Faculty Workload

Faculty Workload

To ensure the academic quality of its courses, Excelsior University must set reasonable limitations on the number of courses a part-time faculty member may teach in a given term or year. Excelsior has placed a limit on the number of hours an part-time faculty member may teach for the University within a calendar year.

Based on 45 hours per course credit Carnegie Unit, the maximum teaching load for part-time faculty is as follows:

  • 1950 hours or approximately fourteen (14) 3-SH course sections per calendar year
  • No more than 9 SHs may be taught by any part-time faculty member at one time

Notes: The 9-SH teaching load limit may vary at the discretion of the dean for sections with low enrollment and independent studies with lower workloads. In addition, time spent on course development and revisions as a subject matter expert will count toward the 1950 pool of hours.

Part-time instructors who go over the limit stated by this policy will not be eligible to teach or serve as a subject matter expert until the following calendar year unless approved by the provost or designee.

Full-Time Faculty: Full-time faculty load is defined as 10 3 SH courses per academic year. Ideally, the guidance is that FT faculty teach no more than two sections per term. To encourage maximum impact for our students, FT faculty should be booked into sections with 20+ students.

PROCEDURE

The University must demonstrate to outside accrediting bodies that its policy on part-time faculty course limitations is both reasonable and strictly enforced.

Exceptions to this procedure will be made only with the approval of the provost or designee and may be made only on rare occasions and according to the following specific criteria:

  • A compelling student need for an additional section
  • A compelling program need to staff course sections
  • Emergency situations due to faculty absences from the course, etc.

Associate deans and/or department chairs that are asking for an exception to the policy must make the request within the Salesforce Faculty Management System before a contract can be sent to a faculty member. Written documentation (email, etc.) should be stored in the faculty record in Salesforce.

For current staff/full time faculty who teach courses or develop courses at Excelsior University, please speak with your dean for teaching limits.