PrincetonUniversity

INFORMATION FOR JUNIOR FACULTY

Office of the Dean of the Faculty
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
March 2004

Welcome to Princeton University! Whether you are considering a job opportunity here, have already accepted a position, or have been working here for some time, we want you to know about various benefits and opportunities that are available to our junior faculty members. Please feel free to call our office at (609) 258-3020 or send us email with any questions you may have

David P. Dobkin, Dean of the Faculty
March, 2004

The Learned Society Travel program provides funding for travel to conferences. The fund will reimburse regular (i.e. non-visiting) full-time faculty members, as well as emeritus/a faculty, for up to three nights of hotel expenses in addition to transportation expenses to meetings of learned societies, held within or outside the United States, up to a preset limit under the following guidelines:

1. The faculty member must be delivering a paper at a meeting, chairing a session or participating as an invited discussant in a session or be otherwise involved as an officer, and be receiving no travel subvention from the society or conference.
2. Expenses will be reimbursed for at most one trip during the academic year (from July 1 through June 30), and up to a fixed maximum amount for that trip. For the the maximum reimbursement amount for travel expenses, please contact the Office of the Dean of the Faculty (dof@princeton.edu; telephone (609)-258-3023).
3. Unfortunately, if not used, grant amounts cannot be carried over from one academic year to the next year.

The University Committee on Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (UCRH&SS) was formed in 1938 to provide assistance to members of the faculty in these disciplines through grants to support scholarly activities. The Committee meets three times per year to review proposals from faculty. Requests for less than $700 may be approved by the secretary of the committee (Associate Dean of the Faculty) at all times during the year. Typical uses of these funds are research assistance, travel (including a fixed-rate, cost-of-living differential), indexing and subvention of publications, translations and research material. The application should be as detailed as a grant application for external funds and must include an endorsement from the department chair. Forms and further information may be obtained from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty; telephone (609) 258-3023.

Faculty members who are recipients of a competitive, honorific fellowship such as a Guggenheim, which may not cover full salary and benefits for a semester of leave, may apply for supplemental support to the Office of the Dean of the Faculty. Funds have been put aside for such supplements and are allocated annually following a request for applications in the spring. Since the funds do not cover all requests, the allocation of funds is made competitively, with the maximum awarded being equivalent to the differential between the fellowship and the salary and benefits for one semester. Notification of awards is made in early May for allocation the following academic year.

The Class of '59 Junior Faculty Fund is earmarked to support the unique opportunities and special needs of junior faculty members. This fund is the result of a number of generous gifts from the Class of '59 to help junior faculty who would benefit from unusual, one-time grants when unexpected opportunities or situations arise.

For example, junior faculty members might benefit enormously from assistance with special travel or other expenses in connection with scholarly activities, research opportunities and conferences. These funds may also be used to pay for unusual medical, educational or relocation expenses.

Research Grants

The Class of '59 Junior Faculty Fund or the UCRH&SS program will provide a research grant of $4,000 to each assistant professor who does not otherwise receive a start-up fund.  Of this total, $2,000 will be available when the assistant professor's appointment begins and an additional $2,000 will be made available upon reappointment to the second three year term.

Leaves

Assistant Professors in the Humanities and Social Sciences are granted one semester's leave with full pay or a year's leave at half pay during the first three-year term. Application for this "One-in-Six" leave should be made to the departmental chair early in the fall semester preceding the year in which the leave is to be taken. leaves without pay may be recommended by the chair of the department on the basis of a faculty member's needs, provided that the department's teaching and other functions can be met. In addition to those for scholarship, leaves without pay may be granted for such purposes as the temporary assumption of an important government post, a temporary honorific professorial or administrative appointment, or for personal reasons, including child rearing. Leaves without pay are not, however, granted for regular teaching at another institution. Normally leaves without pay are granted for no more than one year.

Faculty members planning to take a leave with or without pay should consult the booklet Status of Your Benefits during a Leave of Absence (for Members of the Faculty), which is available from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty and can be accessed through that Office's web site (http://web.princeton.edu/sites/dof).

University benefits associated with childbirth and parenting include:

1. Paid maternity leave from 3 weeks before to 6 - 10 weeks after a birth, based on certification that a faculty member is unable to perform her work.
2. An automatic, one-year extension per child born to, or adopted by, an Assistant Professor during his or her terms of appointment.
3. Up to one year of unpaid parenting leave, for parents of either sex.
4. One semester of workload relief from classroom teaching and administrative duties, or two semesters of half relief from such duties.

The workload relief plan permits up to one semester of full workload relief from classroom teaching and administrative committee work, or two semesters of half relief from such duties. This relief is not considered a leave, and the faculty member will receive full salary while on workload relief. The faculty member's responsibilities for research, student consultation and advising remain unchanged from those of a normal term.

Individuals eligible for the workload relief benefit include all full-time faculty members at the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, and senior lecturer. The faculty member must assert that he/she is the parent primarily responsible for the care of a newborn child or a newly-adopted infant less than a year of age. Normally, the first semester of workload relief will be the one in which the birth or adoption takes place, or the maternity disability leave finishes. If that event occurs between semesters, when classes are not in session, the first semester of workload relief will be the following semester.

Assistant Professors in the Humanities, the Social Sciences, and in certain fields in the Natural Sciences may be nominated by their departments for a Preceptorship, a three-year honorific appointment that frequently (but not always) coincides with the Assistant Professor's second three-year term. A Bicentennial Preceptorship provides the Assistant Professor with a one-year paid leave for scholarship along with a research fund. A University Preceptorship provides a one-semester paid leave and a research fund. These leaves are in addition to the One-in-Six leaves granted to assistant professors in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Appointments to Bicentennial Preceptorships are made on the recommendation of the Faculty Advisory Committee on Appointments and Advancements; appointments to University Preceptorships are made on the recommendation of the Dean of the Faculty.

This initiative provides support to faculty for desktop computer systems. The program is funded by the Office of the Provost and administered by the Office of Information Technology (OIT).

The computing initiative provides each faculty member with a new desktop computer and a standard university software suite. Faculty are permitted to select one of four options that are offered under this initiative--a PC or Mac desktop machine or a PC or Mac laptop. Eligible under this initiative are Professorial-rank faculty and senior lecturers who have not received a new computer under this program in the past 4 years. Any computer that was allocated under this program will be replaced should it fall below the campus permitted minimum standard.

Requests may be submitted throughout the year, following approval from the department chair, through your department manager. Further information on this program is available from the Office of the Provost, or from Steven Sather, OIT, (609) 258-6479.

To encourage faculty members to live close to the University, Princeton owns and manages over 600 rental units, including both houses and apartments, which it rents to eligible faculty. The rental housing program is administered by the Housing Office, MacMillan Building. Anyone wishing further information should contact the Housing Office at (609) 258-3126 (http://facilities.princeton.edu/Housing/).

 Mortgage Loan Program

The University also has a mortgage loan program to assist faculty members in locating near the University. Through this program, Princeton offers mortgage financing, under policies and procedures established by the Board of Trustees, at advantageous rates and terms to eligible faculty members for the purchase of homes within an eight-mile radius of the University. This program is administered by the Real Estate Office, MacMillan Building. Anyone considering applying for a mortgage loan should contact the Real Estate Office at (609) 258-3123 (http://facilities.princeton.edu/realestate/).

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Last revised: September 2006