Funding Commitments to Departments and Centers (Guidelines)

Date: June 1, 2024

Contact Office
Finance
PO Box 800796
Charlottesville, VA 22908
Phone: 434-924-8425

Oversight Executive
Chief Operating Officer
PO Box 800793
Charlottesville, VA 22908-0793
Phone: 434-297-7492

Applies to
School of Medicine departments and centers that receive commitments of funding from the Dean’s office.

Reason for the Guidelines
These guidelines clarify how the dean’s office documents and delivers funds committed to departments and centers, including the terms that govern how the funds may be used, the duration of the commitment, and how remaining balances are managed.

Guidelines

Commitments from the dean’s office are intended as investments in the recruitment of faculty in support of the School of Medicine’s tri-partite mission of education, research, and clinical service to advance the School’s strategic plan.
The Dean’s office negotiates commitments with individual department chairs and center directors primarily for the recruitment of faculty and to support strategic programs. Departments are responsible for ensuring that the utilization of the commitments provided are in line with the strategic nature of the original commitment.
- In general, committed funds may be used for minor and cosmetic space renovations but not for large scale space renovations and/or enhancements. Major space projects are coordinated at the school level and funding sources may differ.
Commitments do not include funds the department or center receive from other Dean’s office programs (e.g., research bridge funds, the pay-for-teaching model, payments to faculty for committee participation, medical education fellowships).
Funds provided for commitments may not be used to establish endowments.
Documented promises made by the department from the original commitment provided by the Dean are considered sub-commitments. These promises must be recorded and tracked in the appropriate School of Medicine system in a timely manner but no less frequent than quarterly.
Commitment utilization, sub-commitments made, and remaining balances of committed funds will be reviewed during department and center annual reviews.
Departments are responsible for ensuring that sub-commitments are frozen when the sub-commitment receiving faculty member announces their departure from the department or leadership role for which the sub-commitment was provided. Departing faculty sub-commitment balances will revert to the original commitment and may be redeployed by the department consistent with the original commitment terms.
- The Dean’s office will review remaining balances and associated sub-commitments at the end of the faculty member’s, chair’s, or director’s appointment, departure from the department or leadership role for which the funds were provided, or as otherwise stipulated in offer letter. The Dean will determine if any remaining balance will revert to the School of Medicine or if the faculty member, department, or center may carry the funds forward.
Departments are responsible for ensuring that the original commitment from the Dean is frozen upon the announcement of the receiving faculty’s departure from the department or the leadership role for which the funds were provided. The availability and potential redeployment of funds for a departing faculty member upon the announcement of the departure will need to be reviewed and approved by the Dean. The Dean’s office will review all sub-commitments made against the departing faculty’s original commitment, and those qualifying sub-commitments will be honored consistent with the original terms of the sub-commitment.
Sub-commitments honored during a chair or leadership transition are not available for redeployment and should be frozen upon announcement of the sub-commitment receiving faculty’s departure from the department or leadership role for which the sub-commitment was provided. The remaining balance of the sub-commitment will revert back to the School of Medicine. It is the department’s responsibility to ensure the funds are frozen and to notify the Dean’s office of the departure.

Procedures

The finance office will maintain written documentation of the commitment, including correspondence from the Dean as well as formal letters of support.
- The finance office will enter the commitment into the SOM designated system for tracking purposes and will coordinate the creation of the project with the department. The finance office may ask additional questions about how the funds will be used (e.g., area of research) in order to provide an appropriate source of funds. Commitment funding sources may be adjusted based on the information provided.
Department administration will enter documented sub-commitments into the SOM designated system on at least a quarterly basis.
The SOM designated system will serve as the source of record for commitment and sub-commitment balances.
The finance office will review annually department and center needs on commitments during the budget process and may adjust funding sources accordingly to manage Dean’s office cash flow needs.

Next Scheduled Review: June 2027

Revision History: March 2016; July 2023; June 2024

Approved by:
Melina R. Kibbe, MD
Dean