New and Revised Research Policies

Introduction

In response to a request from the provost, John Owens and Jack Pelton convened an ad hoc committee to review many of the university’s research policies and related guidelines and forms. The committee recommended revision of nine policies, creation of three new policies, creation of two sets of new guidelines, creation of one new form, and revision of an existing form. The committee’s initial recommendations have been modified based on input from the Provost, the VP for Finance and Administration, the Office of Human Resource Services, the Deans’ Council, and the Faculty Senate. The latest versions are now provided on this web site as links to pdf files for review by members of the President’s Cabinet. The documents are organized into groups according to topic and introductory comments are provided beneath each link.

Committee Membership

The ad hoc committee is comprised mostly of associate deans and faculty with research backgrounds.  The current membership is as follows:  John Gardner, Amanda Horton, Jack Pelton (Chair), John Owens (Vice-Chair), Uwe Reischl, Marty Schimpf, Diane Schooley, Ross Vaughn, and Shelton Woods.  Lynn Russell and Glenn Potter also served on the committee prior to July 2003. 

Research Faculty

XXXX-X Research Faculty Policy and Procedures
Comments: This is a proposed new policy that defines a career track for research faculty and establishes regulations and procedures including titles, degree requirements, general administration, initial appointment, performance evaluation, and promotion.  The proposed policy is adapted from earlier attempts dating back to 1994 and has undergone extensive scrutiny on numerous occasions.

5000-A Position Definitions
Comments: This is an existing policy with a proposed revision to section I.A.5 Research Faculty. The revision replaces the old position definition for "Research Faculty" with a new position definition that is consistent with the new research faculty policy.  Since the markup is limited, the changes are tracked and shown.

5306-B Adjunct Faculty Responsibilities and Privileges
Comments: This is an existing policy with proposed deletion of section I.B Research Professor. The creation of a comprehensive new research faculty policy coupled with the proposed amendment to 5000-A makes it pointless to continue to consider research faculty as adjunct faculty. Thus, to avoid confusion, section I.B Research Professor is proposed for deletion.  Since the markup is limited, the changes are tracked and shown.

Conflict of Commitment and Interest, Intellectual Property

XXXX-X Federal Grant Financial Disclosure Requirements
Comments:  This is a proposed new policy intended to comply with federal requirements for the university to maintain a conflict of interest policy for principal investigators (and others) who receive federal funding.  The proposed policy requires each investigator to disclose "significant financial interest" that may constitute a conflict to the vice president for research; such disclosure must occur at the time of proposal submission and annually thereafter for the duration of the project.  The disclosure form is new and is given below with the title "Certification of Compliance:  Conflict of Commitment and Interest".  The proposed policy gives basic definitions and procedures for review of disclosures, management of conflicts, and enforcement and sanctions.

5040-A Ethics in Government/Conflict of Interest
Comments: This revised policy was approved by the President's Cabinet on October 6, 2003. It is included here for the sake of completeness. Note that the Effective Date in the Boise State on-line policy manual is incorrectly given. The Effective Date should be July 1, 1996 and the Revision Date should be October 6, 2003.

5365-B Professional Research, Consulting, or Service Activities
Comments:  This is an existing policy that governs the research, consulting, and service activities of an employee where the employee acts as an agent of the university.  The policy is important because it addresses the distinction between activities that are a part of "regularly assigned duties" and those that are not, and it establishes regulations governing rates of pay depending on source (institutional, federal, and other).  The proposed revisions are primarily clarifications and updates rather than substantive changes.  Since the markup is extensive, the tracked changes are not shown.

5366-B Conflict of Commitment: Independent Consulting and Outside Employment
Comments:  This is an existing policy that governs consulting and outside employment by faculty and therefore constitutes the university's conflict of commitment policy.  The proposed revisions are primarily clarifications but substantive changes include an explanation of the term "conflict of commitment", the definition of a maximum number of days of consulting and/or outside employment (39 days for faculty on 9-month contracts and 52 days for those on 12-month contracts), and the inclusion of the "Independent Consulting and Outside Employment Form" with the policy (the form has been extensively clarified as part of the proposed revision).  Also note that the revisions address limits on the monetary value of consulting and outside employment (there are none) and limits on summer consulting and outside employment by a faculty member (no limits in the summer unless the faculty member is also paid by the university).  Since the markup is extensive, the tracked changes are not shown.

6320-B Intellectual Property
Comments:  This is an existing policy that is quite lengthy (13 pages) and covers copyrights, fair use, and patents in three major sections.  The "Disclosure and Record of Invention" form is attached as Appendix A.  The primary substantive changes are found in section I Copyright Ownership and Equity where three distinctions (rather than the existing four) are made relative to university assistance in developing a copyrightable product (individual effort, university-supported, university-directed).  Comprehensive tracking for this document is unavailable because of the substantial number of revisions over a lengthy period by multiple authors.

Certification of Compliance: Conflict of Commitment and Interest
Comments:  This is a new form that is to be completed by each of the investigators listed on a proposal prior to its submission to the Office of Research Administration.  Refer to the new policy above(Federal Grant Financial Disclosure Requirements); this form will be attached

Guidelines: Conflict of Commitment and Interest
Comments:  This is a new document intended to be a handout for the faculty that describes the issues of conflict of commitment and conflict of interest. 

Facilities and Administration Costs, Program Development Funds, and Salary Buyout Funds

6315-C Facilities and Administration (F&A) Cost Rates and Waiver or Partial Waiver of Facilities and Administration Costs
Comments:  This is an existing policy that specifies the F&A cost rates for different funding sources (federal, state or local government, private) and governs the waiver or partial waiver of F&A costs.  The proposed revisions are primarily clarifications that update the policy language (e.g., "facilities and administrative costs" rather than "indirect costs").  A noteworthy change is that the vice president for research has responsibility to approve or disapprove requests for waivers.  Formerly, this responsibility was assigned to the president or to the vice president for finance and administration.  Since the markup is extensive, the tracked changes are not shown.

6317-C Distribution of Program Development Funds and Salary Buyout Funds From Sponsored Projects
Comments:  This is an existing policy that governs the distribution of program development funds and salary buyout funds.  The proposed revisions include extensive rewriting in order to use the correct term "program development funds" rather than the misleading term "indirect cost returns".  The normal percentage distribution of program development funds to the central administration (40%), the college (20%), and the department or unit (40%) has not been changed.  Also unchanged are the rules that govern the resolution of negative project balances with program development funds (the department's share is reduced, followed by the college share if necessary).  Section II. Distribution of Salary Buyout Funds is a new section that defines the timing of the distribution of salary buyout funds (unspent appropriated salary associated with a faculty member who pays some or all of his/her salary with a grant or contract).  Note that the college assumes responsibility to pay for all costs associated with the faculty member's replacement duties; these costs are normally incurred prior to the distribution of salary buyout funds.  Since the markup is extensive, the tracked changes are not shown.

General Guidelines: Use of Program Development Funds and Salary Buyout Funds
Comments:  This is a new document intended to replace the advice appended to the existing policy 6317-C.  The new document could be left as a free standing set of guidelines or could be appended to the revised version of 6317-C.

Other Research

XXXX-X Principal Investigator Eligibility
Comments:  This is a new policy intended to define who is eligible to serve as a principal investigator at Boise State University.  A number of awkward situations have surfaced over the years that have prompted the creation of the new policy.

6300-B Office of Research Administration
Comments:  This is an existing policy where a clarification is proposed in section VI.B Negotiation of Post Award Changes in Project.  Since the markup is limited, the changes are tracked and shown.