Also called "continuing funds" or "hard money." These funds are in budget lines that, unless altered, continue from year to year. Put another way, permanent money has a "line" in the university's operating budget; hence faculty positions are sometimes referred to as "lines." The leading examples of permanent money are tenure-track faculty positions, full-time staff positions, multifill lines, and departmental operations and maintenance accounts. A department's permanent funds increase upon occasion, such as when the faculty get salary increases or promotions, or when the department receives permission and funding for an additional permanent faculty line. A department's permanent funds decrease when there is reallocation from one unit to another, or when proration forces a permanent reduction in the university budget from one fiscal year to the next.

Also called "non-continuing funds," "soft money," or "one-time money." Sources of temporary money vary, but the most common are salary savings, extramural grant money, indirect cost money, or one-time allocations from the Provost Office or other university offices. Generally speaking, temporary money is used to hire extra graduate teaching assistants and instructors, and it also can be used for equipment purchases, faculty travel, and other needs that require only a one-time expenditure of funds. Temporary money held in departments is generally held in reserve accounts.

An endowment fund account is used for funds which the donor specifies that the principal is to be held in perpetuity. The principal is unexpendable and is invested to produce earnings that are generally available for use as specifed by the donor.

Faculty may enter into all sorts of research, outreach, or instruction contracts through the Office of Sponsored Programs. Such contracts can include money for faculty salary, hiring of assistants, equipments, and so forth. Such contracts also can generate indirect cost money. All or practically all of the money generated from contracts is temporary money.

Faculty may enter into all sorts of research, outreach, or instruction contracts through the Office of Sponsored Programs. The university charges indirect costs on these contracts at varying rates, depending on the nature of the activity. The indirect cost is split between the AU General fund, AU VP for Research, College, and Department. At times the department or the college will allow the investigator to retain use of some or all of the indirect cost money. It is sometimes possible to waive indirect costs, or at least waive the department and college share of indirect costs, which either makes the contract less expensive for the sponsor or gives the investigator some additional money to spend on the project. However, waiving of indirect costs should be pursued as a last resort, not a first idea, in the negotiating of contracts with sponsors. The basic university policy is to recover full indirect costs on all sponsored activities, and the college will not (and departments should not) easily waive their shares of indirect costs.

Funds that may only be used for certain purposes. The most common types are endowment money and extramural grant money. The university has a number of sometimes complicated rules governing restricted funds, but the basic rule rests on common sense: the funds must be used for the purpose for which they were intended. Hence you cannot draw on a National Endowment for the Arts grant account for sculpture to instead fund brain research in psychology, and you cannot draw on an endowment for undergraduate scholarships in English to instead fund conference travel for philosophy faculty.

Current operating funds from the general funds of the university (chiefly tuition revenues and state appropriations) are contained in accounts numbered 2-XXXXX and are said to be unrestricted funds. These funds can be spent on anything (faculty and staff positions, equipment, travel, office expenses, etc.) not specifically disallowed by university or state policy -- an example of unacceptable expenditures would be holiday gifts for faculty.

An account with a permanent allocation that can be used to hire a number of different graduate teaching assistants or instructors. Typically, there is only enough permanent money in a multifill line to cover part of a department's instructional needs, and departments apply to the college and the Provost each year for additional temporary money to meet needs beyond the permanent multifill line.

Each department has a permanent allocation for operations and maintenance. Typically these funds are used to pay telephone costs, copier costs, and other office expenses. They can also be used to support faculty travel, to pay for searches for new faculty, and to buy equipment, among other things. Departmental maintenance and operations budgets are woefully inadequate, and on average they provide only 50% of the money spent by departments each year; the remainder of the funds come from temporary money.

Salary savings is unspent or unallocated money from permanent faculty and staff lines. There are different types of salary savings that accrue in different ways:

1. The college or department acquires permanent salary savings when a faculty member retires or leaves the university and a lower-paid faculty member is selected to replace her. For example, a full professor retires with a salary of $70,000, and a beginning assistant professor is hired to replace him at a salary of $40.000. The $30,000 in permanent money from this salary line that remains unallocated can be retained by the department to generate temporary money, can be used to create and fund a new permanent position, can be taken back into the dean's office for allocation to other departments, or, in some cases, can be taken back into the provost's office for allocation or budget reduction.
   The current policy on permanent salary savings is that departments will generally receive permission from the dean's office to fill vacated positions at the entry level, and the Dean will retain any permanent salary savings for potential reallocation.
2. Temporary salary savings are created when, for one reason or another, the funds in a permanent line are not spent during a fiscal year. For example, a faculty member leaves the department and his/her position remains unfilled for the year, either because it is too late to search for a permanent replacement or because permission is not granted for a search. If the faculty member's salary was $40,000, the department thus has $40,000 in temporary salary saving for that year (temporary because the department intends to hire a permanent replacement as soon as possible). Typically such money is spent on temporary instructors or graduate teaching assistants, or it can be moved into the department's reserve account for later use. Temporary salary savings may also be taken back into the dean's office or provost's office for allocation or budget reduction, such as proration payback.
3. Another example of temporary salary savings is a faculty member who is paid partly through extramural grant money or who takes unpaid leave. If a professor with a salary of $40,000 has 25% of her salary paid by an outside funding agency, this would generate $10,000 in temporary salary savings (temporary because the grant will end at some point and the department will resume paying the faculty member's full salary). Or, if a faculty member making $40,000 takes a semester of unpaid leave, the department would have approximately $20,000 in salary savings (temporary because the faculty member will be back on full salary the next year).

Such accounts are maintained both in departments and in the college. Reserve accounts can be used either to hold permanent money or temporary money, but such accounts are most commonly used to consolidate surplus temporary funds. Units are expected to maintain a reserve of between 0.5% and 1% of their total permanent budget. Some units have considerably greater reserves than this, some less. Reserve monies can be used for many purposes. At times reserves are used to deal with university reallocation or proration.

According to the state constitution, the government of Alabama cannot operate at a deficit. Each May or June, the state legislature appropriates money for the coming fiscal year, and in part its appropriations are based on projections of tax revenue available. Since state funding is highly dependent on sales tax revenues, which fluctuate considerably with shifts in the economy, every few years the sales tax revenues fail to reach the levels required to cover the amounts appropriated by the legislature for that fiscal year. The solution then applied is "proration," which is an after-the-fact reduction in appropriations in every area of government, including education. In a typical example, it becomes apparent around January or February that tax revenues will not be sufficient to cover appropriations for the year, and the governor and legislature then agree upon a proration figure (for example, 5%) and announce that governmental units will have to reduce their budgets by that percentage. This can involve either eliminating expenses for the remaining months of the fiscal year (for example, freezing travel funding or laying off staff on temporary money) or drawing upon reserves accumulated during previous years and sending money back to the state.

Advertising Format for Provost Units

The following guide is to be utilized when preparing vacancy postings to appear in printed or online media for tenured and tenure-track faculty, visiting faculty, and non-tenure track faculty positions in those units reporting to the Provost. It is understood that for certain venues, a very condensed posting may be prepared, while for others the posting may be expanded. The style in which the posting is written, font size and type of print utilized, and information concerning the department, the college/school, the university, or the community are at the discretion of the college/school dean or appropriated vice president (both formats must be approved using AU standard procedures).

Heading:
This would include the discipline in which the vacancy exists and the position title.

Introduction:
Sample: The Department of Art at Auburn University, located in Auburn, Alabama, invites applications for a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor in Art History to begin Fall Semester 20xx.

If the posting is for a visiting faculty or other temporary appointment, the term of the appointment should be included. If an option exists to extend the term of the original appointment beyond what is stated in the posting, that information should also be included.

The following statement must be included in all postings:

Women and Minorities are Encouraged to Apply.

To emphasize Auburn's commitment to diversity, it is suggested that this statement be included in the introductory portion of the posting. The statement may be put in bold type, capital letters, or emphasized in some other manner at the discretion of the dean or appropriate vice president.

Responsibilities:
This could include specific course(s) to be taught, course load, research expectations, outreach activities, advising, departmental service, etcetera.

Requirements/Qualifications:
All postings must include a statement of minimal education and experience requirements. The terminal degree is the minimum educational requirement for tenured and tenure-track faculty positions. If a doctorate is the terminal degree but ABDs will be considered, the posting must contain a statement to that effect. The acceptable discipline(s) in which the terminal degree is held must be included in the posting. If only candidates with specific types of research and/or instructional experience will be considered, that must be stated in the posting. Any desirable/preferred qualifications which will be considered in the applicant review process must be stated in the posting.

When determining the minimum requirements to be included in recruitment materials, please remember that all applicants who meet those minimum requirements must be considered for the position and any applicants who do not meet all the minimum requirements must be eliminated from consideration for the position. Desired/preferred qualifications cannot be used to eliminate applicants from further consideration during the initial review process. Desired/preferred qualifications can be used to differentiate between otherwise equally qualified applicants in selecting applicants for interview and in choosing the successful candidate. Qualifications not indicated in the posting cannot be used to eliminate an applicant, nor can such qualifications be used to enhance an applicant's consideration.

A department should have a clear view of its needs before recruitment materials are prepared. The advertisement should clearly state those needs. The stated qualifications should not be so broad that few specifics are provided on which to base selection or elimination of applicants nor so restrictive that few would apply or qualify.

Application Process:
This would include documents to be submitted in the application packet, which may include a cover memo, curriculum vita, transcripts, letters of reference, and any other appropriate materials as determined by the search committee. The address to which applications should be submitted and the date review of applications will begin should be indicated. A minimum of six weeks from the date the posting appears in all venues should provide sufficient time for interested applicants to respond.

While a closing date for receipt of applications may be included, this is not advised. A statement that review of applications will continue until a successful candidate has been identified may be more beneficial to the recruiting unit; however, such a statement is not required.

For More Information:
You may want to include a phone number, a FAX number, an email address, and/or a web site.

Closing:
The following statement must be included:

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

The candiate selected for this position must be able to meet eligibility requirements to work in the United States at the time the appointment is scheduled to begin and continue working legally for the proposed term of employment; excellent communication skills required.

Academic and Faculty Oversight Issues

• Early Entry of New Faculty into Banner System
• List of Reminders and Tips
• Link to Curriculum and Teaching Policies
• Other Helpful Guidelines for Department Chairs
  • CLA Guidelines for Team Teaching
  • CLA Independent Study/Directed Readings Tips for Department Chairs
  • CLA Policy on Collecting and Keeping Departmental Syllabi
  • CLA Guidelines for non-AU led Study Abroad Programs

• CLA Promotion and Tenure Handbook
• Faculty Handbook - Chapter 3
• Standard External Letters of Assessment
• Assessing Journal Quality
• Helpful Tips for Department Chairs - P & T