STARs Program for the Office of Health Affairs

In August of 2004, The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved an allocation of funds to be awarded to UT System institutions to help attract and retain the best qualified faculty engaged in research. The STARs (Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention) Program provides funding to help purchase state-of-the-art equipment and make necessary laboratory/facility renovations to support faculty members in performing their research.  Funded through the Library, Equipment, Repair, and Rehabilitation (LERR) program, health-related institutions will receive annual STARs allocations for the purposes of recruiting or retaining research-active faculty.  These funds are meant to supplement institutional resources for the purpose of recruiting and/or retaining the very best research-active faculty.

See the program guidelines here.

Advancing U. T. System Health-Related Institutions

Each health-related institution will receive an annual allocation of STARs Program funding for faculty recruitment and retention incentive packages in the following three categories:

Faculty STARs
The original STARs Program designed to recruit and retain highly qualified faculty with national reputations and the promise to become a candidate for membership in one of the National Academies.

Rising STARs
The Rising STARs Program provides funding opportunities for institutions to attract up-and-coming research faculty who are recruited in a tenure-track position.

Translational STARs
A subset of the Faculty STARs Program with a focus of recruitment or retention of nationally recognized leaders in translational and clinical sciences.

Each health-related institution will select faculty for recruitment or retention for one of the STARs Programs indicated above.  Once an award is made, the institution must submit a Notice of Award Form and provide details of the award including the faculty name, award amount, effective date, award category, research plan, budget and rationale, as well as some demographic information. Prior to accessing the form, please review the Notification Instructions and gather the required information.  This notification will route to the UT System Offices of Health Affairs, Budget and Planning and Controller where the award will be established for successfully recruited or retained faculty members. Consistent with other Permanent University Fund bond proceeds-funded activities, institutions will be reimbursed as expenses are incurred.  Institutions receiving STARs allocations from the U. T. System Board of Regents have 36 months from the beginning of the fiscal year in which funds are allocated to award the funds to a specific faculty member or the allocation will lapse and be made available for future Systemwide reallocation.  Once awarded, institutions have 36 months from the date the award was made, or the time a new faculty member arrives on campus in the case of new faculty, whichever is later, to expend the funds awarded.

STARs Nomination Form

STARs Award Notification Instructions can be found here.

Questions regarding the STARs Program for health institutions can be directed to OHA_STAR_submissions@utsystem.edu - The Office of Health Affairs STARs Programs indicated above are managed by Eric Solberg, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs.