Office of Associate Provost for Research
Dean of Graduate Studies
Scholes Hall, Rm. 227-A
Albuquerque, NM 87131-1001
(505) 277-6128
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Office of Associate Provost for Research |
Date: |
May 30, 2000 |
TO: |
Distribution |
FROM: |
Nasir Ahmed, Associate Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies |
Subject: |
Revised Postdoctoral Fellows Policy – Clarification of Follow-on Employment |
Attached is the revised policy for Postdoctoral Fellows (PDFs). This revision provides more information as to how PDFs can be transitioned to different employment status after the maximum three (3) year PDF assignment. Please distribute this to any PDFs or faculty who supervise PDFs in your department or unit.
You will also want to note the approaching deadline of June 30, 2000, for terminating or transitioning anyone who will have been a PDF for three years.
Distribution:
Deans
Category III Center Directors
Chairs (with current postdocs)
Jose Rivera
William Galey
Anne Thomas
Ann Powell
Genifer Bell
Susan Carkeek
John Trotter
Hiring and Compensating Postdoctoral Fellows
Definition
A postdoctoral fellow is a person engaged in a period of special study and/or research at the postdoctoral level. The postdoctoral fellow (PDF) is a trainee, which is a unique category of employment at UNM, distinct from staff, faculty and students enrolled in a degree-granting program. Being a trainee, each PDF must have an identified faculty mentor (advisor). It is the responsibility of the institution, college, department and faculty mentor to supervise, encourage and foster the education of the PDF in a manner consistent with the PDF’s career goals. PDFs will be appointed through the Faculty Contracts Office.
Period of Appointment
An individual may be appointed as a PDF for no more than three years at the University of New Mexico.
During the period of appointment, the PDF is considered an exempt employee and generally has a forty (40) hour work week, though the PDF is paid a salary which is not based upon the number of hours worked. For more information on the work schedule of exempt employees, see University Business Policies and Procedures 3300, 3310, and 3500.
A PDF is permitted to also be hired to teach as a part-time instructor. This will be handled as a separate hiring, subject to the normal UNM hiring process. In total, the PDF’s FTE cannot exceed 125% (100% if funded entirely with federal funds).
Due to the unique and temporary nature of their employment, PDFs are considered employees at will. Because of this classification, PDFs are allowed to terminate employment without advance notification, although mutual consideration between the PDF and the faculty mentor should make this an infrequent occurrence. Similarly, the University may terminate the employment of a PDF without advance notice. Again, the relationship between a faculty mentor and the PDF would usually preclude such an event.
Salary Guidelines
The academic department of the PDF will set salaries. The annual salary may not be below the department’s highest salary paid to a graduate research assistant (this includes salary, tuition and other fringe benefits), and may not exceed the department’s lowest salary paid to a full-time tenure-track faculty member. Each fiscal year, the PDF may be given salary increases in accordance with University guidelines if funding is available.
Benefits
The following benefits will apply to each PDF:
The hiring department will maintain leave records; leave balances will not appear on the payroll earnings statement.
If fringe benefits are not an allowable cost on the contract or grant paying the PDF’s salary, the department shall identify another allowable source of funds (usually unrestricted) to pay the University’s portion of the fringe benefits.
No other employee benefits apply. A PDF must have at least a 50% appointment to be eligible for benefits. If a PDF is appointed for less than full-time (1.0 FTE), benefits will be pro-rated.
Hiring Process
The sponsoring faculty mentor and the appropriate department will complete the Postdoc Contract and submit it to the Faculty Contracts Office (FCO). The FCO will process the appointment and provide appropriate UNM identification and information to the PDF. Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) has chosen to waive review of PDF hires since this position requires highly specialized skills, current statistics demonstrate diversity among PDFs, these positions are finite, and confer limited employment benefits. OEO will monitor these hires statistically.
Applying for Grants
If the department chairperson feels that a PDF is capable of acting as an independent investigator, he or she may give a PDF permission to apply for external funding as a Research Assistant Professor. The PDF may submit proposals to outside funding agencies in his/her own name as a principal investigator or co-investigator provided that the proposal requests at least 10% effort by the PDF. If these conditions have been met, the PDF may submit the proposal using the title of Research Assistant Professor. However, unless the proposal is funded, the PDF will remain a PDF as long as the three-year limit has not been exceeded. If the proposal is funded, the department will submit the appropriate paperwork to the Faculty Contracts Office to change the status of the PDF to a Research Assistant Professor and change payroll allocations as appropriate. Paperwork should include a Form 5 for OEO with the named in a grant exception checked. All assignments from that time forward for the individual will change to Research Assistant Professor title, salary and benefits. There will no other separate assignments, with the exception of part-time instructors as noted above.
Follow-on Employment
An individual may be appointed as a PDF for no more than three years at the University of New Mexico. If the PDF is to remain a UNM employee at the conclusion of three years, he or she must go through the normal UNM competitive hiring process for staff or faculty positions or qualify for one of the following alternative hiring categories as found on the Alternative Appointment Request Form (Form 5) (UBPPM #3210, Section 7).
For information regarding hiring processes, please access http://www.unm.edu/~oeounm for Faculty Hiring Handbook and http://www.unm.edu/~ubppm for Staff Recruitment and Hiring (UBPPM #3210)
Instructions for the Request for Alternative Appointment (Form 5) may be found in the Faculty Hiring Handbook under 2.4 on the Office of Equal Opportunity homepage (URL shown above). This form (Form 5) is prepared by the Hiring Unit in those rare circumstances when the full search process is not possible, practical or applicable. Allowable categories are shown on the Form 5 (downloadable from the OEO website) The appropriate reason must be checked on form by Hiring Unit and a complete explanation (to include affirmative action considerations) of circumstances surrounding the request must be included. Request must be submitted to Faculty Contacts for assignment of requisition number and verification of position. Office of Equal Opportunity analysis of the request will include a comparison of the Hiring Unit's utilization for women and minorities based on the appropriate availability data. Alternative categories available to the PDF include:
(1) Named in a Grant
An individual specifically named in a contract or grant based on the person's special skills or qualifications to perform the services proposed. The requesting department should submit a Form 5 to Faculty Contracts (who will transmit to OEO) with a rationale clearly explaining the request along with a copy of the grant budget page showing where the individual is named.
(2) Sole Source
An individual who has unique qualifications needed for a position. Usually, the position will not exist unless the specific person can be hired. The requesting department should submit a Form 5 to Faculty Contracts (who will transmit to OEO) with a rationale clearly justifying why the individual qualifies for a sole source appointment.
(3) Underrepresented and Underutilized Group
An individual who is a member of a group which is underutilized, both presently and historically (as verified by OEO), in the job group for which the person is being considered, and another more qualified member of an underutilized group is unlikely to apply. The requesting department should submit a Form 5 to Faculty Contracts (who will transmit to OEO) with a rationale clearly explaining why the individual selected is the most qualified member of the the underutilized group (as verified by OEO).
All alternative hires must be approved by the Office of Equal Opportunity.
Included in normal UNM faculty hiring processes is the Limited Competitive Search (see 2.5 in Faculty Hiring Handbook). This process may be used for very specialized hard-to-fill positions where there are very few potential candidates available nationally. The Hiring Office (after consulting with the Office of Equal Opportunity) should contact all individuals known to perform the specialized functions required for the position. The Hiring Office should submit Forms 1a/1b, 3 and a rationale listing all individuals contacted and explaining how the individual selected was chosen. The packet must be submitted to Faculty Contracts Office who will transmit it to Office of Equal Opportunity.
The Associate Provost for Research/Dean of Graduate Studies will address any questions, concerns or problems.
Revised 5/00