Unit Policy
Title
Adams School of Dentistry: Policy on Faculty Workload
Introduction
Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide information and guidance to faculty members regarding the Adams School of Dentistry (“ASOD”) Workload Policy.
The ASOD’s Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Guidelines explain what responsibilities ASOD leadership expects of faculty based on track for promotion, appointment, reappointment, and tenure. This ASOD Workload Policy provides expectations of the overall yearly workload to be assumed by all faculty members based on their individual responsibilities within the ASOD. All faculty appointments are 12 month appointments. This ASOD Workload Policy is also intended to align with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC-Chapel Hill” or “University”) Faculty Workload Policy.
Scope
The Policy applies to all full-time ASOD faculty and any part-time ASOD faculty member with 0.5 FTE or greater - tenured, tenure-track, and fixed-term track (clinical and research faculty).
Policy
Faculty Responsibilities
ASOD faculty participate in the following workload categories:
- teaching (didactic, laboratory, preclinical, simulation, clinical, and mentoring);
- research and scholarship;
- service activities; and
- patient care.
Teaching
All faculty are expected to contribute to the ASOD’s teaching mission. Teaching is required of all fixed-term, tenure-track, and tenured faculty members and must constitute a component of every faculty member’s total effort.
ASOD faculty teach, mentor, and supervise undergraduate dental hygiene students, predoctoral dental students, advanced dental education residents, masters in dental science, and doctoral and post-doctoral students. Faculty also mentor undergraduate students conducting research in dentistry.
Research and Scholarship
Faculty who are required to conduct research and scholarship may do so in a variety of ways depending on their track. Examples include but are not limited to publication of research articles in peer-reviewed journals, publication of book chapters, presenting research posters and abstracts at national/international meetings, obtaining external grant support from federal agencies, industry and foundations, electronic and online educational resource development.
Service Activities
All faculty members are expected to demonstrate good citizenship through service activities to their department, ASOD, and UNC-Chapel Hill. Examples include but are not limited to service activities including committee membership, teaching AHEC and ASOD continuing dental education courses, membership on organizational boards or committees in leading national and international scientific associations, serving as an editor or on editorial review boards for publications in the faculty’s discipline.
Patient Care
Faculty provide patient care in the Dental Faculty Practice, UNC Health, and other school affiliated clinical settings. A faculty member with a 0.5 FTE or greater is not allowed to engage in outside clinical private practice. Not all faculty participate in patient care activities. For those who do, it is expected that they do so in an exemplary manner. This includes using current, state-of-the-art, and evidence-based methods respected by patients and recognized by peers within the University and the professional community.
Faculty Workload Criteria
ASOD faculty are either tenured, tenure-track, or fixed-term-track (clinical, teaching or research). The “Meet- the- Mark Criteria for Promotion” documents outline criteria for promotion to associate or full professor for the Fixed-term and Tenure-track faculty.
Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty
In addition to teaching, each tenured and tenure-track faculty member is also expected to demonstrate scholarship in one of three areas: research, clinical scholarship, or educational scholarship.
Fixed-Term Faculty
In addition to teaching, faculty on the fixed-term track show excellence for promotion in one of four areas: patient care, teaching, research, and administration. They may also provide patient care and participate in service activities.
Workload Distribution
The range in workload percentages is based on currently employed ASOD faculty without administrative appointments over 50%.
Table 1. Distribution of Effort by Appointment Type
| Category |
Fixed Term (teaching) |
Fixed Term (clinical) |
Fixed Term (research) |
Tenured/Tenure Track |
| Research |
20-30% |
0-25% |
50-90% |
5-50% |
| Patient Care ** |
0% |
0-50% |
0-20% |
0-50% |
| Teaching |
40-65% |
0-70% |
5-40% |
5-50% |
| Administrative/service/other |
15-30% |
5-50% |
5-15% |
5-30% |
| Total FTE |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
** Currently, the ASOD Department of Craniofacial and Surgical Care recognizes clinical supervision and direct patient care as patient care for the purpose of workload allocation.
Annual Workload Planning and Performance Review Process
The faculty workload plan is assessed and determined each year by July 1 at the faculty member’s Annual Performance Review (APR) with their Department Chair and the ASOD Dean.
- Faculty complete a self-assessment and submit (via email) to their Department Chair along with a current curriculum vitae with highlighted activities from the evaluation year. Faculty also note the percent effort of time they have spent on those activities (workload).
- Department Chairs review and approve the faculty member’s submitted time allocation.
- Faculty meet individually with their Department Chair to discuss their performance, responsibilities, goals, and time allocation as outlined in the approved workload plan for the following year. The previous years’ goals and movement towards promotion are also discussed as well as the quality of the faculty member’s work.
- If a faculty member receives a rating of “Not Meeting’ on one or more of their performance goals, the Department Chair will place the faculty member on a Faculty Success Plan, which may include, but is not limited to additional training in teaching or clinical skills.
- Faculty Success Plans must be in writing and approved by the faculty member’s second-level supervisor.
- Time allocation is based on several factors, such as:
- the amount of individual research funding,
- teaching needs for the academic year,
- patient care requirements,
- the faculty member’s administrative and service obligations.
- Once the faculty member and their Department Chair have agreed on the time allocation, the Department Chair meets with the ASOD Dean, the Associate Dean for Professional Development and Faculty Affairs.
- review the faculty member’s performance and individual goals,
- determine if the faculty member’s performance and individual goals align with departmental and ASOD mission, and
- change the faculty member’s time allocation if needed.
- The faculty member then meets with their Department Chair for a second time to review and sign the final performance review and workload for the next fiscal year. Any changes to the workload with be discussed with the faculty member. For members of the ASOD administration, the person to whom they report will finalize the workload plan for the year.
During the year, the Department Chair can make updates to the workload plan if the needs of the faculty member, department, ASOD change. All changes will be reviewed with the faculty member. Examples of why the workload may change include but are not limited to:
- fluctuations in faculty numbers who can perform the teaching mission;
- faculty acquiring a grant that changes their teaching/patient care workload;
- faculty assuming an administrative role that may change the allocation of time/workload; and,
- faculty retirements or family leave needs that impact workload.
Ensuring Equitable Workloads
The Department Chair makes every effort to ensure equitable workloads within the faculty member’s track and rank. For example, a fixed-term faculty member who will be evaluated for promotion based on excellence in teaching will likely have a heavier teaching load than a tenure-track faculty member who will be evaluated for promotion based on excellence in research. Both are required to teach.
Annual Reporting
The Office of the Dean will generate an annual report to include information from the previous academic/fiscal year (July 1 - June 30), in accordance with the University’s Faculty Workload Policy.
The annual report must include the following information:
- quantitative information on faculty workload, including teaching efforts such as courses taught and faculty contact hours, measures of research activity, and service rendered in the previous academic year in the ASOD;
- an analysis of faculty FTE allocations in the categories of teaching, research and scholarship, service, and patient care for the ASOD; and
- information about how the ASOD implemented this Workload Policy and evaluated the faculty workloads based on the standards for the ASOD.
Related Requirements
External Regulations
Unit Policies, Standards, and Procedures
Contact Information
Primacy Contact
Rebecca S. Wilder, MS, BSDH, ICF-ACC
Professor and Associate Dean for Professional Development and Faculty Affairs
Dr. Claude A. Adams Jr. and Grace P. Adams Term Professor
Adams School of Dentistry
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Email: Rebecca_wilder@unc.edu
Phone: 919-537-3766
Other Contact
Amie Sigmann, MSW
Assistant Director of Operations, Office of the Dean
Adams School of Dentistry
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Email: amies@live.unc.edu