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Utah Valley University
Policies and Procedures

Title Salaried Faculty Workload – Academic Year Number 641
Section Academics Approval Date Aug 15,2007
Subsection Faculty Effective Date Aug 15,2007
I. Purpose
  1. This policy is intended to ensure consistency of faculty workload at Utah Valley University with Board of Regents' policies R312, Configuration of the Utah System of Higher Education and Institutional Missions and Roles and R485, Faculty Workload Guidelines. This policy recognizes:
  2. Teaching is a faculty member's primary responsibility at the institution, supported by professional activities, scholarship, public, and community service.
  3. Providing a quality education for students is fundamental to the mission and goals of the institution.
  4. Managing faculty workload is a vital component of effective planning and resource allocation.
  5. In addition, this workload policy provides procedures for planning and reporting faculty workload.
II. Terms
  1. ACHE (Academic Credit Hour Equivalents): ACHE is the unit of measure for academic activities as determined by the department, school, and Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA). ACHE establishes equivalents for activities including but not limited to scholarship, research, creative activities, program development, and public and community service.
  2. Academic Year: Fall and Spring semesters combined. Summer-term work is excluded from this policy.
  3. Faculty Workload - Formally Tracked: Activities that are formally tracked are Instructional Credit Hour Equivalents (ICHE), Academic Credit Hour Equivalents (ACHE), and Governance Credit Hour Equivalents (GCHE). These activities contribute to the calculation of Workload Credit Hour Equivalents (WCHE), or the total of a faculty members formally-tracked workload (ICHE + ACHE + GCHE = WCHE).
  4. Faculty Workload - Not Formally Tracked: Activities not formally tracked are those that establish the faculty member as a good citizen within the department, school, institution, community, and discipline. Activities not formally tracked are an integral part of a faculty member's workload, but do not contribute to the calculation of Workload Credit Hour Equivalents (WCHE).
  5. GCHE (Governance Credit Hour Equivalents): GCHE is the unit of measure for participating in academic and institutional governance as defined by the VPAA and in accord with Regents' guidelines. GCHE establishes equivalents for activities including, but not limited to, serving as a program coordinator, department chair, or senate officer GCHE also establishes equivalents for committee loads beyond a reasonable level.
  6. ICHE (Instructional Credit Hour Equivalents): ICHE is the unit of measure for instructional activity as defined by Regents' policy and guidelines. ICHE incorporates credit, lecture, and lab hours, plus factors including, but not limited to, mode of instructional delivery, class size, and individualized instruction.
  7. Salaried Faculty: A faculty position categorized as .75 - 1.00 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) that can reasonably be expected to last six consecutive months or longer, funded from salaried budgeted dollars, and provided a benefit package. In this policy the term "faculty" means a salaried faculty member (see UVSC Policy C-2.6, Employment Classification, A.1).
  8. WCHE (Workload Credit Hour Equivalents): WCHE is the total of a faculty member's formally-tracked workload as defined by this policy. WCHE is the total of Instructional Credit Hour Equivalents (ICHE) + Academic Credit Hour Equivalents (ACHE) + Governance Credit Hour Equivalents (GCHE).
III. Policy
  1. Faculty Workload
    1. Consistent with Regents' policy, the primary workload activity of faculty members is teaching. Complementing this role are secondary workload activities that include, but are not limited to, scholarly, professional and creative activities, and public and community service. (see Regents Policy R312, section 6.A.3.1)
    2. Faculty workload consists of activities that are formally tracked and those that are not formally tracked. Activities not formally tracked are those that establish the faculty member as a good citizen within the department, school, institution, community, and discipline. Activities not formally tracked are an integral part of a faculty member's workload.
    3. A faculty member's formally-tracked workload shall consist of thirty (30) WCHE per academic year distributed among ICHE, ACHE, and GCHE. The standard ICHE for a faculty member will match the institutional guidelines established by the Board of Regents (see Regent's Policy R312, section 6.A.3.3).
    4. Faculty members shall cooperatively plan individual workloads annually with their department chair in order to establish a distribution of ICHE, ACHE, and GCHE for the following academic year. Decisions concerning workload shall take into account departmental and school goals. Adjustments to the distribution of ICHE, ACHE, or GCHE in the annual workload plan may be made at midyear by mutual agreement of the department chair and faculty member.
    5. Faculty members are accountable for both formally-tracked and not formally-tracked workload. Faculty members shall annually report outcomes of their formally-tracked workload (WCHE) of the previous academic year to their department chair. Faculty members shall not be required to perform ICHE, ACHE, or GCHE in excess of 30 WCHE per academic year. Faculty members with 30 ICHE shall not be required to perform ACHE or GCHE activities in that academic year.
    6. For purposes of tenure, promotion, and post-tenure review, expectations for ICHE, ACHE, and GCHE activities shall match the proportion of these activities in the faculty member's formally-tracked workload. Successful completion of a faculty member's negotiated workload should facilitate achievement of tenure, promotion, and satisfactory post-tenure reviews.
  2. Institutional Management of Formally-Tracked Workload (WCHE)
    1. The office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs (VPAA) shall ensure institutional compliance with Regents' standards and guidelines for ICHE institutional averages.
    2. The VPAA, in consultation with academic deans, shall annually establish individual school ICHE goals that allow the institution to comply with Regents' guidelines for ICHE. Deans shall report their school's compliance to the VPAA annually.
    3. The dean, in consultation with department chairs, shall establish department ICHE goals that allow the school to meet its ICHE goal. Chairs shall report their department's compliance to the dean annually.
    4. The department chair shall establish annual faculty workload plans in cooperation with faculty members that allow the department to meet its ICHE goal.
    5. Deans and department chairs shall annually report on the outcomes of the workload activities of the previous academic year. This report shall include all segments of the formally-tracked workload (ICHE, ACHE, and GCHE).
    6. Establishing Workload Equivalencies
      1. ICHE are established by the Board of Regents and shall be published annually by the office of the VPAA.
      2. ACHE shall be established annually by individual deans together with department chairs. The office of the VPAA shall have oversight of such equivalencies and publish them annually.
      3. GCHE shall be established and published annually by the office of the VPAA. These equivalents shall be established in consultation with deans and the faculty senate president and comply with Regents' standards.
IV. Procedures
  1. Publishing Workload Equivalents
    1. The office of the VPAA shall publish ICHE, ACHE, and GCHE standards and goals for the coming academic year by January 15 for use in planning faculty workload for the next academic year.
  2. Establishing School and Department ICHE Goals
    1. The VPAA in consultation with the academic deans shall establish individual school ICHE goals by October 15.
    2. Deans in consultation with department chairs shall establish department ICHE goals by November 15.
  3. Reporting Formally-Tracked Workload for the Academic Year
    1. Internal reports of faculty workload shall use the faculty workload reporting form.
    2. Internal Report of Planned Faculty Workload (WCHE) for the Academic Year
      1. Department chairs shall plan faculty workloads with faculty members by May 10.
      2. Department chairs shall report planned faculty workload to the dean by May 30.
      3. Deans shall report planned faculty workload for schools to the VPAA by August 15.
    3. External Report of Fall Semester Instructional Credit Hour Equivalents (ICHE) to Regents
      1. Department chairs shall report fall semester faculty workload to their dean by October 15.
      2. Deans shall report fall semester faculty workload to Institutional Research by November 15.
      3. Institutional Research shall report fall semester ICHE to Regents by January 1.
    4. Internal Report of Realized Faculty Workload (WCHE) for the Current Academic Year
      1. Department chairs shall submit a report of faculty workload for the academic year to the dean by March 15.
      2. Deans shall report the faculty workload for the academic year to the VPAA by April 1.
  4. Phased Implementation of Policy
    1. Fall semester 2006, ICHE shall be used for tracking faculty teaching loads.
    2. Spring semester 2007, ICHE, ACHE, and GCHE shall be used for planning faculty workloads for the 2007-08 academic year.
    3. August 15, 2007, Salaried Faculty Workload - Academic Year policy is fully implemented and Faculty Workload Policy 642 is deleted.
Cara O'Sullivan, Policy Officer | mailto:cara.osullivan@uvu.edu | (801) 836-7355
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