GUIDELINE A-052

SUBJECT: Assignment of Non-instructional Faculty Time 

The following guideline supplements the provisions of the State Board of Regents General Personnel Policy (5:01:00:00). That policy stipulates that - within the overall work load provision - "a full teaching load...shall be fifteen (15) credit hours or the equivalent per term for undergraduate courses, twelve (12) credit hours or the equivalent per term for graduate courses, or one hundred and fifty (150) non-credit contact hours (two hundred and twenty-five [225] in semester institutions) or the equivalent per term." It further stipulates that "all equivalent teaching load activities shall be subject to prior review and approval by the president or his or her designee. This guideline clarifies procedures by which a president may approve assignment of a faculty member to a non-instructional assignment on a 50% basis for a full academic year or on a 100% basis for a term and may develop a special institutional program for that purpose.

1. General Statement 

Allocation of faculty time to various functions (e.g., instruction, advisement, administration, research, etc.) falls within the responsibility of the president at each institution to develop a master staffing plan. Allocations of non-instructional assigned time should reflect the mission, goals, and need of the institution.

2. Non-instructional Assigned Time 

The designating of alternative professional assignments - i.e., assignments deemed equivalent to all or part of the faculty member's teaching load and approved as a work assignment standing in lieu of it - requires prior review and concurrence by the president or his or her designee.

If the president approves an alternative professional assignment (which may include a non-instructional assignment on a 50% basis for a full academic year or on a 100% basis for a term), the faculty member is authorized to pursue that professional assignment in lieu of an instructional assignment without jeopardy to his or her personnel status. Regardless of the nature of the approved assignment, the faculty member must remain on the payroll of the home institution and retain a condition of employment which continues all benefits for which he or she has qualified as a full-time faculty member.

3. Criteria for Non-instructional Assigned Time 

Authority for assignment of non-instructional assigned time resides with the president, and - within the parameters of Board policy and approved institutional missions - it provides appropriate discretion. Cumulative distribution by function (e.g., instruction, advisement, research, administration) of faculty time at each institution is monitored annually by Board staff.

Institutions may - within fiscal and other personnel constraints - approve a fixed number of non-instructional faculty assignments to special programs (e.g., research assignments, instructional innovation assignment, etc.) which are described in faculty handbooks or personnel manuals. If such programs are contemplated, they must be brought to the attention of Board staff prior to publication in handbooks.

Source: May 24, 1983 TBR presidents meeting. Revised July 1, 1984