As part of its service mission the University recognizes an obligation to make available to government, business, labor, civic, and other organizations the special knowledge and intellectual competence of its faculty members. This obligation is fulfilled in part by permitting faculty members to enter into consulting arrangements, within certain limits designed to protect all parties (including the University, the outside organization, the faculty member, and our students). These limits focus especially on matters involving conflict of interest and conflict of commitment, and include a prohibition on the use of University facilities (and the University name) in association with paid consulting, and a limitation on the effort committed by a faculty member to outside consulting and professional activity to an average of one day per week.
The University generally claims ownership of intellectual property (IP) created by faculty members, and has a legal obligation to protect that IP and to facilitate its commercialization. There has been some ambiguity with respect to the implications of IP policy within the context of consulting relationships, and the Provost has recently clarified that, under some circumstances, the University will waive ownership of intellectual property generated in the course of work as a consultant.
Under long standing policies, faculty are expected to apply to their department chair and dean for permission to engage in consulting arrangements. Such requests should state the required time commitment, remuneration expected, a description of the work to be done, and an indication that the outside work will not impair the time and energy that the individual devotes to his/her regular University duties. All such requests should include copies of the proposed consulting contracts and any attendant non-disclosure agreements. In the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the chair will be responsible for the initial Conflict of Interest and Conflict of Commitment review in consultation with Associate Dean Hannah Johnson who will in turn consult with appropriate University offices.
In cases in which the faculty member is asking that the University waive ownership of intellectual property generated in the course of work as a consultant because of a sponsor’s objection to the superior rights of the University to the IP, and the chair and the dean support that request, the chair will ask the Office of Research for such a waiver. The Office of Research will review the information provided by the chair and the faculty member in consultation with the appropriate University Offices and committees before acting on the waiver of the IP. The review by the Office of Research will ensure that: no University resources will be used; the project will not take up more than an appropriate fraction of the normally allowed one day per week; the project is outside the scope of the faculty member’s laboratory; there is some company IP in the area; and the waiver would be consistent with all relevant University policies and procedures.
Please feel free to consult with Associate Dean Hannah Johnson if there is any ambiguity about the scope or implementation of this procedure—she leads the School level oversight of conflict of interest and conflict of commitment review and of entrepreneurial oversight committees.