Physics Workload Policy

The guidelines for the assignment of workload for faculty are consistent with the national norms. This Faculty Workload Policy Statement provides the guidance that is required by the institution as specified in the Idaho State University Faculty Workload Policy.

The total workload of a faculty member typically consists of activities related to 1) teaching, 2) research and scholarship, and 3) professional service.

An equitable method of assigning total workload for all faculty in the Department would account for faculty activity in all three of these areas.

Each faculty member is expected to contribute to the research and professional development activities and the service activity of the Department, College, and University above the teaching workload.

The manager of professional development workload and service workload will be made on an individual departmental basis by the Department Chair and in consultation with the Dean.

The ISU Workload Equivalency Unit (WEU)

Lecture and laboratory classes and other requirements of professional programs in the Department require the use of a measure which recognizes faculty members' workload in units other than credit hours. The unit of measure defined in this document is the workload equivalency unit (WEU).

One WEU is defined as one hour per week of lecture, including all associated preparation and grading, to a class of approximately 10 undergraduate students for one full semester. One WEU is assumed to require three hours per week of instructor time distributed approximately as follows: one hour of in-class instruction, one hour of out-of-class preparation, and one hour of grading related activities.

A full-time faculty member will typically have 30 WEUs per academic year (Fall, Spring): 9 WEUs for teaching, 4 WEUs for research/scholarship and 2 WEUs for service per semester.

This WEU model is used as a guide for the assignment of WEUs for teaching. This document provides equivalencies for teaching assignments and for some non-teaching activities.

Instruction

Undergraduate level courses are numbered a 4499 or lower designation and are those in which the majority of students are undergraduate students. For undergraduate interactions, one (1) WEU will be assigned for each credit hour of instruction.

Large Sections

In comparison with classes of approximately 15 students, large lecture sections require approximately the same preparation time but a greater amount of time devoted to grading. Therefore, for each additional 10 students, the faculty member will receive 1/6 additional WEU for each credit hour of instruction.

Extra Preparations

Proper attention can be given to individual classes only when the number of separate preparations is limited. Effort will be made to limit the number of separate class preparations for each instructor to three (3).

Multiple laboratory sessions associated with assigned lecture classes are not considered to be extra preparations. Multiple sections of the same course are not considered to be extra preparations.

For each preparation beyond three, one additional WEU will be assigned.

First-Time Preparation

A faculty member teaching a class for the first time usually spends an excess of the normal time preparation. Therefor, 4/3 WEUs will be assigned for each credit hour of instruction fore each course assigned to a faculty member for the first time.

Off-Campus Assignments

Off-campus assignments are teaching assignments for which travel farther than 20 miles from the faculty member's primary work assignment location is required. For such classes a 1/2 additional WEU will be assigned for each off campus course taught within the standard workload assignment.

Senior Projects

Senior project/thesis courses are offered as capstone courses in the curriculum. In most cases these consist of scheduled periodic meeting times in a classroom setting and a major activity centered around design or development of a product or activity. Usually the mentorship of the projects in the class is distributed among many department faculty members.

Capstone design courses will be assigned three(3) WEUs associated with the lecture portion of the course for lecture preparation, course coordination, and primary grading responsibility. Two (2) WEUs will be associated with the project side of the course.

Independent Studies/Projects

Independent study courses and honors projects are those activities for which the student has primary responsibility.

Independent studies/honors projects must have the prior approval of the department chain in order to the faculty member to be assigned WEUs for the project.

Independent studies and honors projects will be assigned 1/6 WEU per credit hour per student. The maximum number of WEUs allowed for one faculty member during any one semester for this activity is three.

Laboratory Instruction

An undergraduate laboratory class is a class in which the instructor prepares and supervises the execution of investigations by the class.

Scheduled undergraduate laboratories will be assigned 3/2 WEU for each contact hour per week. This assignment assumes that the faculty member is responsible for maintaining and teaching the laboratory without help.

If a student assistant is handling the laboratory, the assistant will be assigned 2/3 WEU for each contact hour per week. However, a faculty member must be in charge of the supervision and will be assigned 1/6 WEU for each contact hour per week.

Graduate Thesis Supervision

Graduate theses must have prior approval of the department chair in order for the faculty member to be assigned WEUs for the thesis supervision.

Graduate thesis supervision will be assigned 3/2 WEU per credit hour per student.

Graduate Project Supervision

Graduate project supervision must have the prior approval of the department chair in order for the faculty member to assigned WEUs for the project.

Graduate project supervision will be assigned 3/2 WEU pre credit hour per enrolled student.

Advising

For each assigned WEU for advising, the faculty member must schedule and average of one hour each week, or a total of 15 hours for the semester.

Research, Scholarship Activities

Activities intended for presentation in the public domain, these include but are not limited to, the authoring of professional publication from grant-funded research, grant-related research, or undesignated research. In recognition of the fact that work of this nature cannot be accomplished casually and is a fundamental part of the departmental, college, and university objectives, an adjustment in the workload will be made for faculty who present evidence of successful involvement in these kinds of activities. When faculty are involved in substantial research, professional development or other scholarly activities, an adjustment to the workload will be made by the chair for the following categories:

Textbook submission/publication
Journal editorial board
Peer reviewed paper submission and acceptance
Proposal submission for funding
Grant administration
Conference organization
Workshop leadership
Professional consulting though the university
Patent submission

Service

All faculty are expected to share a reasonable amount of necessary Department, College and University committee and service work. As in other parts of the faculty workload, an inequitable distribution of committee assignments can occur and guidelines for distinguishing between the maximum workload and overload are necessary.

Committee assignments should be equitably distributed. If a faculty member has unusually heavy load of committee work, then a redistribution of their workload will be recommended.

In addition, there are tasks which are not performed by all departmental faculty members and which may produce overload conditions for those performing them if adjustments are not made elsewhere in the individual's workload. Sevice to the Department would also include mentoring junior faculty and technology support for teaching and research which involves activities related to the acquisition, installation, and/or operation of appropriate technology needed for research and/or instruction.

When faculty are involved in substantial Departmental, College, or University service, and adjustment to the workload is recommended. The following activities, if substantial, shall be adjusted as follows (per semester)

Mentoring junior faculty
Student recruitment/ retention
Committee service/membership
University organizational leadership
Faculty advisor for student societies
Peer Reviews
Professional organization service
Community service

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