Institutional Base Salary Policy

Policy Statement

St. John Fisher University (hereafter, the University) has established a policy that all faculty salaries charged to sponsored projects must be based on the Institutional Base Salary (IBS), as defined below.

Reason for Policy

The purpose of this policy is to comply with the Code of Federal Regulations Part 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (i.e., the Uniform Guidance), which requires recipients of federal funding to establish an institutional policy that documents the consistent budgeting and expensing of faculty salaries on sponsored projects. The policy provides direction for calculating IBS in grant budgets at the proposal preparation stage.

Definition of Institutional Base Salary

The Institutional Base Salary (IBS) is the guaranteed salary defined in a faculty member's appointment letter for a 9-month or 12-month contract. The following tables identify activities that are included and excluded from the definition of IBS.

Items Included in the IBS for a 9-month or 12-month Faculty Member

  • Teaching – consult the appointment letter for the number of credits of teaching required per semester or annually
  • Advising and mentoring during the academic year
  • Professional development (e.g., attending meetings and conferences)
  • Scholarship (e.g., research that is funded or unfunded)
  • Administrative effort, such as serving as department chair or on institutional committees
  • Effort expended on preparing proposals

Items Excluded from the IBS for a 9-month or 12-month Faculty Member

  • Bonuses, incentives and certain "one-time" or temporary payments for which other compensation is paid by the University
  • Extra-service pay in addition to regular workload such as consulting and other outside compensated professional work including service on scientific advisory boards compensated by external organizations
  • Volunteer community or public service
  • Service on peer-review panels
  • Leadership in professional organizations
  • Royalties
  • Tuition remission

Additional Duties

Other appointed duties are not considered part of Institutional Base Salary unless indicated as such in the appointment letter. Some appointed duties for faculty may provide a course release to accommodate time spent on those duties during the academic year. Others may include additional pay for the appointment period, and if so, will be outlined in the letter.

Research and External Grant Work

In most cases, conducting and mentoring some research during the regular academic year is incorporated within a faculty member's regular teaching duties or scholarly activities. When sponsored research or related duties are introduced as part of an external grant this often includes additional work to be performed during the summer months that could result in additional pay, but it is understood minimal activity and oversight will take place throughout the academic year as well. Faculty who need designated time to accommodate sponsored research activities during the academic year may request a course release through discussion with their department chair, relevant dean, and the provost.

Limitations Associated with Institutional Base Salary

In compliance with the Uniform Guidance, faculty members may only receive compensation equivalent to their IBS rate of pay for the activities listed as items included in the IBS for a 9-month or 12-month faculty member. Annually for IBS-related activities, they should not receive more than their monthly rate of pay x 12 months.

For example, a faculty member on a 9-month contract with an annual salary of $50,000 receives the following monthly IBS: $50,000/9 = $5,556. The maximum IBS-related salary that the faculty member can earn over a period of 12 months is: $5,556/month x 12 months = $66,672.

Approved May 2020
Last Updated July 2021
Next Review Fall 2023