Through its departments and
programs, the College assigns courses to faculty members in a way that it
characterizes as “a 3+3 load.” In consultation with the Dean, Chairs achieve
this overall goal for their departments by taking into account
discipline-specific considerations. They also schedule courses in such a way as
to ensure that teachers will most likely be available for each section of each
course to be offered in a given semester. This entails careful consideration of
sabbatical leaves, scheduled course reductions for probationary faculty, etc.
It may also lead some Chairs to discuss with the Dean their need to recruit
part-time faculty to teach sections that regular faculty cannot cover.
In exceptional
circumstances, it may still prove impossible to cover a particular section in
any other way than by asking a regular faculty member to accept a fourth course
in a given semester (an “overload course”).
In cases where the course in
question draws a low enrollment, a faculty member may agree to teach the
overload without compensation or to accept a lighter load in the immediately
following semester (this converting a 3+3 load to a 4+2 load). These are
matters for the Chair and the faculty member to work out, but no faculty
member, whatever her or his rank or seniority, is ever obliged to accept an
overload. If such an agreement is reached, the Chair should immediately inform
the Dean in writing and place a copy of the memorandum in the faculty member’s
file.
Where the course has substantial
enrollment or involves a major new preparation for the faculty member whom the
Chair has in mind to assign, compensation may be appropriate. The following
procedures should apply in such cases:
1. The Chair should request the Dean’s permission to assign the
course as an overload as early as possible. This will allow maximum time for
discussion about alternatives. The Dean will likely ask questions such as: how
the need for an overload arose; why the section could not be canceled and
rescheduled in a subsequent semester; why a part-time teacher could not be
assigned; and what other approaches the Chair has already considered.
2. If the Dean approves an overload, the Chair may then
approach a faculty member to solicit her or his agreement. [Note, as above,
that no faculty member, whatever her or his rank or seniority, is ever obliged
to accept an overload.]
3. If the faculty member concerned agrees to the overload assignment,
she or he will be paid an additional 9% of her or his contractual salary for
the academic year in question. The payments will be spread over the semester
during which the overload is to be carried.
In no cases should faculty be
assigned more than 4 courses in a single semester or more than 7 in an academic
year. If the College wishes to maintain its high expectations for scholarship
and service, it must not allow teaching loads to exceed these maxima.
Approved: [Date not clear]
Posted: May 27, 2003