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

Salary rate computed on a twelve-month, annual basis.

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. 

Salary rate computed on a nine-month, academic year basis.

Committee on Academic Staff Issues; these committees have been established in each school and college to advise Deans on policies and procedures, promotional opportunities, participation in department governance, and performance recognition for academic staff.

Conflict of Interest  

Persons holding a title in the Employees-in-Training title group are normally acquiring additional training or experience in their field of specialization. Two examples of Employees-in-Training titles are Postdoctoral Fellow and Postgraduate Trainee.
Source: Office of Human Resources, Unclassified Title Guideline: Summary of Unclassified Appointment Types

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.

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)

Paid bi-weekly for hours worked per pay period in calendar year.

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

Income Continuation Insurance.  For more information, see https://hr.wisc.edu/benefits/income-continuation-insurance/

Institutional Responsibilities are an investigator's professional duties on behalf of the UW-Madison, which may include; research, research consultation, instruction, professional practice, extension/outreach, administrative activities and institutional committee memberships.

A Department ID is the sequence of numbers that identifies a specific campus department, program, or entity. Historically, the Department ID was known as a "UDDS," which stands for "Unit, Division, Department, Subdepartment." This term is still in use in some resources, so we are including it in this glossary listing.

In more practical terms, a Department ID/UDDS is the unique combination of letters and numbers that identify the division, department, and possibly subdepartment, associated with a particular personnel, research, financial, or other activity or transaction.

EXAMPLE:  The full Department ID for a particular Letters & Science Department would be written as : 48XXXX.

"48" stands for "College of Letters & Science"

"XXXX" are the four numbers that identify the specific department, program, project, or other administrative entity.

A list of Letters & Science Department ID/UDDS numbers can be found at:

UW Madison Coding Information Dept ID

Click on the link and you will be directed to the Accounting Services web site.  Click on the Coding link on the left side of the screen.  Click on the Organization/Dept ID.  When the excel list opens click on A48 to find a list of all Letters & Science Departments and descriptions. 

UDDS Look Up Tool

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.

Income with no work requirement; related to a non-service appointment (e.g. Fellow, Scholar, Trainee). Payment of the funds is not dependent on work or service to the university performed by the recipient.

An outside activity represents a relationship with an entity outside of the UW-Madison which, for the purposes of Conflict of Interest, may overlap with an individual's institutional responsibilities.  An outside activity may involve compensation, leadership, ownership or equity interest in an external entity.

Employment payment, compensation for work performed in service to the university. Income is contingent upon an activity or employee position (e.g. Project Assistant, Research Associate, Teaching Assistant, etc.).

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.

Titles in the Student Assistant title group are used for graduate students who: hold a fellowship, scholarship or traineeship; hold an appointment which is intended primarily to further the education and training of the student; are employed to assist with research training or other academic programs or projects; and/or have been assigned teaching responsibilities in an instructional department under the supervision of a faculty member.

In addition, Student Assistant titles are available to undergraduate students when: no qualified graduate student is available to perform a function that would normally be assigned to graduate students (i.e., Undergraduate Assistant - requires advance approval of the dean); or when the terms of a supporting grant or contract preclude the use of other normally appropriate titles (Undergraduate Intern).

SOURCE: Office of Human Resources, UW-Madison Unclassified Title Guideline; Summary of Unclassified Appointment Types

UW-Madison Conflict of Interest Policy defines sub-recipient to mean an entity or individual named on a subcontract from UW-Madison on a federally-funded award or human subjects research protocol.

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.