Faculty Effort Policy

Scope

This policy applies to the faculty of Indiana University School of Medicine (IU School of Medicine).

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Policy Statement

Objective

Develop consistent definitions as to what constitutes research, education, clinical, and professional/administrative service effort so that: (1) faculty members have a clear understanding of expectations; (2) department chairs and regional campus deans can equitably allocate effort of individual faculty members and determine the degree to which expectations are fulfilled; and (3) IU School of Medicine will benefit from maximizing its most critical resource, faculty talent, in pursuit of excellence in core missions.

General Principles

Faculty and institutional vitality are interdependent. Given that our people are the single greatest resource of the institution, it is essential to both the success of the faculty and the IU School of Medicine to have an institution-wide approach to faculty effort determinations. This policy is intended to increase the transparency and consistency of how faculty effort is determined across the school in each mission area. For the purpose of this document, a faculty member is defined as an individual with an appointment at the IU School of Medicine in the tenure, clinical, or research scientist track, either part-time or full-time.

A faculty appointment at IU School of Medicine brings with it certain expectations. The activities below reflect the core values of academic medicine and are integral responsibilities of faculty members in our academic medical community. All IU School of Medicine faculty members are expected:

• To teach learners or be supportive of the education mission
• To mentor learners and faculty members
• To engage in IU School of Medicine, university, health system, and national service (e.g., committees, professional organizations, review panels, etc.), as well as service to the community
• To be supportive of research and scholarship in all mission areas
• To participate in ongoing learning and development to continually strengthen their capacity as teachers, scholars, and care providers.

While these are essential responsibilities of all faculty members, there is significant variation in how faculty members contribute to the mission areas and achieve these essential responsibilities. Thus, while the goal of this document is to increase transparency and consistency, a uniform approach to assigning faculty effort will not provide the flexibility required for departments and regional medical education centers to pursue their unique priorities, nor will a uniform approach accommodate the various faculty appointment types and individual faculty contributions to the school’s missions. This policy is not meant to define the percentage of time that will be allotted for specific activities in research, education, clinical care, service, and administration; instead, it is meant to establish a framework for the common aspects and types of activities that should be included when determining individual faculty effort allocations. Further, chairs and regional campus deans are charged with developing faculty effort policies that reflect the responsibilities specific to their units, and should seek input from the faculty when generating such policies. Department and regional campus policies will be reviewed and approved by the Faculty Affairs and Professional Development to confirm that the policies are equitable and aligned with school-wide policies and guidelines. In the absence of department or campus effort policies, this school-wide policy holds.

In addition to having clear expectations, it is also essential for faculty members and chairs to receive constructive and timely feedback about their performance. While this document provides information regarding how faculty effort should be determined, guidance regarding faculty performance and merit can be found in the Faculty Annual Review Policy, Standards of Excellence for Promotion and Tenure, the IU Indianapolis Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure, and the IU Indianapolis Faculty Guide. Chairs and regional campus deans are also held to expectations for their performance, which is reviewed by the Dean. Faculty members provide input through regular surveys, such as 360° leadership surveys.

Given the variability of faculty roles and needs across the career life cycle, it is an essential responsibility of all faculty to enhance their skills through professional development; such professional development efforts must be specific to each faculty member. Thus, faculty members are expected to discuss their professional development plans with their chairs or regional campus deans during the annual review. Time spent in faculty development is not always specifically allocated; however, it may be important to do so when a faculty member participates in a program that requires a significant ongoing investment of time and resources, or when a faculty member’s performance is below expectations and/or he or she has received a negative annual review. In such cases, a professional development plan outlining specific and targeted improvement efforts should be developed and agreed to by the faculty member and chair or center director.

In addition to plans for professional development, there should be mutual agreement between each faculty member and his/her chair or center director about their effort allocations and expectations in all applicable areas. These should be reviewed each year during the annual faculty review. For each faculty member, the percentage of effort assigned to the research, education, clinical, service, and administration missions will equal their total effort (e.g., their actual full-time equivalent). If there are disagreements regarding performance that cannot be reconciled, a faculty member can exercise the right to a review according to the IU School of Medicine Grievance Policy.

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Reason for Policy

The Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI) Faculty Work Policy states that each school should have a faculty workload policy that “defines faculty workload expectations for its needs and the faculty categories it employs.” The guidelines herein are intended to define such workload expectations for the IU School of Medicine faculty.

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Procedures

Education

A central mission of IU School of Medicine is excellence in education. Faculty members teach learners across the spectrum from undergraduate and allied health professions students to medical students, residents, and fellows, along with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty in continuing medical education and faculty development programs. Further, faculty members use a variety of instructional methods (e.g., lectures, seminars, small group discussions, problem-based and team-based learning, laboratories, simulations, etc.) and teach in such settings as classrooms, online, clinical venues, and laboratories. Faculty members also support the education mission through curriculum development, learner assessment, receiving and providing peer review of teaching, mentoring and advising learners, and educational leadership and administration. Preparation for teaching activities should also be considered when designating effort for an individual faculty member.

It is expected that there will be variation among faculty members in the amount of effort designated as contributing to the education mission. Some faculty members make education a primary focus of their career and would thus have a larger proportion of their total effort allocated to education. Examples include faculty members who direct courses, clerkships, or programs, or those who teach the majority of sessions within a course or several sessions in multiple courses, and those responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating curricula and learner assessments.

Because the IU School of Medicine's missions are highly integrated, faculty activities often involve a combination of the core missions. For example, teaching medical students in a clinical setting can involve education and clinical effort. Similarly, teaching students in the laboratory can involve education and conducting experiments that further the research mission. Each department and regional campus will determine the relative contribution of faculty activities to each of the core missions.

1. Clinical Education

While many educational activities occur outside of direct patient care delivery (e.g., lectures, seminars, simulations), faculty often teach learners in clinical settings where teaching is performed during the provision of clinical care. Faculty time committed to clinical medical education will depend on the needs and level of training of the students, fellows, and residents. Teaching may partially replace clinical work or may be integrated during clinical work.

Each department and regional campus has flexibility in allocating reasonable estimates of faculty effort in education. For those departments with clinical missions, the method for defining education effort should include not only those activities that occur outside the patient care setting, but also clinical teaching activities based on the number of trainees, their level of training, and whether the teaching activity partially replaces clinical work.

2. Research Education

Similar to teaching medical students to provide clinical care, educating learners in the skills necessary to conduct research requires faculty teaching efforts that extend beyond traditional classroom teaching. Thus, faculty effort is not fully reflected by the number of academic credits or student enrollment. Education to acquire research skills occurs in lectures, laboratory demonstrations, individual tutoring, and small group teaching. Additionally, as members of graduate programs, faculty serve on advisory and research committees for students conducting studies in other laboratories. The time allotted to these committee activities is important to provide breadth and assessment of student training. Teaching postdoctoral fellows often involves advanced training in technology and development of model systems, along with mentoring their transition to independence. Although postdoctoral fellows are not typically enrolled as students for academic credits, faculty education of postdoctoral fellows is central for their successful training and for IU School of Medicine’s research mission.

Each department and regional campus has flexibility in allocating reasonable estimates of faculty effort in education. For those departments with a research education mission, the method for defining education effort should include not only those activities that occur in traditional classroom settings, but should also include other research education activities such as mentoring, supervision of students on research rotations, and serving on advisory, research, and exam committees. Faculty time committed to research education and mentoring activities will vary depending on the trainee's needs, the number of trainee meetings yearly, and graduate program requirements. For example, mentoring an inexperienced summer research fellow may require more time and effort than that required by an advanced graduate student.

Research

A central mission of IU School of Medicine is research that advances our understanding of health and the prevention, diagnosis, progression, and treatment of disease. Research effort includes activities in basic science, health services, social science, educational, translational research, and clinical trials. Faculty conducting research are expected to carry out rigorous studies leading to publications in peer-reviewed journals and present their research at professional meetings and other academic institutions. The development of intellectual property on research innovations is also highly encouraged.

Faculty members are expected to obtain funding from external granting agencies, such as National Institutes of Health (NIH) or other federal agencies, foundations, contracts for clinical trials or other private or industry sources, and research endowments to support their research. A goal of IU School of Medicine is for faculty to achieve external grant funding to support 80% of their designated research effort (under the NIH cap). Effective July 1, 2015, the minimum expectation will be to achieve external grant funding to support 60% of the designated research effort. Because faculty on the research scientist track are not expected to teach and have minimal or no service obligations, this expectation is typically higher and may be up to 100% of research effort. Due to variations in yearly research accomplishments and grant funding, a three-year rolling average should be used when calculating the percent of funded research effort. However, recognition for new research accomplishments and grant funding should not necessarily be delayed to accommodate the rolling average.

Reasonable efforts should be made to assist faculty members with meeting these expectations. Support for faculty research success is provided in many ways. Where funding and other circumstances permit, startup funding is provided for new faculty with the expectation that they will subsequently obtain extramural funding. At times, internally funded grants may be available for bridge funding and new pilot studies. The university endeavors to appropriately process and administer applications and grants, provide support and compliance for laboratory animals and laboratory and radiation safety, and maintain laboratory cores that contribute to conducting innovative and technology-driven research. Further, the institution invests heavily in providing faculty with resources in mentoring, project and proposal development, research leadership development, and scientific and grant writing. Such resources are available through the IU School of Medicine Faculty Affairs and Professional Development, Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Research Affairs, and the IU Indianapolis Vice Chancellor for Research. In addition, it is expected that departments and regional campuses should supplement these centralized resources with department-specific efforts intended to help faculty members succeed under appropriate circumstances.

Clinical

Clinical effort is the percentage of an individual’s time devoted to patient care and related activities, including providing direct patient care services, serving as medical director/service line director, and effort on clinical contracts. Faculty clinical effort also includes other activities that are part and parcel of clinical work, such as time spent serving on health systems committees, patient billing and documentation, and recruiting individuals with clinical responsibilities. These guidelines address clinical effort and not clinical productivity. Effort is the time spent providing clinical care; productivity relates to how much clinical care is provided during the time allotted.

Service

The institution relies on faculty service to develop, execute, and sustain its missions.

Contributing to the greater collective good of the IU School of Medicine and the university is an essential responsibility of being a faculty member. Thus, faculty members are expected to support the core missions by serving on governing bodies and committees at the departmental, school, campus, health system, and university levels. Faculty members are also encouraged to serve in professional societies, and community, national and international organizations, including editorial boards of journals, study sections for national and international granting agencies, and as expert reviewers of scholarly manuscripts.

Each department and regional campus has flexibility in allocating reasonable estimates of faculty effort in service. While all faculty members are expected to commit some effort towards service, time commitments vary widely across service obligations. The scope and reach of a service commitment, whether the service is through an elected or appointed position, and the time commitment, should factor into department policies regarding allocating individual service effort.

Administration

Administrative positions such as chair, vice chair, division or section chief, assistant or associate dean, and regional campus dean receive a specific allocation of effort. All such administrative appointments are discretionary, and the supervising administrator reviews the allocation of effort, expectations, and performance annually.

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History

1. Fap-adm-0014, 21 November 2013, policy approved by IU School of Medicine Faculty Steering Committee.
2. Policy reviewed and approved by IU School of Medicine Executive Committee on 16 December 2013.

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