Ladder Rank Faculty Appointments Without State Funding

SOM Policy for Ladder Rank Faculty Appointments Without State Funding

At the University of California, a faculty appointment in the Ladder rank (tenure-track Professor) series requires a state-funded Full-Time Equivalent (FTE), which provides a permanent source of partial salary support.  Appointments in the Ladder rank series require high standards of research excellence at the time of appointment and throughout the academic career.  
 
However, the UC allows a limited number of Ladder rank appointments to be established without state support if the position has a permanent salary source. An In-Residence appointment requires the same academic advancement criteria, but does not confer tenure. Consequently, for this reason, the UCSF School of Medicine will consider the creation of Ladder rank appointments without state funding only under extremely limited circumstances including:

  • Application for specific programs (e.g., Howard Hughes Medical Institute [HHMI] Investigator program), where the faculty member is a competitive candidate.
  • If it is required by an institutional affiliation agreement.
  • If it is required for specific recruitments (e.g., to recruit a faculty member who already holds a Ladder rank appointment at another UC campus).

The position must have a permanent salary source with an annual payout that is equal to or greater than the value of a state FTE (e.g., a permanently assigned endowed chair with principal valued at $3M or greater). 

Each Ladder rank appointment without state support is linked to a specific faculty member and cannot be assigned to another individual when that faculty member leaves UCSF. The ladder rank position for that individual will be held in the Dean’s Office.

Process for requesting Ladder rank faculty appointment without state funding for HHMI applicants

  • In advance of every HHMI competition, department chairs are asked to nominate junior In-Residence faculty who have demonstrated exceptional research progress and have a permanent salary source equal to or greater than the value of a state FTE.
  • A committee of senior basic science faculty, including current HHMI investigators, will review all nominations to identify the strongest candidate(s) to be proposed for appointment in the Ladder rank series. 

Process for requesting Ladder rank faculty appointment without state funding for affiliates, recruitment or retention 

  1. Requests for other Ladder rank appointments without state support will be considered by the Dean only in those exceptional cases where a Ladder rank appointment is specifically required. These requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 
  2. The Dean may convene an ad hoc committee to evaluate these requests.

Timeline

Approval by the UC Office of the President (UCOP) is required to create a Ladder rank appointment without state funding (see Business Plan Development Process section, below). In addition, a proposed change in series requires a full packet for review and approval by the Committee on Academic Personnel and UCSF Provost. A change of series typically requires 6-12 months to process.

Exclusion criteria

Departments with unassigned or temporarily assigned state FTEs must use those FTEs first and cannot request Ladder rank positions without state funding.

Business Plan Development Process

  1. The requesting department informs the following that a request/business plan for establishing a non-1900 Ladder FTE is being prepared and will be submitted to them for review and sign-off:
    1. Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost ( through the Associate Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration)
    2. Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
    3. Senior Associate Vice Chancellor & CFO
  2. The requesting department drafts the following (the SOM Dean’s Office can provide examples/templates): 
    1. A business plan in accordance with APM 190, Section F (a separate plan for each nominee)
      1. A brief description/summary of the request.
      2. Background information.
      3. Academic planning discussion (or business case) describing the intended use of the FTE, the relationship to existing programs, and the rationale for the request.
      4. Enrollment data if adding this non-1900 FTE will affect the teaching load of other Ladder rank positions in the department.
      5. Detailed financial statements for the prior three years: revenues, expenses, transfers and other changes, fund balance.
      6. Expenditure projections that demonstrate the funding source will provide at least the same level of support that SOM 1900 funds provide to 1900-funded Ladder faculty.
      7. What department fund sources will be used to cover potential shortfall in the identified funding source.
      8. Affirmation that SOM and the requesting department will stand behind this tenured position in the same way they support 1900-funded Ladder faculty.
      9. Confirmation that the fund swill be used primarily for faculty salaries and the requesting department is building in funding for salary increases.
      10. Confirmation that the fund source will be identified separately in the accounting system.
      11. Affirmation that 90% of the revenues from the fund source will be committed to salaries and benefits for the faculty, and the remaining 10% each year will be for temporary or reserve purposes
    2. A transmittal letter from the SOM Dean to the UCSF Chancellor
    3. A transmittal letter from the UCSF Chancellor to the UC Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
  3. The requesting department sends the completed draft document to Jon Rueter, SOM Associate Dean for Financial Affairs who will review and provide feedback.
  4. After that review, the requesting department sends the draft to UCSF Academic Senate Chair and Academic Senate Executive Director to inform them of the pending request and to confirm their support of the request. They will not formally sign the proposal, but the department should have documentation that indicates their support. 
  5. The final draft is sent to the Associate Dean for Financial Affairs who will coordinate review by the SOM Dean, Vice Dean for Research, and Vice Dean for Administration & Finance and provide the final edits to the requesting department.
  6. The requesting department finalizes the business plan and the transmittal letters and routes them through Docusign in the following order:
    1. Chair of the requesting department, who affirms the department stands behind this tenured position in the same way it supports all 1900-funded tenured faculty
    2. Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost, who supports the request to UCOP to establish the non-1900 Ladder FTE
    3. Senior Associate Vice Chancellor & CFO, who affirms they have reviewed the materials and the proposal adequately addresses UC’s requirements for establishing a new non-1900 FTE
    4. Dean of the School of Medicine, who signs the transmittal letter to the Chancellor outlining the request and affirming SOM support
    5. UCSF Chancellor, who signs the transmittal letter to UCOP outlining the request and affirming campus support
  7. Once all the signatures are obtained, the requesting department sends the documents the Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Affairs who is the point person for submission to UCOP.
  8. If UCOP approves:
    1. Campus & SOM Academic Affairs Notification: The SOM Dean’s Office forwards UCOP approval notices to EVCP (Emerald Light) and SOM Academic Affairs (Christina Mangurian and Amy Friedli) if they are not on the approval or email notification distributions.
    2. Faculty Notification: The requesting department notifies the faculty member(s) of the approval.
      1. Faculty should understand the funding has been approved by UCOP. The change in series requires academic review and approval (following the normal UCSF process).
    3. Change in Series Action: The requesting department is responsible for working with HR to initiate a change in series action (new offer letter, new packet for academic review/approval process).
      1. Faculty will need to submit the materials in Advance with the system notifies them.
    4. Funding Change in UCPath: The requesting department is responsible to make the funding change in UCPath. The effective date cannot be before the UCOP approval date.
    5. BSE Tracking in PLUS: SOM Dean’s Office (FAU) adds a placeholder for the position into the PLUS tracking tool as a non-1900 BSE, and will add them to the log when the change in series to Ladder faculty has been approved.