Faculty Compensation and Effort: Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, the core component applies to the total salary, including the clinical salary funded by IUHMG. The department is responsible for providing the core salary to a faculty member, even if the person’s effort is 100% clinical.

For example, consider a full-time faculty physician at the rank of assistant professor who is 100% clinical and, on the clinical compensation model, makes $40,000. The department is responsible for bringing the faculty member’s salary up to $50,000.

The 10% decrease limit per year only applies to the academic salary. The clinical salary is set at the department's discretion, with approval from the practice plan, and will vary accordingly.

The requirement of 10% decrease limit on academic salary applies to the salary rate. It does not apply to a change in effort.

For example, consider a faculty member who makes $220,000 in total salary:

• $120,000 is derived from the IU School of Medicine for 60% academic effort (research and education), at an AAMC benchmark of $200,000 per year.
• $100,000 is derived from the practice plan for 40% clinical effort

This faculty member wants to change her allocations to 25% academic effort and 75% clinical effort.

• The academic component would change to 25% effort — to $50,000 (25% of the $200,000 AAMC benchmark).
  • This reflects an academic compensation decrease of more than 10% because of the change in effort.

If this faculty member's academic compensation were to decrease for performance reasons, the decrease would be limited to 10% of the academic portion of pay:

• The academic compensation decrease would be 10% of the $120,000 — or $12,000.

For high-performing faculty, the increase in the adjustable salary:

• Can be as high as allowed by applicable federal and university guidelines
• Must be affordable affordable for the department
• Is not capped by the plan
• Must adhere to the university's annual salary guidelines

Decreases in adjustable salary must also adhere to the university's annual salary guidelines.

Increases and decreases in adjustable salary are determined by:

• The productivity and quality expectations set by the chair or, when applicable, the regional campus dean (or his/her designee)
• University compensation budget guidelines

The adjustable salary component for faculty who provide clinical care to patients can increase or decrease based on the expectations outlined in the department’s approved clinical compensation plan. This salary component is not guaranteed and is set at the department's discretion with approval of the practice plan.

Yes, if one's adjustable salary decreases 10% each year for more than one year, it can be brought back up by more than 10% in a single year if:

• The situation and faculty performance justify it
• The increase adheres to university policy

First quarter:

• A faculty member will receive a faculty annual review.
• The chair or regional campus dean will recommend changes in base salary based on the faculty annual review.

Second quarter:

• The chair will incorporate the recommended salary changes (adhering to university salary budget guidelines) in the budget for the next fiscal year.

Third quarter:

• The faculty member will see the approved salary adjustment in their July paycheck.

Yes, the department’s total salary change from one year to the next must adhere to the university salary guidelines.

For example, if the university salary guideline for Fiscal Year A is 2%, that means the department as a whole cannot exceed an increase of 2% for the salary line item in the fiscal year's budget. So, if a chair gives one faculty member a 10% increase in salary, other faculty members in the department must receive either a smaller increase, no increase or a decrease, so that the department's total salaries do not increase by more than 2%.

The department must submit a bonus plan to the school and university for approval to issue a bonus.

Bonus criteria and amounts are based on each department’s approved bonus plan.

Bonuses can be given to faculty at any time during the year, as long as the department has a bonus plan that has been approved by the school and university.

Note that bonuses:

• Are given to faculty as “supplemental payments." No benefits accrue on the bonus.
• Must be approved by the chair, who send sends the request to the dean’s office
• Are then approved by the dean's office, who forwards the bonus request to the campus for approval and processing

Yes. Per the IU School of Medicine Faculty Effort Policy:

• Faculty members with research expectations should aim to fund 80% (minimum expectation: 60%) of their designated research effort through external sources. 
• The expectation begins after the startup period is concluded.
• The 80% goal is calculated using a three-year rolling average.

Example: A faculty member has...

• 70% designated as research effort
• 25% designated as education effort
• 5% designated as service effort

The goal for that faculty member would be to fund 80% of the 70% research effort (or 56% of total compensation) through external sources.

The minimum expectation for this faculty member would be to fund 60% of the 70% research effort (or 42% of total compensation).

Yes, up to the cap set by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

For tenure-track faculty members with research as their area of excellence:

• The usual research effort allocation is 70% to 80% (0.7 FTE to 0.8 FTE).
• The range varies depending on the department and other individual factors.

For research-scientist track faculty members with research as their area of excellence:

• Research effort allocation is higher, because these faculty are generally not expected to teach and have minimal or no service obligations.
• Funding expectations also are higher. Extramural funding expectations may be up to 100% of research effort.

The IU School of Medicine Faculty Effort Policy states:

“Faculty members are expected to obtain funding from external granting agencies, such as National Institutes of Health (NIH) or other federal agencies, foundations, contracts for clinical trials or other private or industry sources, and research endowments to support their research."

Endowments are considered external to department funds, thus salary supported through an endowed professorship does count toward meeting expectations for external funding.

Faculty member effort allocations involving Veterans Administration (VA) appointments are managed according to guidelines published on the Indiana University Research Affairs website.

However, because the school does not have purview over VA compensation, any changes in compensation would need to be applied to compensation paid by Indiana University.

Research funding is an important factor in determining whether a faculty member’s performance is satisfactory, but it is not the only factor.

Chairs and regional campus deans should consider performance across all mission areas to inform annual review decisions. The annual review should reflect a more holistic assessment across research, teaching, service, administrative work and professionalism/citizenship.

Salary can be adjusted even if the annual review is satisfactory overall.

Your individual effort allocations will be determined through discussion with your chair or regional campus dean each year during your annual review, or whenever there is a change in effort assignments. There should be a mutual understanding between each faculty member and their chair or regional campus dean regarding individual effort allocations and expectations in each applicable mission area.

The faculty member should follow the grievance process outlined in the IU School of Medicine Faculty Grievance Policy.

Yes.

No. The IU School of Medicine Faculty Compensation Policy applies to all faculty members.