FAQ About Faculty Workload Guidelines

Frequently Asked Questions About Faculty Workload Guidelines

Any questions not covered below can be addressed to HHD Faculty Affairs. We will periodically expand this list as additional common questions accumulate. 

When do the colleges new faculty workload guidelines go into effect?

The revised college workload guidelines, which now include separate guidelines for non-tenure line research faculty and non-tenure line teaching faculty as well as tenure-line faculty, will become effective AY25-26. The new guidelines will be posted to the college’s new Faculty Affairs website in September 2024. Workload in the current academic year (AY24-25) continues to be governed by the existing guidelines (currently viewable on the University Faculty Affairs website). However, workload assignments being made later this academic year for AY25-26 will follow the new guidelines.  At the end of AY24-25, the new college guidelines will replace the old guidelines on the University Faculty Affairs website, and guideline versions on University and college faculty affairs websites will match.

What about local academic unit (department and school) workload guidelines?

Local academic unit leaders (department heads and school director) have been charged with developing/reviewing their local unit workload guidelines in the fall semester of AY24-25. All academic units have been asked to follow local practice for incorporating faculty member feedback into the guideline development/review process.  As with local unit promotion and tenure guidelines, the college will now also collect, review, and approve these guidelines. These local academic unit guidelines will also be effective AY25-26 and, therefore, will be relevant for work assignments made in the spring of 2025 for AY25-26.  Local academic units will make guidelines available/accessible to faculty members. 

How will the college monitor faculty workload over time and across academic units?

This college will expand central data collection relevant to faculty workload assessment in AY24-25.   We will augment data already being collected that are relevant to research workload (i.e., buyout and salary release information) to include data on teaching assignments and also will expand this data collection to include non-tenure line as well as tenure line faculty. This will allow for monitoring of trends over time and across units.   

Why is there a difference in the maximum teaching load for tenure-line faculty and non-tenure line teaching faculty in the college guidelines? 

The difference is related to the fact that all tenure line faculty in the college are obligated to engage in the scholarship of research. Therefore, the maximum teaching load for tenure line faculty, even for those who are relatively less active in research, will be somewhat less than the maximum teaching load for non-tenure line teaching faculty.   

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