3359-20-03.2. Tenured and tenure-track faculty workload

(A) This tenured and tenure-track faculty workload policy is designed to give directions to colleges and individual units (departments, etc.) in creating their own workload policies and is based on the philosophy and criteria presented in the report of the regent's advisory committee on faculty workload standards and guidelines.

(B) Faculty workload.

(1) Three activities, teaching, research/creative activity, and service, make up the tenured and tenure-track faculty workload. In setting appropriate percentages or amounts of each activity for a full workload, the need for flexibility is recognized. Many differences exist between colleges and departments of this university, and these differences preclude the possibility that a single set of percentages or figures can be rigidly applied for all. Therefore, the emphasis given to each activity will depend on the mission of the individual unit. However, the percentage of the unit's total teaching effort should conform to the following specified ranges according to mission.

(a) Baccalaureate department: (active four-year undergraduate programs with no, or limited, activity in graduate programs). In general, the norm for teaching activities should be seventy to eighty per cent of a total departmental workload, with the remaining twenty to thirty per cent devoted to other scholarly activities of research/creative activity and service. Tenured and tenure-track faculty should be expected to devote most, if not all, of their teaching effort to undergraduate instruction.

(b) Baccalaureate/masters departments: (active baccalaureate and masters degree programs). For academic departments, or equivalents, with active baccalaureate and masters degree programs, the recommended norm for teaching activities is sixty to seventy per cent of the total departmental workload with the remaining thirty to forty percent devoted to research/ creative activity, service, and other professional activities consistent with the department's mission. It should be expected that tenured and tenure-track faculty in these departments will devote more of their effort to teaching undergraduates than to graduate level instruction.

(c) Baccalaureate/masters/doctoral departments: (active baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral programs). Departments, or equivalent units, with active baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral programs should have a norm of fifty to sixty per cent of the total departmental workload devoted to teaching. The remaining forty to fifty per cent of workload time should be devoted to research/creative activity, service, and other professional responsibilities that further the goals of the department and the university. It is expected that tenured and tenure-track faculty teaching in these departments will be personally involved in undergraduate instruction. The fact that a department offers a masters or doctoral degree is not sufficient indication of an active program. In deciding where a department is located along the continuum from active undergraduate programs to active research/creative activity and graduate programs, consideration should be given to the research/creative activity productivity of the faculty, including externally funded research, and the average number of graduate and/or professional degrees granted annually. It should be the responsibility of the dean, in consultation with the senior vice president and provost and chief operating officer, to determine the appropriate division of workload expectation for each department, or equivalent unit, in the college according to the department's level of activity in the degree program it offers.

(d) University two-year or associate degree programs: (active associate degree programs with no, or little baccalaureate activity) faculty whose principal appointment is in university associate degree department/program, with no, or limited, baccalaureate activity, should have undergraduate teaching as their major responsibility. Such faculty members may also have professional development and service as part of their workload expectations, as needed to further the mission of the program and the university. Departments with associate degree programs should be expected to devote between eighty to ninety percent of their total workload to teaching related activities, with the remaining ten to twenty per cent devoted to professional development and service.

(e) Special cases.

(i) The university recognizes that some programs may not fit into one of the categories of departments specified in paragraphs (B)(1)(a) to (B)(1)(d) of this rule. In these cases, the appropriate proportion of time to be devoted by the academic unit to teaching should be determined by the dean or appropriate academic officer, subject to approval of the senior vice president and provost and chief operating officer. In these cases, the primary concern should be for undergraduate teaching activities. For departments or programs that differ significantly from the above classification, e.g., those that have graduate programs but no, or few, undergraduate ones, the appropriate teaching responsibilities for such departments should be determined by consultation between the department chair and the college dean or other appropriate academic officer, subject to the approval of the senior vice president and provost and chief operating officer.

(ii) The university also recognizes that the norms for teaching activities specified in paragraphs (B)(1)(a) to (B)(1)(d) of this rule may require downward adjustment for departments with unusually heavy service requirements and for departments that have few tenured and tenure-track faculty members who, because there are few of them either in absolute numbers or relative to a large number of nontenure track faculty members and/or part-time faculty members, must bear abnormally large service obligations. In these cases, the appropriate teaching responsibilities should be determined by consultation between the department chair and the college dean or other appropriate academic officer, subject to the approval of the senior vice president and provost and chief operating officer.

(2) Formulation of workload policy.

(a) With the suggested range from the appropriate mission category in mind, individual units are to formulate a workload policy, paying particular attention to the following:

(i) Providing quality undergraduate education;

(ii) Establishing a relative balance between teaching, research/creative activity, and service;

(iii) Establishing accountability in seeing student needs are met; and

(iv) Assuring flexibility in teaching assignments.

(b) The workload policies need to include statements of:

(i) Overall workload expectations to ensure a balance of faculty time and effort spent in teaching, research/creative activity, and service. Achievement of this balance for the department (through the assignment of individual faculty) should be the responsibility of the department chair (or other appropriate academic officer), subject to review and approval of the dean.

(ii) The types and amounts of instruction needed to accomplish the teaching mission of the unit. Normally this includes an analysis of the likely number and types of courses/sections necessary to satisfy the demand for undergraduate general education, undergraduate major and graduate programs.

(iii) Overall expectations for research and creative activity by the faculty.

(iv) Overall service contributions expected of the faculty.

(3) General university guidelines.

(a) The concept of load credit represents an attempt to provide a viable method of quantifying certain kinds of activity that the university expects from each faculty member on full time appointment. The standard load for all tenured and tenure-track faculty on nine-month contracts is twenty-four load credits per academic year and includes load credit for teaching, administrative responsibility, research/creative activity, instructional support, and service. For tenured and tenure-track faculty on twelve-month contracts, the standard load is twenty-four load credits per academic year and six in the summer. The following policies provide direction for assigning load credit to the activities of each faculty member:

(b) Teaching in general.

The basic unit for measuring teaching load is the load credit that represents one fifty-minute period of classroom activity per week for one semester. Load credit assigned for laboratory activities, discussion, etc., is determined by the dean and department chair after consultation with the faculty members involved on the basis of collegiate guidelines approved by the office of the senior vice president and provost and chief operating officer. The following procedures shall be followed in establishing class size and determining load credit:

(i) Deans and department chairs, after consultation with the appropriate faculty members, establish minimum and maximum limits on the size of each class. Except in unusual circumstances, as determined by the dean, minimum and maximum limits during the summer are comparable to those in the regular school year.

(ii) If a regularly scheduled class fails to meet minimum size, the department chair and dean, in consultation with the faculty member may agree to cancel the class and reschedule the faculty member for some other appropriate activity. The class should be cancelled in sufficient time to allow adequate preparation for alternative activities. If the class is not cancelled, the faculty member shall receive full load credit according to the regular guidelines for the type of course.

(iii) Deans and department chairs are responsible for maintaining equity among faculty in the assignment of large and small classes insofar as faculty qualifications will allow.

(iv) When a class substantially exceeds the maximum size for which it is programmed, the class may be split or the faculty member may be provided with some kind of extra assistance (e.g. graduate assistant to help grade papers, extra secretarial help, etc.), or additional load credit could be granted with approval of the department chair and the dean.

(v) Faculty who teach students who register for independent or individual study, thesis or dissertation research/creative activity, or reading courses may be granted load credit by the department chair in consultation with the dean.

(c) Administration.

(i) Administrative load will be determined by the dean in consultation with the department chair. The amount of credit assigned in each case should be roughly correlated with the following factors:

(a) Number of faculty, full and part-time;

(b) Number of majors, graduate and undergraduate;

(c) Number and variety of program levels;

(d) Graduate and undergraduate credit hours generated;

(e) Quality of departmental research/creative activity and scholarly and professional activities;

(f) Number of graduate assistants and the number and variety of nonprofessional staff to be supervised;

(g) Amount and sophistication of departmental equipment; the extent of laboratory involvement; and,

(h) Extent of interdepartmental cooperation and coordination required.

(ii) Other part-time administrative assignments may be made on the recommendation of the faculty, department head, and the academic dean. Such appointments must be based on an explicit description of job responsibilities.

(d) Research/creative activity.

Load credit may be granted for scholarly research/creative activity. A written research/creative activity proposal must be approved by the department chair and by the dean of the college before load credit is assigned. The department chair and deans will audit the project at the end of the academic year to determine whether the accomplishments warrant continuing the load credit.

(e) Instructional support.

With the approval of the dean of the college and the senior vice president and provost and chief operating officer, load credit may be assigned for special functions not covered in these guidelines (e.g., counseling and academic advising of students as a special collegiate and departmental assignment, developing and preparing new programs and/or relationship to the time necessary to carry out the assignment and to the importance of the activity to the department, college, or university).

(f) Service.

Load credit may be granted by the department chair on consultation with the dean for service in such areas as committees and professional organizations.

(4) Load credit in special situations.

(a) Dividing load among multiple faculty in the same course. When a course is taught by more than one faculty member, load credit is divided equitably. The faculty member who is the instructor of record and who is responsible for coordinating the other instructors' activities will first be assigned an amount of credit determined in consultation with the department chair and/or dean. The remainder of the credit will be divided among the other faculty participating as agreed upon by all involved. This policy does not apply to laboratory courses or those with many discussion sections; it is designed for so-called team teaching situations or when more than one faculty member participated in lectures.

(b) Other special situations. Some activities (field experience, student teaching, supervision, studio courses in art, play directing, coaching, supervising interns, laboratory supervision, etc.) do not lend themselves to standard university-wide policies. Load credit for such activities is determined in accordance with guidelines established by the department chair and the dean of the college after consultation with the faculty members involved.

(5) Load for summer sessions.

(a) Faculty load. Faculty loads during the summer and interim sessions are determined by the department chair and dean of the college after consultation with individual faculty members. In making assignments, such variables as the number of different courses, (e.g., workshops and institutes) and the experience of the faculty member are taken into consideration. In addition, some limitations must be placed on the number of courses and any other responsibilities a faculty member is expected to carry. The normal load is six credits for one term and nine load credits for two terms. More than six load credits for one term may be assigned with the express written approval of the collegiate dean. Credit assigned to faculty for directing workshops shall equal no more than the number of credit hours each workshop carries. However, on the written recommendation of the department chair and dean, a workshop director may be paid an additional stipend if the time included in designing, organizing, staffing, and teaching the workshop is considered out of the ordinary. Workshops or institutes offered between spring semester and summer session I or between the end of summer session II and fall semester need not be counted as part of the six load credits for one term, but will be counted toward the total of nine load credits for the entire summer.

(b) Summer load for administration. Load credit may be assigned for administering each department/division for the entire summer (summer I and summer II). The amount of each allocation is determined by the volume of activity in each department during each summer session. These credits need not be assigned to department chairs per se, but shall be allocated in a manner approved by the collegiate dean. Faculty members are expected to be available in the office a reasonable amount of time each day of the period for which they are awarded the load credit. Load credit for other administrative responsibilities may be assigned by the dean of the college.

(c) Other activities. Any load assigned of, remuneration given for activities which are carried out primarily for programs or activities which occur during the regular school year must be budgeted in the department's academic year budget.

(6) Procedural guidelines.

(a) All activities outlined above are counted as part of the load for any semester and are included on the faculty academic activity report.

(b) Overload calculations based on the prescribed conditions are made in the spring semester and involves only load credits for the academic year with no carry over into the summer.

(c) Academic activity report forms are prepared by or under the supervision of the department chair to assure consistency in application of the guidelines.

(d) Load for a course cannot be assigned both to a graduate assistant and to a faculty member. If the graduate assistant actually teaches the class or supervises the laboratory, then the faculty member may not receive load credit.

(e) When faculty members are on joint appointment or teach courses outside their home departments, the chair of the home department or department of primary appointment is responsible for completing the academic activity report and includes on the report all activity performed outside the department.

(f) Any questions relating to the assignment of load credit should be discussed first with the department chair, and if necessary or desirable, with the appropriate collegiate dean.

Effective: 10/20/2019
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3359
Rule Amplifies: 3359
Prior Effective Dates: 11/13/1997, 06/25/2007, 01/31/2015