Basic Science Faculty Salary Incentive Program
Fiscal Year 2026The kick off of this program comes at a very challenging time including uncertainty around our financial future. This is a highly valued program at SMPH and although we face financial uncertainty, we will be proceeding with the program for fiscal year 2026. We are however, asking that departments proceed with caution. For FY26 there will be additional school-wide parameters:
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Basic Science Faculty Salary Incentive Program Background
Program Eligibility
- Incentive program is available to tenure-track basic science faculty in SMPH basic science or clinical departments who have a minimum 50% appointment with SMPH
- For Faculty with joint appointments in other UW schools/colleges, incentive only applies to their SMPH salary component
- For Faculty with joint appointments in multiple SMPH departments, all departments should confirm support of the nomination for an award
- Typically, faculty members who are dual-employed with UWMF and/or whose compensation is established via the departmental compensation plan are not eligible
- Emeritus and visiting faculty are not eligible for this program
- Faculty with partial leaves for VA activities are eligible as long as their SMPH appointment is 50% or greater
Successful candidates must also meet basic eligibility requirements:
- No recent or ongoing issues concerning professionalism
- Responsible stewardship of research funds
Review Criteria
To qualify for the faculty incentive program, basic science faculty must demonstrate outstanding achievement in at least three of five critical activities.
- Maintain a high degree of effort on peer-reviewed extramural grants (required)
- Research mentoring and teaching
- Publication of high impact publications in journals appropriate to the discipline
- Leadership in relevant national organizations, e.g., NIH review groups, foundations
- Exceptional service in SMPH, e.g., graduate program leadership, EPCC, WPP, medical student admissions
Review Process for Awarding Incentive Salary Increases
Fiscal Year 2026:
- Annual calls for nominations will be issued from the SMPH Compensation Team on April 4, 2025
- Candidate’s department chair submits a nomination by May 5, 2025 for implementation on June 29, 2025; the nomination must provide evidence that the candidate meets the review criteria
- Nominations are reviewed and decisions are made by the Dean or the Dean’s designee(s)
- Incentive increases are temporary and will be renewed annually as long as the review criteria are met. Nominations must be submitted for award participants annually.
- Nominations will be submitted via a Qualtrics Survey response.
Incentive Salary Increases
- If 60% of salary (up to NIH cap) is paid on extramural grants and high achievement is documented in other areas, candidate’s salary will be increased by 8% of salary up to the NIH cap (currently $221,900)
- Alternatively, if 75% of salary (up to NIH cap) is paid on extramural grants and high achievement is documented in other areas, candidate’s salary will be increased by 16% of salary up to the NIH cap
Policies for Incentive Salary Adjustments
- Incentive increases are in addition to annual or “high demand” increases in salary
- Incentive increases are applied to salary up to the NIH cap ($221,900)
- Adjustments are implemented only once annually, for the subsequent fiscal year (26 bi-weekly pay periods)
- The proposed increase levels will be prorated for faculty who do not have a 100%appointment with SMPH
- Faculty with partial leaves for VA activities are eligible as long as their SMPH appointment is 50% or greater
- Incentive increases may be taken as discretionary research funds rather than salary
- Compensation received as part of a K-award or foundation-sponsored career development awards do not count toward total salary on extramural grants and cannot be used to qualify for an incentive increase in salary
Nominations for the 2025-2026 Basic Science Faculty Salary Incentive Program
- Supplemental compensation will be determined as part of an annual evaluation and planning process for the following fiscal year.
- The program is effective for tenure-track faculty who do not engage in patient care activities nor have employment with the UW Medical Foundation. Emeritus and visiting faculty are not eligible. In special cases, CHS-track faculty without patient care activities may be eligible. Faculty who also have appointments at the Veteran’s Administration may be eligible if they do not engage in patient care activities and have a UW FTE of at least 0.5.
- Determination of the compensation or support amounts will be based on a holistic review of faculty merit. The amounts will not solely be based on a formulaic calculation.
- This program is available to faculty with a minimum 0.5 FTE appointment in the School of Medicine & Public Health, including leaves. If an individual has appointments both in SMPH and in another school or college, this program will only impact the SMPH portion of their appointment. For faculty with total appointments less than 1.0 FTE, any annual salary increments will be pro-rated for the individual’s appointment level.
- The nomination process must be completed every year, even if a faculty member is receiving added compensation in the current year.
Submitting Nominations:
Nominations must be submitted via Qualtics by May 5, 2025
- To review a copy of the survey prior to submission you can access a PDF version here: Basic Science Faculty Incentive Survey Example - PDF
Qualtrics survey tool for submitted nominations can be found at this link: FY 26 Basic Sciences Faculty Salary Incentive Nomination Form