Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost
Responsible Office:
Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost
FACULTY WORKLOAD POLICY
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Purpose
The Universityof North Carolina Board of Governors’Policy 400.3.4 requires constituent institutions to develop and implement policies and procedures to monitor faculty teaching loads and to approve significant or sustained variations from expected minimums. These policies must include the criteria and approval process for reductions in institutional load attendant to other faculty responsibilities.
UNC Policy 400.3.4 also requires each institution toadopt a standard methodology for collecting data to monitor teaching loads, and to implement an annual faculty performance evaluation policy that measures and rewards all aspects of faculty workload.
Thisdocument describes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’sFaculty Workload Policypursuant to UNC Policy 400.3.4.
Definitions
Faculty Workload: The entirety of a faculty member’s responsibilities that may include instruction, research, clinical duties, public service, and other duties as assigned.
Standard Annual Faculty Teaching Load: The minimum number of organized class courses facultyare expectedto teach in a given academic year as defined in UNC Policy 400.3.4.
Faculty Teaching Load: The number of semester credit hours or courses an individual faculty member is assigned to teach in a semester or an academic year.
Policy Statement
Faculty Workload
Consistent with other major research institutions,the overall workload of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members typically includes teaching;instruction-related activities such as advising and course development; research, scholarship, and creative expression; clinical duties (in health affairs); service to the University, the community, and the profession; administration; and related activities required to support the mission of the University.
Faculty Teaching Loads
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has established teaching workload criteriabased on the standard annual faculty teaching load defined in UNC Policy 400.3.4. For research universities, this standard teaching load consists of four (4) organized class courses per academic year (fall and spring).
UNC Policy 400.3.4 indicates that reductions in the standard annual faculty teaching load are justifiable due to increased administrative responsibilities, externally-funded research, course buyouts, and additional institutional and departmental service obligations.
Teaching loadsfor individual faculty mayvaryfrom the average four-course annual load based on the type of faculty position and the terms and conditions of the appointment. For example, faculty appointed to fixed-term Lecturer positionsin which teaching is the primary responsibilitymay be assigned loads that exceed the average. Appointments to faculty positions with research rank modifiers, often funded completely by sponsored research grants, may carry few, if any, teaching duties.
Teaching workload criteria may differ by school or department based on factors that include the following: the unique mission of the unit, the nature of instruction in the discipline;the structure of the curriculum (e.g., measured in terms of contact hours instead of traditional 3-credit-hour semester courses); accreditation requirements for professional education;faculty responsibility for supervision of practica, internship, and clerkship experiences;special service obligations to the public;responsibility for patient care; obligations for delivering non-credit continuing education to professionals in the state;and other factors.
Establishing and Approving Faculty Workload and Teaching Load Criteria
UNC Policy 400.3.4 acknowledges the complexity of faculty work activities and notes that individual faculty teaching loads are best managed at the department and school level, and not the system or state level. UNC-Chapel Hill faculty workload criteria are established andreviewed for compliance with the Board of Governors and the University’s teaching workload policies. Processes are in place to approve significant or sustained variations from expected minimums.
UniversityLevel. The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost will assign responsibility for developing school-level faculty workload policies to the Deans, will review and approve these policies in the context of University and Board of Governors policy, and will review and approve any significant departures from the established teaching workload criteria.
College/School Level. In consultation with department Chairs or other school leadership, Deans will developschool-based faculty workload policies that address criteria forteaching loads. These policies will be submitted for review and approval by the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. The Dean will also review and approve department-level faculty workload policies and any significant departures from school-level policies. In schools without a department structure, or at the Dean’s discretion, the school-level policy may apply across the organization.
Department Level. Department Chairs will develop unit-level faculty workload policies and criteria for teaching loads that are consistent with University and school-based policies while taking into account unique factors related to the mission of the unit and instructional practices appropriate to the discipline. Department workload policies should address course equivalencies and conditions under which individual faculty teaching-load modifications may be approved in response to increased administrative responsibilities, externally-funded research, including course buy-outs, and additional institutional and departmental service obligations. These policies will be submitted for review and approval by the Dean.
Individual Faculty Workload Assignments. The department Chair (or the Dean in schools without separate departments) is responsible for planning and approving the workload assignments of individual faculty members. Department Chairs may take into account the needs of the school, department, programs, and students as well as the faculty member’s qualifications and appointment conditions in assigning individual faculty workloads. Assignments that vary significantly from expected department and school teaching loads must be approved by the Dean.
Joint Appointments. For faculty with appointments in more than one department, the Chair (or Dean as appropriate) of the department in which the faculty member has his/her primary appointment is responsible for planning and approving the workload of the faculty member in consultation with the chairsof the other appointing units.
Monitoring and Reporting on Faculty Teaching Workload
In accordance with UNC Policy 400.3.4, UNC-Chapel Hill will use the University of Delaware’s National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity methodology for collecting data on an annual basis to monitor faculty workload. These data, aggregated at the department level, will be used to monitor University workload policies. Faculty teaching loads in clinical departments in Medicine and Dentistry, which are not included in the National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity, will be monitored using standards defined by the accreditation and professional bodies governing those organizations.
Annual Faculty Evaluation Process
Each school will implement annual faculty performance evaluation policies and procedures that measure and reward all aspects of faculty workload, separately and in combination. The evaluations may be conducted in conjunction with, but not in place of, the evaluations prescribed in the University’s existing policies related to untenured and post-tenure faculty.
Related Regulations, Statutes, and Related Policies
UNC Policy 400.3.4 Faculty Workload Policy. UNC Board of Governors.
Policy on Untenured Faculty. Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Academic Personnel Policies.
Post-Tenure Review Policy for Tenured Faculty. Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Academic Personnel Policies.
Contacts
Subject / Contact / Telephone / EmailInstitutional and school-based faculty workload policies and procedures / Dr. Ron Strauss, Executive Vice Provost / 919-962-2198 /
Teaching workload data collection procedures / Dr. Lynn Williford, Assistant Provost Institutional Research & Assessment / 919-962-1339 /
Document History
Effective Date: September 1, 2014
Last Revised Date: September 1, 2014
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