Unit Policy
Title
Gillings School of Global Public Health: Policy on Faculty Workload
Introduction
Purpose
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ("UNC-Chapel Hill" or "University") established its University-level Faculty Workload Policy for several purposes, including “to facilitate transparency and accountability" of faculty performance to the public and "to establish clear and equitable expectations and guidelines about the distribution of work among faculty members." Each school/unit at UNC-Chapel Hill is responsible for developing a faculty workload policy that considers their unique teaching, research, and service/practice realities.
Consistent with the overall mission of the Gillings School of Global Public Health ("Gillings School"), this School-level faculty workload policy outlines how we align with the University policy, including how we create, document, and monitor faculty workload requirements for teaching, research, and service. In addition, this policy describes methods for collecting data about academic workloads and implementing an annual faculty performance evaluation process.
Scope
This policy applies to all full-time faculty appointed for longer than one year in the Gillings School, including tenured, tenure-track, and fixed-term faculty. Faculty members appointed for one year or less or who work less than full-time may have a workload plan at the department chair's discretion. If the department chair requires a workload plan, the plan must be consistent with this policy and other relevant University policies.
Policy
Policy Statement
The Gillings School policy is consistent with the University’s Faculty Workload Policy, which assigns faculty duties to teaching/mentoring, research, and practice/service on a percentage basis totaling 100% based on 1.0 Full Time Equivalency (FTE). The Gillings School policy includes specific outputs and efforts a faculty member is expected to complete in the next academic year, with a clear linkage towards long-term evaluation (e.g., reappointment, promotion, tenure, post-tenure review). It offers proportional adjustments for 9-month (vs. 12-month) appointments as appropriate and accommodates differences by each appointment type (e.g., fixed term vs. tenure track) and rank. Every Gillings School faculty workload plan must be aligned with the Gillings School mission, values, and departmental needs.
The Gillings School will administer a consistent yet flexible set of guidelines that department chairs can tailor to create and monitor faculty workload plans included in the faculty’s annual evaluation process. The Gillings School will follow all reporting requirements on faculty workloads established in the University’s Faculty Workload Policy.
Standard Distribution of Effort
In Table 1 below, we have established a School-level standardized amount for each appointment type (tenured/tenure-track and fixed-term research, teaching, or clinical/practice).
- Research (and/or externally funded practice),
- Teaching/mentoring, and
- Service/practice.
Table 1 is a base template that department chairs can tailor or adjust for each faculty member. Expectations of effort vary across and within departments, so department chairs should use this table as a starting point for discussing workload with each faculty member. Specific administrative or other responsibilities may require adjustments to the standard table (see Table 2). In some cases, joint appointments will need adjustments. Department chairs should make workload adjustments with equity and transparency in mind.
Table 1. Base Distribution of Faculty Effort by Appointment
| Effort Distribution by Category |
Research |
Teaching/Mentoring |
Service/Practice |
| Tenured/Tenure-Track |
60% |
30% |
10% |
| Fixed Term Teaching-Track |
0% |
90% |
10% |
| Fixed Term Research-Track |
90% |
5% |
5% |
| Fixed Term Clinical-Track |
45% |
50% |
5% |
Table 2. Workload Category Definitions and Criteria for Effort Adjustment
- Adjustments are permissible within and outside the ranges in Table 1.
| Effort Category |
Criteria Considered for Effort Adjustment |
|
Teaching/Mentoring
Includes tasks related to:
- Course development and preparation;
- Weekly instruction;
- Supervision of teaching assistants;
- Student mentoring;
- Supervision of theses, dissertations, internships, practica, or other integrative experiences; and
- Other activities that support student success.
|
- Course size
- Required vs. elective, including independent studies
- Graduate vs. undergraduate course
- Specific section of a larger course
- Co-instruction
- Synchronous versus asynchronous
- TA assistance and supervisory requirements
- Alignment with internal Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for core instruction by faculty across multiple departments, such as integrated BSPH and MPH core courses and course leads for MPH@UNC
- Type of mentoring required to meet course requirements
- Thesis and capstone reviewers or chair (clarify for the first and second readers)
In some cases, department chairs may provide protected time to faculty. Protected time effort is designed to be short-term in duration and used for:
- Unusual pedagogical or assessment requirements
- Demand/need for new course or content
- Revisions to meet new accreditation criteria or program competencies
- Revisions for new delivery format (e.g., online)
|
|
Research
Focus on time spent discovering, disseminating, translating, testing, and applying knowledge and professional expertise, primarily through externally funded research and practice obligations, and protected time for developing such work.
Note that most unfunded research (e.g., manuscript or grant preparation, grant reviews, etc.) or practice (e.g., community advisory board, policy advocacy, etc.) is addressed under service, but externally funded practice-based research, planning, or evaluation activities are documented here.
|
For most faculty, effort in this category will closely approximate the externally funded effort as identified in the Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (ecrt) system, averaged across the two time periods comprising the academic calendar.
In some cases, department chairs may provide protected time to faculty. Protected time effort is designed to be short-term in duration and used for:
- Building research, practice collaborations, or developing funding proposals or renewals likely to lead to substantial external funding such as center, training, or other multi-site grants.
- For new or junior faculty transitioning to UNC-Chapel Hill or faculty undertaking a new research or practice direction with the department's encouragement.
|
|
Service/Practice
This category includes activities that:
- Enhance the scholarly life of the University or the discipline;
- Promote the general welfare of the University, School, or department;
- Contribute to the professional discipline or academic professional
|
Additional service work may count toward an additional percentage effort at proportional amounts at the department chair’s discretion, following a discussion of service engagement with the faculty member.
In rare circumstances and in consultation with the department chair (e.g., a new faculty member or a fully funded faculty member), faculty may be allowed to waive the service requirement and receive 0% coverage for a brief period. For administrative service, departments should establish standard coverage levels for department positions.
Faculty who assume roles at the Gillings School or University level should discuss the percentage effort coverage for the roles with their department chair. Faculty must communicate agreed-upon percentage effort in writing to department chairs and business managers for inclusion in workload calculations.
Voluntary service can only rarely replace required general department service and only for a short duration, given the importance of ensuring department needs are met and that workload is not shifted inequitably to other faculty.
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Annual Performance Evaluation and Annual Workload Planning as part of Faculty End-of-Year Meetings
The faculty-department chair end-of-year ("EOY") meeting will include two components: An Annual Performance Evaluation and an Annual Workload Planning. EOY meetings take place between April and August in all departments. Several sources of data/information are used in the context of the EOY meeting:
Productivity from the Previous Year
Teaching/mentoring, research, and service/practice activities gathered from the Gillings School Annual Faculty Survey and updated CV to review performance from the previous year. Faculty submit this data to the department chair in March through April each year. This is the basis of the Annual Performance Evaluation.
Proposed Performance Goals and Effort Distribution for the Upcoming Year
Faculty and department chair establish new/proposed performance goals after
- Completing the Annual Performance Evaluation, and
- Reviewing performance goals from the previous year (if available).
Annual Workload Planning occurs when the faculty member and department chair work together to develop a mutually agreed-upon workload plan by completing the Faculty Workload Template (available from department chairs). This template includes an estimate of effort for teaching/mentoring, research, and service/practice consistent with proposed performance goals for the upcoming year and departmental goals and expectations. All workload plans must be approved in writing by the department chair and/or dean and the department chair/dean's supervisor or designee.
The sources of data for the Faculty Workload Template:
Research
Faculty report the percentage of effort documented in the Effort Certification and Reporting Technology (e-cert) system and estimated over the year. Adjustments may increase research effort but cannot reduce it below the reported effort (see Table 2). The faculty member and department chair must consider expected grant/contract funding changes in the coming year, consistent with University reporting guidelines.
Teaching/Mentoring
Course instruction is as stated in Connect Carolina, and adjustments are made (see Table 2) for specific teaching/mentoring considerations.
Service/Practice
Faculty provides information on the Annual Faculty Survey data and updated CV. The faculty member and department chair discuss effort distribution considering documented or proposed activities.
Process for Completing the Annual EOY Meeting
1. Faculty member completes the Annual Faculty Survey and updated CV (March - April).
2. The department chair and faculty member schedule EOY meeting (April - August) and should address each of the following steps:
- Review productivity in teaching/mentoring, research, and service/practice from the Annual Faculty Survey and CV.
- Discuss progress toward meeting previous performance goals based on the approved workload plan and progress toward promotion and/or tenure per departmental expectations.
- The department chair provides a brief written summary of the performance evaluation. This completes the Annual Performance Evaluation component of the EOY meeting.
Faculty Success Plan
Any faculty member rated as "Not Meeting Expectations" on one or more of their agreed-upon performance goals will be placed on a Faculty Success Plan. Each Faculty Success Plan must be in writing and include the following:
- Specific steps designed to lead to improvement
- Targeted resources the faculty member can utilize for improvement
- A specified timeline for improvement to occur
- A clear statement of consequences should improvement not occur within the designated timeline.
Faculty Success Plans must be approved in writing by the faculty member’s second-level supervisor.
3. To complete the Annual Workload Planning component of the EOY meeting, the department chair and faculty member:
- Work together to establish a workload plan that includes performance goals for teaching/mentoring, research, and service/practice consistent with departmental needs and expectations for promotion/tenure in the coming year.
- Enter the agreed-upon performance goals into the Faculty Workload Template.
- Review new workload effort distribution related to the performance goals and expectations.
- Discuss estimates and agree upon a proposed effort distribution for research, teaching/mentoring, and practice/service.
- Enter the agreed-upon effort distribution into the Faculty Workload Template.
- The department chair approves the completed Faculty Workload Template and then receives a second-level review/approval by the dean or dean designee.
4. Individual faculty performance data and workload plans will be maintained in the department. The Gillings School will follow the University's reporting guidance for the Annual Performance Evaluation and Annual Work Plan.
Annual Faculty Evaluation Best Practices
Following best practices in performance management and evaluation, each faculty member will do a data-driven self-assessment of their activity against specific performance goals established the year before within the context of the EOY meeting. The faculty member and department chair will mutually agree on performance goals. The faculty member and department chair will then evaluate the faculty member’s progress toward achieving those performance goals the following year during the annual EOY meeting. Data for the review will come from the CV, the Annual Faculty Survey, the e-cert system (research coverage), and Connect Carolina (teaching responsibilities).
EOY meetings allow faculty to have one-on-one conversations with the department chair to review progress, celebrate successes, and reflect on overall performance impact. The faculty member and department chair establish future performance goals, expectations and workload (effort) distributions for the coming year, considering departmental needs and faculty goals and mindful of performance expectations by faculty appointment and rank as described in the departmental expectations for promotion and tenure. During the EOY meeting, the faculty member and department chair should:
- Reflect on work accomplishments, as documented by faculty survey results and updated CV, including challenges overcome and impact achieved.
- Acknowledge impactful work and progress toward reappointment, promotion (and/or tenure) by comparing departmental expectations by appointment/rank.
- Identify areas of improvement (e.g., low course evaluations; no grant/contract submissions, etc.).
- Use the work plan template to confirm effort levels in each workload category.
- Discuss performance goals, expectations, plans, challenges, resource needs, and anticipated impact for upcoming year.
- Jointly complete the workplan template with performance goals, expectations and estimated workload effort levels in each category for upcoming year.
After the EOY meetings, the department chair shares the final Workplan Template with the faculty member and files annual evaluation results and effort distributions for each faculty member in the department. Additional reporting to the school and university levels will be clarified when relevant guidance is available from the university/system office.
When done in a constructive manner, EOY meetings between department chair and faculty member should contribute to a positive working relationship, which strengthens faculty retention efforts and ensures that pathways for promotion, and opportunities for professional development and leadership are discussed in an open and transparent manner. These meetings should allow enough time for meaningful conversations between the department chair and faculty member so that additional support, encouragement and/or recognition is included in the discussions in all cases, as appropriate.
Annual Reporting Requirements
The Gillings School will comply with all reporting requirements on faculty workloads as described in the University’s Faculty Workload Policy.
Definitions
The policy uses definitions included in UNC System Regulation 400.3.4[R] - Faculty Workload Regulation.
Related Requirements
External Regulations
Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Name: Laura Linnan
Title: Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs
Telephone: 919-843-8044
Email: linnan@email.unc.edu