SEAS Consulting Policy

Faculty members who belong to professional associations and societies or who are invited to serve on scholarly or advisory bodies related to their academic work should participate actively, consistent with their responsibilities and obligations to the University. An activity is scholarly or professional if: (1) it involves research or scholarship through which the individual may make contributions to knowledge; (2) it gives the individual experience and knowledge of value to teaching or research; and (3) it is appropriate public service.University faculty members may serve as expert witnesses in administrative or judicial proceedings in which SUNY and SUNY‐Buffalo are not parties, provided they do so in a manner consistent with this policy on Professional and Outside Activities and Consulting and consistent with any University conflict of interest policies.Provisions of the Public Officers Lawmay bear upon outside activities by faculty members, who are advised to consult on possible conflicts of interest with the appropriate administrative offices.Faculty members who desire to engage in extensive part‐time employment that cannot be considered scholarly or professional must obtain written approval from the appropriate dean before undertaking such employment.

Consultation by faculty members with outside organizations can be a source of valuable professional experience as well as being, in some cases, a source of additional income. The University permits such consultation, subject to the conditions stated in this policy. For those on full‐time service to the University, the guiding principle is that University duties are the primary obligation of the faculty member while consultation is a personal activity.

Although obligations of faculty are multifaceted and often cannot be precisely defined in number of hours, there is increasing pressure on universities to provide a reasonable accounting of the professional activities of full‐time employees. Because of the complexity of these obligations and the difficulty in reporting faculty activities, it has generally been accepted that universities place limits as a matter of policy on the amounts of time and effort full‐time faculty members may devote to outside consulting. The intent of this policy is to provide faculty members with maximum flexibility to exercise their consulting privilege within established limits.

During semesters of full-time service to the University, consulting work for outside organizations is limited to the equivalent of four days per month. Full‐time faculty members who expect to consult for more than one day in any given week must receive prior approval from their department or program chair and dean. A reasonable amount of “averaging” over the semesters of the academic year is ordinarily acceptable, although circumstances such as teaching loads or the terms of support under external grants or contracts will need to be taken into account. Averaging of consulting time from semesters of less‐than‐full‐time service to semesters of full‐time service is not permitted.

Consulting work must be performed on personal time (time in addition to, rather than a part of, the normal full‐time effort expected of faculty members for university work) and must not detract from the faculty member’s primary obligations to the University. In accordance with this policy, a faculty member with a less‐than‐full‐time appointment should prorate outside and University obligations appropriately. If there is any possibility of interference with primary obligations, the faculty member should not engage in the consulting work or should request a leave of absence or a salary reduction. Faculty members may not engage in outside consulting work that conflicts directly with scheduled teaching or research obligations.

Faculty members must notify their dean through their department or program chairs before undertaking outside consulting activity for compensation. Written notification of consulting workshould specify the organization with which the work is concerned, a statementof the amount of time required, the period of the consulting arrangement, the value of the financial interests related to the external entity, and whether the work will or will not interfere with responsibilities to the University. Substantial changes in outside consulting activity for which notice has been provided must also be reported to the dean.

The nature of the consulting work should in no way detract from the prestige of the University or from the professional stature of the faculty member. Consulting obligations undertaken should conform to this objective.

The University may report the number and hours of consulting engagements in aggregate reporting of consulting activity by the School or the University.

The online SEAS External Activity/Consulting Notification form (103KB)is available here for your convenience.

If a university employee undertakes outside work for an agency of the State of New York, policies relating to Extra Service Employment apply. Prior approval is required for any state employee tobe on two state payrolls of the State of New York