Workload Policy

Policy Statement

The SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees defines the academic year as up to 10 months (e.g., approximately September 1 through June 30), but note that an “academic year employee may be required to commence the…professional obligation date reasonably prior to September 1 as may be necessitated by…operating requirements.” In practice, the University expects faculty to participate in events such as Faculty and Staff Convocation, Academic Convocation, student registration, and to meet other responsibilities (e.g., advisement, course preparation, departmental retreats) that may fall prior to or after the actual meeting of classes. The dates for the formal academic year at Brockport are available on the Office of Human Resources web site.

Purpose/Scope

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Applicability

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Definitions

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Policy Procedures

Workload

The Faculty Roles and Rewards Committee’s final report (11/98) recommends the following policy: “The normal expectation (for full-time faculty) is a 3/3 course load or its equivalent for faculty demonstrating an active program for scholarship as defined by individual departments and/or with major or multiple service responsibilities.” However, current practice carries the expectation that activity appropriate to rank in all three areas should be the norm (i.e., no “and/or” tradeoff between Service and Scholarship). Furthermore, current practice utilizes a model in which faculty who are not performing to expectation in all three areas receive a compensatory workload adjustment in one of the two remaining areas. Historically, this has almost always happened where scholarly activity has not met expectation and has resulted in a 4/4 course-teaching load instead of 3/3 (in such cases the faculty member is still expected to perform at rank in service.

Decisions regarding teaching load adjustments are made by the faculty member’s department chair in consultation with the appropriate school dean. In all cases, such decisions are made in the context of the Faculty Roles and Rewards Committee final report recommendation the “consideration in granting faculty release time should ensure that total departmental effort is not compromised and that other faculty within the department are not required to take on an unfair load.” In making such decisions, current practice also includes the following considerations:

A. For reduction from a four course-teaching load to a nominal three course load:

• For faculty whose performance record would otherwise justify a four course teaching load, a lecture section enrollment of about 120 students or more (and with no adjunct or graduate student assistants in that lecture section) may by counted as two courses to three). There is no comparable reduction in teaching load for faculty whose performance record normally qualifies for three courses (i.e., they remain at three courses).
• For faculty whose performance record would otherwise justify a four course teaching load, a total overall enrollment of about 180 students across three lecture sections (and with no adjunct or graduate student assistants in any of these lecture sections) may satisfy the teaching load requirement for that semester (i.e., effectively reducing the load from four courses to three). There is no comparable reduction in teaching load for faculty whose performance record normally qualifies them for three courses (i.e., they remain at three courses).
• For faculty whose performance record would otherwise justify a four course-teaching load, significant service responsibilities (those that are tantamount to an official administrative position) may, in unusual circumstances and with approval of the dean, be considered in lieu of a course (i.e., effectively reduce the load from four courses to three). There is no comparable reduction in teaching load for faculty whose performance record normally qualifies them for three courses (i.e., they remain at three courses).

B. For reduction below a nominal three course load:

• For any faculty whose teaching assignments include both (a) an enrollment of at least 120 students in one lecture section and (b) a total enrollment of 180 students across two lecture sections (with no adjunct or graduate assistants in those lecture sections), these two sections alone may suffice as the teaching load for that semester.
• Official administrative positions (e.g., department chair, associate dean, ad hoc administrative appointments, etc.) and extramural grants that provide for release time may result in a teaching load below the nominal 3/3.
• Workload assignments are determined on the basis of a faculty member’s anticipated activities during the coming year. They are not rewards for past activity.

C. Departments versus University obligations – Faculty appointments generally carry with them an understanding of the faculty member’s teaching responsibilities to his/her home department. However, many responsibilities (e.g., APS sections, honors, courses, and interdisciplinary programs with no assigned faculty lines) transcend specific departments and represent campus-wide obligations to be shared across existing academic units. Similarly, certain advisement responsibilities (e.g., CSTEP, McNair) are also outside any existing department. For this reason, faculty (and their department chairs) must by responsive to these needs as well as those uniquely associated with their own academic programs.

Links to Related Procedures and Information

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Contact Information

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History (in descending order)

Approval

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