College of Letters & Science Administrative Gateway College of Letters & Science Administrative Gateway Glossary

Academic Staff: a professional and administrative employee other than faculty with duties and types of appointments that are primarily associated with higher education institutions or their administration.  Each academic staff has a principal role related to research, teaching, outreach, student services, information technology, libraries, communications, clinical/health services, or other responsibilities. 

[Department of] Employee Trust Funds: http://etf.wi.gov/

The UW-Madison faculty consists of all persons with instructional, research and service responsibilities who hold the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor with at least a one-half time appointment with UW-Madison, or a full-time appointment held jointly between UW-Madison and UW-Extension.

A Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) is a significant financial interest in an entity that could directly and significantly affect the design, conduct, or reporting of federally-funded or human subjects research.

Full-time equivalent.  A way of counting the number of staff or positions. 

There are two basic ways that we count the number of employees. When we use headcount, each individual person counts as one employee whether their appointment is full time or part time. When we use "FTE," we are using the "Full Time Equivalent."

The Full Time Equivalent is the total of all positions using the percentage of the appointment rather than the number of individual employees. This is what the headcount looks like for the same employees using each measure:

Employee A - .5 appointment
Employee B - 1.0 appointment
Employee C - .6 appointment
Employee D - .4 appointment

Using Headcount, there are 4 employees
Using FTE, there are 2.5 employees (.5 + 1 + .6 + .4 = 2.5)

Federal form that proves employment eligibility that must be completed by all new employees.  UW-Madison completes their I-9s electronically using HireRight.  

The official lists of majors, certificates, and degrees offered in Letters & Science are available on-line:

• The Guide provides a comprehensive list of undergraduate majors, special degree programs, certificates, and concentrations organized by the respective school or college that offers the academic program.
• The Guide also provides a comprehensive list of graduate degrees, minors, and certificates. The information is organized alphabetically for all university programs.

The phrase "sifting and winnowing" refers to UW-Madison's historic tradition of defense of intellectual and academic freedom. The words are taken from an 1894 report of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and were originally used to explain the board's refusal to censure a professor accused of socialist and pro-union activity. The words are mounted on a plaque on the front of Bascom Hall:

A Significant Financial Interest means any financial interests held by an investigator (and/or his or her immediate family), or by a business entity controlled or directed by the investigator or a member of his or her immediate family, that has monetary value, whether or not the value is readily ascertainable, including:

• Remuneration (e.g. salary, consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship, etc.) received from a publicly traded entity in the twelve months preceding disclosure, and the value of any equity interest (stock, stock option, or other ownership interest) in the entity at the date of disclosure that, when aggregated, exceed $5,000
• Remuneration, (e.g. salary, consulting fees, honoraria, paid authorship, etc.) received from a non-publicly traded entity of greater than $5,000 in the twelve months preceding the disclosure
• Any equity interest (e,g. stock, stock option, or other ownership interest) in a non-publicly traded entity
• Royalty income from intellectual property rights not arising out of university employment, which are not assigned to organizations created to manage such rights on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (WARF)
• Reimbursed or sponsored travel related to institutional responsibilities that is not reimbursed or sponsored by a government agency, a U.S. university, an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with a U.S. university
• Service in positions with fiduciary responsibility , including senior managers (e.g. presidents, vice presidents, etc.) and members of boards of directors, whether or not the investigator receives compensation for such service.

Significant financial interests do not include the following:

• Salary, royalties, or other remuneration received from UW-Madison, the University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, or the VA
• Royalty income from intellectual property rights arising out of UW-Madison employment that are assigned to organizations created to manage such rights on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (WARF)
• Income from investment vehicles, such as mutual funds and retirement accounts, as long as the investigator does not control the investment decisions made in these vehicles
• Income from seminars, lectures, or teaching engagements sponsored by a domestic government agency, a university, an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with a university
• Income from service on advisory committees or review panels for a domestic government agency, a university, an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with a university
• Travel related to institutional responsibilities that is reimbursed or sponsored by a domestic government agency, a university, an academic teaching hospital, a medical center, or a research institute that is affiliated with a university.

University staff positions focus primarily on supporting education, research, and the campus infrastructure. If a position involves functions that are similar in nature to other positions in Wisconsin state government, the position is university staff. These positions include accountants, administrative support associates, nurses, microbiologists, and custodians.