The Office of the Provost is launching a new designation, Designated Academic Colleague (DAC), to support scholarly engagement between Columbia personnel and their non-Columbia colleagues in the field.
This new status enables non-Columbia individuals — whether fully employed elsewhere, self-employed, or retired — to consult and engage more easily with Columbia University faculty and researchers who are their established colleagues in a given field.
With the DAC designation, the colleague can access campus for short-term periods on occasion and/or for intermittent periods during a semester or academic year. The DAC designation lasts a maximum of one year and is eligible for renewal through the DAC App. Privileges accorded to a DAC affiliate include UNI, email, ID card, building access, library access, VPN, and access to Rascal. DAC designees are subject to all applicable Columbia policies and regulatory requirements relevant to their Columbia research and related activity.
We would like to stress that DAC is not an employment relationship between Columbia and the individual. Nor is it a formal appointment. As they are not Columbia employees, DAC designees will not be compensated. DAC will replace many of those who have been formerly brought onto campus either as zero-salary officers of research or as “contractors” via the Delegated Identity Management (DIA) system, two options that are no longer readily available, with a few rare exceptions. The DAC designation may be provided to recent Ph.D. graduates and Postdocs who have transitioned elsewhere so that they may continue to engage with former Columbia colleagues and access research resources required to complete Columbia projects. (Recent graduates who do not hold full-time employment elsewhere must instead be appointed as a Staff associate II at a rate that meets the FLSA minimum.)
DAC is distinct from any visiting appointment, whether the visiting faculty appointment, which applies to those who come for a semester or a year to teach, or a visiting officer of research, for those at Columbia for up to a semester or a year to collaborate formally with a Columbia researcher or faculty member. DAC is also different from any visiting designation (Visiting Scholar, Visiting Scientist and Visiting Student-Intern [VSI], Short-term Visitor [STV]), which continue to be necessary to bring visitors to Columbia who are on leave from their institutions, industry, or other entities and are conducting independent research, for VSIs who want to conduct research training or engage in collaborative activities connected to their prospective degree with a Columbia faculty member or officer of research, or, for STVs, to train or observe research activities for no more than 3 months.
For more information on DAC, DAC privileges, and who might qualify, please see the website and a list of FAQs. The website provides information on whether a DAC would need subawards, inter-institutional MOUs, data-use agreement, material transfer agreement, and/or a consulting agreement; and/or qualify to be human subject research personnel and if so, under what circumstances. DACs do not qualify for Columbia-sponsored visas, though individuals who are on tourist visas or visas sponsored by other entities could qualify for DAC.
To request a DAC designation, Columbia personnel can utilize this application. Should you have further questions about DAC or how to request a DAC designation at CUMC, please contact Dionida X. Ryce, Assistant Vice President for Academic Appointments ([email protected]) and on the Morningside and Manhattanville campuses, contact Zeid Sitnica, Associate Provost for Academic Appointments at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Angela V. Olinto
Provost
Rutherfurd Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics
Eugenia Lean
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
Professor of East Asian Languages and Culture