Rule 31006: Faculty Workload and Reporting Requirements

1.  Title

Faculty Workload and Reporting Requirements

2.  Rule and Regulation

Sec. 1  Purpose.   Pursuant to Texas Education Code Section 51.402, this Rule establishes the general workload policy for faculty employed at an academic institution of higher education in The University of Texas System. The Rule also establishes the reporting requirements associated with faculty workload.

Sec. 2  Importance of Faculty.   Faculty play a fundamental role in advancing an institution of higher education and in fostering student success. The quality and value of a university education are in large part defined by the faculty. The curricula the faculty design, the programs they offer, the learning environment they create, the instructional methods they employ, the research they conduct, the creative works they produce, the service they provide, and their professional engagement with students inside and outside of the classroom, including advising, are important components of the educational experience. As such, institutions of higher education supported by public funds have the responsibility to fully utilize their faculty resources in ways that achieve the greatest possible educational benefit.

Sec. 3  General Provisions for Faculty Workload 

3.1  Through established shared governance processes, each academic institution shall establish a faculty workload policy that adheres to the following general provisions.

3.2  The institution’s workload policy shall set forth equitable and fair guidelines that permit each department chair (or head of a comparable academic unit), under the supervision of the dean, to best deploy departmental faculty to foster student success and advance the department’s mission.

3.3  A chair may assign differential teaching loads for circumstances such as graduate instruction, research activities, time bought out by external grants, administrative assignments, large class sizes, team-taught courses, significant advising responsibilities, or other activities aligned with the institution’s mission and/or critical to student success.

3.4  A chair may assign differential teaching loads based on the expectations of tenured and tenure-track faculty who have active and productive research/scholarly/creative programs, tenured faculty who are less active in research/scholarly/ creative work, and nontenure-track faculty.

3.5  An institution’s faculty workload policy shall recognize that classroom teaching, basic and applied research, service, and professional development are important elements of faculty workloads by giving appropriate weight to each activity when determining the standards for faculty workload.

3.6  Each institution may give the same or different weight to each activity and to other activities recognized by the institution as important elements of faculty workloads.

3.7  The president of each academic institution shall submit the initial faculty workload policy for review and approval by the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

Sec. 4  Reporting Requirements 

4.1  The president shall designate an officer to monitor workloads, prepare and review appropriate workload reports, and submit the reports to the institutional head for certification or approval and comments as may be appropriate.

4.2  Each institution shall submit the Faculty Reports (CBM-008) required by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

4.3  Within 30 days of the end of each academic year, each institution shall file with the Board of Regents a report, by department, of the academic duties and services performed by each member of the faculty during the nine-month academic year, showing evidence of compliance with requirements established by the Board.

4.4  The report of academic duties and services performed by each member of the faculty, based on data submitted in the CBM-008, shall indicate all appointments held by the faculty member in the employing institution, the salary paid to each appointment, the percent of time of each appointment, and the source of funds from which salary payments were made.

4.5  For a faculty member paid partially from a source of funds other than state appropriations, the teaching load shall be proportioned to the percentage of salary paid from state appropriations.

4.6  Upon the request of an institution, if additional time is needed to prepare the report to the Board of Regents, the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs is authorized to extend the deadline for submission.

3.  Definitions

None

4.  Relevant Federal and State Statutes 

Texas Education Code Section 51.402 – Report of Institutional and Academic Duties 

5.  Relevant System Policies, Procedures, and Forms 

None 

6.  Who Should Know 

Administrators 
Faculty 

7.  System Administration Office(s) Responsible for Rule 

Office of Academic Affairs 

8.  Dates Approved or Amended 

Regents’ Rules Revision History 

9.  Contact Information 

Questions or comments regarding this Rule should be directed to: 
•  bor@utsystem.edu