School of Nursing: Policy On Intellectual Property

Unit Policy

Title

School of Nursing: Policy On Intellectual Property

Introduction

Purpose

To be evaluated at next review.

Scope

To be evaluated at next review.

Policy

Policy Statement

Concern over "who owns what" has promoted the faculty to consider the copyright and transmission of intellectual property in the School of Nursing. Using the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Copyright Policy the Faculty Executive Committee has developed a policy for the sharing of intellectual property in the School of Nursing.

Intellectual property is what results from unique or original intellectual activity. When this work is created in tangible form, it is automatically protected by federal copyright. While the legal system might find that the copyright resulting from "work for hire" belongs to the employing university, universities have generally granted the copyright to the faculty member developing the work. Faculty have been permitted to retain the ownership of their copyrighted works including teaching materials (such as presentations, notes, syllabi, and demonstration materials). The exception to automatically granting copyright to the faculty occurs when the work involves exceptional use of University resources. Exceptional resources at UNC-Chapel Hill have been defined as resources that are not routinely made available to faculty. For work to be seen as being created through the use of exceptional resources it must be deemed to be so by the Division Chair, Program Director or Associate Dean contracting with the faculty member for the work and that claim should be in a written agreement between the faculty member and the administrator prior to the work commencing. Work created using exceptional resources may be copyrighted by the University, jointly copyrighted by the University and the faculty member or transferred to the faculty member.

Intellectual Property within a course in the School of Nursing (SON)

  1. Syllabi are the property of the faculty member teaching courses in the SON. Although a faculty member maintains the copyright to a syllabus, faculty are expected to share with other SON faculty the main elements of a syllabus. These include the course description, the course objectives, the topical outline (without readings) and a list of the assignments for the course. These elements essentially belong to the course and the SON rather than to a faculty member. The list of assignments includes only the assignment categories, e.g., midterm examination, critique paper, and class presentation.
  2. Syllabi are submitted to program offices in a digital format each semester. The submitted syllabus needs to include at a minimum the description, objectives, topical outline, readings, assignments and other course requirements. Any grading system or grading scale used should be included. Program Associate Deans will assure that the descriptions, objectives, topical outline are current and consistent with the required language. Once the program Associate Deans have ensured the accuracy of the syllabus it will be archived on the SON Y drive.  OAA can only share copies of syllabi in accordance with #5 below.
  3. Notes, overheads, PowerPoint presentations, test questions or other materials developed for courses taught in the SON are the property of the faculty member who developed them. Although there is no requirement that faculty share these materials with other faculty, we encourage faculty member's willingness to share with each other.
  4. Faculty guest lecturing in courses may provide materials related to the guest lecture to the course coordinator. These materials belong to the guest lecturer and may not be used by the course coordinator or other faculty in the course without expressed permission of the guest faculty member.
  5. Faculty, staff or administrators cannot distribute or share any faculty member's work without expressed permission from that faculty member. Executive Committees needing access to OAA copies of syllabi for curriculum review will inform (request permission) the involved faculty before they obtain copies of the syllabi. 
  6. There are no restrictions on the internal use of syllabi developed by faculty who have subsequently left the SON.

Exceptions

N/A

Contact Information

Policy Contact

Carol Durham, Faculty Chair

Other Contacts

N/A

Important Dates

  • Effective Date and title of Approver: 11/8/2004
  • Approved by the Faculty Executive Committee: March 2025
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