Faculty Handbook

If you become ill or an emergency arises, you may email your students through Wolverine Access/Teaching Support/Class Rosters or post an announcement through Canvas. Notify your Department Assistant or your GSI, if you want a notice posted outside the classroom.

An occasional absence to attend a meeting or give a seminar elsewhere is acceptable, provided you have a colleague cover your elementary classes and arrange make-ups for advanced classes, which are convenient for all students.

In order to answer questions concerning how to get in touch with you, the Department should be informed concerning your absence from campus and who is covering your course. Please keep the front office informed. This is also important for coverage under the University's Travel Accident Insurance Program.

When on international travel, refer to the University’s international travel information and registry website at http://global.umich.edu/going-abroad/planning/registry/

Please also fill out the emergency contact information on Wolverine Access/Employee Business/Personal Information: http://wolverineaccess.umich.edu

The School of Public Health has an annual merit-based salary program based upon a review of progress with the department faculty, your department chair, and the deans. The annual merit review process is conducted using an electronic system called Digital Measures and is usually due from faculty in the month of April. Any associated pay increase is applied on the following September 1st.  Promotional pay increases associated with a change in rank are also awarded on the first day of the academic year following the successful review. Tenure status also changes at this time with or without an additional salary rate change. 

 If you need to borrow a laptop, projector, Polycom conference phone (analog only), the department has these available to loan.  You may check them out by contacting Irene Felicetti at [email protected]. Note that this equipment is intended to be loaned for 1-2 days for faculty and staff meetings.  If other equipment is required for classrooms, contact Michael Krajcik at 763-4192, [email protected] or Media and Computing Services at 936-1247. [email protected].

 All faculty and staff offers of employment are contingent on the successful completion of a background screening. The University’s background check vendor, General Information Services, Inc. (GIS), will be contacting you directly via email for additional information needed to complete this process. It is critical that you complete this information as soon as possible to expedite your hire process. (http://spg.umich.edu/policy/201.95)

You are eligible for a number of benefit programs, including health, major medical, dental, vision, legal, long term disability and group life insurance, periodic physical examinations, and TIAA-CREF and other retirement plans.  Requirements for inclusion vary; you will receive an email from the Benefits Office with instructions for signing up for benefits in Wolverine Access after your employment paperwork is entered into the University system.

Information on the various plans can be found at this website:

https://hr.umich.edu/benefits-wellness

You should contact the Benefits office with any questions as soon as possible, and must be signed up within 30 days of your appointment start date. 734-615-2000

Biostatistics room M4024, SPH II is specifically designated as break/kitchen area.  There are also other options for collaboration available within SPH. 

The JavaBlu Café is a popular gathering spot for relaxation, conversation and collaboration. The café is located on the first floor of the SPH I tower.

Floors 3-7 in the SPH I Tower each have a public lounge area on the north end of the floor. Microwaves and refrigerators are available for staff, faculty, and student use.

Private lactation rooms are located in room 2759 in SPH I and room 6023 in SPH II. Access is available to SPH students, staff, and faculty. Visitors may be granted access by special request.  Lactating mothers should contact Debbie Struhar ([email protected]) for room access instructions.

We have two buildings:  SPH I (north side of Washington Heights, also referred to as the Henry Vaughn Bldg) and SPH II (south side of Washington Heights, also referred to as the Thomas Francis Bldg).

SPH Building Hours:  7:00 am – 5:30 pm

Should you find you need building access outside of this time, please ask your supervisor to submit an email request to the Dept Admin Lead – this request needs to contain your 8-digit UMID number as well as the 16-digit number located on the front of your yellow ID card.

For non-emergency reporting, please contact Irene Felicetti, [email protected], Room M4210.

Emergency Repair/Maintenance

In the event that you see a mechanical emergency such as a large water leak, a broken window, an entry way that is malfunctioning, etc., please call the Plant Operations Call Center at 647-2059.  They are available 24 hours a day/7 days a week.  Note that if you feel a situation is hazardous or potentially dangerous, you should call Public Safety at 911. Both of these groups will contact the other when appropriate. The important thing is that someone contacts either Zone Maintenance or Public Safety when hazardous or damaging events are in progress.

CRLT is dedicated to the support and advancement of evidence-based learning and teaching practices and the professional development of all members of the campus teaching community. CRLT partners with faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and administrators to develop and sustain a University culture that values and rewards teaching, respects a CRLT is dedicated to the support and advancement of evidence-based learning and teaching practices and the professional development of all members of the campus teaching community. CRLT partners with faculty, graduate students, postdocs, and administrators to develop and sustain a University culture that values and rewards teaching, respects and supports individual differences among learners, and creates learning environments in which diverse students and instructors can excel. http://www.crlt.umich.edu/

Class rosters are available in Wolverine Access http://wolverineaccess.umich.edu/ under Faculty & Staff/Faculty Business. See Nicole for assistance.

University of Michigan Standard Practice Guide Policy 201.65-1: “Given that the University of Michigan allows and encourages outside activities and relationships that enhance the mission of the University, potential conflicts of interest and commitment are inevitable. Outside activities should not, however, interfere with an individual’s University obligations. Faculty and staff must not use their official University positions or influence to further gain or advancement for themselves, parents, siblings, spouse or partner, children, dependent relatives, or other personal associates, at the expense of the University.” All U-M SPH faculty and staff are required to annually disclose any potential conflict of interest through the University’s M-Inform system.

Consulting Policy:  The School of Public Health allows for up to two days per month of consulting activity without approval and two additional days a month subject to prior approval of the Department Chair, provided it does not interfere or conflict with your University responsibilities. 

Canvas is the University’s collaborative learning environment, which provides tools for organizing your courses and projects, assignment submission, instructor-student communication and much more.   https://ctools.umich.edu/gateway

For assistance with Canvas, please contact your department assistant.  Tutorials for Canvas can be found at https://umich.instructure.com/courses/200

The Civility Code outlines certain standards of conduct and applies to graduate and undergraduate students, faculty members, staff and administrators. https://sph.umich.edu/civility/index.html 

The department of Biostatistics provides researchers with high performance/high throughput computing services. The department owns and supports an HPC Linux-based cluster intended to support application workloads that are not suitable for personal computers. The cluster has 948 cores and 5.5TB of memory across 55 compute nodes. All compute nodes are interconnected with 1GB ethernet networking. Computing jobs on the cluster are managed through the Slurm workload manager.

More information can be found in the appendix.

The Department has two copy machines, one located in room M4311 in SPH II and one in the 4600 suite of the SPH I Tower.  These copiers can be used to make copies and to scan documents as a PDF, which will then be emailed as an attachment. Irene Felicetti is the key operator for the machines; see her to assign a copy code and a short tutorial on how to copy and scan. Please also see Irene if you are having any difficulty with the copiers or if maintenance is required. 

All new courses and/or significant changes to existing courses must be reviewed by the Biostatistics Curriculum Committee. All substantive changes in course content and any prerequisites or credit changes must be submitted to them and approved by the faculty.  Please contact Nicole Fenech or the Curriculum Committee Chair for information.  All course approval forms are entered through the Course Proposal System (CAID), https://sph.umich.edu/the-heights/data-tools/

The Department Chair, Associate Chairs and the Department Administrator work jointly with the SPH Dean’s Office to provide leadership for Biostatistics faculty, staff and students.  The Department Chair is an elected position and is held in three year terms. The chair’s office manages faculty meetings, where the faculty are able to provide input on most departmental matters that require decision making. On important issues where faculty votes are required, the department has a Faculty Voting Policy.  In addition to the chair, the department has committees made up of faculty, staff and students in which matters are discussed and resolved. These committees include, but are not limited to: Admissions, Curriculum, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Faculty Search Committee (as needed). 

The School of Public Health is moving forward to improve our culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, as part of a five-year strategic planning effort. Details can be found on our website: sph.umich.edu/diversity-equity-inclusion

 U-M has joined Eduroam, a free service that gives U-M faculty, students, and staff easy and secure access to Wi-Fi networks when traveling to other locations around the world. Anyone with a U-M email address and UMICH password can select the Eduroam Wi-Fi network on their laptop or smartphone when visiting another Eduroam-enabled institution. Visitors from Eduroam-enabled institutions can also connect to Wi-Fi on the U-M Ann Arbor campus without the need of a U-M guest account.  http://www.itcom.itd.umich.edu/wireless/eduroam.php#promotion

 In case of a fire, an alarm will sound throughout the both SPH buildings. Anytime that alarm sounds, you are to leave the building through the nearest available exit. Please take note of evacuation maps posted around the building so that you are familiar with the prescribed exit routes. Once outside of SPH, move to one of the nearby parking lots, dorm courtyards, or another safe location. Please do not stand inside blocking the entrances to the buildings and restricting first responder access.  In case of a severe weather alarm, go to the ground and basement levels in SPH I and SPH II and look for the Severe Weather Shelter signs to confirm that you are in the right location.  Drills will be held periodically.

Sign up for UM Emergency alerts on Wolverine Access: Employee Business > Self Service > Campus Personal Information > UM Emergency Alerts.

Faculty should plan to attend all faculty meetings. Meetings are held in M4034 SPH II, scheduled from 3:15-5:15 on the second Wednesday each month. Faculty meeting minutes, agendas and materials will be emailed the Friday prior to each meeting and are available in MBox.  If you are unable to attend any of these meetings, blue jeans access is included on the agenda.  

The Department has a fax machine, located in the copy/mail room M4311.  The fax number is: 734-615-7068.  Please note the fax machine is not in a secure location and transmission reports are produced after transmission is complete.  Do not leave any faxes containing confidential information unattended and wait for the transmission report to print.

All grades and/or grade changes are reported in Wolverine Access/teaching support and are due 72 hours after the final exam. Please refer to the Registrar’s website for reference information, job aids and simulations. See Nicole for assistance.

http://www.ro.umich.edu/webgrades.php

Students can view their grades at any time via Wolverine Access/student business. Grades are posted once per hour during the grade processing period. Grades should not be posted outside of your office.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requires that you not talk to parents about a student. http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

The Department endeavors to meet AAUP recommendations regarding due notice and principles of academic freedom and tenure. If you feel that you have been dealt with unfairly, in any way, by the Department, you may bring the matter to the attention of the Chair. If the difficulty is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may refer to the SPH Grievance Policy #23. http://sph.umich.edu/intranet.html

The Faculty Handbook is written by and for faculty and academic administrators on the Ann Arbor Campus. It is an attempt to provide accurate, useful, current, and readily-accessible information on a wide range of topics of interest to faculty. The handbook can be found at http://www.provost.umich.edu/faculty/handbook/

 You can obtain your photo ID at a MCard Office which you can find at http://www.finance.umich.edu/treasury/mcard/get-your-mcard/id-stations. This card also gives you entry into SPH after hours and serves as your Library card.  You can receive discounts at some local businesses, including bookstores. See the website listed below for a complete listing of discounts available with your UM ID card.  http://www.finance.umich.edu/treasury/mcard/discounts

For assistance with computing, software, hardware, teaching technology, Canvas, web services, instructional design, and any other technological needs, there is SPH Instructional & Computing Services.  Their mission is to provide state-of-the art networking, information technology, classroom services and instructional services to support and enhance the quality of education and research within the School of Public Health.  https://sph.umich.edu/computing/index.html

Computing Services is the computing help desk for any issues with your computer, network and digital security support.  https://sph.umich.edu/computing/services/index.html

Classroom Services place where you would go for assistance with classroom equipment.  https://sph.umich.edu/computing/classroom/index.html

Web Services can assist you with web-based technical consultation and web content editing.  https://sph.umich.edu/computing/web/index.html

Instructional Design, Media and Consulting can help you meet all of your needs for teaching innovation and technology.  https://sph.umich.edu/computing/instructional-services/

Training on software and various IT tools is available to faculty at the Faculty Exploratory, located in the Graduate Library on central campus.  http://www.lib.umich.edu/exploratory/

You will need your UM ID card to enter the building on weekends and after regular business hours (7:00 am – 5:30 pm).  Key requests will be prepared by Irene Felicetti and should be taken to the U-M Key Office, with a $5.00 (cash only) deposit to obtain all keys.  http://plantops.umich.edu/maintenance/KeyOffice/

If a sub-master key (one key to open a block of offices) is required, these require a $10 deposit and key requests are prepared by Irene after approval from the Department Administrator. 

Your faculty ID card also serves as your Library card for borrowing books. The Library is normally open 21 hours per day – from 8:00 a.m. each morning until 5:00 a.m. the next morning.  The only exceptions are seven holidays per year, when the Library is closed the day before each holiday and closes at midnight. 

Faculty members may borrow books for eight weeks at a time. Three renewals are permitted unless another reader has requested the books. If you want to place a hold on a book that is currently out in circulation, request it from a staff member at the Library’s circulation desk on the third floor. If you cannot find a cataloged book, inquire at the Library’s circulation desk.  http://www.lib.umich.edu/ SPH also has an assigned librarian and SPH-specific resource page for the library located at:  https://guides.lib.umich.edu/publichealth.

A mailbox will be provided for you in the Department mailroom, M4311, SPH II.  You may also leave your outgoing mail in the appropriate bin in the mailroom.  Mail is retrieved by Biostatistics staff from the SPH loading dock once a day, usually in the afternoon. If you have outgoing mail that is urgent or requires weighing and stamping, please work with the front office staff to get that done. Personal mail should not be sent to/from the Department/School.  The SPH mailroom located on the SPH I loading dock has a policy to refuse personal packages.

You may purchase a parking permit, which, depending on the type, entitles you to use any non-metered University parking lot or structure without additional charge. Rates vary depending on the type of permit you choose. Detailed information on the location of parking lots, rates, hours, etc. may be obtained from the Parking Office on South Division behind the Thompson Street Parking Structure (764-8291). See Dept Admin for paperwork before going to the parking office for the first time. The University provides free bus service from Central Campus to North Campus and also to Commuter lots.  https://ltp.umich.edu/

Parking for Visitors: You may obtain a temporary parking permit for visitors contact the front office to explore options. In order to obtain a permit you will need to provide a funding source. Visitor permits cannot be purchased for employees who forget their permit.

The University Department of Public Safety is located at 1239 Kipke Drive. For police, fire or medical emergencies dial 9-1-1 (preferably from a University phone so location is easy to track if need be).  For non-emergencies 734-763-1131 or text 377911.

Register your laptop with Department of Public Safety (DPS): When you register your laptop, information about your laptop is collected on DPS the Web site, in person at DPS, or by DPS officers at special events. You will receive an e-mail to your University e-mail address [your uniqname]@umich.edu] confirming your information has been entered. Once the information is collected, two stickers will be mailed or given to you. One sticker is for the top of the laptop to be a visible theft deterrent. The second sticker is for the bottom of the laptop to list its U-M DPS registration number. This second sticker is manufactured to be difficult to remove and will leave a trace of its existence on the laptop.

You may register as many laptops as you need. If you no longer own a registered laptop, by sale, loss, or for other reason, you should delete the registration record by returning to the property registration section of this Web site. You also may call DPS at (734) 763-3434 to assist with your registration. http://police.umich.edu/?s=register_property

Please consult with your assistant for purchasing needs such as books, research supplies, membership dues, registration fees, etc.  They can also help you with larger purchases such as computers (see the Dept Admin for furniture needs), as well as helping with the process of getting outside invoices paid and processing student reimbursements.

 P-Card Faculty can request a P-Card with a $3,000 monthly limit.  The link to apply for a P-Card is http://procurement.umich.edu/card-programs/purchasing-card-pcard.

U-YR Faculty: There is an additional way to receive dollars in your paycheck once a year (November) for the IDC dollars that you spent during the last 2 years.  In order to be credited for these dollars you must have the grant in your name, whether it’s a subaccount or a parent account receiving IDC.  The Dean’s office takes the average over 2 years of the IDC with your name on it, and they multiply that number by 5%.  Those dollars are then given to you in your November paycheck (up to $25,000 cap).  However, in order to qualify you must have gotten a merit score of 7 or above and saved at least 30% in your salary savings after all your deductions listed in the Salary Savings description.

Research Faculty: You may receive additional discretionary dollars in your discretionary account once a year (November) for the IDC dollars that you spent during the last 2 years.  In order to be credited for these dollars you must have the grant in your name, whether it’s a subaccount or a parent account receiving IDC.  The Dean’s office takes the average over 2 years of the IDC with your name on it, and the multiply that number by 5%.  Those dollars are then given to you as discretionary dollars.

Kate Althouse and Denise Bianchi are the pre-award research administrators for the Department.  Faculty members will be assigned to either Kate or Denise, who will assist with the preparation of proposals for both external and internal sponsors. Quarterly emails will be sent to all department faculty requesting updates on your submission plans.  Responses will be maintained on a shared internal list. If a new opportunity arises, including those with other UM departments/schools, please contact your research administrator as soon as possible, but a minimum of 3 weeks prior to the sponsor deadline is preferred. In addition to all administrative aspects of the proposal submission, Kate and Denise will assist with Just-In-Time requests, subcontracts that are part of another institution’s application and grant transfers.

• The Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) website http://orsp.umich.edu/ contains information on sponsored projects, policies, and links to various sponsors. The Senior Associate Dean for Research at SPH is John Meeker and he is an additional resource for SPH faculty.

Cost Sharing

• Voluntary (i.e. not required by the sponsor) cost sharing is not encourage or recommended. If voluntary cost-share is included in your proposal, you will need to work with your research administrator to process the required paperwork and route your request to the Department Administrator.  Approval must be received from the Department Chair, and in some cases the Associate Dean for Research and the Office of Research (UMOR) http://www.research.umich.edu/. This process can be lengthy depending on the levels of approvals required.
•  Timeline for submission: Because proposals have to be reviewed by the School, any collaborator’s unit/school and ORSP, it is imperative that enough lead-time be allowed. An administrative shell must be routed to the School a minimum of five days before the due date; the final documents must be to ORSP a minimum of four days before the sponsor deadline. If Michigan Medicine is involved, ten days are required.
• A proposal timeline and the School’s Submission Policy can be found in the Appendix, you may also see your research administrator or dept admin with questions and/or confirmation on timeline. The ORSP submission deadline policy can be found at: https://orsp.umich.edu/proposal-submission-deadline-policy
• Institution Affiliation for grant submissions:  As a new faculty member of the University of Michigan, it is very important to update you NIH affiliation to U Michigan.  If this is not updated, an error will occur at submission that could lead to delays.  Please work with your pre-award admin and/or ORSP to update your affiliation. 
• Sign up for ORSP announcements: To receive funding and other announcements from ORSP, go to the link below and click on join group, http://orsp.umich.edu/newsletter-signup

The post award team consists of Kate Althouse, Denise Bianchi, Holly McCamant, and Wendy Mashburn.  Each faculty member has been assigned one of these research administrative staff as their Primary Post Award Contact.  When you receive research or other funding through the University, a separate project/grant will be established. As the Project Director, you are held fiscally responsible for all expenditures. Activity can be viewed in Wolverine Access M-Reports and monthly departmental reports are sent via email. Please schedule meetings with your primary post award contact monthly for high research funded groups or at a minimum quarterly to review balances and reporting processes of the Department as well as sponsors.

• Effort on sponsored projects: Please work with your post award contact to ensure your effort is appropriately allocated across your research projects, including when new projects are awarded.   You will be required to certify your effort distribution annually in July for the fiscal year that ended June 30.  Per Uniform Guidance Monitored Costs (formerly A-21), the following expenses must not be charged to a grant UNLESS prior budget approval was received: clerical and administrative salaries, office supplies, postage, telephone line charges and local calls, memberships, journal subscriptions, books, computer costs and hosting/food expenses.
• PEERRS: The Program for Education and Evaluation in Responsible Research and Scholarship is a web-based foundational instruction and certification program for members of the University community engaged in or associated with research. All PIs and Co-PIs on sponsored projects must be certified in the PEERS System before spending is authorized. Research staff and students working on research projects are also required to complete certain modules. Your research administrator will send information to the student(s) regarding completion. Staff and students should not begin work on a project until this is completed. http://my.research.umich.edu/peerrs/

All requests for visitors staying beyond two weeks must be approved and the invitation issued by the Chair. If you are planning to bring a research visitor in for a period exceeding two weeks, or space needs to be identified, please contact the Biostatistics Department Administrator.

All Ph.D. students and research fellows (postdocs) are required to complete RCRS training in their first year.  This requirement can be met by completing Biostat 810.  Any Master’s or undergraduate students appointed on NSF or NIH funds are also required to complete this training. Depending on the type of research, some students may also be required to complete the UM PEERRS modules.   http://my.research.umich.edu/peerrs/

The Biostatistics Conference Rooms, M4034 and M4117 SPH II, may be reserved by contacting Kerry or Irene in the Front Office (M4210) – [email protected] or [email protected]. Kerry and Irene can also assist with room scheduling outside of Biostatistics or you may reserve space through SPH Classroom Services. https://sph.umich.edu/computing/classroom/index.html 

Sabbaticals and leaves of absence may be helpful to maintain academic excellence.  You should inform the Chair as early as possible if you anticipate applying for a leave so that teaching replacements can be arranged. Applications for leave should be submitted to the chair’s office no later than January 15 the previous year. If you are not taking a sabbatical as scheduled (after 12 terms of active service), you should work with Lori/Chair to request equity of terms toward your next sabbatical. (see Sabrina for forms)

SPH Policy #18. Sabbatical and Leave Policy (http://spg.umich.edu/policy/201.30-2); SPG 201.30-2 (spg.umich.edu/pdf/201.30-2.pdf); Regents’ Bylaws 5.14 (www.regents.umich.edu/bylaws/bylaws05b.html#5)

University of Michigan Faculty Payroll Schedule:  The payroll system at Michigan pays 9-month academic year salaries (UYear) for faculty over 12 months, on a payroll cycle from July 1 through June 30. On this schedule, the faculty member receives 1/12th of the academic year salary on the last working day of each month, beginning in July, and continuing through June of the following year. In the first year, appointments beginning in September provide 3/12s of the salary in the September pay and 1/12 in months October - June. Appointments beginning in January are provided 1/12 of the academic year salary over 6 months (January – June).  Additional summer support funds are paid based on the monthly academic year rate (1/9th). These summer payments are paid on the last working day of the requested summer month (June, July, and August) and are included in the regular paycheck.

• Summer Salary Support: Summer appointments are not guaranteed.  They can be funded from discretionary or sponsored funds, each of which has limitations. If summer months are funded from sources that are discretionary to the faculty member, explicit approvals of the Department Chair and Dean are required. The School of Public Health permits faculty members to fund two months of summer salary from their discretionary accounts. The University does not permit funding of more than 2.5 months on sponsored research funds (See SPG 201.04).  See Salary Savings section for additional information.
• Salary Supplement Program: The School currently has a generous Salary Supplement program in which faculty receive an additional salary incentive equivalent to 5% of the two year average indirect costs of their annual grants (though not derived from IDCs). This incentive is contingent on merit scores exceeding a pre-specified level, and at least 30% of the faculty member’s nine-month salary and benefits are supported by extramural funds. (SPH Policy #16, Research Incentive Policy 1 June 2016). See Dept Administrator with any questions.

In order to accrue salary savings for the U-YR you must have sponsored funding (fund 20000 and 25000) during the academic year:  September 1 to May 31 respectively.  Example:  you are 100% funded from the dean’s office from September 1 to May 31.  You agree to be on a study with someone in the medical campus, here in Biostat, or you put in your own grant and it gets awarded.  As a side note, if you have funding that is not fund 20000 or 25000 (ask you assigned financial person to clarify), keep in mind if you use it during the academic year you will not receive any salary savings for this effort.  It is advised that you save those dollars for your summer effort.  Whatever the case you are appointed on that funding.  Let’s say overall you are 50% on grants and 50% on the Dean’s office.  We will use a $100,000 annual U-YR salary.  Your gross salary savings will be $50,000.

 With the salary savings (50%) of your U-YR you can do several things: 

1. Summer Salary:  If you do not have enough money or effort to cover your 2 months of summer salary you can cover it with these dollars.  (June and July only).  August’s ½ month must be covered by sponsored research.
2. Buyout:  once you get enough funding you can buyout of a course or courses.  In order to buyout of one course (3 credits/units) you must have at least 25% effort over 9 months (total 225%).  To buy out of 2 courses (6 credits/units) you must have 50% effort over 9 months.  Each credit/unit is worth 8.33% of effort over 9 months.
3. NIH cap:  When on an NIH grant, your salary is capped.  Currently the NIH cap is $144,225 for 9 months, or $192,300 for 12 months.  If your salary is above these dollars, the Dean’s office will cover your difference during the academic year only (September 1 to May 31).  During the summer, you are responsible for cover the NIH cap dollars.  These dollars are taken out of your salary savings.
4. IDC shortfall:  The Dean’s office has a policy around indirect costs.  Indirect costs are the costs that are collected on grants to do research.  These dollars cover things like administrative support, phones, utilities, building deprecation, etc.  You can only have a grant here that gets at least 20%.  If it does not, then you must pay for the IDC shortage from your salary savings.  Usually you can get this waived if you are a new faculty member.  There is an IDC waiver form you must fill out completely and send to John Meeker, Associate Dean for Research to get approval.

 Once you have paid for all the above, then the remaining dollars are split in this way:  50% in your RESIN discretionary account, 25% to the Department and 25% to the Dean’s office.

 The Business Administrator Lead  will do the calculations of your salary savings once a year.  Because there are constant changes to faculty effort, the dean’s office does not require this task to be completed until September the following year.  She will meet with your to go over the dollars, your buyouts, etc to make sure that what is represented is your understanding as well.

Faculty start-up funds are discretionary funds that may be used within general university guidelines to enhance your teaching or research program.  Some examples are:

Student support (GSRA, programmer, temporary research assistance, etc.)
Travel (conferences, visit colleagues for research collaboration, field work, etc.)
Special research or office supplies (department supplies basic items)
Computers or computer hardware/software
Equipment
Books/journal subscriptions
Membership dues
Conference registration
Start-up funds are available to you for five years from your start date, as noted in your offer letter. See Dept Admin with questions or balance information.

Seminars are scheduled throughout the academic year. Speakers from universities worldwide, industry, other UM departments and our own faculty and visitors are invited to give seminars. The biostatistics seminars are held weekly on Thursday, 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. The seminars range from elementary to advanced levels and cover a wide selection of topics. You will receive announcements via email, and are encouraged to meet with seminar speakers and attend their seminar.

The biostatistics students host weekly Brown Bag Seminars on Fridays, 12:00 – 1:00.

 Student funding can be complex. The department’s student funding matching system is centrally coordinated through the Admissions Committee and Nicole Fenech.  All support is equal to that of a 50% GSRA appointment. Departmental funding commitments to students are fulfilled through a combination of GSRA, GSI, Training Grants, and Fellowships.  If you are considering funding a student as a GSRA or have questions about GSI appointments, please contact Nicole.  A student cost spreadsheet is included in the appendix.  There is also additional information about student funding in the Biostatistics Graduate Student Handbook. 

• Graduate Student Research Assistant (GSRA) appointments include a full tuition waiver, stipend and gradcare and are processed by Dept Admin. Appointments in biostatistics are generally at 50% effort per term.

• Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) appointments are designated to courses by the Department Chair according to budget, need, and size of class. Appointments include a full tuition waiver, stipend and grad care and are generally at 50% effort. The department has requirements to determine if a course is eligible for a GSI position. Nicole will contact instructors who teach courses with designated GSI’s during the funding matching process.

• Graders – if you feel grader support is needed for your course, please contact Sabrina Olsson who will discuss it with the Department Chair and advise you of the outcome.  Generally, graders are considered only for courses with 25 students or more. Graders are setup as temporary student appointments.  Sabrina processes all grader and research temporary student appointments. Students holding temporary appointments need to report time every two weeks. You will receive instructions from Sabrina on approving time. Temporary appointments do not pay tuition or benefits.

The Department provides office supplies such as stationery, pens, pencils, and paper.  These are located in the Front Office, M4210.  

 The Tech Tool Policy (stipend allowed for cell phones/tablets used for business purposes) and other helpful resources can be found at: https://finance.umich.edu/techtoolpolicy 

Kerry Sprague enters textbook order information on Wolverine Access. This information is shared with bookstores. To ensure adequate orders, please adhere to the dates for entry of information on the Registrar’s website (http://www.ro.umich.edu/calendar/).

Archived syllabi for previously taught courses are available from Nicole Fenech or Fatma Nedjari; please send the syllabus for each course you teach to Fatma each term (she will email you reminders as well).

Classes begin on the hour and it is suggested instructors end ten minutes earlier that the end of class so students may have time to travel to their next class. There are no bells to signal the start and end of classes. For the first meeting of a course, a full period of work should be planned. Class lists are available on Wolverine Access http://www.wolverineaccess.umich.edu).

Students who do not have access to courses may ask instructors for permission to enroll through Wolverine Access. Please email Nicole about granting permission for overrides into your course. Many of the courses have an established system in place for waitlists and student group priorities. Nicole and Fatma are both able to grant permission overrides for students, when appropriate.

Most students today are very concerned about how they will be graded. The course syllabus distributed on the first class day should contain a detailed description of how you will evaluate their performance. This should include how many exams, projects, group assignments, etc. you plan to assign and how the results will be weighted. Giving this information also protects you from later complaints that you graded unfairly or capriciously.

You should schedule at least two office hours per week for consultation with students. You are expected to hold every scheduled class throughout the semester and to be present for the administration and grading of the final examination. Absences for illness or occasional attendance at professional meetings are permitted, but you must either find a substitute instructor or make up the classtime at another time. However, it is usually difficult to find a mutually convenient time for large classes.

At the end of each term course grades must be submitted within 72 hours of the final exam. All grades are posted via Wolverine Access. Please contact Nicole or Fatma if you have trouble posting grades. University policy prohibits posting of grades or leaving exams/homework in public areas. The Department Office does NOT dispense information about course grades. Exams not returned should be kept on file for one year and you should keep a copy of your grading records for at least two years. If you leave the University, it is essential that you leave a copy of your records with the Department Office, as well as tests and finals you still have. This will greatly facilitate answering questions and resolving problems that may arise in your absence.

There is an increasing tendency for students to make official complaints about their grades. If informal efforts do not resolve the problem, there is a formal procedure that starts with a meeting between student, instructor, Chair, Associate Dean and proceeds to a hearing before a panel of students and faculty, but it is very rare that things get this far. In the most extreme case it has happened that a student will sue the University for alleged unfair grading. Your best defense in all of these forums is a good set of records. If you can show that grades were arrived at by a rational system, uniformly applied, most complaints will disappear.

An unpleasant but unfortunately regularly arising problem is that of student cheating, plagiarism, and the like. The School and the Department take a strong stand that these behaviors cannot be tolerated. Policies & Procedures for MPH, MHSA, BA & BS Students

The University of Michigan operates its own telephone system. Each phone has features such as call hold, call forward and voicemail. Except in emergencies your phone should not be forwarded to the Department office. Most University (Ann Arbor campus) phone numbers begin with one of the following 3-digit prefixes: 763, 764, 647, 936, 615 and 998. Pressing the last five digits of the U-M number, e.g. the main office number is 764-5452 of which only 4-5452 must be pressed to make calls within the system. 

To make local calls, you must press 9 and then all seven digits. To make long distance calls press 9, then 1 and then the area code and seven remaining digits (9-011 then number for international calls). The system will seek the lowest rate. If you require additional features, hardware or repairs, please see the department administrator.

For detailed information specific to the tenure and promotion practices of the University of Michigan, please refer to the Provost website (http://www.provost.umich.edu/nav/faculty_information.html and http://www.provost.umich.edu/faculty/promotion_guidelines/).  For policies specific to the School of Public Health, please refer to http://sph.umich.edu/intranet.html.

If you have additional questions or need clarification, please feel free to speak with the Department Chair.

Travel and Hosting expenses are reimbursable subject to University and SPH policies.  See SPG 507.10-2 at http://spg.umich.edu/pdf/507.10-1.pdf for the complete university travel policy. See your group admin about setting up a profile in our reimbursement system (Concur). You may assign your group admin as a delegate in your Concur profile to create expense reports for you. Irene will assist faculty who are not part of a larger research group.

In general, the following expenses are reimbursable:

• Coach airfare
• Lodging (room charges and taxes only) up to a maximum of $250 nightly
• Meals: Government per diem rates for destination apply
• Taxi/shuttle -- actual and reasonable

Please note that expense of a rental car must be justified and you should always decline the insurance offered by the agency (covered under UM policy).

Original receipts are required for all expenses (excluding meals) and should be turned in immediately upon your return. Expenses submitted past 45 days may not be reimbursed.

The Department of Biostatistics is entirely within the School of Public Health.  The Dean of the School of Public Health works closely with an elected Faculty Executive Committee comprised of persons from various departments. This Committee reviews departmental recommendations concerning hiring and promotions, and generally sets policy for the School. Matters requiring action by the entire faculty are dealt with in SPH faculty meetings.

The Dean reports to the Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs and the latter presents recommendations to the Board of Regents. The Board, which meets monthly, consists of eight persons elected on partisan tickets and is the governing body of the University.

The University Senate is composed of all faculty members holding professional rank from the entire University. Since this group is too large to function efficiently, the various colleges elect representatives to the Senate Assembly, which has sixty-five members and meets monthly. This group in turn elects its own Executive Committee, which is called the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA). SACUA appoints members to a number of specialized University-wide committees, including advisory committees to various vice-presidents. Assembly meetings and portions of SACUA meetings are open.

The University operates on a split third term system, in which there are two fourteen week terms extending roughly from September through April, and two half-terms between May and August. Persons holding a regular academic year appointment are actually on salary for about four weeks longer than the period occupied by the two terms and must request leave if they are not in residence during the interval September 1 -  May 31.