OFFER LETTER

April 13, 2007




Dr. A. N. Applicant 


Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering 


University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 


1206 West Green Street 


Urbana, IL  61801 




Dear A. N.:

The Department of Mechanical Engineering of Leading University is pleased to offer to you a tenure-track appointment as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. This offer is made upon the unanimous recommendation of the Faculty Search Committee.

Your academic appointment would begin August 15, 2007, with an academic year (nine months) salary of $80,000.

If you accept our offer, the following provisions are offered so that you may vigorously pursue and develop an innovative sponsored research program within Mechanical Engineering, in general, and the Design and Materials area, in particular:

1. Your teaching load will be one course per semester for the first two academic years. For those faculty with active sponsored research programs, teaching loads, to date, have not grown appreciably beyond this level. Your teaching assignments will be finalized after Professor Clay Potts, Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs, reviews teaching requirements and discusses with you your specific teaching interests, goals, and aspirations.

2. You will receive an appointment to conduct research for two months during the first two summers. Your monthly salary will be 1/9 per month of your then-current academic year salary. For the first summer, your monthly salary will be $8,000 per month for two months. For the second summer, your monthly salary will include any merit adjustments in salary that may be made for the second academic year.

   If you have other external research support, you may request a third month, or fraction thereof, of summer support at the same rate.

3. The department will provide you with two one-half time research assistants of your choice for two semesters and two summer months to assist you in initiating your sponsored research program.

4. For your office, you will be provided a personal computer, which will be connected via the department's computer network to the university's computer network, and a full complement of software. This network provides access to computers on campus.

5. You will receive $5,000 per year, during your first three appointment years, for travel from the Alumni Endowment Fund. The allocation of these travel funds will be your responsibility. Typically, these funds are used to support travel to professional society meetings, to technical conferences to present papers, to visit potential research sponsors, etc.

6. To support your sponsored research program, the College of Engineering and the department will provide a grant of $30,000 during your first two appointment years. These funds are for the purchase of research equipment/instrumentation and/or for the development of physical facilities to support your research program. Through careful planning, these funds may be used to leverage other research funding.

7. The department will commit cost-sharing funds, not to exceed $20,000, during your first four appointment years to leverage funding of research proposals to external research sponsors who have ``matching funds'' as a requirement.

8. To house your research program, you will be provided laboratory space in the Mechanical Engineering Building. This space has access to utilities needed in your research.

The Campus Research Board has an excellent record of providing research support to new faculty members. Consequently, there exists an excellent opportunity to leverage the funds committed by the College and the department by submitting a research proposal to the Campus Research Board. The Research Board acts quickly to determine their support for each research proposal through an on-campus faculty peer review procedure. Typically, this process takes between one and two months to complete after submission of the proposal.

We believe that our extensive ongoing research activities in Mechanical Engineering will provide a rich environment for you to develop your research program. While it is important for you to establish and conduct your own independent research agenda, collaborations with senior faculty members in ongoing research activities may also provide you many opportunities that will support the development of your research program.

In addition to establishing a vigorous program of research, you will participate in our teaching programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. There are several courses in the Design and Materials Division that we believe you can contribute to in a substantial way. In addition, we will encourage you to revise/develop course offerings that are complementary to your research interests.

Excellence in teaching and excellence in research are important factors for professional development, advancement, and success within Leading University. We believe that our offer, when coupled with your interests and background, will provide you an opportunity to excel in both.

To assist you in your move and transition to the Somewhere area, you will be provided up to a maximum of $4,000 for actual costs incurred in moving. A document describing the reimbursement of moving expenses for faculty members is enclosed for your information. The university also has agreements with several moving companies that provide for a substantial discount for new faculty members who are moving to the Somewhere community; a written description of this program is also enclosed.

Enclosed for your information is the ``Leading University Academic Benefits and Services Guide.'' This will provide you some general information about our benefits program at Leading. Specific questions should be addressed to the Benefits Center, 100 Ivory Tower, telephone 555-0987.

On behalf of the faculty, academic professionals, support staff, and students of the department, we extend to you our warm welcome to join us. We sincerely hope that you will respond favorably to our offer. Since our needs for new faculty require careful planning, we would appreciate your written reply to our offer by not later than May 14, 2000. If you should have any questions or require more time to make your decision, please do not hesitate to write or call me collect.

If you accept our offer, we will need to present the recommendation of your faculty appointment to the Board of Trustees at Leading University for their approval. To do so, we shall require a completed Personal History Form; two copies of the form are enclosed.

Sincerely,








M. N. Charge 


Professor and Head 


Enclosures 




c:  Professor C. Potts, w/o enclosures 


Approved by: 




_______________________________________________ 


Jess A. Noe, Dean, College of Engineering