| Faculty Workload |
Approved Date 5-15-2018
Effective Date 5-15-2018
Revision No. 1.0
Reviewed Date |
1.0 Purpose
Casper College commits to instructional excellence, lifelong learning, and a culture of student success through an equitable base instructional load. Faculty expertise often extends above base load, resulting in appropriate use and compensation. This policy establishes the process for determining typical faculty workload.
2.0 Revision History
| Date |
Rev. No. |
Change |
Ref Section |
| 5-15-18 |
1.0 |
Rewrite. Replaces the Teaching Load (1400:30:01), Advising Load (1400:30:02), and Faculty Office Hours policies. |
|
3.0 Persons Affected
3.1 All benefited faculty
4.0 Policy
The policy of Casper College is to ensure the following.
4.1 The college establishes an equitable and effective means to manage faculty workload.
4.2 Faculty are available to meet the needs of students and the college.
5.0 Definitions
5.1 Academic Year. An academic year for workload purposes consists of the fall semester and the following spring semester of two consecutive calendar years.
5.2 Accreditation Coordinator. Person responsible for the implementation and coordination of the accreditation process for an accredited program in accordance with established standards, policies, and procedures.
5.3 Advising. A collaborative relationship between a student and faculty advisor. Faculty assist students with degree planning and requirements, selecting courses, monitoring academic progress, and identifying career or professional goals. Advising is part of a benefited faculty member’s contract.
5.4 Advising Load. The number of students the college assigns a faculty member to advise for the academic year. The official advisee load is based on the number of students recorded to the faculty member in the college’s enterprise system in the eleventh week of the semester. The following table shows the number of instructional units (IU) given based on the number of advisees. Deans are responsible for ensuring the advising load is appropriately distributed.
Number of Advisees Number of IU equivalent
0-23 0
24-35 1
36-47 2
48-59 3
60-71 4
5.5 Banking. Carrying overload pay over to a subsequent semester to offset an underload. Banking is allowable only within an academic year.
5.6 Contact Hour. A 50-minute instructional period that faculty are scheduled to spend with students in a particular course. Contact hours for each course are listed in the Academic Catalog as lecture and lab hours.
5.7 Credit Hour. The number of semester credits that the college awards to a student upon successful completion of a course.
5.8 Department Chair. A faculty member who is granted release time as discretionary duties to supervise faculty and oversee activities for one or more departments. Release time is intended to reduce the department chair’s instructional load.
5.9 Discretionary Duties. Non-teaching duties or alternative assignments that the dean can apply to a faculty member’s load as release time from instructional hours or as overload. Deans determine what non-teaching duties or alternative assignments they will approve in their schools. See Faculty Workload Guidelines for examples.
5.10 Faculty. Employees who provide instruction and related activities for courses that provide academic credit. This category includes tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure positions. Faculty positions are exempt employees under the Fair Labor and Standards Act.
5.10.1 Non-Credit Teaching Faculty. Employees on a faculty contract who teach and/or provide non-credit instruction.
5.11 Faculty Employment Contracts. An agreement that defines the workload expectations and job responsibilities of Casper College faculty. There are three types of full-time contracts.
5.11.1 9 month contract. This contract begins the Monday prior to the start of fall classes through the end of the spring semester and includes attendance at commencement and submission of final grades.
5.11.2 10 month contract. This contract includes the time specified in a 9 month contract with 20 additional working days.
5.11.3 11 month contract. This contract includes the time specified in a 9 month contract with 40 additional working days.
5.12 Faculty Load Data Form. A document used to calculate faculty workload for the academic year. The form includes teaching load categories, course assignments, number of advisees assigned, reassignment of teaching load, personal and professional development activities, and authorized overload. The faculty member and the dean sign the form.
5.13 Faculty Workload Guidelines. A document that defines the various instructional format of courses, how workload is measured, and how workload will be determined and distributed.
5.14 Instructional Unit. The unit by which all load is measured. The total number of instructional units for each academic year will be determined by the fiscal year budget. Deans will be given a set number of instructional units for each of their schools to allocate for instructional and non-instructional use. Instructional units are further defined in the Faculty Workload Guidelines.
5.15 Independent Study. Instruction delivered by a faculty member to an individual student without an assigned class time. Independent study is typically offered to a student when a required course or appropriate substitute course is not available for a student to complete the student’s program of study in a timely manner. The appropriate dean must approve independent studies. Independent studies are not part of load.
5.16 Independent Study Proposal Form. A document used by students to negotiate an independent study course with a faculty member. There is a signature line for the student, faculty member, department chair or program director, and dean. The form must be completed and submitted to the Academic Affairs Office within two weeks from the start of fall or spring semester or one week from the start of summer semester.
5.17 Learning Community. A collaboration between two or more faculty members within their courses in a semester. Compensation or release time may be granted for learning community courses.
5.18 Load. A term used to describe the workload a faculty member is obligated to provide as outlined in his or her contract with the college. The standard teaching load is 30 IUs per academic year.
5.18.1 The load for each full-time benefitted faculty member teaching credit courses is calculated based on his or her teaching schedule, additional non-teaching or discretionary duties, and advising.
5.18.2 The load for faculty members who provide non-credit instruction will be based on the standards set forth by their respective departments and are exempt from the load calculation procedures.
5.19 Office Hours. Regularly scheduled times during the fall and spring semesters when faculty are in their offices and available for student interaction and college business. Faculty provide their academic deans with an office hour schedule by the end of the first week of classes each semester. The appropriate dean assures that the office hours cover a variety of days and times that best meet the needs of students. Faculty post their office hours in their syllabi and on their office door. Each faculty member must schedule a minimum of 5 office hours per normal workweek.
5.20 Overload. When full-time faculty accept a schedule that is more than a full load. The additional duties may be for instructional or non-instructional work. Overload is compensated at the part-time instructional rate. Overload compensation starts at IUs greater than 30.
5.21 Part-time Instructional Rate. The rate used to compensate adjunct faculty and overload.
5.22 Prep. The time it takes a faculty member to prepare for a single course (not sections). Deans may assign additional IUs for a new prep. A new prep is the time it takes a faculty member to design a new course or modify a course that has been drastically changed due to articulation agreements, accreditation requirements, flipped/inverted classes, or online sections, etc. The adoption of a new book does not constitute a new prep.
5.23 Program Director. A department chair who is granted release time to oversee activities for an accredited program. Release time is intended to reduce the director’s instructional load.
5.24 Stacked. Multiple sections of the same course or different courses taught by the same faculty to deliver courses that would not run as stand-alone sections. Stacking courses is typically done when one or more of the courses would have been cancelled because of low enrollment.
5.25 Summer Load. Teaching duties over the summer semester. Summer load is not part of a faculty member’s contract and is paid using the part-time instructional rate.
5.26 Team Teaching. A course taught by a team of faculty. The dean determines the amount of load per faculty member for this course.
5.27 Underload. When a faculty member’s load is less than 30 IUs in an academic year, load will be fulfilled by other means as outlined in the faculty contract.
5.28 Workweek. A full time standard workload is 40 hours per week. The work may be performed on campus, at a work site, or offsite. Faculty positions are exempt employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
6.0 Responsibilities
6.1 Academic deans are responsible for ensuring faculty fulfill their contract requirements and are compensated appropriately.
6.2 The VPAA is responsible for adjustments to the school’s allocation of instructional units each academic year and for ensuring compliance to this policy.
7.0 Procedures
7.1 Department chairs and program directors in consultation with faculty within their departments develop a class schedule when requested by the Dean and the VPAA.
7.2 The VPAA notifies deans of the annual submittal date for Faculty Contract Load Data forms. Deans then notify their department chairs and program directors of the date load forms are due to them.
7.3 Faculty complete the Faculty Contract Load Data form following the developed workload schedule. The faculty member signs the form and submits it to the appropriate dean.
7.4 Deans review Faculty Contract Load Data forms, make any adjustments, sign, and submit the form to the Academic Affairs Office. The VPAA either approves or denies any overload above the allotted overload units.
7.5 The Academic Affairs Office provides Human Resources (HR) with a list of approved overload and discretionary compensation for each faculty. Fall semester overload and discretionary compensation is due to HR in January and spring overload and discretionary compensation is due in April.
7.6 The HR pays faculty overload and discretionary compensation in February and in May.
8.0 Appeals
8.1 Faculty may appeal their workload assignment for the fall or spring semester. Appeals are not available for summer semester unless the summer semester is being used to satisfy an underload. A faculty member who believes that there is cause for complaint concerning a matter covered by this policy should discuss the matter with the department chair or program director. If the matter cannot be resolved by mutual consent at this point, the issue should be discussed with the dean or VPSS.
8.2 If the faculty member and the respective dean cannot come to a mutual agreement, the faculty member may file a grievance as outlined in the grievance policy.
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