5.01     Teaching Load Policy-Members of the Faculty (under review)

The following policy statement was adopted by the Faculty Senate on May 18, 1977:

The normal teaching load for full-time faculty will be:  (1) 24-27 semester hours aggregated over an academic year if teaching undergraduate level courses or (2) 18-21 semester hours aggregated over an academic year if teaching solely graduate-level courses (courses numbered 500 and above).

Total professional load refers to those activities which a faculty member would normally be expected to engage in while contributing to the work of the department, the college and the university.  It includes time available for advising students, carrying out research, providing regional professional service, serving on committees, and the like.

In developing the average weekly professional load of a faculty member, consideration should be given to adjusting that load for the time and effort required to offer off-campus courses that form part of the regular program of the department.  Whether the off-campus teaching load is considered within load or overload will be determined by the immediate supervisor, using these guidelines, who will report this determination to the appropriate dean and the provost for concurrence.

In assigning loads, the supervisor should take into consideration such factors as off-campus regular teaching load, number of preparations, thesis direction, courses involving more than normal individual supervision such as internships and problem courses, number of students enrolled, advising duties and research activity.  Instruction in non-credit courses may be considered when those courses are part of the regular program offering of the department.

Throughout the foregoing, it is to be assumed that faculty with few preparations, low enrollments, little committee work, few advisees, or similar situations might reasonably be expected to carry more than the normal loads specified.

Since administrative duties, advising duties and research activity vary between individual faculty members and between departments, and since the immediate supervisor knows the needs of the unit, the resources available, and the productivity of the department, the immediate supervisor shall have considerable discretion in assigning teaching loads.