Discretionary fund codes may also be used to handle the accounting for special projects. The department administrator, or a designated staff person, will need to keep track of the funds for such special projects and not commingle these funds with other discretionary monies. While there are occasions when a new fund code is necessary, we encourage administrators to keep requests to a minimum. Each new code increases paper flow throughout the University. Faculty members are responsible for requesting renewal upon their fund's expiration by writing a letter to their Dean.
Typical expenditures are travel, books, supplies and materials, and photocopying.
Professional development accounts such as those awarded by the PreMajor Advising Center may be made available to staff as well as to faculty. These accounts may or may not have distinct fund codes depending on the program, but they operate in the same way as faculty research accounts with the same sorts of appropriate expenditures. Contract letters for new faculty often include commitments for funds for computing equipment and, in the sciences departments, funds for laboratory set-up. In the case of a laboratory set-up, a separate 4xx fund code is often established for a period of one or two years. This group of faculty has voting privileges in Academic Council elections and includes faculty in the tenure and tenure track ranks, full-time Lecturers, Professors of the Practice, Research Professors, and Professors emeriti.