This Is Auburn Office of the Provost

Guidelines for University Matched Professorships

The University will provide matching funds of $7,500 for each University matched endowed professorship where the endowment is fully funded at the level of $150,000. The University will provide $3,750 for each University matched endowed professorship where the endowment is funded to $75,000 but under $150,000.

The match is made with unrestricted budget dollars and will be allocated through the budget cycle on October 1st of each fiscal year. Funds are placed in the Dean’s administrative fund org combination in the operations and maintenance budget. The matching funds can be moved to other unrestricted funds and orgs within the college to cover the costs associated with the professorship. The matching funds cannot be transferred to the endowment spendable account or any other restricted fund.
Earnings on each endowment will be posted to the spendable account in February or March annually under the existing endowment earnings distribution policies and processes. Earnings will be at the approved spending rate for all endowments and will be based on values at December 31st and according to the distribution formula. As is the policy for all endowments, earnings are posted to the spendable account when the endowment is fully funded. Full funding for the matched professorships is $150,000. Any matched professorship endowment not meeting the level of fully funded at $150,000 will not receive a distribution of endowment earnings.

The matching funds allocated to each professorship should be used for salary and benefits. Since the matching funds are used for salary, the annual employee benefits must be funded from the same source.
The professorship award, including associated employee benefits, is capped at $15,000 annually. This amount will be reviewed periodically. The associated benefits must be included in the $15,000 maximum. If program support is also included, again, the maximum of salary, benefits, and program support is $15,000 annually. See examples below of award amounts of salary and benefits at $15,000 and $7,500.
Example 1: $15,000/1.285=$11,673.15 (salary)      Example 2: $7,500/1.285=$5,836.58 (salary)

Available funds in the endowment spendable account may be used to support the faculty member’s program as allowed by the donor agreement. Program support could include: research support staff; domestic and international travel of faculty, staff, and students; research supplies; equipment; graduate student support, including assistantships; etc. Program support expenses must be funded from the endowment spendable account, since the matching account may only be used for salary and benefits. Funds in the spendable account should not be allowed to accrue. If the spendable portion begins to accumulate to more than 125% of the distribution ($7,500), this stipulation will be revisited.

The professorship awards have no minimum amount and it is recognized that until the endowment is fully funded, funds will most likely not be available to reach a $15,000 total award. Until fully funded, the University will allow a new gift to be made annually to the endowment spendable account to supplement the earnings. However, such a deposit to the professorship fund must not violate any restrictions of the original gift. As currently designed, no additional current unrestricted funds can be used to supplement the professorship earnings and allocations.

Supplements paid under the matching professorship program are to be paid over the academic year for nine-month faculty (starting the first day of the academic year) and over the fiscal year for twelve-month faculty (starting October 1st). The professorship is to be processed under a special earnings code which was established to define professorship payments. The faculty member’s primary position code will be used with a suffix of E1… to establish the amount per pay period. The Banner HR system will use the EPAF process so that all proper approvals can be accomplished electronically.

Last Updated: October 17, 2016