Faculty Start-Up Fund Policy

In general, recruiting faculty members with substantial research potential and scholarly/creative activities is highly competitive. Having the ability to provide such candidates with a competitive start-up package can be vital to recruitment efforts. Consequently, the Office of Research oversees a pool of institutional funds to help chairs and deans assemble competitive research start-up packages, and to provide new faculty with the resources necessary to establish a successful research program. Although the university has research expectations for all faculty members, the university has increased expectations for those new faculty members who are provided with substantial research start-up funds.

Deans are required to provide the Vice President for Research with an estimate of the start-up costs for each position as soon as the faculty positions are approved by the Provost. Faculty start-up funds are negotiated between the dean/department chair and a potential new hire before he or she begins employment at Cleveland State University. Deans and department chairs are asked to set appropriate performance benchmarks during employment negotiations with candidates, who should be requested to provide a description of their research program along with more specific budget for their start-up costs. Stand-alone research projects will not be funded. Sufficient detail in the research plan is needed to enable us to determine that expenditures will lead to the development of a productive research program. The Office of Research will assess department and college research productivity over a period of several years, and future start-up investments will depend on success in meeting appropriate benchmarks. Before making an offer deans should contact the Vice President for Research to negotiate the final start-up offer.

REQUIRED ITEMS FOR FACULTY START-UP PACKAGE REQUEST:

1. Properly executed “Faculty Start-up Request Form” (at least 10% matching is required from the College/School, Department, or Other – if Other, specify the source).
2. Comprehensive candidate’s CV.
3. Brief (max. 3 pages) description of the candidate research program, including plan to become: a) self-sustaining and b) successfully competitive for external funding.
4. Itemized budget (with reasonable estimates, quotes are not needed; all major items should be listed).
5. If the new hired faculty will be released from more than one 3 credit hour course in the first year, and any course release in years two and three, the cost of the course release must be included as a part of the startup budget. The cost of the release needs to be calculated as a percentage of the faculty salary.

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. All candidates for positions receiving start-up funds exceeding $100K must be interviewed by the Vice President for Research.
2. Start-up funds cannot be used for faculty salary (including summer), office equipment and furniture, instructional equipment, visa fees, moving expenses, or to develop new academic programs. All other charges must conform to State law and other relevant CSU policy.
3. Seventy percent (70%) of all research start-up funds must be spent, or obligated in the case of capital equipment, by June 30 of the second-year of employment.
4. Unless otherwise stated in the faculty letter of intent, all start-up should be expended within three years of the initial hiring date. After three years start-up awards will expire automatically and the remaining funds will revert back to the funding source on a pro-rated basis. In unusual circumstances requiring strong justification, exceptions to this expiration time frame may be requested from the Vice President for Research in writing after approval by the dean.
5. If the position is not filled during the current recruitment cycle, the commitment must be re-negotiated with each new offer.
6. For each year of start-up support, faculty must submit a completed "Cumulative Annual Report for Faculty Start-up Fund Recipients." The Cumulative Annual Report for Faculty Start-up Fund Recipients is due to the Chair or Director by July 15th, to the Dean of the hiring college by July 31st, and to the Office of Research by August 15th following each year of start-up support. Submit the completed report, along with all signatures, to the Office of Research via email to Joy Yard at j.yard@csuohio.edu and Roman Konrdatov at r.kondratov@csuohio.edu.

Submit the completed request to the Office of Research via email to Joy Yard at j.yard@csuohio.edu and Roman Kondratov at r.kondratov@csuohio.edu.