The Prestigious Award Leave (PAL) Program is meant to incentivize applications for prestigious fellowships and lessen the financial sacrifice for faculty whose fellowships or other awards provide less than their regular academic salaries. The incentives and supplements are available to IU Bloomington's tenured and tenure-eligible faculty, research scientists, research center directors, medical sciences faculty, and librarians who receive prestigious, nationally competitive fellowships or research-related leave awards. Funding for the supplement is split evenly between the recipient’s salary disbursing unit, typically the school, and the campus. The campus will fund the salary bonus, if eligible. PAL replaces existing prestigious fellowship supplement programs at IUB.
Prestigious Award Leave Program
A. Supplemental Pay, Benefits, Award, and Funding
In most cases, a research fellow will receive their full salary and a salary bonus while on leave. The PAL Program will fund the difference between the full academic or calendar year salary (depending on appointment) and the total income from fellowship funds, including salary, stipend, and/or per diem, etc., available to them during the proposed leave.
Recipients of all awards in Groups 1-3 below will receive the equivalent of their full salary while on fellowship. Other awards (Group 4) will be considered on a case-by-case basis and approved as funding permits.
In addition, award recipients in Groups 1-3 will receive an incentive to be paid upon successful completion of the fellowship leave. The amount of the incentive will be $15,000 for Group 1, $7,500 for Group 2, and $2,500 for Group 3. The incentive will be awarded as research discretionary funds to eligible researchers. Research discretionary funds earned through the PAL Program are subject to the same conditions and restrictions as the Indirect Cost Recovery Sharing program.
If a faculty member has at least $10,000 in research discretionary funds in their account, they may request to take the PAL Program incentive as supplemental salary. The faculty member must submit a formal request with a narrative justification indicating why they do not need research discretionary funds and prefer to take the award as supplemental salary. These requests must be approved by the faculty member’s department chair and dean. The incentive, if approved to be taken as a salary supplement, will be subject to standard state and federal tax withholding.
When a faculty member takes a leave without pay, they will be notified by IU Human Resources regarding options for continuation of benefits. Benefits will continue unless directed otherwise. The awardee may receive an invoice for benefits even if they are receiving research pay through IU. Faculty members should work with IU HR directly if you have research pay that covers the cost of benefits.
IU's contribution to the retirement account will be discontinued during the leave period as this contribution is based upon base salary. Additionally, retirement contributions do not come out of supplemental pay nor can the faculty member make contributions to their IU retirement accounts on an after-tax basis.
Specific questions regarding benefits while on a research leave should be directed to UHRS at askhr@iu.edu.
B. Fellowship/Research Award Categories
Faculty are encouraged to apply for fellowships or research awards in the groups below:
- Group 1: Guggenheim and Carnegie Fellowships
- Group 2: Fulbright Research, MacArthur Foundation, NEH, NEA, and residential fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto), the National Humanities Center (Research Triangle), the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), or the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study (Harvard University)
- Group 3: ACLS, Ford Foundation, Humboldt, Jefferson Science, Mellon, Rockefeller, Manfred Eigen at Max Planck, Rome Prize, Russell Sage, Sloan, or Spencer Foundation fellowships
- Group 4: All other prestigious fellowship awards
Research awards not eligible for the PAL Program:
Fulbright Teaching Grants (however, Fulbright Teaching/Research Grants, i.e., 20% teaching, 80% research, are eligible for PAL funding), grant-supported salaries, ordinary leaves-without-pay, research associateships (i.e., postdocs), visiting positions at other institutions, memberships at research institutions or centers (i.e., not as part of a stipendiary residential fellowship sponsored by a particular research institute, center, or library).
C. Eligibility
Faculty must complete an online application and upload a completed PAL Program Application Form to InfoReady. These application materials will be routed to the faculty member’s dean’s office for approval.
Prior to submitting an application for a fellowship or research award, faculty must inform their department chair/unit head and school dean or research dean. PAL Program funding may not be provided if faculty receive a fellowship or research award without receiving approval from their department chair/unit head and school dean or research dean. In the case of non-tenure track faculty whose salary is paid in whole or in part by grants and contracts, prior approval must be approved by the applicant’s supervisor (typically the principal investigator whose grants/contracts pay the salary).
Research leaves, including those combined with a sabbatical leave, must be immediately followed by a period of at least one year on campus carrying out normal teaching and service responsibilities in addition to research. Research leaves that extend beyond one year in duration will not be approved under normal circumstances. Exceptions need to be approved by the Dean in the applicable school or college prior to applying for the research fellowship and/or sabbatical leave.
Applications for research fellowships involving a reduction in teaching load for the period of the fellowship must be approved by the department chair/unit head prior to the fellowship application, and the restriction on consecutive leaves stated above should be considered at that time.
D. Additional Considerations
Recipients must agree to reimburse Indiana University in the amount of the PAL salary supplement and incentive should they fail to return to Indiana University for at least one academic year following the research leave.
The PAL supplement may be combined with a sabbatical leave, so long as total support from all sources does not exceed 100 percent of the annual base salary.
PAL supplements and incentives will not be awarded to individuals in two consecutive years. Total PAL supplements and bonuses are also restricted to no more than two awards in five years and no more than three awards in ten years. An exception will be made for Group 1 and 2 fellowships; they will not be counted toward these limitations.