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All full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty of the department are expected to carry a workload of twenty-four (24) credit hours per academic year.  Full-time non-tenure track faculty members are expected to carry a workload of thirty (30) credit hours per academic year.  (See, University Policy Register 3342-6-18) 

The workload for each individual faculty member is assigned by the Chair, with the approval of the Dean.  The FAC and the Assistant Chair shall advise the Chair on issues related to teaching assignments, class schedules, and the appropriate application of workload equivalents. The Chair shall provide all faculty members with statements of their workload.

Newly hired untenured Faculty will receive a 3 credit workload assignment in each semester of three of their pre-tenure years to facilitate the development of their research programs and the preparation of the courses they teach.

In the interest of maintaining a high standard of teaching and the desirability of faculty involvement in research and service activities, overload assignments are strongly discouraged.  Overload assignments (i.e. workload assignments which total more than twenty-four (24) credit hours per academic year for tenured and tenure-track faculty, and which total more than thirty (30) credit hours for full-time non-tenure-track faculty) will be made only in unusual circumstances.  Such assignments require the agreement of the faculty member, and the approval of the Chair and the Dean.

Nevertheless, for the purpose of enhancing their research program, a tenure-track or tenured faculty member may request that the Chair, in consultation with the FAC, allow future credit for workload that exceeds 12 workload hours in any academic year semester, with the intent of applying the excess workload hours (UOMe hours) to their assignment in a future academic year semester. All such accumulated credits shall expire at the end of the fourth academic year semester following the one in which they were earned.  Conversely, tenure-track or tenured faculty may request up to 3 hours (IOU hours) in addition to the normal departmentally sponsored research workload assignment in any one academic year semester, with the understanding that the normal departmentally sponsored research workload will be reduced by the same amount in the immediately following academic year semester. 

For the purpose of furthering their research programs, tenure-track or tenured faculty members may request to apply a maximum of 8 UOMe or IOU workload hours in any one semester to reduce their teaching assignment in that semester.  The Chair, in consultation with the FAC, must approve all such requests.  In the event that such a request results in a semester workload assignment in which a Faculty member teaches no classes, that Faculty member is expected to carry out all other normal duties, including committee assignments and graduate student advising.  As a consequence, absences from campus for academic reasons in such semesters may not exceed 6 weeks in total, and no one absence may exceed 4 weeks.  All such absences must be approved in advance.

The Chair may, in consultation with the FAC and with the concurrence of the Dean, assign workload equivalencies for specific duties that are considered essential to the academic mission of the Department.  The Department’s expectations and specifications for such workload equivalencies are given in Tables 1A, 1B, and 1C below.

Table 1A.  Administrative Workload Equivalents Table

Table 1B.  Research and Grant Workload Equivalents Table

*   “Grant” refers to extramural funding administered by RaSP.

Table 1C.  Instructional Workload Equivalents Table

Faculty members are assigned to teach specific courses by the Chair.  The primary considerations for course assignments are prior teaching experience, subject expertise, and shared responsibility among the faculty for service and introductory courses.  Questions regarding teaching assignments should be addressed to the Chair.  In the case of a dispute concerning a request for reassignment, the faculty member may request review by the FAC, which will make a recommendation to the Chair.

Every instructor is expected to meet classes at the regularly scheduled times. In the event of absence due to illness, the instructor shall notify the department office. Absences for other reasons should be cleared with the Chair, using the proper authorization of absence forms.

Scheduling of classes is the responsibility of the Assistant Chair, with approval of the Chair.  The primary consideration for scheduling classes is student need with regard to meeting program or major requirements within a reasonable time frame.  In addition, the scheduling of some classes may be determined by the need to serve non-traditional students.

The Chair welcomes requests for summer teaching assignments from all full-time faculty members.  Summer teaching cannot be guaranteed to any faculty member and most summer teaching assignments are for a partial load.  The size, content, and staffing of summer courses are dictated by budgetary constraints and curricular needs.  Within these requirements faculty members are offered summer teaching assignments on an annual rotation system. The department will endeavor to distribute summer teaching opportunities equitably among members of the bargaining unit without regard to academic rank. Faculty members may elect not to accept a summer assignment. See also CBA Article IX, Section 3.