III. General Guidelines

A. The University of Wisconsin-Parkside formal teaching expectation is 21 credit hours per year of teaching, based on seven standard three-credit group classroom instruction sections or the traditional equivalent. This norm is consistent with actual loads at other comprehensive universities in the UW-System. In practice, UW-Parkside faculty expect that the institution's average teaching loads will be at about the average for UW-System comprehensive universities. The campus is committed to a "teacher-scholar" model, and all faculty are expected to be professionally active in scholarly activity and in other ways that will allow them to teach on the basis of current thought and practice. All faculty are expected to engage in a share of service required for the faculty as a body to exercise its governance responsibilities in departments, schools, and the university.

Specific expectations may vary among departments, even within the same school, and particular departments may have norms higher or lower than the campus norm. Within the instructional mission of the department, individuals will vary in their contributions to formal group instruction, individual instruction, academic advising, graduate or under- graduate research, clinical instruction and other instructional activities and may agree with their department executive committee to teach more or less than the department norm. Chairs must document in terms of department and university policies the grounds for individual workload assignments which vary from the agreed-on department norm.

B. Faculty engage in a wide array of teaching activities. In considering these, departments will follow criteria found in UW-Parkside policies and procedures and in relevant documents from national associations. In assessing individual teaching workload, department policy should consider, as appropriate, the size and level (lower division, upper division, graduate courses) of classes to be assigned, the number of preparations involved, the number of new preparations, and any unusually large commitment to the following instructional activities: laboratory courses and preparation of laboratory exercises, supervision of laboratory work and other activity; studio and performance courses: individualized undergraduate research, honors projects and creative works; development of new instructional methods or materials; development of new courses; undergraduate academic advising; field courses and trips; special tutorial activities; supervision of masters theses; graduate student mentoring; supervision of internships; clinical services and instruction; coordination of multi-section courses; training and supervision of part-time staff; writing-intensive courses; distance education; or any other instructional activity appropriate to the department or campus mission.

In considering research and/or creative activity, departments will follow criteria found in UW-Parkside policies and procedures and documents from relevant national associations and should consider such issues as publications, presentations, relatedness to teaching, and efforts at obtaining grants. Most UW-Parkside faculty maintain a level of scholarly and/or creative activity which goes well beyond simply keeping up with their field, and department policies may count evidence of an active research or creative program as one to three credits of workload. Every effort should be made to help new and untenured faculty get their research program underway and maintain it.

In considering service, departments will apply criteria found in UW-Parkside policies and procedures and should include faculty governance involvement, student academic advising, administrative roles (e.g., department chair, program director), service to professional societies and publications (e.g., journal editor, reviewer), and outreach efforts. Departments may vary in the relative weight they assign service and scholarship or the various forms of service; many departments, for example, emphasize service to local communities and industry. Those with heavier than usual responsibilities in service to the institution, community or profession may have this counted in their workload.