Faculty members are responsible for performing the duties specified on the job description under which they were appointed or as later redefined by their immediate supervisor and/or the administration. Individual faculty members are normally expected to:

• Carry out their teaching assignments.
• Engage professionally within their field(s)
• Provide service to Linfield, their profession, and the community.

A list of expectations is found in “Basis for Evaluation” (Section IV.6.1).

IV.2.1              Faculty Workload and Framework Policy

Framework:

Faculty fall into broad categories, with key differences in terms of job responsibilities and conditions and expectations of continuing employment.

Tenure:

Full-time continuous employment, with teaching and non-teaching responsibility including advising, service, and scholarship and/or professional activities.

Tenure-Track:

Anticipated full-time continuous employment, with teaching and nonteaching responsibility including advising, service, and scholarship and/or professional activities.

Non-Tenure Track/Professors of Practice:

Anticipated full-time continuous employment, with teaching and non-teaching responsibility including advising, service, and can include professional activities and scholarship.

Instructional Associates, Lab Coordinators:

Anticipated full-time continuous employment as staff members with teaching responsibilities.

Visiting Faculty:

Non-renewable fixed-term employment with clearly defined duties.

Adjunct:

Part-time teaching-only assignments, renewable as needed.

Instructional Duties:

Faculty members are assigned instructional duties by department leadership, subject to the approval of the Deans. Instructional assignments include a measure of Load Hours (LH). In most cases, the Load Hours for a course are equal to the Credit Hours for the course (exceptions defined by academic units in the unit bylaws and approved by theProvost).

In some clearly defined instances, non-instructional duties may be applied to the Instructional Duties workload share. Non-instructional LH assignments that release instructional duties require the pre-approval of the Dean and Provost.

Non-Instructional Duties:

In addition, faculty members are responsible for engaging in non-instructional duties including peer-reviewed research and creative activities, professional activities, service, advising, and other duties that may be assigned. The assignment of non-instructional duties is the responsibility of department leadership, in consultation with the faculty member. This assignment of non-instructional duties represents the remainder of workload covered by the faculty member’s contract. Based on mutual agreement or departmental need, faculty may be assigned instructional duties to fulfill some of their workload share under this category.

Workload Expectations:

Workload is assigned by Chairs upon consultation with the faculty member and approval by the Dean.

Tenure/Tenure-Track faculty members with 1.0 Full-Time Equivalency are expected to perform a minimum of 23 LH of Instructional Duties resulting in a minimum of 33 LH of Instructional plus Non-instructional Duties.

Tenure/Tenure-Track faculty members with 1.11 Full-Time Equivalency are expected to perform a minimum of 26 LH of Instructional Duties resulting in a minimum of 36 LH of Instructional and Non-instructional Duties.

Tenure/Tenure-Track faculty members with 1.22 Full-Time Equivalency are expected to perform a minimum of 28 LH of Instructional Duties resulting in a minimum of 39 LH of Instructional and Non-instructional Duties.

Non-Tenure Track/Professors of Practice faculty with 1.0 Full-Time Equivalency are expected to perform a minimum of 26 LH of Instructional Duties resulting in a minimum of 33 LH of Instructional and Non-instructional Duties.

Non-Tenure Track/Professors of Practice faculty members with 1.11 Full-Time Equivalency are expected to perform a minimum of 29 LH of Instructional Duties resulting in a minimum of 36 LH of Instructional and Non-instructional Duties.

Non-Tenure Track/Professors of Practice faculty members with 1.22 Full-Time Equivalency are expected to perform a minimum of 31 LH of Instructional Duties resulting in a minimum of 39 LH of Instructional and Noninstructional Duties.

Exceptions to the minimum expectations above require preapproval by the Dean and Provost. Faculty members may be assigned a limited range of defined Non-instructional Duties determined by the individual academic units toward their Instructional Duties load expectations.

Instructional Associates and Lab Coordinators with 1.0 FTE are required to perform 26-28 LH of instructional duties. Instructional Associates and Lab Coordinators who perform less than 26-28 LH may have other duties assigned according to their individual job description to fulfill their FTE requirements.

Visiting Faculty are assigned loads defined by department leadership with approval of the Dean that will be specified in their individual contracts.

Adjunct Faculty are assigned loads defined by department leadership with approval of the Dean that will be specified in their individual contracts. Adjunct Faculty assignments are not to exceed 18 Load Hours in an academic year.

These numbers are designed to set forth the minimum expectations.

Access Load Hours Graph

*In general, faculty are eligible for overloads when instructional hours exceed the units indicated above. Exceptions may exist within the academic units with Dean and Provost approval.

Overload

Faculty members whose assigned workload exceeds the expectation for Instructional Duties as defined within the academic units will be compensated with overload pay based on excess load hours. Overload in Instructional Duties will be compensated at the established Adjunct pay rate. Note that contractual assignments including overloads are subject to budgetary authority and require the approval of the Dean and Provost. Extra compensation for faculty who perform duties above and beyond the contractual obligations of the faculty member are determined on a case-by-case basis with direction and pre-approval by the Chair, Dean, and Provost to ensure that there is available funding, and duties are distributed equitably.

IV.2.2              Academic Advising

Faculty members play a critical role in academic advising, both institutionally and within their own departments. Consistent and effective attention to the needs of advisees is also an important consideration in the faculty evaluation process (see IV.6.1.1: Teaching Effectiveness). Further information about faculty roles in advising and academic advising policies and procedures at Linfield University can be found in Chapter VI.

IV.2.3              Role of Faculty in Student Discipline

The concept of discipline in an educational institution is meaningful only when it is relevant to the generic purposes and functions of that institution. As an institution of higher learning, Linfield engages only in judicial actions and processes that are vital to its basic concerns and for which it is designed.

In the broadest sense, Linfield exists to create a special environment for learning and the pursuit of knowledge. Students, faculty members, administrators, staff, trustees, and alumni all share in the obligation to protect the integrity and promote the continuous intellectual growth of all its members. All who benefit from it are indebted to it; differences lie only in the frequency and intimacy of contact with it.

The relationship of the university with the student, therefore, is in the essential nature of a contract involving a set of rights and obligations, reflecting both the purposes of the university and those of the students in attendance. Such a contract commits the university to ensure maximum availability to each student of its specific educational and environmental resources. It does not imply that the university provides services or exercises authority regarding matters unrelated to university functions. Such a contract also commits the student to full and meaningful participation in the life of the university and to the preservation and promotion of its highest endeavors in education. In addition, the student preserves their rights as a citizen and has a basic obligation not to commit or tolerate any impingement on the rights of others.

The university, therefore, exercises its authority over students in terms of the mutual interests of both parties and in terms of their contract with each other.

The bylaws of the university present the following guidance in establishing procedures of judicial action in the role of the faculty:

The President shall be responsible for the discipline of the University and for carrying out all measures officially agreed upon by the faculty concerning matters committed to it by the Board, and for executing such measures concerning the internal administration of the University as the Board may enact (Article IX, Section 1, paragraph three of the bylaws).

The Faculty Senate shall be responsible for establishing academic student policies that pertain to academic progress toward degree completion, evaluation and grading of academic work, academic probation and suspension, shall set policies pertaining to student academic misconduct and collaborate with appropriate University administrators responsible for University sanctioning of academic misconduct cases. The Faculty Senate shall be responsible for policies related to academic freedom and freedom of speech for students within the classroom and any related learning environment. The Faculty Senate shall be responsible for academic grievance policies that provide due process for students and shall advise and be responsible for the functioning of student programs that directly relate to an academic major. (Article XI, Section 4)

Policies pertaining to student discipline are described in the Student Policy Guide (Student Policy Guides | Linfield University).

IV.2.4              Syllabus Preparation

A copy of a syllabus for each course offered by a faculty member should be filed with Academic Affairs not later than 10 days after the beginning of the semester or term in which the course is taught. Electronic copies of all course syllabi are maintained by the Office of Academic Affairs.

IV.2.5              Faculty Schedules

Each faculty member is expected to make students aware of that semester’s office hours by including them on all syllabi and posting them in relevant locations at the outset of each term. The faculty member’s class schedule for the semester should also be included in the posting.

IV.2.6              Documentation of Grades Assigned

Faculty members must be in a position to document for students the bases for grades assigned. To this end copies of grade books and those graded tests and assignments not returned permanently to students should be kept by the faculty member for a reasonable period of time. The standard of good practice at Linfield for maintaining the kinds of records described above should be one year from the end of the semester or term in which a course was offered. (See VI.15.3)

IV.2.7              Absence From Classes

In cases of emergency, faculty members should notify the department chair and relevant dean as soon as possible of the absence or projected absence. Where extended absence is necessary due to illness or other emergency situations, the dean, in consultation with the department chair, shall be responsible for making alternative instructional arrangements. Whenever possible, classes should be met and not canceled. In all other cases of absence, faculty members will be expected to give prior notification and provide alternative arrangements for class responsibilities satisfactory to the department chair. Students are to be given prior notice of changes in scheduled teaching arrangements.

IV.2.8              Academic Processions

Full-time members of the faculty are expected to participate in the academic processions of opening convocation and spring semester commencement. Faculty members should notify the department chair and relevant dean as soon as possible of projected absence.

IV.2.9              Professional Development

The changing nature of education makes it imperative for faculty members to continually upgrade themselves professionally. To the degree that it is possible, the university assists faculty in their professional development, and a number of enrichment opportunities are available (see Chapter V).