C100: Academic Load

Policy

(Amended and reaffirmed by the Faculty Senate, October 23, 2012 )

The term “academic load” includes all the officially recognized University duties carried out by members of the tenured and probationary faculty, including branch faculty, and excluding Health Sciences Center faculty, at any given time. It is the sum of teaching, scholarly work, and service, as described and defined in Section B 1.2.1-1.2.3 of this Faculty Handbook. Academic programs, units, departments, centers, etc. shall all hereinafter be referred to as “departments”.

The typical teaching load each semester is evaluated by department chairs annually on a scale of 0 to 18 load units according to standards set by the faculty of the department and approved by the cognizant Dean. Policy C110 of the Faculty Handbook, “Teaching Assignments”, indicates that the “typical” teaching load will be 9 load units per semester as defined by the formula available in the Office of the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The normal scholarly work load each semester is to be evaluated by department chairs annually and will be measured on a scale of 0 (no scholarly work) to 18 load units (outstanding performance) according to standards set by the departmental faculty and approved by the cognizant Dean. A “typical” scholarly work load will be 9 load units per semester.

The typical service load each semester is also evaluated by department chairs annually, but on a scale of 0 (no service) to 10 (outstanding service) according to standards set by the departmental faculty and approved by the cognizant Dean. A “typical” performance of service will be 5 load units per semester.

The “typical” academic load as defined herein and referenced in policy C110 will be 23 load units, which is the sum of 9 teaching load units, 9 scholarly work load units, and 5 service load units. For any given faculty member, the typical academic load of 23 load units each semester can be achieved by different mixes of load units from the three work categories, above. For department and school/college administrators, such as department chairs, the academic load will be determined by the Deans using units which are suitable substitutes for those provided here for teaching and research, in order to recognize the efforts of these faculty in academic administration. (See also "Teaching Assignments" C110, Faculty Handbook).