UMaine Policy Concerning Use of Faculty Authored Instructional Materials

For the UMaine Policy and Request Form, go to Conflict of Interest Policy Concerning Use of Faculty Authored Instructional Materials (PDF).

Additional Information for use By UMaine Cooperative Extension Faculty Members (2015-06-29)

Definition: “Monetary benefit” includes:

• Funds paid directly to the faculty member for their personal use
• Funds paid to a UMaine account that the faculty member can use for professional development, program materials, or other professional use

1. Material authored by Extension faculty members and used in any educational offering for which there is no monetary benefit to the faculty member is not subject to this policy.

2. Material authored by Extension faculty members and used in any educational offering for which there is monetary benefit to the faculty member, regardless of the source of funding (program fees, program sponsors, grants, etc.) is subject to this policy.

3. The PRC is the group that will implement this policy for 100% Extension faculty members; the Joint Appointment Peer Committee (JAPC) is the group that will implement this policy for split appointment Extension faculty members.

4. The Request Form must be submitted to PRC or JAPC at least 10 weeks prior to the start date of the educational offering. PRC or JAPC will evaluate the proposal against the criteria and communicate its decision to the appropriate Program Administrator at least eight weeks prior to the start date of the educational offering. The Program Administrator will communicate the final decision to the faculty member at least seven weeks prior to the start date of the educational offering.

5. Refer to the UMaine Policy for the appeal process to be used in the event of a disagreement regarding the decision.

6. Three years from the initial approval, a re-review by the PRC or JAPC is required, as per the UMaine policy.

7. Disclosure of potential conflict of interest to participants in an educational offering in which approved faculty authored materials will be used can be done by including such information in the program syllabus (preferred method) or via verbal notification at the beginning of the program. Written communication is preferred as it is more reliable and ensures that all participants receive the same information.

8. If UMaine authors have a unique and widely recognized resource and there is monetary gain, it is expected that these materials will be approved for use.