Academic Policies

9. Guidelines Governing Overload Compensation for Faculty

Purpose

To establish a practice for managing overloads and compensating faculty on standing appointments for teaching courses or sections of courses beyond the typical instructional assignment of three courses or equivalent sections per semester.

Introduction

The College strongly discourages faculty on standing appointments from accepting teaching responsibilities which can typically be addressed by hiring additional adjunct faculty. Such responsibilities may interfere with the faculty member's progress in teaching, research, and service or with the appropriate development of an academic career.

The practices listed below establish guidelines for School Directors regarding the assignment of teaching overloads and the establishment of appropriate compensation whenever faculty are assigned to teach overloads.

Definition

An overload is defined as an additional teaching assignment of a regular course approved by the University Faculty Senate and scheduled by the appropriate School Director. If the course is deemed essential to the curriculum by the Program Coordinator and the School Director, the latter must provide a justification in writing for assigning an additional class to a faculty member on a standing appointment whose teaching assignment is regularly a three-three or equivalent load during the regular academic year.

Guidelines

1. Capital College discourages faculty members from teaching overloads because additional assignments may interfere with the pursuit of the teaching, research, and service expectations at Penn State.
2. Overloads are justified only by special program needs, for example, the beginning of a new program initiative, an unanticipated increase in enrollment, a sudden resignation or indisposition related to illness, and/or when no adjunct faculty are available in a specific subject area.
3. Tenure-eligible faculty members will not normally be considered for overload assignments. If, under rare circumstances, they must teach an overload, such faculty members must be informed that any assignment will not reduce the College's research and service expectations.
4. Anticipated overload needs in academic units must be discussed with the Senior Associate Dean before the academic year begins. This will assist with budget planning, the calculation of full-time equivalence data, and preparation of reports on the faculty mentoring. This practice is similar to what is already done with FT-1 and FT-2 needs prior to the beginning of the semester or the budget year.
5. No tenured or tenure-eligible faculty member should teach more than one overload per semester without the written consent of the School Director. This provision is especially relevant for tenure-eligible faculty and those faculty who have completed extended reviews and are committed to a personal development or renewal plan.
6. School Directors should consider providing a course release in a subsequent semester if an overload assignment is the only way of meeting the School's obligation to provide required courses and maintain the highest-quality instruction. All such arrangements must be made in consultation with the faculty member and must be documented in writing.
7. The compensation for overloads will be indexed to the FT-2 compensation practices in effect at the time the overload is scheduled.
8. These guidelines apply only to faculty on standing appointments.

Approved: Academic Council (7-17-2002)