Office of the Provost

Date: August 23, 2024
To: Deans
From: Anne D’Alleva, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Re: FY26 Provost Fund Guidance

The current CBA will be expiring June 30th, 2025, and this guidance is being issued in accordance with the CBA now in effect and may be subject to revision in accordance with any successor bargaining agreement between the parties.

The “Provost Fund” is a program that identifies a pool of university resources to be used for faculty salary increases for the purposes of retention, compression and inversion equity, and special achievement. The university may consider requests for salary adjustments for these categories according to the processes outlined below, which are broken down into two distinct phases.

Phase I – Retention

Definition: Retention increases aim to support the university’s efforts to retain exceptional, highly productive faculty from considering external offers from competing institutions. The provost will consider pre-emptive retention requests in cases where there is evidence a faculty member is considering external opportunities.

Process:

• The provost will consider retention requests from the deans throughout the academic year, as the urgent nature of these requests require a timely response from the University.
• Faculty may request a retention increase by emailing their department head (copy dean or designee) directly. This request should include any relevant supporting documentation (i.e. evidence of recruitment, request to interview, or offer letter from competing institution).
• The department head must review the request directly with the dean in a timely manner.
• If the dean intends to retain the faculty member, they will bring the request directly to the provost (copy director of academic finance and administration) with a requested increase amount and funding arrangement. If the dean does not intend to retain the faculty member, they will notify the department head and faculty member of the decision at that time via email.
• The provost will evaluate retention requests from the dean immediately. If the retention increase is approved by the provost, the faculty member will receive a retention letter from the dean memorializing the details of the arrangement, which will go into effect August 23, 2025.

Phase II – Equity and Special Achievement

Definitions:

Compression/Inversion Equity: Salary compression occurs when a competitive market urges hiring managers to bring new faculty in at higher salaries than in previous years, which may compress the difference in salary between ranks. Salary inversion refers to the situation in which faculty members in lower ranks earn more than colleagues in higher ranks. These patterns may be more generally referred to as inequity due to “compression/inversion.”

Special Achievement: Special achievement may be awarded in situations in which a faculty member has received a significant external acknowledgement such as a major prize or award.

Process:

• The provost will consider compression/inversion equity and special achievement requests at the end of the academic year, as these requests are typically reviewed in parallel with the annual review and merit process (if applicable).
• Faculty may request a salary adjustment for compression/inversion or special achievement by emailing their department head (copy dean or designee) between April 1, 2025 and June 1, 2025. This request should include any relevant supporting documentation (i.e. evidence of compression/inversion or major prize/award).
• The department head must review the request directly with the dean or designee no later than June 25, 2025.
• The dean will compile all faculty requests along with department head or associate dean recommendations. The dean will submit his or her own recommendations to the provost (via provost@uconn.edu) no later than July 21, 2025. If the dean does not intend to forward a faculty member’s request to the provost for review, they will notify the department head and faculty member of the decision at that time via email.
• The provost will evaluate compression/inversion and special achievement requests from the deans. If a compression/inversion adjustment or special achievement award is approved by the provost, the faculty member will receive a letter from the University indicating the increase amount and new salary prior to the increase appearing in their paycheck. If the provost does not approve a recommendation from the dean, the dean will notify the department head and faculty member of the decision. All salary increases go into effect August 23, 2025.

Cc: Lakeesha Brown, Chief Human Resources Officer
Karen Buffkin, Executive Director of Employee Relations, Labor and Employment Attorney
Assistant Deans/Finance Directors
Kate Clark, Assistant Vice Provost of Academic Finance and Administration