment failure or unforeseen publication costs (e.g., subvention fees). 
  b. The faculty member must provide appropriate documentation or evidence to support this need.

2. Request for Emergency Funding:
  a. Faculty members facing emergency needs must submit a written request to their department chair.
  b. The request should include a detailed explanation of the emergency, the impact on the faculty member's scholarly activities, and any supporting documentation (see #4 below).

3. Initial Assessment:
  a. Upon receiving a request, the department chair should conduct an initial assessment of the urgency and impact on scholarly activity.
  b. If the situation is deemed an emergency by the department chair, they should forward the request to the designated associate dean for college level evaluation.
  c. The college will evaluate the impact on the faculty member's scholarly activities and potential alternatives explored.

4. Approval Process:
  a. If approved, the responsible associate dean, in consultation with the college executive staff, will determine the type and extent of support that can be provided, considering all available resources and the faculty member's specific needs.
  b. In order to receive financial assistance, the faculty member should ideally provide a cost sharing model where there are contributions from multiple parties: the faculty member (e.g., grant or RI funds), department, and college (or other entities). Personal (out-of-pocket) funds should not be used. A typical model might include a 50:30:20 cost share (college:department:faculty member). Faculty with active start up accounts are generally not eligible for these funds.
 c. The cost sharing stipulation may be waived if the faculty member can demonstrate that no other funds are available.
  d. Funds are limited. The CAS budget for each fiscal year will be limited to $30K and the RHE portion of financial support will be limited to $10K, each year**.  The college contribution will be no more than 50% of the total request or a maximum of $5000.  

5. Types of Support:
  a. Types of support that are typically approved might include equipment repair, equipment replacement, unforeseen publication costs, etc.  
  b. Types of support that are NOT allowed include most forms of travel, salary, and obviously foreseeable expenses.

6. Review and Evaluation:
  a. This policy shall be periodically reviewed by the college to assess its effectiveness and make necessary updates.
  b. This policy may be withdrawn or modified at any time, for example if college funds become unavailable.
  c. Feedback from faculty members and department chairs should be considered during the review process to ensure the policy meets the evolving needs of the college.

**RHE faculty are responsible for providing documentation of RHE funds to CAS and notification of any award to the RHE Dean and RHE financial administration.

Last reviewed: 17-JAN-2024