Background and Rationale
Full-time service as a faculty member in the College of Health Professions presumes participation in various duties and responsibilities including teaching, service, scholarship and administration. While each faculty member might not be actively involved in all of these areas, the collective participation of the faculty in all areas is necessary to achieve the college’s goals and fulfill our mission to improve health and health care by educating health care professionals; contributing to the intellectual and clinical capital of our professions; and serving our students, university, professions and communities.
The purposes of this workload plan are to:
- Encourage coherence between the needs of the academic program, requirements for promotion and tenure, annual performance evaluations and individual career development plans
- Maximize the contributions of faculty throughout the college
- Assure workload equity within and between programs in the College of Health Professions
Policy
Department chairs and program directors have primary responsibility for faculty workload assignments, in consultation with the dean. The unique requirements of the College of Health Professions necessitate a flexible system for determining individual faculty member work assignments. Therefore, individual workload assignments are established by the chair or director and the faculty member in a collaborative effort that takes into account (a) the goals and needs of the program; (b) available financial and faculty resources; (c) promotion and tenure requirements; and (d) the faculty member’s talents, abilities and career development plans.
Procedure
- Prior to each semester, chairs or directors and faculty members should plan workload assignments in collaboration with the faculty member utilizing the Faculty Workload Worksheet (Excel spreadsheet).
- The Faculty Workload Worksheets are posted to the department’s Sharepoint faculty workload site by the first day of class each semester for review and approval by the dean.
- If assignments must be adjusted significantly during the course of the academic year due to changed or unpredicted circumstances, the adjustments should be documented on a revised Faculty Workload Worksheet.
Faculty Workload Guidelines
Workload Units
Each full-time faculty member is expected to maintain a total average workload of five to seven units each semester (fall, spring and summer). One unit is equivalent to eight to 10 hours of work per week throughout a 15-week semester (a total of 120 to 150 hours per semester for one unit). For 16-week semesters, a total of 128 to 160 hours per semester equals one unit. The number of units is determined by the following values:
| Work Assignment | Measure | Units | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative Responsibilities – Program Director | 8 to 10 hours/week = 1.0 | Up to 2.50 | |
| Administrative Responsibilities – Faculty with specific non-course related admin responsibilities | 8 to 10 hours/week = 1.0 | Up to 1.00 | |
| Clinical Practice | 8 to 10 hours/week | 120 to 150 hours/semester | Up to 1.00 |
| Scholarly Activity (includes grant proposals submitted through OSPAN) | 8 to 10 hours/week | 120 to 150 hours/semester | 1.00 |
| Service (includes grant proposals not submitted through OSPAN) | Variable | Up to 0.50 | |
| Teaching – Didactic | F2F or hybrid instruction (not to include lab) | 0.33/credit hour | |
| Overseeing a self-directed study course | 0.15/credit hour | ||
| Teaching – Lab | Based on contact hours/week | 0.10/contact hour | |
| Teaching – Clinic | Based on contact hours/week | 0.10/contact hour | |
| Teaching – Thesis, Dissertation Committee (doesn’t apply to student projects not associated with a thesis or dissertation) | Per student based on time associated with mentoring | Chair: Up to 0.20/student | |
| Member: Up to 0.10/student | |||
| Teaching – Individualized Study | 0.10 per student | Up to 1.00 | |
| Teaching – Continuing Education | 1 CEU = 0.02 (1 CEU = 1 hour) | Up to 0.50 | |
| Other Assignments | Variable | Up to 0.50 | |
Special Provisions
At times, other responsibilities and conditions may impact on workload assignments, and adjustments to workload units may be required.
Examples of special provisions are:
Workload Variances
There may be times when a faculty member’s workload exceeds or falls short of the expectation for a given semester. The difference may be made up in a smaller or larger workload in subsequent semesters. Likewise, when variances occur among faculty within a department or division efforts should be made to achieve equity among faculty over a period of a year or two.
Workload Units
Workload unit limits under “Units” in the table above may be adjusted in unusual circumstances and with adequate justification. For example, if a faculty member engages in mission- critical service activities that require substantial time on a regular basis, the program director may assign workload units greater the 0.5.
Grants and Contracts
Faculty with funded grants and/or contracts that exceed 20% effort may have other units adjusted accordingly. For example, a grant or contract requiring 40% effort may account for 2 workload units: 1 unit for scholarly activity and 1 additional unit in excess of 8-10 hours per week.
Administrative Responsibilities
Faculty with substantial administrative responsibilities assigned by the program director or dean may have other workload units adjusted accordingly. Examples of such administrative responsibilities include leading an academic department or degree program, coordinating clinical rotations, managing the department’s admissions process, planning and managing the department’s continuing education offerings, etc. Caution should be exercised by program directors and faculty members when assigning administrative responsibilities because they may interfere with the faculty member’s ability to fulfill requirements for promotion and tenure.
New Course Development
A program director may choose to assign workload units for the task of creating a new course or major re-designing of an existing course, e.g., for on-line delivery. In general, the number of units will correspond to the units assigned to course delivery. That is, one unit would be given for the creation or redesign of a three to four credit hour lecture course. Routine updating of a course is considered part of regular teaching activity and no additional units are assigned.
Lab Sections of Didactic Courses
The credit hours for the lab portion of a course should be calculated separately from the didactic teaching portion. For example, a four credit hour course with three credit hours of lecture and 1 credit hour of lab = 1.5 units [lecture (3 credit hours x .33 = 1.0) plus 0.10 units per contact hour per week lab].
Online Teaching
Generally, workload units for teaching online courses are the same as for face-to-face courses, assuming that the online course includes substantial time for (a) interaction between the faculty member and students, (b) regular assignments that are graded by the faculty member, and regular, weekly monitoring of students’ performance by the faculty member. If the on-line course does not include these elements, workload units are decreased.
Team Teaching
Workload units may be adjusted for team teaching, based on the relative effort of members of the teaching team. For example, a faculty member who has half-responsibility for a three credit hour course may be assigned 0.5 units for that teaching responsibility. The total units assigned among all faculty involved in teaching a single course should typically not exceed the course credits. For example, if two faculty members co-teach a three-credit course and faculty members were responsible for 50% of the course, each faculty member would be assigned 0.5 units for the course.
Self-Directed Study
The majority of the course content is provided in asynchronous self-learning modules. The instructor monitors the course, answers questions, and oversees assessments.
Scholarly Activity for Tenure Track and Non-Tenure Track Appointments
In general, expectations for scholarly activity are greater for tenure-track and tenured faculty members than for non-tenure track faculty members. When workload units are assigned for scholarly activity, the program director and faculty member must establish annual goals for scholarship with measurable outcomes. (See the Appendix for examples of measurable outcomes.)
Promotion and Tenure Considerations
Program directors and faculty members should be cognizant of the impact of workload assignments on the faculty member’s ability to meet requirements for promotion and tenure. For example, it is advisable to assign a lighter teaching workload for new tenure-track faculty so that they can establish their scholarly activity agenda. On the other hand, heavier teaching workloads may be assigned to non-tenure track faculty for whom expectations for scholarly activity are lower.
Clinical Practice
Faculty may be assigned to practice in a clinical setting as part of the department’s or college’s faculty practice plan. Faculty practice plans do not allow for “moonlighting” or other forms of clinical practice outside the auspices of the plan. Under unusual circumstances and with special permission from the program director and dean, a faculty member may be allowed to practice clinically when the department has no faculty practice plan, i.e., moonlighting. However, moonlighting may not be included in workload unit calculations.
Other Assignments
Faculty members may be assigned a special project as part of their workload. Such projects should be well defined to include expectations for outcomes and completion within a finite time period.
Appendix
Definitions
The following definitions apply to work assignments:
- Administrative Responsibilities: See above
- Clinical Practice: See above
- Scholarly Activity: “Scholarship/scholarly activity entails contribution to knowledge available to [one’s] discipline. . . To be recognized as scholarship, contributions must be: shared with peers; and subject to peer review.”1 Congruent with Boyer’s (1990) framework, scholarship addresses four concerns of contemporary academic work: (1) scholarship of discovery, (2) scholarship of integration, (3) scholarship of application, and (4) scholarship of teaching.2 While basic and translational research are valued activities in the College of Health Professions, other forms of scholarship may and should be pursued by faculty as essential components of the college’s and university’s mission to contribute to the intellectual and clinical capital of our respective disciplines.
- Service: “Service applies a faculty member’s knowledge, skills, and expertise as an educator, a member of a discipline or profession, or a participant in an institution to benefit students, the institution, the discipline or profession, and the community in a manner consistent with the missions of the university and the campus.”3 Service activities can range from sponsoring a student organization, to serving and/or leading a committee, serving as an officer of a professional organization, to leading a service group in the community that benefits from the faculty member’s professional knowledge and expertise.
- Teaching – Clinic: Clinic teaching is the direct supervision of students in a real-world clinical setting in which the student is working directly with patients and families or in a medical laboratory performing real clinical tasks. Typically, faculty preparation time outside of the clinical setting is minimal.
- Teaching – Independent Study:4 Sometimes termed “directed study,” independent study is a learning activity undertaken by a student with little or no supervision by the faculty member. Typically, the student and faculty member agree on a topic, the end product, and the number of credits for the activity. Guiding students in independent study courses can range from minimal to substantial contact time and effort, depending on the interests, abilities, and sophistication of students’ independent study topics. To qualify as a workload assignment, independent study teaching activities must occur as part of an official course in which students enroll.
- Teaching – Lab: Laboratory teaching usually involves instruction on and demonstration of clinical or laboratory procedures. Typically, student assignments are completed within the time allotted for the laboratory, and faculty preparation time is usually considerably less than for lecture courses. It is up to the discretion of the program director if additional time is required for a specific laboratory course within their program.
- Teaching – Lecture: Traditionally termed “didactic” teaching, lecture courses most often involve the presentation or new information, in-class learning activities, and in-person assessment of students’ learning. Usually, lecture courses meet for a set number of hours on a regular basis. Students are expected to spend substantial time on their own completing requirements for lecture courses. Faculty members are expected to evaluate students’ performance and provide individual feedback to facilitate learning. Workload units are based on the assumption that a lecture course requires the faculty member to devote substantial time and effort outside the classroom to course-related responsibilities, perhaps a total of six to 12 hours per week.
- Teaching – Thesis, Dissertation Chair: Chairing a thesis or dissertation committee is labor- and time- intensive and involves regular meetings with individual students, providing individualized feedback on proposals and manuscripts, motivating students, and advising students.
- Teaching – Continuing Education: As leaders in their respective professions, College of Health Professions faculty members have a special role in promoting their professions and educating practicing professionals about current scientific and clinical developments in their fields. Continuing education “consists of educational activities which serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills, and professional performance and relationships” that health professionals “use to provide services for patients, the public, or the profession. The content of [continuing education] is that body of knowledge and skills generally recognized and accepted by the profession as within the basic medical sciences, [the professional’s discipline], and the provision of health care to the public.”5 To qualify as a workload assignment, continuing education activities should be approved by the profession’s agency that accredits continuing education.
Notes
1: Adapted from Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (2012). Scholarly activity guidelines, Review Committee for Family Medicine.
2: Boyer, E. L. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Lawrenceville, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-9a31050-43-X.
3: Service at Indiana University: Defining, Documenting, and Evaluating (1999). Indianapolis, IN: Center for Public Service and Leadership.
4: Adapted from Wikipedia “Independent Study.”
5: Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. CME content: Definition and examples.
Examples of Excellence and Significant Achievement
Source: College of Health Professions Promotion and Tenure Guide, 2017 revised)
The following examples of excellence and significant achievement within each major area of endeavor are provided to guide the assessment of the performance of faculty members. These examples are not all-inclusive and are intended to serve as a general guideline to illustrate the value of selected activities.
Teaching
Activities related to instruction and learning that occur in the classroom, laboratory, clinic and other settings
Examples:
- Classroom, laboratory, and/or clinical instruction
- Significant course and curriculum development (not merely updating curriculum or combining existing courses)
- Writing proposals for funding of educational projects, programs or other teaching-related activities
- Mentoring of less experienced faculty in teaching strategies and course development, implementation, and evaluation (requires formal mentoring assignment by chair or program director with specific timeline and outcomes)
- Developing professional continuing education courses
Scholarship
Includes a variety of activities related to the discovery, synthesis, integration, and application of new knowledge; evidence-based innovations in clinical practice and education; analysis and dissemination of knowledge; etc.
Examples:
- Writing grant proposals for scholarly activities
- Writing abstracts or manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication
- Developing a presentation of one’s scholarship for a professional meeting
- Editing or publishing a book or a book chapter in the professional discipline
- Authoring peer-reviewed instructional materials such as workbooks, laboratory manuals, or software applications that are adopted by other programs and institutions
- Developing peer-reviewed computer-assisted instructional program, audiovisual program, etc., that is adopted by other programs and institutions
Service
Include activities that “contribute to the functioning and development of the organization, community, or profession and that the service is related to the faculty member’s discipline and unique professional expertise.”
Examples:
- Committee service – department or program, college, campus, professional
- Grant proposals for service programs, projects, or activities
- Service on a professional accreditation team
- Service on a state or national advisory board
- Service as a peer-reviewer for a journal or book
- Service on an editorial board of a peer-reviewed journal
- Service as an editor of a local or state professional publication
Calculating Workload Units
5 – 7 Units = Typical Range in Workload Units Per Semester
One Unit = 8 to 10 hours per week over a 15-week semester* or 120 to 150 hours per semester
8 hours x 15 weeks = 120 hours per semester
10 hours x 15 weeks = 150 hours per semester
8-10 hours per week over a 16-week semester* or 128 to 160 hours per semester
8 hours x 16 weeks = 128 hours per semester
10 hours x 16 weeks = 160 hours per semester
*Finals week is not counted
Example One
Faculty member serves on a committee that meets for one hour each month or a total of four hours during a 15-week semester
- 1 Unit = 120 to 150 hours over the course of a 15-week semester
- 4 hours/120 hours = 0.03 units (using the low end of the hour range)
Example Two
Faculty member is developing a continuing education course or a presentation for a professional association or conference to occur in October.
- 1 Unit = 120 to 150 hours over the course of a 15-week semester
- 30 hours = Total time anticipated to be spent to develop the course
- 30 hours/120 hours = 0.25 units (using the low end of the hour range).
Example Three
Faculty member is teaching a two-hour CE course that has already been developed.
- 1 CEU = 1 hour of presentation
- 1 CEU = 0.02 units (Faculty Workload Worksheet)
- 2 CEU course = 0.04 units
Example Four
Faculty member is teaching a 3-credit hour didactic course.
- 1 credit hour Face-to-Face/Hybrid Teaching = 0.33 units (Faculty Workload Worksheet)
- 3 credit hour course = 0.33 units x 3 credits = 0.99 units
- 3 credit hour course = three hours of didactic teaching per week
- 1 unit = 8 to 10 hours per week over a 15-week semester
- 8 hours per week – 3 hours teaching = 5 hours course support (using low end of the hour range)
- 0.33 units = 1 hour teaching + 1.67 hours course support