Resources for Faculty and Administrators
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The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) is here to empower faculty who train postdocs. OPA can help faculty by:
- Posting open postdoc positions directly on the UIC postdoc homepage
- Meeting with prospective postdocs, participating in the postdoc interview process, and meeting with new postdocs when they arrive
- Answering any questions you may have regarding resources for postdocs on campus
- Providing training templates for your grants
Please reach out to OPA at postdoc_office@uic.edu with any questions or requests you may have.
Planning to offer a position to a postdoc candidate? See template letters from UIC HR.
Do you have a newly hired postdoc who has arrived on campus, or will be arriving soon? A postdoc’s faculty advisor and departmental HR administrator are the first two people postdocs interact with when arriving on campus. It is critical that new postdocs get connected to resources as soon as they arrive. When your new postdocs arrive, please encourage them to:
- Join postdoc listserv
- Contact the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) and the Postdoctoral Association (PDA)
- OPA: postdoc_office@uic.edu
- PDA: uic.pda@gmail.com
- Check out resources for postdocs:
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Postdoc Training Templates for Grants
- Description of OPA and associated training opportunities that can be incorporated into a mentoring plan or institutional training grant
- A list of other training opportunities available for postdocs at UIC
- Sample postdoc mentoring template for NSF grants
- To request a letter of support for your grant, email OPA at postdoc_office@uic.edu
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Salary for Postdocs
Salaries for Postdoc Research Associates are determined by the hiring unit. There is no required minimum salary for postdocs at UIC above the minimum required for any full-time academic professional (12-month service at 100%), however OPA encourages hiring units to, at minimum, follow the salary scale as determined by the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA), issued by the National Institutes of Health. For FY23, the minimum recommended salary for a postdoc is $56,484.
Faculty are encouraged to use the latest NRSA stipend levels, as recommended by NIH, when preparing budgets for grant submissions that will support postdoctoral trainees.
Postdoc Fellow salaries are determined by the terms of the fellowship but must meet the minimum required for any academic professional at UIC. Postdoc fellows supported by NIH fellowships (e.g. F32, T32) will receive a stipend based on years of experience in accordance with Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Stipend levels issued by the National Institutes of Health.
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Professional and Career Development and Training for Postdocs
The US federal government put forward important policy clarifications in 2014 (see NOT-OD-15-008) which permits postdoctoral trainees to take time for professional development while on federal research grants. This policy creates an obligation for release time to allow for appropriate career development opportunities as part of the “dual role” of the postdoc as both an employee and a trainee. “This dual role is critical in order to provide Post-Docs with sufficient experience and mentoring for them to successfully pursue independent careers in research and related fields.”
A recently published study from ten institutions that were awarded NIH Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) grants has shown that research productivity or efficiency is not decreased by participation in career and professional development activities.
As such, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) and the Postdoctoral Association (PDA), along with our campus partners, have created a robust and systematic career and professional development training program for UIC postdocs, consisting of a variety of seminars, workshops, courses, facilitated small groups, opportunities for self-directed professional development, and the Annual Postdoc Career Development Symposium. For a full description of career and professional training and resources available to UIC postdocs, visit the Career and Professional Development page of the website, check out upcoming events and training, and see a summary of our professional development calendar, here. If you have any questions about resources available for postdocs, please email OPA at postdoc_office@uic.edu.
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Mentoring Relationships
The mentoring relationship is a critical aspect of postdoctoral training. It is important to maintain regular communication with your mentee, and to discuss your respective goals and expectations for the postdoctoral training period. The use of individual development plans can be very useful in helping formulate a training plan with your mentee. Commit to regular evaluations and work together to align your expectations with your mentee. Encouraging your postdoc to form a mentoring team can help to address the different needs your postdoc may have during training and is a great opportunity for expanding their network.
- Postdoc Mentoring Compact, developed by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
- Appropriate Treatment of Research Trainees (AToRT), developed by the AAMC
- Individual Development Plans:
- STEM: myIDP
- Humanities and Social Sciences: Imagine PhD
- Chemical Sciences: ChemIDP
- The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM: Mentoring Tools from the National Academy of Sciences
- National Research Mentoring Network
- Mentoring Map from the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
- Resources for each phase of the mentoring relationship, compiled by UW-Madison Institute for Clinical and Translational Research