External Professional Activities

Requests for External Professional Activities should be reviewed and approved by your Dean and Department Head (Faculty) or Supervisor (EPS) at least 10 days prior to beginning the activity. 

To complete a Notice of Intent form.

1. Log in Cayuse COI
2. Start a New Disclosure and choose Start a New Annual Disclosure.
   
3. Choose Next.
   
4. In Type of Disclosure choose Notice of Intent Disclosure for External Professional Activities.
   

External Professional Activities are activities paid or unpaid that are 1) not included within one’s University Employment Duties; 2) performed for any entity, public or private, other than the university; and 3) based upon the professional knowledge, experience and abilities of the employee.

The assigned University Employment Responsibilities, generally teaching, scholarship, research, institutional service, administrative responsibilities, and other assigned employment duties. They are divided into Primary and Secondary Duties.

Primary Duties consist of assigned teaching, scholarship, research, institutional service requirements, administrative duties, and other assigned employment duties.

Secondary Duties are professional affiliations and activities traditionally undertaken by Covered Individuals outside of the immediate University employment context. Secondary Duties may include membership in and service to professional associations and learned societies; membership on professional review or advisory panels; presentation of lectures, papers, concerts or exhibits; participation in seminars and conferences; reviewing or editing scholarly publications and books without receipt of compensation; and service to accreditation bodies. These activities, which demonstrate active participation in a profession, are encouraged and often valued in promotion and tenure and other performance reviews, provided they do not conflict or interfere with the timely and effective performance of the Covered Individual’s Primary Duties or with related University policies.

Examples of External Professional Activities include but are not limited to: Consulting, Employment related to institutional responsibilities, Service on a Board of Directors, Membership in a Foreign Government Talent Program, and Ownership of a Company.

Participation of employees in External Professional Activities is an important characteristic of academic employment that often leads to significant societal benefits, including economic development through technology transfer. However, External Professional Activities are to be undertaken only if they do not:

• Create a Conflict of Commitment by interfering with the obligation of the individual to carry out all University Employment Responsibilities in a timely and effective manner;
• Create a unmanageable Conflict of Interest because of the individual’s status as a Covered Individual of the University;
• Involve any inappropriate use or exploitation of University resources;
• Make any use of the name or marks of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for any purpose other than professional identification; or
• Claim, explicitly or implicitly, any institutional responsibility for the conduct or outcome of the External Professional Activity.

Additional circumstances sometimes associated with External Professional Activities may require special consideration. These include:

• External Professional Activities should generally be limited to no more than the equivalent of 20 percent (20%) of the employees time during the period covered by their employment contract.
• Pre-approval for External Professional Activities do not apply to faculty and EPS employees serving on contracts for less than 12 months if the following circumstances are true: 1) the External Professional Activity is wholly performed and completed outside of the contract service period (i.e., summer months); 2) the activity does not otherwise conflict with the policies of the UNC Greensboro or the UNC Board of Governors; and 3) the activity is not conducted concurrently with a contract service period for teaching, research, or other services to the institution during a summer session.  The Dean and Department Head (Faculty) or Supervisor (EPS) who assigns workload and assesses performance of the Covered Individual is responsible for determining whether a proposed External Professional Activity will result in a Conflict of Commitment.  

• In those instances when State-reimbursed travel, work time, or resources are used or when the activity can be construed as related to the Covered Individual’s University Employment Responsibilities on behalf of the State, the employee shall not receive any financial consideration, including an honorarium. In these instances the employee may request that the honorarium be paid to the university. The honorarium may be retained by the employee only for activities performed outside of working hours, as defined by the university, or while the employee is on earned paid or annual leave, and all expenses are the responsibility of the employee or a third party that is not a State entity. In addition, senior academic and administrative officers (SAAO) may also be subject to special regulations regarding honoraria which require leave to be taken when External Professional Activities for Pay will take place during the regular work week. Please refer to the UNC Policy Manual, 2.2.2[R].
• External Professional Activities performed for another UNC Constituent Institution or agency of the State of North Carolina also must comply with applicable State policies governing dual employment and compensation, unless an exception to those State policies is expressly authorized by the chancellor or the President.
• The Board of Governors has also established rules for monitoring and regulating the involvement of University employees in political candidacy and office-holding that could interfere with full-time commitment to University Duties. Please refer to UNC Policy Manual, 300.5 et seq. for specific policy details related to political duties.

Activities for pay not involving the professional knowledge, experience and abilities for which the Covered Individual is employed at the university (i.e., non-professional activities that are part of an employee’s private life) are not subject to the advance disclosure and approval requirements of this policy. As with all activities for pay outside of the university, however, consideration should be given to whether they could generate a conflict of interest, or the appearance of such.