College of Education Policy on External Funding
Approved by Executive Council January 17, 2019

This policy is designed to ensure that College of Education researchers a) are aware of College priorities; b) construct budgets that accurately reflect effort; and c) receive appropriate credit for their effort on externally-funded research projects.

State, federal, foundation, and/or RFP guidelines supersede these College of Education policies. Grants and Research Services Center (GRSC) staff will work with the investigator and the Associate Dean for Research to ensure that proposal budgets are aligned with the proposal narrative.  All grant proposals are subject to approval by the Associate Dean for Research.

  1. Funding graduate assistantships for College of Education doctoral students is a collegiate priority and, where possible, investigators should prioritize GA funding in their budgets.
  2. All external funding proposals that include College of Education faculty investigators, should appropriately account for faculty effort, where the funding agency permits.
    1. If research is being conducted by the investigator during the academic year, corresponding effort should be reflected in the proposal budget via either academic year research effort or a course release.
    2. If research is being conducted during the summer months, corresponding effort should be reflected in the proposal budget via summer salary.
  3. All course releases must be approved by a faculty member's DEO and are to be budgeted as 10% of a faculty member's academic year salary.

  4. Under normal circumstances, faculty will be allowed to use grant funding to pay for no more than one course release per academic semester unless otherwise negotiated with their DEO and the Associate Dean for Research.

    For course releases, 2/3 of the net course release proceeds (that occur after paying for the cost of substitute instruction) will be retained by the Dean’s Office, and 1/3 of these proceeds will accrue to the investigator.  For academic-year effort that does not involve a course release, 2/3 of this funding will be retained by the College, and 1/3 will accrue to the investigator.  Purchases made with these funds must be relevant to the investigator’s research and/or teaching, consistent with University guidelines, and approved at the College level.

    Funds will be deposited into an account during the semester the salary is released from the general fund.  The PI must use the funds within two years of the funds being deposited into the account.  If the funding is not used within two years of the date deposited, the PI will have to provide a rationale to their DEO and the Associate Dean for Research for continued use of the funds.

  5. A third summer month of salary for faculty will be contingent upon the faculty member obtaining approval from their DEO and the Associate Dean for Research.