L&S Short-Term Staff Appointment Letters
This KB provides important information about appointment letters for short-term instructional staff (STS) at the College of Letters and Science, with links to frequently used documents and policies. Direct questions regarding policies and procedures to your STS HR Business Partner.
Instructions
Only Direct Hires (not being hired via job requisition) will require a letter outside of Workday.
If hired via job requisition whether through a waiver or open recruitment, Workday will generate an Employment Agreement (in this scenario an outside letter is not needed).
- Information on short-term staff recruitment.
Attachments
All STS appointment letters require these attachments:
- Letter of Offer Attachment: Download current version from OHR's Recruitment Toolkit, under "Applicant Communications and Offer Letter Templates" header.
Appointment Letter Templates
Academic Staff STS
- Academic Staff STS Appointment Letter revised 10/28/24 (This letter template can be used year-round; there is not a separate 'summer letter')
- Used for most short-term instructional academic staff hires, including lecturers, teaching faculty (formerly called faculty associate), teaching specialist (formerly called faculty assistants), adjunct faculty and visiting faculty.
Lecturer(LSA)
- Lecturer(LSA) Appointment Letter Template: revised 3/7/2025 (This letter template can be used year-round; there is not a separate 'summer letter')
- Used for any graduate student hired as sole instructor (see Lecturer (SA) appointments in L&S: Minimum Qualifications, Course Assignments, Supervision, Evaluation). See University of Wisconsin–Madison Maximum Levels of Graduate Assistantship Appointments Policy or L&S Student Assistant Appointment Letter Templates for limitations on Student Assistant appointments.
Rehired Annuitant STS
- Rehired Annuitant STS Appointment Letter revised 10/04/24
- Used for hires who retired on or after July 2, 2013 and are receiving a WRS annuity.
Zero Dollar Instructional
- Zero Dollar Instructional: revised 7/24/24. See L&S Policy on Volunteers
Instructional Temporary Increase
- Instructional Temporary Increase: revised 07/24/24
- Used for a temporary FTE increase to an existing instructional academic staff appointment.
Information for Appointment Letters
L&S Appointment Levels for Short Term Instructional Staff (STS) and Lecturer Student Assistants (LSAs).
https://kb.wisc.edu/ls/internal/148240
Semester Instructional Dates & Calendars
| Payroll start: | August 17, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Payroll end: | December 30, 2026 |
| Courses begin: | September 02, 2026 |
| Exams end: | December 17, 2026 |
| Payroll start: | December 31, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Payroll end: | May 16, 2027 |
| Courses begin: | January 19, 2027 |
| Exams end: | May 07, 2027 |
For summer sessions appointments, please reference the dates on your department's "Expense Details" report in Box.
Academic Calendars
Payroll Calendars
Calculating Gross Salary & Biweekly Salary
Most short-term instructors are paid based on a 9-month, C-Basis rate (see L&S Standard Rates for Short-term Staff and Student Assistants).
Use the “Funding Layout Assistance Tool” (FLOAT), available on the OHR Payroll Toolkit, to calculate the semester gross and biweekly salaries.
Alternatively, calculate the biweekly salary manually using the following formula:
C-basis comp rate divided by 19.5 (the number of biweekly pay periods in an academic year) multiplied by the appointment FTE.
Example: 33.4% Lecturer (SA) with a C-basis comp rate of $45,000:
($ 45,000 / 19.5) * 0.334 = $ 770.77