C80: Faculty Assigned Duties, Commitments, and Availability to Students

Approved By: Faculty Senate
Effective Date: November 28, 2023
Responsible Faculty Committee: Faculty Senate Policy Committee
Office Responsible for Administration: Provost’s Office of Academic Affairs or Executive Vice President for Health Sciences’ Office Academic Affairs

Revisions to the Policy Rationale, Policy Statement, and Applicability sections of this document must be approved by the full Faculty Senate

Policy Rationale

University of New Mexico (UNM) faculty’s teaching and service responsibilities require clear communication pertaining to their scheduled availability to students and other constituents. This Policy details faculty responsibilities pertaining to assigned duties, commitments, and availability to students outside of classroom instruction.

Policy Statement

1. Faculty Duties and Commitments
Except for authorized holidays, vacations, or other breaks listed in the academic calendar, described in Faculty Handbook policies C220: Holidays and C260: Religious Accommodations or otherwise announced, it is the obligation of each faculty member to perform all assigned duties and commitments within the period designated by the beginning and ending dates of service in a particular contract period.

Standard faculty appointments are for the academic or fiscal year. For academic appointments, faculty members will be notified of the date they are expected to be available for duty. (Normally, one (1) week before the start of Monday classes at the beginning of each regular semester.) The period of duty for department chairpersons, if different from that of other faculty members, will be as determined by the college or school.

2. Faculty Availability to Students Outside of Classroom Instruction
It is expected that each faculty member teaching a course will be available for student consultation outside of classroom instruction. The faculty member shall notify each class of the hours during which the faculty member is available for consultation and publish this information in the class syllabus. The syllabus should also state that if these options do not address a student's scheduling needs, the faculty member will reasonably accommodate the student outside of regular or stated fixed hours.

Consultation hours shall be in accordance with departmental procedures which determine the minimum hours required and the modality. If appropriate, these procedures may allow:

a faculty member to have fixed hours each week and/or offer flexible times for students, and
consultation may be either in person and/or electronically.

Applicability

All UNM faculty including the Health Sciences and branch community colleges.

Definitions

No specific definitions are required for the Policy Statement.

Revisions to the remaining sections of this document may be amended with the approval of the Faculty Senate Policy and Operations Committee in consultation with the responsible Faculty Senate Committee listed in Policy Heading.

Who Should Read This Policy

Faculty
Department Chairs, academic deans and other academic administrators and executives.

Contacts

Direct any questions about this policy to the Provost’s Office of Academic Affairs or Executive Vice President for Health Sciences Office of Academic Affairs.

Procedures

No specific procedures are required.

History

November 28, 2023- Approved by Faculty Senate