Fellowship Salary Support Policy

July 12, 2023

The College of Arts and Sciences is proud to be a powerful contributor to the University of Washington’s high level of research productivity which feeds directly into our research-informed instruction. These two missions are core to both the college and the university. As such, the college seeks to incentivize opportunities for tenure-line and tenured faculty to pursue research using external support. The objective of “top up” funding is to make up the difference between a faculty member’s full-time, 9-month salary and the amount provided by an external award, thus assisting faculty in accepting fellowships that are intended to contribute towards their progress in research and scholarly efforts. The college seeks to provide these funds according to the following guidelines:

For highly prestigious fellowships (see partial list below), the College will top-up to the full, 9-month salary. Determination of designation as “highly prestigious” will be made by the divisional dean in consultation with the department chair.

Faculty are strongly encouraged to accept fellowships in conjunction with sabbatical leave whenever possible.

In order to be eligible, applicants should submit the following in a memorandum to their department chair, divisional dean, and with copy to the CAS Associate Dean for Research at the time of application for the fellowship:

• An explanation of the fellowship including its terms
• Length and dates of fellowship request
• Faculty member’s goals for the fellowship period should it be awarded
• Award acceptance rate if that data is available
• Specific top-up request being made
• Dates and duration of last sabbatical, fellowship or other research leave

In order to remain in compliance with current university policy, we cannot permit under any circumstances total compensation, including top-up, to exceed 100% of the faculty member’s regular nine-month UW salary.

Top-up funds will not be available for summer support (including NEH Summer Stipend awards) beyond the regular nine-month academic year, unless a faculty member is on a permanent contract that guarantees more than nine months of annual salary.

Replacement teaching funds will not automatically be provided for faculty receiving fellowships that are topped up.

Faculty members who choose to take the award through the UW will be paid their full benefits pursuant to the Department Chair agreeing to cover the benefit load costs on the award amount. Faculty members who choose to accept the award directly will receive contributions to their retirement only on the salary portion paid by the UW.

Top-up funds will be provided no more than once in any four-year period to the same faculty member.  All faculty members receiving top-up funds must return to full-time teaching for one year after their fellowship year is completed.  If a faculty member is on leave for two academic years, one year on a university-approved leave with pay (sabbatical leave) and the other on a fellowship with top-up funding, then the faculty member must return to full-time teaching for two academic years after their period of leave has ended. If this return obligation is not met, the faculty member must repay the top up salary and associated benefits.The top up will be formalized with an offer letter that outlines the terms and documents the arrangement.

Please note that these arrangements may impact your future sabbatical eligibility/sabbatical repayment clock or result in a clock extension.  If you are paid directly resulting in a leave of more than 50% for 6 months or more, that year will not count toward sabbatical eligibility or repayment. For faculty on clock-managed titles:

• Sabbatical Clock: https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/working/promotion-and-tenure-clock-changes/.
• Sabbatical Clock Waiver: https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/policies/sabbaticals/.

The following national/international fellowships are eligible for top-up funds provided by the College of Arts and Sciences:

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences Visiting Scholar Program
• American Academy in Rome
• American Academy in Berlin
• American Council of Learned Societies Individual Fellowships
• Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford)
• Folger Institute Long Term Research Fellowship
• Fulbright Fellowships
• Getty Foundation Residential Grants\
• Guggenheim Fellowship
• Humboldt Foundation Fellowships
• Huntington Library
• Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton)
• Max Planck Institute
• National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowships
• National Endowment for the Humanities Individual Fellowships
• National Humanities Center
• Newberry Library
• Russell Sage Visiting Scholars Program
• Stanford Humanities Center
• Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard)
• Villa I Tatti (Harvard)
• Wenner-Gren Foundation

On a case-by-case basis, the College may also provide top-up funding for field specific national fellowships, if such fellowships are comparable to the fellowships that appear above.  Applications must provide evidence that the fellowship is nationally competitive.

For all other national fellowships, the College of Arts and Sciences will consider on a case-by-case basis providing “top up” to individual faculty members up to a maximum of $50,000 in any 12-month period.  Again, and in keeping with UW policy, no faculty member may receive more than 100% of their regular salary during the 9-month academic year through a combination of fellowship support and top-up funds.  To be eligible for the full, $50,000 top-up, the fellowship award must be in an amount greater than at least 65% percent of the awardee’s salary during the award period.
 

Methods of receiving award

Paid directly to individual.
The faculty member must take a leave without salary for the same dollar amount as the award.  For instance, if a faculty member has a full-time annual salary of $100,000 and receives an award that will pay $75,000, he/she must take a leave without salary for $75,000 worth of UW salary, or 75%.  As long as the UW salary remains at 5% or greater during the leave period the faculty member maintains health benefits and any other self-paid benefits such as life insurance.  However, the faculty member is still responsible for the full amount of the deductions for such items.  As with most any leave, there will be an effect on the amount of the contribution to the faculty members retirement account.  The faculty member’s and the UW’s contributions are based only on the amount of funding being paid by the UW, in this case above, the retirement contribution calculations will be based on $25,000, the actual salary coming through the UW payroll.

During the award period the faculty member continues to receive funding from their regular position at a reduced percentage, this is considered the top-up.  Because the faculty member applied for and has been granted a leave for the remaining portion of their position, funds are released from the position.  Departments are expected to use these funds for replacement instructors as needed.

Award is managed by the UW
The award is accepted and managed by the department and assigned a cost center number.  The faculty member maintains 100% of their benefits, including the contributions to their retirement account.

During the time of the award the faculty member is not on leave and is paid 100% of their normal salary in a combination of their regular salary from their position and from the award.  For instance, using a full-time annual salary of $100,000, and an award of $75,000, they would be set up in Workday as 25% from their regular funding source and 75% from the award cost center.   The 25% regular UW salary is considered the top-up.  The remaining 75% of their regular funding is then released and departments are expected to use these funds for replacement instructors as needed.  Since most awards will not allow benefits to be paid from their funds, departments will need to identify a non-GOF budget to pay the benefit loading rate.

It should be noted that in both methods of receiving/managing the award, no additional funds beyond what is in the faculty member’s funded position are available for salary to the faculty member and/or replacement instructors.