Revisions to the Consulting System to be Implemented on January 1, 2009

1. Any request form not submitted and fully approved at least one day prior to the start date of the activity will NOT be approved.

   Fast track activities ($500 or less in compensation and designated as a routine activity by the department head) are fully approved when signed by the department head.  All other requests require the signature of the Dean and VP for Health Affairs (or designees) at the UCHC and the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs (or designees) at Storrs and the Regional Campuses.

   For usual requests, the Faculty Consulting Office (FCO) can process a request form in 1-2 business days.  However, in certain situations related the level of compensation, nature of the contracting entity, nature of the activity, or due to staffing issues, 1 – 2 weeks may be necessary for processing.

2. A University-wide policy regarding non-compliance with the University’s consulting policy will be developed that will include sanctions for starting consulting activities without prior approval.

3. The consulting form will be modified as follows:
   1. It will require the total estimated time committed for the consulting activity, including the associated travel time, broken out by days normally expected to be at work and days not normally expected to be at work. 
   2. It will include a question (self-report) regarding the existence of other approved requests for the current academic year.
   3. If the contracting entity is a business operated by a faculty member, then the end client(s) must be identified.
   4. It will include explicit disclosure of the requestor’s current University research activities with the contracting entity.

4. The FCO will remind departments to develop procedures to ensure that Departments are monitoring the total number of consulting requests for each faculty members and the aggregate consulting time commitment with attention to assessing the impact of multiple consulting activities on a faculty member’s ability to perform his/her University obligations and to ensure faculty do not exceed the permissible number of days allocated to consulting activities.  These procedures may include maintaining an inventory of faculty teaching schedules, administrative assignments and sponsored research commitments.  The FCO will alert the Department heads and the faculty that these departmental level processes will be a point of emphasis in subsequent audits.

5. The FCO will remind department heads to consider whether the work described in any request to consult is work that should be performed by the University rather than the faculty member acting as a private citizen.

6. Activities defined as “promotional presentations” (i.e. marketing) will not be approved.  Such activities do not provide for a fair and balanced presentation of treatment options and/or a substantial proportion of the presentation’s content and/or slides/handouts are developed by the contracting entity and not the faculty member.