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
A best practice is to download and use a new template appointment letter from the links below with each hire or group of hires, since appointment letters are revised periodically throughout the year. At a minimum, departments should download new template appointment letters prior to each semester’s hiring.
You may find the following documents helpful when drafting an STS appointment letter:
- How to request short-term staff.
- Information on short-term staff recruitment.
- Standard STS base rates.
- L&S Lecturer policy.
- UAPC Policy on Minimum Qualifications for Instructional Staff.
Select the appropriate template below to create a draft appointment letter. Email the draft to your STS HR Business Partner for review and approval, along with a copy of the instructor's CV and any other related items such as:
- Overload Tipsheet located in Overload Workday KB
- Required if the employee will work more than 100% FTE across all UW System appointments
- Dual-Role Waiver approval
- Required for academic staff who are appointed temporarily into a concurrent role that is different from their primary role, e.g., an academic staff member whose primary role is research or outreach and who is hired temporarily into a concurrent instructional role.
- See “Waivers: Tenure Clock Extensions, Leaves of Absence, Conversions, Dual Roles and Track Changes” for required documentation and additional background
- Submit your dual-role waiver request to your HR Business Parter.
- Rehired Annuitant Request form
- Adjunct Faculty approval
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 18, 2025 |
| Payroll end: | December 31, 2025 |
| Courses begin: | September 03, 2025 |
| Exams end: | December 18, 2025 |
| Payroll start: | January 01, 2026 |
| Payroll end: | May 17, 2026 |
| Courses begin: | January 20, 2026 |
| Exams end: | May 08, 2026 |
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