Unit Policy
Title
Kenan-Flagler Business School: Policy on Faculty Workload
Introduction
Purpose
This policy provides information and guidance to faculty members regarding the expectations of the overall workload to be assumed by Kenan-Flagler Business School ("School") faculty. This policy intends to comply with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s (“UNC-Chapel Hill” or “University”) Faculty Workload Policy, UNC System Policy 400.3.4, and its implementing regulation on faculty workload 400.3.4[R].
Scope
This policy applies to all tenured, tenure-track, and full-time fixed-term School faculty appointed for longer than one year. School faculty who are appointed for one year or less or who are less than full-time may have a workload plan if directed by the institution. Faculty who also serve in administrative roles should have a workload plan.
Policy
Policy Statement
This policy is intended to create equity and transparency in teaching loads across the school and is not to be confused with rewards for teaching performance, promotion, or salary. The School Policy conforms to the University's policies and procedures for monitoring faculty workload, the standard methodology it uses to collect data on faculty workloads, and the annual evaluation of faculty that measures and rewards all aspects of faculty workload.
Objectives of the School Workload Policy
- Equity ‐ To recognize the varied professional contributions of faculty members to our School’s mission and equitably value total contributions (education, scholarship, and service) in workloads.
- Consistency and transparency ‐ To promote consistent and transparent application of workload determination across the School.
- Excellence ‐ To provide for equity and transparency in a manner that promotes excellence in education, scholarship, and service.
Faculty Workload Expectations
UNC Policy 400.3.4 establishes that standard teaching loads consist of 24 credit hours (or equivalent contact hours) per academic year. The period of measurement does not include summer terms. The standard course workload may vary based on credit hours and/or contact hours. Graduate and undergraduate instruction apply to faculty workload. The standard teaching workload for tenure-track/tenured faculty is 9.0 credits per academic year. The standard teaching workload for fixed-term, full-time faculty is 15.0 credits per academic year. Fixed-term research faculty are not expected to teach.
Faculty workload in the School is typically composed of teaching, service, research and/or impact.
- Tenured/tenure-track faculty are expected to contribute substantially to research and teaching and participate in service activities related to the School, University, and profession.
- Clinical faculty members are expected to contribute substantially to teaching and participate in service to the School, University, and profession. Clinical faculty may contribute impact through activities such as research, presentations, and publications in their field of interest.
- Fixed-term Research Professors are expected to carry a larger research load and service to the School, University, and profession.
Faculty appointments are classified as either 9-month or 12-month appointments. Faculty appointed to a 9-month tenure track or tenured position have a standard teaching workload of 9.0 teaching credits per academic year. Faculty appointed to a 9-month fixed-term, permanent position have a standard teaching workload of 15.0 teaching credits per academic year. Faculty appointed to 12-month permanent appointments typically have administrative responsibilities with higher service contact hours. Faculty are eligible to teach summer classes and engage in summer research or service activities, which are compensated under the Summer Compensation policy and Summer School Procedures Manual Chapter 08: Faculty.
Table 1: Standard distribution of effort for tenure-track and tenured faculty based upon 24 credits or contact hours for a 1.0 FTE.
| Area |
Tenure-Track Faculty |
Tenured Faculty, Research-Active, Associate, Full, and Distinguished Professors |
| Teaching and teaching-related activities |
45% |
45% |
| Research and/or Impact |
50% |
45% |
| Service |
5% |
10% |
Table 2: Standard distribution of effort for fixed-term faculty based upon 24 credits or contact hours for a 1.0 FTE.
| Area |
Fixed-Term |
Fixed-Term Research Professors |
| Teaching and teaching-related activities |
79% |
0% |
| Research and/or Impact |
13% |
85% |
| Service |
8% |
15% |
Teaching and Teaching-Related Activities
The teaching load for tenure-track faculty before the tenure decision is 9 hours; in the first year of employment, a tenure-track faculty member receives three credit hours of course relief to facilitate the transition into teaching. A 9‐hour teaching load for tenured faculty assumes an excellent research contribution. Excellent research contribution is generally defined as achieving a strong reputation among academic peers by consistently pursuing and publishing the highest impact journals in one's discipline. In recognition of the potential lumpiness of publication output, multiple‐year windows ranging from two to five years, depending on individual circumstances, will be used to assess publication activity. A tenured faculty member can be moved to a 12 or 15-credit hour base teaching load if, over a multi-year horizon, they prove to be no longer research active.
The standard teaching load for fixed-term, permanent faculty is 15.0 credit hours. Clinical faculty members are offered a 3.0 credit hour release in their first term to facilitate the transition into teaching.
In addition to instruction, teaching-related activities may include advising, mentoring, grading, office hours, and course and curriculum development. All School teaching programs are important to the school. Therefore, teaching loads for faculty members can be in any degree program. Teaching load profiles are also adjusted to incorporate teaching‐related service and pedagogical intensity. Examples of such activities are described below:
- Significant Curriculum Development ‐ Curriculum development activities become a factor when an individual plays a substantial leadership role in a major curriculum development activity (e.g., concentrations, core revision, technology‐enabled curriculum transformations). The significance of such roles will be assessed in discussions involving the individual faculty member and the appropriate Program Associate Dean and Area Chair.
- Pedagogical Intensity - In some teaching situations (such as large enrollment multipliers), the pedagogical intensity is higher than can be reflected by the teaching profiles. In these situations, the teaching loads may be adjusted. While many ways of doing this numerically could be considered, the decision has been made (to this point) not to calibrate this mechanically. Instead, each individual's situation will be assessed in a discussion between the individual faculty member and the Area Chair.
Research and Creative Activity
Tenured/tenure-track and fixed-term research faculty are expected to actively participate in the School’s research mission. Gauging this contribution may include, but is not limited to, examining the following elements:
- Demonstrated individual ability to do effective research on topics judged to be significant.
- Demonstrated individual ability to publish research in a high-quality forum that furthers the research’s potential acceptance, diffusion, and impact.
- Demonstrated contribution to the research effectiveness of other faculty in doctoral students in the school or other colleagues in the profession (i.e., “research leadership”).
- Consistent evidence of ability and motivation to maintain and enhance a high level of research productivity.
Clinical faculty may have Impact, which may include:
- Presentations at regional, national, professional, or academic meetings or conferences;
- Cases;
- Research; and/or
- Publications in the field of interest (i.e., traditional scholarly journals, publications aimed at educators, trade publications, and/or general circulation publications, textbooks, general distribution books, multimedia work, etc., for whatever audience is appropriate for that work).
Service
All permanent School faculty members are expected to engage in the School’s service and citizenship missions. Service activities that advance the School’s work may include public and professional service to the School, University, and profession.
Examples of service may include:
- Involvement in School, University, regional, or national committee work;
- Service on honors thesis committees;
- Professional workshops;
- Professional talks, academic program development; and/or
- Involvement in professional and/or academic organizations or associations.
Accomplishing the School’s missions requires several essential and significant activities beyond teaching and research. Important aspects of this service dimension include the following:
- Service within the School on individual assignments, committee assignments, and administrative positions.
- Contributions to a positive culture of collegiality within the school, including mentoring junior faculty and students and professional behavior consistent with the School's core values.
- Work representing the School in the University and other significant external constituencies.
- Participation in and leadership of professional associations involving significant external constituencies of the School.
- Service as an editorial board member, Associate Editor, Department Editor, or Editor of high-quality publication outlets; frequent or notable service as a referee for such outlets.
- Consistent evidence of ability and motivation to maintain and enhance these aspects of service.
Area Chairs have the flexibility to evaluate and reward the portfolio of service contributions by individual faculty members. This evaluation typically will be part of the Annual Faculty Evaluation Process. However, in general, the following service activities are expected to be substantial enough to warrant adjustments in workloads:
- Major Administrative Service Assignment - These include area chairs, program associate deans, strategic initiative directors, and University‐level assignments.
- Extraordinary Citizenship Contribution - This factor may apply when an individual's total non‐administrative service role across many activities is extraordinary.
The School encourages its faculty members to engage with private industry and the non-profit sector. When the activity offers a clear benefit to the School, faculty members may use it to meet their service requirements at the discretion of the Area Chair and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research.
Faculty Workplans
Each faculty member will work with the Area Chair and/or Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research to develop a mutually agreed upon work plan that provides a clear framework for faculty planning, development, and evaluation. The School’s objective is for individual faculty teaching loads to equitably reflect an individual’s total contribution to the School in terms of education, scholarship, and service. The 9, 12, and 15 credit hours are outlined based on impact, quantity, and consistency of research outputs. Faculty work plans may be adjusted to consider each faculty’s other scholarship, impact, and service contributions to the school, as noted below. (These considerations include external scholarship reputation, opportunities to increase momentum, teaching-related service activities, pedagogical intensity of class mix, and non-teaching service activities.) All faculty work plans and adjustments to approved work plans must be approved by the Area Chair or Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research and the second-level supervisor or designee.
Workload Adjustments
Reductions or increases in base workload may include, but are not limited to, administrative responsibilities, course buyouts, personal leaves, and institutional or departmental service. The Area Chair or Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research must pre-approve and document in writing a decrease or increase in base workload in the faculty member’s work plan.
Overload
School faculty may be asked to exceed their assigned teaching load by teaching a class external to the School with pre-approval from the Area Chair and the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research. Overload is subject to the University’s Policy on Supplemental Pay for EHRA Employees.
Annual Faculty Evaluation Process
The School evaluation process ensures all faculty members subject to this policy are evaluated in each area of faculty responsibility. The evaluation process includes the following components:
- Goals - Each faculty member subject to this policy will meet with their Area Chair to develop a list of mutually agreed upon goals for the year, including teaching, research/impact, and service as listed in the approved work plan. The faculty member is evaluated at the end of the academic year based on the goals established at the beginning of the academic year. This procedure ensures that the expertise and time of faculty members are directed toward activities that:
- Meet expectations for reappointment, tenure, promotion, and post-tenure review; and
- Support strategic priorities of the area, School, and University.
- Assessment - Each faculty member subject to this policy submits an annual report of teaching, research/impact, and service to their Area Chair. Each assessment requires ratings of “Exceeds Expectations,” “Meets Expectations,” or “ Not Meeting Expectations” in all areas of faculty workload. Student evaluations of instruction are also included in the overall faculty evaluation process. The end-of-year assessment provides the basis for goal setting at the beginning of the subsequent academic year.
- Faculty Success Plan - Any faculty member rated as “Not Meeting Expectations” on one or more of their agreed-upon performance goals will be place on a faculty success plan, which must be approved in writing by the faculty member’s second-level supervisor.
Monitoring and Reporting on Faculty Workloads
The School will submit aggregated data annually per the University’s Faculty Workload Policy.
Exceptions
This policy is intended to provide standardized amounts of teaching/mentoring, research/impact activities, and service for each faculty appointment type. Faculty may request an exception to the policy. The Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research must review all exception requests on a case-by-case basis. Such exceptions must comply with all other provisions of this policy.
Definitions
- Academic Year - For the purposes of assigning and monitoring faculty teaching loads, an academic year is comprised of the fall and spring semesters only. Summer terms are not included in this definition.
- Faculty Teaching Load - The number of semester credit hours or courses an individual faculty member is assigned to teach in a semester or an academic year.
- Faculty Workload - The entirety of a faculty member’s responsibilities. This may include teaching research/impact, service, and other duties as assigned.
- Overall - Temporarily added duties that exceed the academic unit’s approved teaching workload criteria.
- Standard Annual Faculty Teaching Load - The minimum number of organized classes faculty are expected to teach in a given academic year as defined in the UNC System Policy 400.3.4.
- Faculty Success Plan - Supportive and personalized documents designed to help individual faculty improve their performance.
Related Requirements
External Regulations
Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Name: Natalie Albertson
Other Contacts
Name: Christian T. Lundblad
Name: Bradley Staats
Name: Jessica McAllister
Name: Arline Palmer