Dear Colleagues,
We are sharing the new salary ranges for the 2025-26 academic year for full-time officers of research. Given uncertainty related to factors affecting the University’s financial outlook for academic year 2025-26, officers of research salary guidelines remain unchanged with the exception of postdoctoral research scientists/scholars/fellows, and associate research scientists/scholars under the Columbia Postdoctoral Workers-UAW Local 4100 collective bargaining agreement and staff associate I’s and staff associate II’s.
While there is an expectation that the officer of research salaries will stay level with FY25, units may elect, if they have financial capacity, to provide a modest increase of up to 1.5% of salary, paying particular attention to individuals in the lower range of each salary band.
Postdoctoral research scientists/scholars/fellows, and associate research scientists/scholars’ salary increases must be in line with the Columbia Postdoctoral Workers-UAW Local 4100 collective bargaining agreement. They should receive at least a 3% increase as of July 1, 2025, either on their reappointment or their anniversary date. Postdocs should be reappointed on their anniversary dates to keep track of their limited appointments.
Whenever possible, officers of research (excluding postdocs) should be reappointed for the academic year (July 1-June 30), and their appointments should not be for less than six months. Reappointments of less than 6 months require prior approval from my office. Salary increases of 5% or more also require prior approval from our office. Salaries should be reviewed at the time of reappointment. Starting salaries that exceed the review point will require the prior approval of our office for Morningside appointments and the Office of the Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences at CUIMC. Similarly, we will review salary increases above the review points in those units that exceed our guidelines. In those cases, you should provide a written explanation of the reasons for the salary or salary increase you are requesting. In the Arts and Sciences and Engineering, such requests will require the approval of the Executive Vice President or Dean before they are forwarded to my office.
We would appreciate your cooperation in implementing these policies. If you have any questions or concerns about them, on the Morningside campus you should contact Zeid Sitnica ([email protected]), Associate Provost for Academic Appointments; at CUIMC please contact Daichi Shimbo, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, at [email protected].
With best wishes,
Angela V. Olinto
Provost
Eugenia Lean
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
