Release From the Instructional Budget (RFIB)

Overview: 

A faculty member who receives external funding to cover part of their regular salary (usually to do research), and that funding is routed through UT Austin, will need to be 'released' from the instructional budget (a.k.a., Release Time). This is also the case for various internal awards, usually through an academic center in the college, or a central research office (such as VPR), administering programming designed to support faculty research. A faculty member’s Release Time request is final-approved at the college level (COLA). There are different leave types that may include a partial or full release from the instructional budget; you can navigate to the appropriate leave type to see the applicable leaves process. This page only pertains specifically to when and how to release a faculty member from the instructional budget. 

Relevant Definitions: 

Instructional Budget (IB): for purposes of this process, the IB is the budgeted account from which tenured or tenure-track (TTT) faculty salaries for an academic unit are paid. 

Return Rule: A requirement related to certain research-related faculty awards (e.g., CSEF) in which a faculty member is released from teaching but remains on the instructional budget; specifies that when the faculty member’s award period is over, they will return to their normal work hours and teaching load in COLA for a required amount of time (more details on return rules available on the Faculty LWOP page) 

Release Time (RT): Release time refers to the release of some (or all) of a faculty member’s salary from the instructional budget for a given time period, where the ‘released’ salary is paid instead by one or more other UT accounts. The most common form of release time is a “course buyout,” which is when an external award (or a university source of research support) pays a portion of the faculty member’s salary in return for a reduction in the faculty member’s teaching obligations.

• Example 1: One-third of Prof. X’s Fall salary is paid by his Cybernetics grant, so that he can devote more time to his 'brain-bot' project and also teach one fewer class that Fall. 

• Example 2: Prof. X receives a Phoenix Fellowship covering his salary for Spring, and the Phoenix award is paid via UT.

• Example 3: The Center for Mexican American Studies uses center funds to buy out Prof. X’s teaching responsibilities for the semester. 

EVPP: The Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, a.k.a. the Provost’s Office. Faculty Affairs is the area of EVPP which helps to oversee many/most processes related to academic staff and faculty, such as hiring, leaves, promotions, and related matters. Academic Personnel Services (APS) is a team within the larger umbrella of EVPP Faculty Affairs area; they typically help with processing faculty leaves, among many other things.

COLA HR: The human resources team in the Dean’s Office which supports the faculty, staff, and students of COLA. Contact us at COLA_HR@austin.utexas.edu  

Process: 

COLA Deadlines: 

1.  Faculty member reaches out to department staff--typically the department manager or whomever is responsible for supporting faculty HR within the unit--and Chair to request leave.

   1. Faculty member ensures they follow guidelines established by COLA’s Research & Scholarship Office.

2. Department staff should discuss with faculty member:

   1. How faculty member is paid by UT: 

      1. The award may be routed through the university. External funding that is routed through UT will often route through the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP). If so, the COLA Grants Services Office (laresearch@austin.utexas.edu) will serve as your primary liaison to OSP, and you will want to contact them.

      2. If receiving an external fellowship that will pay the faculty member directly, the faculty member may need to go on a partial or total LWOP (See also Faculty LWOP.)  

         1. They may also wish to apply for a CSEF. (For more information, check out the CSEF wiki.)

   2. Previous leaves and any previously committed return rules; (see LWOP page)

   3. If the faculty member is an Assistant Professor: Probationary status/promotion & tenure "clock". See more information on tenure-track probationary period here.

   4. Teaching responsibilities:

      1. What courses the faculty member would be teaching without the RT;

      2. how the RT will change their teaching load during the academic year;

      3. how the RT will impact the course/s the faculty member will no longer teach;

      4. what will happen to the courses the faculty member would have taught.

   5. Any departmental responsibilities the faculty member will retain while on leave.

3. Release time is requested using the Faculty Request for Leave (FRL) form. 

   1. Complete the form based on the specific leave faculty member is taking. 

      1. The percentage faculty member will be on leave is based on their funding amount and their current salary. 

      2. Please include the account numbers for faculty’s funding. Please work with the COLA Grants Services Office where applicable. 

   2. The FRL is submitted to COLA HR via the faculty leaves submission portal for review without any signatures. Please follow naming convention: "YY-YY_DEPT_Lastname_Semester_FRL"

      1. "YY-YY" = the fiscal year of the leave; ex. "24-25"

      2. "DEPT" = 4-character UT Department code for your unit; ex. "PSYC" (Department of Psychology)

      3. "Lastname" = faculty member requesting the leave

      4. "Semester" = the semester for which the leave is requested (Fall, Spring, or AY, if full year)

   3. COLA HR will create a leave record in the CLASP database and begin processing.

      1. In almost all RFIB cases, the leave cannot be processed until the faculty member’s academic rate for the upcoming academic year is known, but department staff should not wait to submit leave requests.

         1. This wait time can often cause faculty and staff concern. Staff are encouraged to contact COLA HR in such instances. Grant-approved, straightforward buyouts are typically not contentious, and usually need only to move through the proper channels for approval once all relevant details are known. If there are unique circumstances surrounding a request, department chairs should be in conversations with the associate deans prior to a leave request being submitted. The department staff should be informed about these conversations and pass along relevant information to COLA HR. 

   4. COLA HR will make any applicable corrections consistent with COLA/UT policy and will route the FRL in DocuSign for the applicable faculty, Chair and Dean signatures; the department staff contact will be given View access to the DocuSign envelope.

4. After signatures, COLA HR will complete a Job Costing Tool for the Release Time and send to COLA Finance. 

5. Finance will complete the costing allocation BP in Workday when required and will also complete instructional budget transfer(s). 

6. If any changes occur to your faculty’s funding amounts, funding source, or leave dates, we ask the department staff to please contact COLA HR with these changes as soon as possible. 

Related Policies and Information: 

COLA CLASP Principles

HOP 2-2210: Faculty Leaves and Special Academic Assignments 

Faculty Leaves and Related Information (EVPP)

Family Medical Leave Act (Central HR)

Faculty LWOP (COLA wiki)

COLA Research and Scholarship Office (wiki)

Other Related Links: 

Faculty Submissions Portals

Faculty Request for Leave Form

COLA CLASP database (web access)