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

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)

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.).

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.