Adopted by Academic Policies and Curriculum Committee 11/10/15
Adopted by Faculty Senate 12/11/15
Adopted by President 4/1/16
Full-time instructional faculty are under contract from August 1 through spring semester graduation. This time period does not cover summer school. Tentative summer semester schedules are usually developed in advance by each academic school and are based on the needs of the students and the institution. To assist the dean in developing the summer schedule the following procedure will be used:
-
- A faculty member wishing to teach in a summer semester should inform the appropriate dean at the beginning of the fall term prior to the summer term in which they wish to teach. The dean will communicate deadlines for this initial request for summer teaching.
- The faculty member must confirm their wish to teach in a particular summer semester by the end of the fall semester prior to the beginning of the summer semester. Faculty may also make an initial request for summer teaching at this point in time. The dean will communicate deadlines for this final request for summer teaching.
- At the time of the initial and final requests, the faculty member should request the number of hours they wish to teach (up to 10 hours or 2/3rds of the normal semester teaching load for the faculty member); the specific courses they wish to teach; the delivery method for the class (face-to-face, hybrid, online); the campus location of the courses; and the timeframe for the courses (session, days of the week, and time-of-day). The dean will consider each request and attempt to honor as much of the request as possible with the understanding that the needs of the students and the institution will be considered as primary in setting the summer schedule.
- Since summer semester must be self-supporting, the dean must balance the use of full-time and part-time faculty to stay within the summer semester budget parameters. To assist with this balance, full-time faculty receiving more than six hours will be paid at the part-time rate for any additional hours.
- In the event a large number of full-time faculty wish to teach in a summer semester, decisions may have to be made to limit the number of hours taught by full-time faculty. To spread summer teaching among all members of the faculty, decisions will be based on a system of seniority. Within each discipline and each school, faculty will be ranked according to rank and experience with no faculty member receiving more than 3 credit hours or one 3-hour or 4-hour course until all faculty qualified to teach in the discipline have an opportunity to receive summer teaching assignments. In all cases, the needs of the students and the institution will be considered as primary in setting the summer schedule.
