School of Engineering Faculty Bonus Payments from Salary Release Funds

The School of Engineering may award a one-time bonus payment to a faculty member who is judged by the Department Chair as having an exceptional performance in research, teaching, and service and who has received extramural grant or contract funds that replace state-appropriated salary.  

Salary savings from state-appropriated funds are available for bonus payments when the faculty member has covered all obligations towards the faculty member's summer salary as well as other obligations as originally budgeted to meet the research mission (including postdoc, graduate & undergraduate student salaries and fringe as well as pertinent tuition) and chooses not to use those funds to support research activities and/or to buy-out of courses. The amount of the bonus payment will be determined through negotiation with the Chair and approved by the Dean of Engineering, following the guidelines below. 

In all cases, bonus payment is from state appropriated salary that has been released by extramural grant or contract funds for the requesting faculty member within the fiscal year when the bonus is paid. 

To apply for a bonus payment, the faculty member must submit a request for endorsement to the Department Chair. The request should identify the grant(s) or contract(s) that replaced the state-appropriated salary. The Chair will forward the request, with the Chair’s recommendation, to the Dean of Engineering. The recommendation should document how the faculty member’s performance merits the bonus payment because of an exceptional record of research, teaching, and service. In addition, the recommendation should document that the faculty member has met the university and project-related financial obligations outlined above. The award of a bonus payment from state-appropriated salary savings requires approval of the Dean of Engineering.

Bonus payments will be made through the University’s additional pay process and will not affect the individual’s base salary.  A bonus payment, no matter what the source of funding, will be in addition to the faculty member’s established base salary for that year. A faculty member may be eligible for a bonus payment only once each fiscal year. Faculty members may receive bonus payments in consecutive years, but each such payment will require a separate consideration. The receipt of a bonus payment in one year does not guarantee or imply any subsequent bonus payments, nor will it be used for purposes of salary adjustments for subsequent years.  The parent policy from the Provost office may be found at:

https://policy.ku.edu/provost/faculty-salary-savings-incentive

A review of this policy will be conducted annually with modifications made as deemed necessary. 

Guidelines for Faculty Bonus Payments:

1. Bonus payments must be made in the same fiscal year that the state-appropriated salary is replaced. The availability of salary savings will be verified through an examination of HR/Pay records prior to the approval of the bonus payment by the Dean.
2. When considering the award of a bonus payment, the Department Chair and Dean will evaluate allocated annual research expenditures (with the expectation of a track record near or above $250,000 per year), student support, funding source(s), etc.
3. Bonus payments will equal 90% of the salary savings remaining after all financial obligations of the faculty member (outlined in paragraph 1 of this policy) and other uses of the salary savings selected by the faculty member (e.g., course buy-outs, support for other research activities) have been deducted, and may not exceed 1/9 of the faculty applicant’s academic year salary. The remaining 10% of the excess salary savings will be returned to the Department.
4. The School of Engineering will initiate the necessary overload payment forms to effect the bonus payment after receiving notification from the Dean that the bonus payment has been approved.