3 Offer to Junior Faculty (Degree Contingent)

Dear ____

I am pleased to offer you an appointment in the Department of ____ for an initial four-year term beginning August 1, 2012, and ending July 31, 2016. Along with many policies and procedures pertinent to faculty, the procedures concerning reappointment, promotion, and tenure are described in Duke’s Faculty Handbook (http://provost.duke.edu/faculty-resources/policies/). If you have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. degree by July 31, 2012, and had your department so inform me in writing, this appointment will begin at the tenure-track rank of Assistant Professor. If you have not completed all the requirements for the degree, this appointment will begin at the rank of Lecturer. Your tenure clock will not start until you hold the rank of Assistant Professor. In addition, please note that this offer is contingent upon a successful outcome to a mandatory background audit required by Duke University.

If your appointment begins as an Assistant Professor, your initial salary for the nine-month academic year will be $XX plus fringe benefits, paid in twelve monthly installments beginning August 25, 2012. If your appointment begins as a Lecturer, your initial salary rate for the nine-month academic year will by $YY (NOTE: some appropriate differential may be imposed until the degree has been completed), paid on the same schedule. Both the rank and salary of Assistant Professor will start at the beginning of the semester following your completion of degree requirements.

Duke offers a generous package of fringe benefits which can be consulted at the following web sites: An overview of benefits at http://www.hr.duke.edu/benefits/, linking to detailed descriptions of the various benefits; the Retirement Planning Guide at http://www.hr.duke.edu/benefits/retirement; and the Faculty Handbook mentioned above. A provostial website describes the career advantages that Duke offers to faculty at all ranks: https://provost.duke.edu/policies-resources/faculty-handbook 

A special benefit for untenured tenure-track faculty at Duke is that, after a successful reappointment review in your first four-year term, you will be eligible for a one-semester junior faculty research leave with pay. 

[NOTE: The wording used in the preceding paragraph is that used by A&S. Other schools may offer other arrangements during the probationary period. For example, Fuqua offers original five-year appointments with review in the fourth year. If reappointed (for three years), the faculty member is given teaching relief during the second term rather than a junior faculty research leave at the end of the first term.]

As a new faculty member, you will be provided with a standard computer package for your initial computing needs, plus up to $800 of additional funding (which can be spent on other computing equipment including an upgrade to the standard computer) and that will be provided by our Office of Technology Services (please see http://www.dukestores.duke.edu/compstore/purchasing_program.php for details). This computer will be replaced on the normal refresh cycle. If the standard model is not sufficient for replacement, then any additional cost must be funded by either your research fund or departmental discretionary funding. Please contact your departmental IT staff for assistance.   

For the four years of this appointment, we will provide you with an annual research fund of $2,000. This fund is renewable for an additional four-year period upon written application to the Dean after a favorable reappointment review.  

We will provide from all sources up to $____ as start-up funds to help you establish your research program.  The funds are specifically for equipment, supplies, and research costs in human resources, as you have described your needs to us. Please have your departmental staff contact our Office of Finance and Administration to arrange for access to these funds. Please work with your department’s IT staff to use the portion of these funds that you will apply toward the acquisition of computing support. 

Authorization to expend these funds will expire on ___, unless the Dean approves an extension, based on your written request that fully explains and justifies the extension. Finally, please note that under no circumstances may you use start-up funds to support your own salary.

(THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS SOMETIMES USED, WITH VARIATIONS CONCERNING
LENGTH AND AMOUNT OF SUPPORT, BUT ONLY IN DISCIPLINES WHERE GRANTING
AGENCIES SUPPORT SUMMER SALARIES. IT IS INAPPROPRIATE FOR MANY DISCIPLINES.)

We will support your summer research efforts in the following fashion. In 2013 we will provide you with a salary supplement of 2/9ths your nine-month salary, payable in equal installments on June 25 and July 25. In 2014 we will provide you with a salary supplement of 2/9ths your nine-month salary, payable in equal installments on June 25 and July 25. In 2015, I understand that you will seek research supplements totaling 2/9ths your nine-month salary. The applications must be submitted through Duke’s Office of Research Support. Were the proposals not funded, Duke would provide you with up to a 2/9ths summer supplement, payable on June 25 and July 25. We will backstop only the amount of summer salary that is requested in the grant. This backstop provision may be accessed only by filing a copy of the grant proposals with the Dean’s Office, including appropriate budgetary provisions, and a copy of the granting agency’s decision. Although Duke will provide you with no more than two of these supplements in any given summer, institutional policy limits you to no more than three summer supplements from any source in a given fiscal year and to no more than one supplement in a single month.

At Duke, department chairs, contingent on departmental needs, determine teaching assignments.  ___, Chair of ___, has asked me to inform you that you will be assigned no courses to teach in your first semester here and that you will be given a one-course reduction in your second year.  Thereafter, your annual teaching load will follow departmental norms.  

If you leave Duke before the expiration of the special provisions described in this letter (I note that nine-month salary is not a special provision), they will cease on May 1 of the year you leave. 

Following the standard allowances for the ____ School, we will provide up to $XXXX for moving expenses. You will be responsible for expenses in excess of this amount. Duke reimburses relocation expenses in accordance with the IRS's allowable deductions. Please be aware that there may be some reimbursed items that will be treated as taxable income by the IRS. As Duke is required to withhold taxes from these reimbursements, reimbursements for relocation expenses will be included in your paycheck. Please refer to IRS Publication #521 http://www.irs.gov/publications/p521.  

We look forward with pleasure to the prospect that you will join us at Duke. Please indicate your acceptance of this offer by signing the enclosed copy of this letter or the pdf and returning it to me no later than ____.

 	 	 	 	 	 	Sincerely, 



 	 	 	 	 	 	Dean 

Enclosures
(copy of appointment letter)
(copy of employment information memo)

cc: Provost Sally Kornbluth
, Chair
Business and Administrative Deans
Executive Vice Provost for Finance and Administration

I accept the offer described in this letter.

Signed:______________________________________ Date:__________________________