| Section 2.5.4 |
| Faculty Consulting, External Professional Employment, and Conflicts of Interest |
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| 1. |
GENERAL |
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1.1 |
System policies and regulations governing faculty consulting and external employment include, but are not limited to, System Policy 07.01, Ethics Policy, TAMUS Employees; System Policy 31.05, External Employment and Expert Witness; and System Regulation 31.05.01, Faculty Consulting, External Employment and Conflicts of Interest. System Regulation 31.05.01 applies to consulting and external professional employment that is directly related to a faculty member’s academic and professional discipline. For external employment by faculty members that is unrelated to their professional discipline, see System Regulation 31.05.02. |
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1.2 |
System Regulation 33.99.07, Internal Faculty Consulting and Professional Services, states, “Requests to engage in compensable internal consulting and professional services must be approved in advance by the CEO or designee of both the consultant and the unit receiving the consulting or professional services. Any exception to these provisions requires the advance approval of the CEO of the faculty member’s component.” The President hereby delegates approval of internal faculty consulting and professional services, including services provided to Community Outreach, to the appropriate college dean. Time spent on compensable internal consulting and professional services is to be counted against an individual’s allowable external employment privileges. For more information, see the regulation. |
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| 2. |
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST |
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2.1 |
Faculty members engaged in external employment should be guided by the principles of ethical conduct in System Policy 07.01. |
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2.2. |
Faculty members are responsible for the disclosure of any external employment that may constitute a potential conflict of interest. System Regulation 31.05.01 provides guidelines for assessing whether external employment activities constitute a potential conflict of interest. |
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2.3 |
If a principle of ethical conduct, conflict of interest or a conflict due to equity ownership and business participation of a faculty member is found, the University may require that the faculty member take steps to minimize and/or eliminate such conflict. Any employee who violates standards of conduct for state employees may be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, regardless of whether an application for external employment has been approved. |
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| 3. |
USE OF UNIVERSITY RESOURCES
No use of University property is allowed for external consulting or professional employment activities except as permitted by System Policy 33.04, Use of System Property, and System Regulation 33.04.01, Use of System Resources for External Employment. |
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| 4. |
REQUEST FOR PERMISSION FOR EXTERNAL PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT |
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4.1 |
Full-time faculty members must complete the appropriate form for consulting and external professional employment and obtain the appropriate approvals prior to initiation of the external activity. Required signatures include those of the Department Chair, the Dean, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the President. The form is available at http://sago.tamu.edu/shro/. |
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4.2 |
No release time is granted for external consulting or external professional employment activities unless prior approval is obtained. Annual leave should be taken if the faculty member accrues annual leave and the activity occurs during normal business hours. Activity outside normal business hours may be limited by appropriate supervisors if these activities are limiting performance of primary duties. |
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4.3 |
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi assumes that faculty members engaging in consulting and outside employment for twenty percent of their time or less will not normally conflict with their primary loyalty as full-time faculty members at the university. |
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4.4 |
Approval of external employment on an ongoing basis will be for no more than one year in duration. |
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4.5 |
As per System Regulation 31.05.01, section 3.1, book reviews and journal articles are not to be included as external professional employment. |
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4.6 |
In addition, for purposes of this rule, the following categories of contracts are not to be included as external professional employment: books, textbooks, textbook instructor’s manuals, study guides, and other textbook peripherals, edited volume royalties, occasional honoraria for professional lectures and awards, stipends for journal editorship, and occasional payments for review and assessment of proposals for awards or fellowships and stipends granted to scholars by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governmental organizations, and Community Outreach. If in doubt, faculty are encouraged to gain approval before signing any contract. |