No. Most faculty have 9-month academic appointments, from August through May. (Exceptions include Department Chairs, whose appointments may extend into the summer.) Neither the duration nor the timing of your academic appointment will change as a result of this schedule change.
Yes. Faculty members have always been 12-month employees of Lehigh. Faculty receive employment benefits 12 months a year, and are bound by Rules & Procedures (R&P) and other Lehigh policies 12 months a year. The new schedule does not change the fact that you are employed by Lehigh 12 months a year; it only changes the start and end dates of your pay schedule each year.
No. Expectations for faculty during the summer are the same as they have always been at Lehigh. Most faculty use summer months for research, course preparation, and other professional activities, as well as to take some time off from work. When student and departmental needs arise during the summer, faculty are asked to address those needs if and when they can reasonably do so. The new schedule does not change how or how much you are expected to work during the summer; it only changes the start and end dates of your pay schedule each year.
Merit raises will now take effect in your July paycheck each year, rather than your September paycheck. The change has no effect on the PAR process or other aspects of merit raises.
Most new faculty hired to start in Fall 2024 or later are already on the new pay schedule. Current faculty who are on a 12-month pay schedule will transition from the old pay schedule to the new one on July 1, 2025.
If you are on a 12-month, September–August pay schedule as of June 2025 (as most current faculty are), Lehigh will pay out the remainder of your owed salary in June and transition your pay schedule to July–June. That means that your June 2025 paycheck will be about 3 times as large as usual—it will include the salary that would have been paid to you in July and August 2025. (Remember that this is deferred salary from AY2024–25.) You will then receive paychecks in July and August 2025, which are in advance of the AY2025–26 academic year.
Not really. If you are on a 12-month, September–August pay schedule, you’ll get a larger-than-usual paycheck in June 2025. But when you eventually retire or leave Lehigh, your employment, and your paychecks, will end two months earlier than they otherwise would have, because you’re on the new pay schedule.
For example, suppose you will retire in the summer of 2030. Under the old pay schedule, your retirement date would have been August 31, 2030, and you would have received paychecks through August of 2030, which would close out your AY2029–30 pay. Under the new pay schedule, your retirement date will instead be June 30, 2030, and your last paycheck will be in June 2030, which will close out your AY2029–30 pay.
In general, your tax withholding under the new schedule will not differ substantially from your withholding under the old schedule. Your June 2025 paycheck will close out your AY2024–25 pay schedule, which may result in a larger paycheck than usual. The additional monthly compensation may result in a higher withholding rate. Lehigh University withholds taxes according to IRS, state, and local requirements. Please consult with your tax planning professional for more information.
Merit raises will go into effect in July each year. If you draw summer salary from a research grant in June, it will use your salary for the previous academic year, while if you draw salary in July or August, it will use your salary for the coming academic year.
If you are on a 9-month pay schedule, you have the option to switch to a 12-month pay schedule at any time by emailing inpayrol@lehigh.edu. If you remain on a 9-month schedule, you will receive paychecks in September through May, as you currently do.
No, there will be no change to your employee benefits.
No. Faculty who are on 12-month pay schedules no longer have the option to change to a 9-month pay schedule. (Faculty who are already on 9-month pay schedules will be permitted to remain on such schedules but are encouraged to consider changing to a 12-month pay schedule.)
It applies to tenured/tenure-track faculty, as well as term faculty (Teaching/Research Professors, Professors of Practice), provided they are paid on 12-month pay schedules. It does not apply to Visiting Professors or Adjunct Professors.
For questions about salary or paychecks, please contact the Payroll Office. For questions about academic appointments, please contact the Deputy Provost for Faculty Affairs at lvs2@lehigh.edu.