All UCF faculty who are required to disclose annually about outside activity, employment and potential conflict of interest are receiving a personal e-mail today about completing the online form by April 7.
The required disclosure – the Annual Potential Outside Activity, Employment, and Conflict of Interest and Commitment Disclosure AA-21 – is normally emailed at the start of the academic year. This year, AA-21 reporting was delayed to allow time for input and changes to comply with Florida Statutes Section 1012.977, which became effective July 1, 2020.
I am very grateful for the considerable time taken by members of the Faculty Senate and the Office of University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk to discuss the new requirements and how best to capture them in the disclosure form. The discussions produced a better approach but has left you relatively little time to get this form submitted. It is important that you submit it by April 7.
Faculty who received the individual emails are required to report outside activities, financial interests and potential conflicts under applicable federal and state regulations as well as university regulations and policies. This process of disclosure for review and approval protects all of us from unknowingly violating the law, and it safeguards our credibility and reputations by providing a transparent system of disclosure, approval, and documentation of outside engagements.
During the time the AA-21 was unavailable, faculty who normally report were asked if they planned to engage in new or different activities in addition to those reported the previous year. Various faculty alerted their chair or supervisor by email about their intention to engage in the new activity, with a copy provided to PCA@ucf.edu. If you submitted activities during this interim period, please include them in your AA-21 by the Wednesday, April 7, deadline.
UCF Regulation 3.018 – Conflict of Interest or Commitment; Outside Activity or Employment – outlines our conflict of interest and commitment disclosure process, which complies with Florida laws and with federal laws regarding research.
Additional information and resources to assist with the reporting is available on the University Compliance, Ethics, and Risk website at https://compliance.ucf.edu/conflict-of-interest/. If you have questions, please email PCA@ucf.edu.
