ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH CENTRE. Normal Workload Standards (NWS) General Purpose of the Normal Workload Standard

Transcription

1 ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH CENTRE Normal Workload Standards (NWS) General Purpose of the Normal Workload Standard In keeping with the collective bargaining agreement between BUFA and Brock University (Article 24), the Centre wishes to: a. Recognize the right of faculty to equitable workloads. b. Articulate normal expectations for teaching, research, and service, while recognizing that there may be year-to-year variations. c. Establish equity in workload assignment within the department and across the university. d. Accept that scheduled teaching may vary among members and from year to year for the reasons set out in Article (b) of the Collective Agreement. e. Establish transparency in the process of workload assignment and distribution. f. Provide a basis for compensation of faculty where individual faculty members exceed the expectations of normal workload. 2. General Workload Distribution a. Unless individual arrangements have been made with the Dean, the Centre expectation is that tenured and tenure-stream full-time faculty will carry an overall workload of 40% teaching, 40% research/scholarship, and 20% service. b. The Centre recognizes that scheduled teaching may vary among members and from year to year for the reasons set out in Article (b) of the Collective Agreement. 1

2 3. Normal Teaching Load The normal teaching load shall be a combination of scheduled and unscheduled teaching as to deliver academic programs successfully and to meet the operating obligations of the Centre and University. a. Scheduled teaching i. Scheduled teaching consists of courses that are scheduled to meet in specific location at regular times by the Registrar s Office. ii. Faculty are expected to teach two full scheduled courses each year, graduate and/or undergraduate, typically scheduled over the Fall and Winter academic terms, in or outside the unit. iii. Lectures and Assistant Professors holding probationary, tenure track appointments are awarded a 0.5 FCE teaching release in either their first or second year, as the member chooses, of the probationary appointment. iv. Faculty who are members of the Centre, but whose appointment(s) are in other units, are NOT expected to teach in the Centre, unless individual arrangements have been made to do so on overload or as part of load, in consultation with the Chair of their home unit, and if appropriate, with their respective Dean(s). b. Unscheduled teaching i. Teaching activities that are not scheduled by the Registrar s Office at regular times or in a specific location constitute unscheduled teaching, including (but not limited to) supervision of graduate theses, supervision of major research paper (MRP), supervisory committee memberships, and directed study course instruction (graduate). ii. The role of the thesis supervisor is to guide an individual through the various phases of an independent research project, or in the case of a MRP, guide the individual through a substantive research paper. It is understood that different faculty members have different supervisory styles, and supervisory styles may also vary depending on student needs. A common element in all supervisory relationships, however, generally includes frequent and regular individual meetings with the student, mentorship at all stages of the project design and execution (including critical analysis of relevant literature, design of a study, completion and submission of ethics application, helping the student to acquire any necessary 2

3 additional research training, data collection, and data analysis), and feedback on drafts. iii. Faculty members whose home unit is ESRC will inform the Director of any unscheduled teaching in other units. In any case where a Faculty member is a supervisor or committee member for a thesis, MRP, and/or a directed study course offered as part of a graduate or undergraduate program in another unit, the faculty member shall earn credit toward course release according to the rate of compensation determined by the ESRC Normal Workload Standard. iv. Faculty who are members of the Centre, but whose appointment(s) are in other units, will inform the Chair of their home unit of any unscheduled teaching in ESRC, and their respective Dean as appropriate. In any case where an ESRC faculty member is a supervisor or committee member for a thesis, MRP, and/or a directed study course offered as part of the graduate program in another unit, the Faculty member shall count these contributions towards their overall workload. Credit should also count towards course release according to the rate of compensation determined by their home unit Normal Workload Standard. v. In September each year, the ESRC Members shall report all completed, current and anticipated unscheduled teaching assignments to the Director. vi. Faculty members are normally expected to be involved in unscheduled teaching activities. The unscheduled teaching activities anticipated in the Centre and their values, expressed as a proportion of one half-course equivalent are provided in the following table. The upper boundary of a reasonable amount of unscheduled teaching, expressed as a proportion of one half-course equivalent, is 1. In the case where faculty members agree to cosupervise a student, the value of the activity will be divided equally between them. The values expressed in the chart are based upon best estimates of the average time required for each activity as determined through discussion among members of the program committee. Unscheduled teaching activities: Value of unscheduled teaching activities expressed as a proportion of one half-course equivalent (1): SSAS 5F90 Thesis (supervisor) 0.33 SSAS5F90 Thesis (committee member) 3

4 v SSAS 5F91 MRP (supervisor) 0.25 SSAS 5F91 MRP (second reader) SSAS 5P80 half credit directed study. Teaching release for unscheduled teaching in excess of the upper boundary (above) will be accounted on a five-year rolling average. Faculty members who have engaged in unscheduled teaching in excess of the upper boundary may request teaching release of 0.5 FCE the following year. c. Administrative Teaching Releases i. Centre Director a minimum of 0.5 FCE per year ii. Graduate Program Director a minimum of 0.5 FCE per year 4. Normal Research Workload Standards a. All faculty members are expected to engage actively in research and scholarship, make attempts to obtain funding (if relevant to their scholarly activity), and make efforts to disseminate the results of their work. In line with the transdisciplinary orientation of the Centre, and as set out in Article 24.02(b), it is recognized that these activities and outcomes will vary in nature. b. All faculty are expected to make regular scholarly contributions from their research/scholarly activities to the transdisciplinary subjects of sustainability, the environment and/or related fields. Evidence used to demonstrate the expectation is being met may include, but is not limited to, the items set out Article (b). As per that Article, the selection and weighting of the items appropriate to the candidate s scholarship or creative work. Long-term projects that may take several years for completion also will be considered to satisfy this expectation. 5. Normal Service Workload Standards a. Normal service workload standards for the Centre are set out in the ESRC Rules and Procedures. In terms of Centre service: i. All Members are expected to participate on a minimum of one committee / sub-committee and in a minimum of one initiative annually; ii. All Associates are expected to participate on a minimum of one sub-committee and/or initiative annually; and, iii. All Affiliates are expected to positively contribute to one ESRC initiative annually. 4

5 b. Faculty members usually also participate regularly in some combination of university-level, and/or external professional association or community committees. 5