Workload Policy

​LA/PPS No. 04.01.40

​​​​​​​Issue No. 02

​​​​​​​Effective Date: September 1, 2025

​​​​​​​Next Review: September 1, 2030 (E5Y)

​​​​​​​Senior Reviewer: Dean 

POLICY STATEMENT

This PPS guides the development of workload policies within the academic departments of the College of Liberal Arts.

01. RELATED UNIVERSITY POLICIES

01.01 The most relevant university policies that inform workload are the following.

                 a. AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload

                 b. AA/PPS No. 04.01.41 Summer Faculty Workload 

01.02 Workload assignments inform expectations of faculty as noted in the following university policies.

a. AA/PPS No. 04.01.50 Faculty Merit and Retention Salary Adjustments

b. AA/PPS No. 04.02.10 Performance Evaluation of Continuing Faculty and Post-Tenure Review 

02. RESPONSIBILITIES

02.01 The College of Liberal Arts houses diverse academic departments and acknowledges that each unit has a range of faculty workload assignments.

02.02 Each department in the college is responsible for developing and implementing a workload policy that is informed by and consistent with this policy and all university-level policies and approved by the personnel committee, the chair, the dean, and the provost and EVPAA (§03.02.g AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload).

02.02 As described in policies listed in Sections 01.01 and 01.02 above, chairs will determine the faculty member's professional responsibilities for each semester, subject to the approval of the dean. 

02.03 Chairs are responsible for ensuring fair and equitable workloads. In meeting this responsibility, workloads should prioritize the goals and needs of the departmentand its faculty, the college, and the university. Chairs should review §04-08AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 (Faculty Workload) when making workload adjustments (e.g., assigning workload credit in teaching, scholarly and creative activities, and service; allocating compensation for teaching overloads in the form of per-course pay or reimbursable workload credits; assigning workload credit for university-approved leaves).

02.04 The dean asks all department chairs to be mindful of budgetary and resource stewardship. Dividing the workload credit over a 40-hour workweek equates to 3.33 hours per workload unit assigned. When 12 workload units are assigned, it is assumed the productivity consumes a 40-hour workweek. 

03. DEFINITIONS

03.01 Full-Time Faculty Workload. The workload for full-time faculty equates to a minimum of 12 workload units per fall and spring semester (§02 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload).

03.02 Tenure-Line Faculty. For most tenured and tenure-track faculty, the 12-workload unit standard is typically fulfilled by teaching, scholarly and creative activities, and service to the university or the profession (§02.08 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload). 

03.03 Workload for Faculty of Instruction. The primary responsibility and workload of an instructional faculty member is to provide effective teaching, learning, and instruction and is typically fulfilled by teaching 12 workload credits (§02.06 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload, AA/PPS No. 04.01.26 Faculty of Instruction Appointments). Although instructional faculty have limited serviceduties, they may earn workload credits through extraordinary service to their departments. 

03.04 Workload for Full-Time Lecturers and Senior Lecturers. The workload of lecturersor senior lecturers is typically fulfilled by teaching 12 workload credits, with limited service activities (§02.07 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload).

03.05 Workload for Clinical Faculty, Faculty of Practice, Research Faculty. Workload expectations for these fulltime, nontenure line faculty are laid out in department policies and university policies (AA/PPS No. 04.01.20 Faculty Qualifications, Responsibilities, and Titles, AA/PPS No. 04.01.22 Clinical Faculty Appointments,AA/PPS No. 04.01.23 Faculty of Practice Appointments, AA/PPS No. 04.01.21 Research Faculty Appointments, AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload).

03.06 Graduate or Doctoral Instructional Assistants and Graduate or Doctoral Teaching Assistants. GIAs, DIAs, GTAs and DTAs are treated as faculty for workload purposes and are reported to the THECB on the Faculty Report (CBM 008). The roles and responsibilities of instructional and teaching assistants can be found inUPPS No. 07.07.06, Graduate Student Employment. 

03.07 Each semester the department chair submits the faculty workload, which is reviewed by the Dean. Individual faculty workload reports are available in the Faculty Qualifications system.

04. WORKLOAD ADJUSTMENTS 

04.01 Workload adjustments provide a mechanism to document temporary recognition of additional duties and expectations for instruction, scholarly and creative activities, and service assignments.

04.02 Instruction. Workload is calculated for courses, labs, and individual instruction using the semester credit hour value of the course, lab contact hours, or the number of students enrolled on the 12th class day (§05.01 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload). Chairs may assign workload adjustments to reflect the complexity of teaching assignments. For organized courses, chairs may assign up to 1.5 times the credit hour value to a specific course and provide reimbursable teaching workload credits for the occasional time a faculty member to carries a teaching workload that is clearly beyond the normal expectations (§04.03 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload). Other adjustments for teaching workload credit include Laboratory Coordination Adjustment, Large Class Adjustment, and Instructional Adjustment(§05.08-05.10 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload).

04.03 Scholarly and Creative Activities. Workload credit for scholarly and creative adjustments should reflect expectations found in the college (LA/PPS No. 04.02.10 Annual Performance Evaluation of Faculty) and departmental annual review and workload policies. Chairs are required to provide justifications in workload reports for research activity adjustments.

Faculty are eligible to receive three research activity credits each fall and spring semester (§06.02-06.07 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload). Additional credits may be awarded for non-sponsored scholarly and creative activities with planned outcomes that extend beyond the expectations associated with three research activity credits (§06.02-06.07 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload). Other research activity that may earn adjustments include sponsored program development activity (active development of proposals for external funding), sponsored program activity (active participation in or implementation of external funding), research buy-out, and undergraduate and graduate mentoring (supervision of honors thesis, master’s thesis, doctoral dissertation, similar academic projects, but are not the instructor of record). If a department gives workload credit for student supervision, students should be in their degree timelines, and the department workload policy will specify the minimum number of student advisees needed for three workload credits (LA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Workload).

04.04 Service. Chairs may assign credit to or adjust workload for faculty members for appropriate service, academic activity, administrative duties (e.g., associate chair, program director, undergraduate advisor, academic program review coordinator) relevant to the department in accordance with their workload policy and university policy (§07.01-07.08 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload). Workload credit may be granted for professional activities such as editing a professional journal or serving as an officer in a professional organization. Adjustments for service should reflect the scope, time commitment, goals, prestige, quality, and expectations of the assignment (§07.09 AA/PPS No. 04.01.40 Faculty Workload).

05. LIST OF REVIEWERS OF PPS 

05.01 This PPS has the following reviewers and cycle.

06. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

This LA/PPS has been approved by the following in their official capacities and represents College of Liberal Arts policy and procedure from the date of this document until superseded.

Liberal Arts Council

Dean, College of Liberal Arts