Professors’ Dual Employment Draws Scrutiny at U. of Minnesota

Does the University of Minnesota have a problem with double-dipping professors? The university still pays an annual salary of $112,660 to one professor who also works full time for the federal government in Maryland, the Star Tribune reported today. The professor, Dennis Polla, was forced to resign as head of the biomedical-engineering department 11 years ago for misappropriating research money, but he stayed on as professor and manager, and continues to get paid—which has state lawmakers questioning his dual employment. Just last week, two other Minnesota professors, François Sainfort and Julie Jacko, were indicted on multiple felony counts by a grand jury in Georgia for receiving paychecks from Minnesota and the Georgia Institute of Technology, where both were said to be working full time.