Running Your Workshop

Transfer of Funds

When the group is notified of its acceptance to the program, the administrator should contact , (734) 763-7817 to transfer the funds. Funds come from the General Funds account, so a General Fund short code is needed.

Please note that a report on the Workshop's activities and expenditures must be submitted at or soon after the end of the academic year. Funding is for one year only, but ongoing workshops may apply to continue (see Annual Report and Carryover of Funds & Renewal).

Eligibility and Payment for Graduate Student Coordinators

Eligibility

Coordinators are normally candidates, in 3rd through 6th year.

Exceptions are sometimes made for less advanced students to serve as coordinators, usually in combination with someone farther along. Such exceptions must be approved by June Howard, and should include both an explanation of the circumstances and a supporting message from the faculty sponsor.

Exceptions are rarely made for students beyond the 6th year to serve as coordinators. Any such request should include a message from the student’s faculty supervisor, as well as the faculty sponsor of the Workshop, indicating that the student is making good progress towards completion of the degree and that this responsibility will not impede his or her progress.

Experience shows that when the members of a Workshop wish to continue their activities over several years, it is advisable for the Graduate Coordinator(s) to work actively during the academic year to identify and mentor potential successors. A pattern in which there is one continuing and one new coordinator each year seems particularly effective at ensuring smooth transitions.

Payment

Payment for the Graduate Coordinators is budgeted at $1500 per year. No matter how many Graduate Coordinators are assigned to a group, the ceiling for compensation remains the same. For example, if three Graduate Coordinators were sharing the responsibility for the workshop, each person would get $500 ($1500 divided by 3).

The Graduate Coordinator payment is not an hourly wage but an award in recognition of the contribution coordinators make to the University’s intellectual life. Units are asked not to treat RIW funding as a form of financial aid, and should not reduce other payments due to coordinators.

The staff members providing administrative assistance will be able to provide assistance with the payment process. Either a Form G or  a stipend payment through the M-Pathways system may be used.

The form G may be used for special compensation for services provided by eligible staff members on a nonrecurring basis and performed outside of and beyond the scope of their regular employment, or for scholarly awards. These payments are made through the payroll office and are subject to taxes.

Information on payments to individuals via a Form G may be located at the following website:

http://www.umich.edu/~hraa/hrris/forms/Form G4.pdf

This website contains instructions and the form for special compensation.

Those departments that have Financial Aid Item Types may use the M-Pathways Financial Aid/Student Financials system to make payments to participating students as a stipend. These payments are not subject to taxes, except for international students.

If further assistance is needed in making payment, please contact , (734) 763-7817.

Administrative Contribution

Rackham recognizes that RIWs do add to the workload of the administrative units responsible for them. Therefore each Workshop budget includes a contribution to that unit of between $200 and $500. The level of the award should be decided by the sponsors and coordinators after conversation with the administrators in the unit.

Different units handle the Workshop support differently, and also handle the administrative funding differently. There are three main models.

  • The responsibilities may be assigned to regular staff members as part of their regular workloads. Similarly, costs for space, copying, and so on may simply be assumed by the unit. In such cases, the funding may be folded into the unit’s general operating fund or salary accounts. It may also be used to support collective staff activities, such as an award for excellence or a luncheon at the end of the academic year.
  • The funding may be used to pay regular staff members to do tasks associated with the RIW, in addition to their regular responsibilities. This model should be used when no one in the unit has time available or when, for example, a staff member is asked to stay late to open a room or to purchase refreshments off-campus outside of regular working hours. In these cases additional pay to individual staff members–including the use of a Form G where the tasks performed fall outside that person’s job description—is appropriate.
  • The funding may be used primarily or partially to pay temporary employees who perform the tasks associated with the RIW.   Some part of the funding should still be allocated to the unit, as there are tasks such as financial transfers and review of the annual report that can only be performed by regular staff.

The workshop sponsors should consult staff in order to set the level of this contribution and specify how it will be used; the final decision on these points rests with the faculty administrator of the responsible unit. Please note: experience shows that the active support of staff members who work directly with the RIWs is key to their success. We encourage acknowledgement of those staff members in some form. Units have done this not only by direct payments but also by using the funds for staff recognition and social activities.

Website

Each group is required to create a website and provide the URL to at Rackham Graduate School for the Rackham website.

Some Workshops simply create a single page with information about their mission and activities. Others create a secure site that is central to their activities—updating schedule information and distributing readings (possibly even engaging in discussion) on the Web. In either case there should be a public page that includes the coordinators’ contact information, for individuals who would like to join the Workshop. This will be listed with other current Workshops on the Rackham website.

For information on how to create a website for the group, please go to the following URL:

http://www.umich.edu/~umweb/how-to/

Detailed instructions are given on this page, for those unfamiliar with creating a website. After beginning the site, if there are problems, help for specific questions is available through ITCS, at 764-HELP.

Space

The contributions to administrative units are expected to be used in part to defray the costs they incur by providing space to the group.

Rackham currently does not have space specifically designated for Workshop activities. Workshops are, however, eligible to reserve and use rooms at the reduced rates offered to graduate student organizations; see the “Facilities” page on the Rackham website for information about costs and scheduling.