Recruitment wars at heart of furor over two U profs

The University of Minnesota has millions of dollars riding on the fate of two star researchers.

Wooed for more than a year, Francois Sainfort and Julie Jacko -- a husband-wife duo who specialize in making sense of huge volumes of health data -- agreed last fall to leave Georgia Tech for Minnesota. Now they face allegations of drawing salaries at both schools. The allegations, if true, could turn a hiring coup into a huge setback.

But regardless of its outcome, the controversy almost certainly won't stop what has become an ongoing bidding war for top faculty members.

"This is an arms race, there's no question about it," said Dr. Frank Cerra, senior vice president of health sciences at the U.

"It has risen exponentially in the last four, five years," Cerra aded. "It's all about faculty hires."

Sainfort was hired to lead the Division of Health Policy and Management in the Academic Health Center, while Jacko was brought in as director of the Institute on Health Informatics. Both have a history of landing large research grants and their salaries -- which together topped $500,000 -- reflected the expectation that would continue at Minnesota.

The school offered combined salaries for the couple of more than $500,000. It also promised the hiring of additional faculty members, moving costs and laboratory renovations.

Research universities see these deals as part of the formula for success. With faculty who can win grants, a school will see its rankings improve. It will attract better students, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. That will make an institution even more attractive to top faculty. More top faculty, in turn, will mean more research money.

The poaching of faculty members has always gone on in higher education, but it has intensified in fields that attract big research dollars -- the sciences, engineering, medicine, economics.

"The only way to improve in the rankings is to bring in people who bring in research grants," said William Riffee, the dean of the University of Florida's College of Pharmacy. "We're looking for the same people everyone else is looking for."

Shelling out big bucks

Overall, faculty salaries are barely keeping up with inflation, according to a study released this month by the American Association of University Professors. But when it comes to elite professors, research institutions are still willing to spend money.

"One of the reasons this is becoming more and more significant is that for public universities, they are getting a smaller proportion of their operating expenses funded by state governments," said John Curtis, the director of research and public policy for the AAUP. "The costs of providing education and doing the advanced research are rising faster than then funding that is coming from the state government."

In 2006-07, the U received $305 million in federal research grants and an additional $142 million for research from state or local governments, institutions or industry. That made up 26 percent of the school's revenue.

Wayne Gladfelter, the interim associate dean for academic affairs in the U's Institute of Technology, said start-up costs for a faculty member's lab can easily run more than $1 million. Faculty salaries in the college can run as high as $200,000 for a nine-month appointment. And the competition can be tough.

"Word travels fast once the news is out that [someone is] on the market," Gladfelter said. "There are cases where there are multiple offers in play for an individual."

In the health sciences, the cost can be even higher.

"They usually don't come alone," Cerra said. "Frequently they come with a spouse or with a half a dozen people. I can remember one recruit that came with 22 or 23 associated scientists; they come as groups.

"For an individual, $1 million is frequently a starting point for salary and start-up money. If you're doing research with a group, it could be $10 million, $15 million, up to $25 million. That's the nature of the marketplace."

Because of that, mistakes are costly.

"You must be careful in the choices you make," said Dr. Paul Ramsey, the dean of the school of medicine at the University of Washington. "It's getting more and more expensive and you want to choose well."

Earlier this month, Georgia Tech began the process of firing Sainfort and Jacko, whom Tech officials had once hoped to keep in Atlanta. In a February e-mail to an administrator, Sainfort described his spring semester workload at Georgia Tech as full and added that neither he nor Jacko had signed contracts with Minnesota.

Conflicting accounts

Minnesota officials, however, contend that the two signed contracts in October and are concerned with Sainfort's e-mail. Minnesota officials said Sainfort and Jacko were expected to be in "residence" on Jan. 1. Georgia Tech has said that the two signed contracts to work there for this entire school year after they signed with Minnesota.

The couple's attorney has maintained that the two did nothing wrong and they look forward to speaking with the Georgia attorney general.

U general counsel Mark Rotenberg spent much of the past week putting together the pieces of this case and trying to determine whether this was simply a communication or procedural breakdown or whether it was something more significant that could result in discipline and carry broader consequences.

"It's reputation, it's money, it's people's lives, it's the atmosphere," Cerra said. "It all ripples."

Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478