COLA Endowed Chairs & Professorships Award and Usage Policy

Overview

Last updated August 2024

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The College of Liberal Arts (COLA) awards endowed chairs, professorships, and fellowships as a means of recognizing excellence in research and teaching. It also awards endowments as an incentive to recruit faculty members to the University and as a means of retaining outstanding faculty. Based on donor criteria, some endowments are designated for faculty in specific departments and may be assigned by the dean to be managed by those departments, although authority for final approval of appointments and renewals remains with the dean and provost. Other endowments have award criteria that span multiple fields or departments and are available to faculty across the college. Holders of endowed academic positions are stewards of the endowment for a defined period of time and are subject to periodic evaluation to ensure continued excellence in all areas.

Endowed chairs and professorships are intended to have holders; however, unfilled chairs and professorships may be used to support faculty fellows, according to the purpose of the endowment, unless specifically prohibited by the gift agreement. Faculty may also be appointed as a fellow supported by funds available from a filled endowed chair and professorship.

Definitions and additional rules governing the establishment and use of endowed positions are given by Regents Rule 60202  and by UT Austin HOP 2-2440.

Specifically, HOP 2-2440 defines:

Every endowment holder and fellow is expected to be a good steward of their endowment resources. This includes adhering to terms of the original gift criteria and purpose and following general UT policies concerning allowable expenditures. Holders and fellows are expected to use endowment resources productively and participate in annual reporting to donors on their achievements in research, teaching, and service and use of endowment-related resources.

Selection Procedures

Selection Criteria for Endowed Positions

In addition to donor-specified criteria, which must always be honored, all holders and fellows of endowed positions are expected to meet high standards of achievement in the areas of scholarship, teaching, and service. Each department should have an endowment nominations committee.  Members of the endowment nomination committee are not required to hold an endowed chair or professorship, should rotate regularly, and should be broadly representative of the department.  The dean and department chairs also have the authority to nominate holders and fellows as part of time-sensitive retention and recruiting efforts that cannot go through the annual nomination process.  Such appointments should be reported along with all other appointments on an annual basis.

Criteria for department-assigned and college-assigned endowments, and a list of current holders will be posted on a COLA website or available upon request.

Selection Process for Department-Nominated Endowments

Each spring or summer, if any departmentally managed endowments do not have holders, departmental endowment nominations committees will communicate to the dean and the department and make public all unfilled chairs and professorships available for the following academic year. Information to be shared will include endowment criteria and the anticipated payout to the holder. Faculty will have the opportunity to nominate members of the department or to make self-nominations. Faculty currently holding endowed awards can be considered for newly available awards and are free to self-nominate for newly available awards. With rare exceptions, however, a faculty member will be asked to relinquish one endowed position prior to accepting another. At the discretion of the department chair and with approval of the dean, some unfilled chairs and professorships may also be used to enhance current or planned external faculty searches.  When chairs or professorships become vacant through resignations, retirements or non-renewals, the endowed position will return to management by the dean’s office.  The dean will then consider whether to return the position to departmental management.  

Nominations will be evaluated by the departmental endowment nominations committee for fit with specific endowment criteria relative and the standards of excellence for any endowed appointment. A summary of this evaluation will be submitted to the chair of the department. Up to two of the strongest nominees for each available endowment should be recommended to the dean for final review and selection.  The full list of nominees for each position should also be reported.

The nominations committee should ensure that recommendations are based on the stated criteria of scholarly excellence, and that all deserving faculty are fully considered, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or other protected identity.

Recommendations submitted from the committee and department chair to the dean shall contain the following documentation: 1) a letter from the chair summarizing the qualifications for up to two recommended nominees and the committee’s evaluation of their contributions and fit for the position, 2) the CV of each nominee recommended, and 3) a list of all nominees considered, including those not recommended. The chair’s letter should also include a summary of how the pool of candidates was solicited and how recommendations were determined. The dean will consult with the Chair before finalizing an appointment.

Selection Process for College-Assigned Endowments

Each spring when there are open endowed positions, the college will convene an endowment nominations committee and will make public all chairs and professorships newly available for the following academic year. At the dean’s discretion, some unfilled chairs and professorships may also be used to enhance current or planned external faculty recruitment efforts.  Information provided to the committee will consist of endowment criteria and proposed annual payouts to the holder. Faculty will have the opportunity to nominate colleagues or make self-nominations. Nominations will be evaluated by the college committee. Whenever possible, at least two nominees for each endowment will be recommended to the dean for final review and selection. The nominations committee should ensure that recommendations are based on the stated criteria of scholarly excellence, and that all deserving faculty are fully considered, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or other protected identity.

The dean will consult with the chair of a selected candidate’s department before finalizing any appointment.

Selection Process for Prospective Members of the Faculty or Retention Efforts

The appointment of an endowed professorship or chair may be a component of a recruitment process.  The dean, in consultation with the relevant department chair, will review available endowments to determine whether a current recruitment or retention effort would benefit from use of an endowed chair, professorship or fellowship.  This will often occur when the competing institution is offering an endowed position or the targeted recruit currently holds an endowed position. The same criteria used for current members of the faculty should be considered in making endowed awards to a new recruit. All elements of a department’s hiring dossier will be required along with information provided by the chair of the department on the criteria of the endowment.

Departments intending to hire a new faculty member into an endowed position must submit all elements of the hiring dossier including the following information to the dean: 1) a letter from the department chair summarizing the nominee’s qualifications and how they meet the criteria of the endowment, 2) the CV of the nominee, and 3) an assessment made by the nomination committee outlining the nominee’s contributions in research, teaching, and service. In addition, the committee’s statement should include a summary of the rationale for using the endowment for a newly recruited faculty member and how the pool of candidates for the faculty search was developed.

Review Procedures

Periodic Review of Endowment Holders

Periodic reviews of endowment holders are held every six years and are aligned with a faculty member’s Comprehensive Periodic Review (CPR). The holder or fellow of an endowment shall supply the CPR committee with information addressing how the endowment has been used relative to its criteria outlined in the letter of appointment. Annual letters to the donor describing use of the endowment will be useful for this review.

The CPR committee shall consider whether the endowment holder has upheld the standard of performance consistent with the appointment as an endowment holder and whether the holder should be continued in the endowment or if another action should be taken. Other actions may include: informing the holder that their performance must improve along with a timeframe for improvement; changing the level of resources available to the holder; moving the holder to another, more suitable endowment; or not renewing the holder’s appointment to the endowed position. Recommendations for non-renewal should be made in cases where the faculty member is no longer meeting the stated standards of excellence in teaching, research and service, or no longer satisfying stated donor criteria. 

The CPR committee shall prepare a report with their assessment and recommendations for review by the department’s governance committee, the college’s endowment nominations committee, and the dean. The department governance committee and chair shall provide a one-page letter with their recommendation and justification to either continue the faculty member in the endowment, or an action other than continuing the holder in the endowment. The departmental recommendation shall be reviewed by the college’s endowment nominations committee, which shall make its own recommendation to the dean for final review and approval by the Provost.

Supplemental Review of Endowment Holders

If another faculty performance review, such as annual merit review or other reviews based on conduct and/or performance, indicates that an endowment holder’s performance may be inconsistent with the expectations of the endowment and/or of the institution, the dean may conduct a supplemental endowment holder review. In the case of egregious conduct inconsistent with the expectations of the endowment and/or of the institution, the endowment holder will be reviewed immediately.

The dean may choose to either continue the holder in the endowment, outline steps for improved performance, downgrade the holder to another more appropriate endowment, or remove the holder from the endowment.

Distribution and Balances

Endowment Distributions

Based on individual endowment criteria, the general use of endowment distributions is to support the research, teaching, and service responsibilities of holders and fellows. Some examples of this include travel, equipment, materials, salary support, and other related expenses.  The distribution amount given to endowment holders is based on the annual payout of individual endowments, and other allowable expenditures committed or budgeted, including faculty fellowships.  The amount allocated to the holder is determined at the time of appointment as a holder or fellow. Unless restricted by the donor criteria, endowment income can be used to support a fraction of the holder’s salary.  Per university policy, no more than 50% of a holder’s salary can be paid from an endowment and will generally be limited to less than 25%. When consistent with the endowment criteria, a portion of the endowment’s annual payout can be used for programmatic support. 

Endowment holders can request to use their annual payout for up to one month of summer salary, rather than direct research support.  Before requesting such a use, holders should consider providing some support to graduate students with part of their payout. For salary payments, the endowment funds will need to cover both salary and fringe benefits. The expectation is that summer months for which endowment funds are used for salary will cover periods in which the faculty member is engaged in research.  Payment of more than one month of summer salary from the endowment, unless specifically allowed in the appointment letter, will generally not be allowed.  Requests for exceptions to this limitation on summer salary should be made to the Dean, no later than March 1 prior to the relevant summer.  Requests to convert research support funds to academic year salary supplements must be approved by the dean and are not encouraged.

Endowment Funding & Summer Salaries During the Holder’s Final Year

Faculty holders of endowed funds may without any additional process request a single month of summer salary in their final year of an endowed appointment (final year of appointment includes the year prior to an expected retirement, resignation, or non-renewal). Requests for summer salary in excess of one month in the final year (for cases in which the appointment letter has allowed multiple months of summer salary) must be reviewed and approved by the dean, and should be submitted through the faculty member’s department chair by no later than March of their final year.

Requests for summer salary in excess of one month in the final year must include a detailed research plan and comprehensive expense budget for the associated activities in the final year. The plan should include a statement on how the activities will directly benefit and impact the objectives of the endowment in compliance with the donor’s guidelines and expectations. All requests must first obtain the support of the faculty member’s department chair, and then must be reviewed and approved by the dean. Faculty members who do not submit their request by the due date may forfeit their opportunity to request summer salary payments in excess of one month in their final year.

Balances

Endowment distributions are meant to support faculty members in the yearly execution of their work and should generally not accumulate over multi-year periods. However, there are sometimes good reasons to allow balances to accumulate from one year to the next as holders and fellows may need to invest more than one year’s distribution for certain expenses. Holders and fellows are not allowed to carry forth more than two years of accumulated balances without a plan for using those balances in the near future and dean’s office approval. If such approval has not been received, the following year’s allocation will be limited to an amount that keeps the balance below twice the annual allocation. In no case can more than three years of distribution balances be held as accumulated balances.  Balances in excess of these allowed carry-forward amounts will be moved to a dean’s reserve sub-account to be used in a manner consistent with the gift agreement.

Special considerations may be granted by the dean to extend the carryover balance timeline to chair holders also holding administrative appointments within the college. Once a holder, fellow, or professorship appointment concludes, the faculty member will have up to one additional year to spend down any remaining carryover balances from the endowment; unspent balances remaining following the one-year period will be returned to the funding source.  Requests to exceed the one-year extension period must be submitted to the dean in writing, and must include a clear plan for when the funds will be fully expended.

Reporting and Transparency

The college will make available annually a report that summarizes the number of endowed chairs, professorships, and fellowships.  This report will provide the number of endowed positions by type for both allocated and available positions.  The distributions of allocated positions and endowed dollars across departments and recipients will also be reported.