Faculty compensation policies
Updated July 1, 2025. Next update on or before FY30.
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Internal course buyout
For full-time faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
Internal buyouts are provided for a variety of service needs and professional development opportunities. Funding for the buyout is provided to the faculty member’s school by the unit that is benefiting from the service and/or providing the professional development opportunity. This policy applies to all internal course buyouts at the campus level. 真人线上娱乐 chancellor and the VCAA may share the costs for campuswide GFO service that requires internal course buyouts.
*Note: This policy does not apply to 12-month, full-time administrative faculty positions.
Compensation structure
真人线上娱乐 internal buyout rate is set at the rate used by the school and/or division with the highest average part-time faculty rate plus benefits. 真人线上娱乐 VCAA’s office is responsible for working with the deans to update this rate at the start of each new biennium. For the FY26and FY27 biennium, the internal buyout rate is set at $10,500 per course inclusive of benefit load. 真人线上娱乐 buy-out is provided to the faculty member’s school.
Justification
Internal course buyouts far surpass the course buyouts for externally funded projects and result in expenses for the school (instructional replacement along with associated administrative and onboarding costs). 真人线上娱乐 part-time faculty rate across schools/divisions also varies significantly. Using a rate that is based on the salaries of individual faculty members would create significant and unmanageable variation in service costs from year to year for units that provide buyouts, significant administrative costs for units that process large numbers of buyouts, and possible reductions in the number of faculty who can benefit from professional development and service opportunities. 真人线上娱乐 compensation structure tries to balance these conflicting issues.
External course buyout rate
For academic year external (to UW) grants for faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
External grants included in this category are all funding opportunities outside of UW. This includes national funding agencies (e.g., NSF, NIH, NSA, etc.) as well as foundations (e.g., Ford, Spencer, Carnegie, Mellon, etc.) and regional/local organizations including the non-profit, public, and private sectors.
*Note: Tri-campus funding opportunities that are managed at UW Seattle are not included because they typically set their own course buyout rates.
Compensation structure
真人线上娱乐 external buyout rate for one course is set at 11.11% (1 month) of the 9-month compensation per course and capped at $15,000 which is the rounded 75th percentile of the FY25 monthly salary for all regular full-time faculty at UW Bothell. 真人线上娱乐 benefit load applies for external buyouts. 真人线上娱乐 buyout is provided to the faculty member’s school.
*Note: In cases where the granting agency of the project cannot bear this cost, faculty should discuss a different rate with the dean. It is recommended that schools work with their EFCs to develop consistent and transparent standards and procedures for these discussions.
Justification
Most external grants are budgeted as percentage effort and 11.11% (1 month) accurately reflects the percentage of effort that faculty are buying out for one course in alignment with the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell. Course buyouts result in expenses for schools (instructional replacement; administrative and onboarding costs for those replacements). 真人线上娱乐 buyout cap acknowledges the broad range in faculty compensation across the schools, as well as the total grant funding for a typical external award at UW Bothell faculty ($100,000 per year).
Maximum number of course buyouts
For full-time faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
Caps the total number of course releases from a faculty member’s expected teaching load (specified by the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell) for full-time faculty.
*Note: Deans may make exceptions for faculty in positions that receive ADS, as well as tri-campus/campus/school elected faculty councils if those positions require course releases. It is recommended that schools work with their EFCs to develop consistent and transparent standards and procedures for these discussions.
Compensation structure
Course releases are capped at three regardless of internal vs external buyouts.
Justification
It is reasonable to expect that a core responsibility/expectation for full-time faculty members at a predominantly undergraduate institution is to teach annually unless on approved leave. This core responsibility minimizes reliance on temporary faculty to teach the curriculum. Most UW Bothell faculty members who receive grants take their grant-funded FTE during the summer months as opposed to the academic year.
Course overload
For full-time faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
Provides compensation for any instructional overload over 100% of the teaching portion of the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell. Overloads are considered additional compensation and should occur only in exceptional circumstances. In accordance with EO59, they must be pre-approved by the chair, dean, and VCAA.
*Note: It is recommended that course overloads are approved at least one month prior to instruction commencing to a) provide the best support for faculty teaching an overload and the students they are teaching, and b) allow ample time for processing the overload request.
Compensation structure
真人线上娱乐 overload compensation rate for one course is set at 11.11% (1 month) of the 9-month compensation in alignment with the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell.
Justification
Aligns with the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell.
Course cancellation
For full-time faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
Sets guidelines for full-time faculty members who have a course canceled by a school or FYPP within one month before instruction begins. This policy does not apply to course cancellations initiated by a faculty member due to approved leaves and similar circumstances.
*Note: It is expected that faculty members and deans (or their designees) will be in good communication around curricular planning, making teaching assignment adjustments to meet student and programmatic needs during and soon after registration periods.
Compensation structure
真人线上娱乐 faculty members shall work in good faith with their dean (or their designee) to allocate their effort elsewhere when courses are cancelled due to low enrollment.
In the event that a future teaching reassignment is possible, the faculty member, in consultation with the dean (or their designee) and a representative from the school’s EFC upon request of the faculty member, shall negotiate a teaching load agreement that a) accounts for the factors associated with the course being canceled, and b) equitably redistributes the effort of the canceled course to a later academic quarter no more than one year from the time the canceled course was originally offered.
In cases where faculty effort can be better allocated to school or campus-wide service activities, the faculty member, in consultation with the dean and a representative of the school’s EFC upon request of the faculty member, can have the equivalent of their canceled course load reallocated to a mutually agreed upon service assignment.
All redistribution or reassignment of faculty teaching load shall be documented in writing and agreed upon by the faculty member and the dean.
In unforeseen circumstances when a school needs to cancel an existing academic program, deans will consult with their EFCs to identify an equitable agreement on how to reallocate teaching loads.
*Note: Schools need a reflection and resolution plan on file if a course is cancelled to plan for a subsequent offering, which may include its place in the curriculum (i.e., required or elective), its modality, and its timing. Deans, in consultation with EFCs, shall set published minimum enrollment thresholds for course offerings in alignment with prudent fiscal policy.
Justification
Establishes guidance for schools to set transparent and published minimum enrollment thresholds for course offerings in alignment with prudent fiscal policy through shared governance processes. Also sets expectations for schools to address the need for transparent curricular planning on a multi-year basis that: a) allows students to progress toward degree completion within an expected timeframe that does not disadvantage the student, and b) provides faculty with predictability and stability for curricular planning and teaching.
Equivalent workload estimate for one course
For full-time faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
Provides a basis for estimating compensation for efforts beyond those in the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell. Faculty may be asked to provide additional service (beyond standard workload expectations) to the institution (school, campus, tri-campus). In addition, many opportunities beyond the standard workload (e.g., professional development) provide additional compensation that should be based on the level of effort.
*Note: Teaching is a unique activity that varies greatly from course to course. Activities such as designing curriculum are creative endeavors that are difficult to quantify in terms of hours. Courses themselves vary greatly in terms of the number of students, levels, availability of materials, the need to update materials, having graders or peer facilitators, number of times the faculty has taught the course at UW Bothell, etc. 真人线上娱乐 workload estimate for one course should not be used beyond what is intended in this policy.
Compensation structure
真人线上娱乐 faculty workload policy for UW Bothell divides the annual workload for a faculty member into nine equal parts which are then allocated to teaching, service and scholarship/research. Assuming an annual workload for a 9-month contract and 1400 working hours (based roughly on Sep 15 – June 15 dates and subtracting holidays), one course is equivalent to 155 hours. This is similar to Bellevue College’s bargaining agreement that sets faculty contracts as 176 days (1408 hours).
Justification
Brings transparency and consistency across schools to improve faculty workload equity across the institution and to provide a basis for determining faculty stipends, course releases, and other ways to compensate faculty for various professional development and service activities. 真人线上娱乐 aim is also to avoid an increase in workload and/or uncompensated labor.
Other FTE-producing instructional labor
For full-time faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
Instruction in any academic unit that generates FTE for that school and is not otherwise visible as part of the faculty member’s teaching load. Examples include independent studies, directed research, and thesis if not otherwise counted as part of the standard workload. 真人线上娱乐 expectation is that, when possible, schools will include these impactful student opportunities as part of a faculty member’s standard workload (per the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell) with workload adjustment as described in EO59.
Compensation structure
- All schools should ensure that faculty are compensated for all UW Bothell courses (undergraduate and graduate) for which they are officially designated as the instructor. Note that a faculty member’s annual academic–year teaching load is set per the faculty workload policy for UW Bothell.
- If necessary, and with dean pre-approval, faculty members may have situations where these types of instruction go beyond the faculty member’s academic year workload because of a variety of factors. Each school is expected to have in place a framework for these situations. 真人线上娱乐 framework should be developed using standard school governance processes, with approval by the dean and the VCAA. All frameworks should adhere to the following principles:
- Align with UW Bothell faculty compensation policies, UW HR policies, and best practices in higher education to promote equity.
- Provide an equivalent course/service release to the faculty member during the academic year when the work occurs or within a reasonable period as pre-approved by the dean. In lieu of a course/service release, provide non-salary professional development funds to be used before the end of the biennium when the work is performed. Schools will need to determine a reasonable conversion rate for the professional development funds as part of the framework.
- If a course release(s) or a professional development fund is to be provided, ensure that there is a documented agreement in place between the dean and the faculty member before the work occurs.
- Do not use additional compensation for these situations that occur during the academic year. You may use summer compensation for these situations that occur during the summer period.
- Retiring/resigning faculty members forfeit course/service releases and professional development funds that they have not used prior to their last date of employment.
- Account for the diverse types of credit-bearing opportunities that may be provided by faculty in your school.
- Avoid unintended consequences that may affect other forms of compensation and/or professional development that are essential for faculty success (e.g., avoid offsetting costs of compensation by reducing travel funds, etc.)
- All schools should work with their faculty councils to identify courses aligned with #2.
- School-specific frameworks should be published on the school’s website for transparency.
- Each school should review their frameworks every biennium for equity, transparency, and fiscal viability, and provide updates to the VCAA’s office.
Justification
Invisible instructional labor may be distributed unequally across faculty. A transparent and equitable system that accounts for and compensates that labor is a way to recognize and value it since this type of instruction often contributes to student success.
Other forms of invisible labor
For full-time faculty in all tracks
Inclusions
Invisible co-curricular labor such as mentoring, advising, and advising of student clubs, among many other activities that do not generate FTE for a school.
Compensation structure
*TBD
Justification
Invisible co-curricular labor may be distributed unequally across faculty members. A transparent and equitable system that accounts for and compensates that labor is one way to recognize and value it since this type of invisible labor often contributes to student success.