03:01:01:00 DSCC Definition of Faculty and Faculty Guidelines

Purpose:

The purpose of this policy is to provide a definition of the term faculty, delineate faculty status, academic rank and establish the expectations for faculty members in regard to faculty guidelines, faculty appointments, schedules, advising, teaching loads, faculty development, office hours and faculty office assignments.

Scope:

This policy applies to all full-time DSCC faculty members

Policy:

Definition of Faculty

  1. The word faculty shall be limited to regular, full-time personnel at DSCC whose primary assignments include instruction, research, and/or public service as a principal activity and who hold academic rank as professor, associate professor, assistant professor or instructor.
    1. The words regular, full-time personnel as used in the definition of faculty is limited to those persons whose appointments are for a complete academic or fiscal year.
    2. The word faculty should not, for the purpose of this statement, include members of DSCC’s personnel defined as adjunct faculty or part-time teachers. The word adjunct faculty is defined as professional staff members of businesses, industries and other agencies and organizations who are appointed by DSCC administrators on a part-time basis to carry out instructional, research, or public service functions.
  2. If not otherwise included within the above definition of faculty, the word faculty may include, provided that they hold academic rank, administrators at the institution.
  3. Academic rank is an element of faculty status and shall be limited to faculty within the above definition. Academic rank may only be assigned to faculty who meet the minimum rank criteria under Tennessee Board of Regents Policy 05:02:02:30- Faculty Promotion Recommendations at Community Colleges, and that policy shall control any promotion in rank.

Faculty Guidelines

Responsibility for the instructional program rests with the teaching faculty.  This includes ensuring the content, quality and effectiveness of the curriculum, which is directly related and appropriate to the mission and goals of the College, and the degrees and certificates awarded.  Excellence in teaching (i.e. teaching that conveys the excitement of learning) stands foremost among the challenges and responsibilities of the College.  Within this framework, faculty members have certain routine objectives, some of which are as follows:

  1. To devote an equivalent of 37.5 hours of work per week; deliver a minimum of 15 TLE (Teaching Load Equivalency) per semester (or 30 TLE per two-semester academic year); and to hold a minimum of 10 office hours each week, which includes 12 hours of discretionary time (classwork, research, service, etc).
  2. To assist the Division Administrator(s) in the development of a departmental schedule of classes for each term.
  3. To recommend adoption of course instructional materials in collaboration with other faculty in the department and in consultation with the applicable Department Coordinator and Division Dean. Faculty who utilize the online and/or hybrid methods of delivery should also consult the Director of Teaching and Learning to ensure course instructional materials meet applicable guidelines for asynchronous course delivery. Faculty who utilize direct billing must communicate that information at the appropriate time with the Division Dean, DSCC Bookstore Manager, and DSCC Business Office Manager.
  4. To participate in faculty activities to improve professional effectiveness.
  5. To participate in the continuous improvement process by documenting the assessment of student learning outcomes, the analysis of the results and the development of improvement plans based on the analysis for the courses taught and to enter them in the assessment management system.
  6. To carry out supervision of classroom/laboratory activity, private and other instruction in a conscientious and professional manner.
  7. To meet all classes promptly as scheduled. If any issues arise, contact the appropriate Division Dean’s office as soon as possible and copy your Department Coordinator (if applicable).
  8. Advising students may occur during office hours each semester.
  9. To close and lock classroom and laboratory doors when class is in session.

Faculty Appointments

Personnel appointed on an academic year shall be on duty for not less than nine months, which shall commence from the time designated by the President prior to the fall term of each year through the time designated by the President at the end of the spring term, and shall be subject to call for duty during that period regardless of whether classes are in session.    

Faculty Teaching Schedules

Faculty members are employed to work within schedules, day or evening, weekday or weekend, to meet the needs of students.  The faculty in each division and the Discipline Coordinators/Division Dean should work together to prepare a schedule equitable to all faculty in that division.  The proper course offerings and schedule of these courses are initiated and approved by the division and submitted to the Vice President for the College.  Course offerings and teaching schedules are made with consideration for the students as well as the faculty members within the physical limits of facilities on the main campus and at the off-campus centers.  Instructors are expected to meet for the duration of the scheduled times.

Faculty Teaching Load

Division Deans and Discipline Coordinators will take into consideration off-campus teaching assignments, online assignments and evening teaching assignments when determining the number of different courses (with different preparations) to be assigned to each faculty member each semester.  In the event that the needs of the College require that above-average numbers of off-campus, evening, and/or different courses be assigned to a given faculty member in a given semester, this assignment will be taken into consideration, to the extent possible, in the making of subsequent semester assignments for that faculty member.  (However, it should be noted that in the case of some disciplines, above-average numbers of different courses are an unavoidable, regular feature of faculty teaching assignments; in some cases, this may be offset by a lack of off-campus and/or evening assignments.) Granting of release time for special faculty assignments will be recommended by the Vice President for the College, upon favorable consideration of a proposal for such release time, with written rationale, such proposal having been made by faculty, Division Dean, or Vice President for the College prior to the beginning of the semester.

Faculty Development

While all faculty members are responsible for their own continued professional development, DSCC recognizes the need to provide its full-time faculty with professional development opportunities. Each year, DSCC provides planned and organized faculty development programs. In addition, funds are made available through the Faculty and Staff Development Fund to attend conferences, develop and improve new learning strategies, improve instructional technology skills, learn about other new developments, and gain knowledge in academic disciplines.

To utilize the funds available from the Faculty and Staff Development Fund, faculty members must complete a Faculty/Staff Development Funding Request and submit it to the Faculty/Staff Development Committee. After the conclusion of the development activity, the faculty member must report the results by completing a Report on Professional Development Activities form.

The forms are available in MyDSCC on the Employee Tab under Employee Forms.

Office Hours

Each faculty member must maintain a minimum of 10 hours of scheduled office hours. Faculty members who teach online courses may, as part of their minimum requirement of ten office hours per week, conduct online office hours. The number of hours for online or “virtual” office hours will normally be no more than two hours for each online course, and must not exceed 50 percent of the total number of required office hours. Adjunct faculty members are expected to be accessible prior to the start of class and at the conclusion of the class.

For further information, see the related Tennessee Board of Regents policy 5:01:00:00 – General Personnel Policy.

Faculty Absences

Nine-, ten- and eleven-month academic personnel, full or part-time, whether compensated over a twelve-month period, are not eligible to accrue annual leave. Instructors who must be absent from the campus should file a request in advance through the Division Dean for approval of the absence. Permission will only be given with a clear understanding that the class work missed will be made up and that the revamped class schedule will be determined by concurrence of all class members. It is the responsibility of the Division Dean to recommend arrangements to cover the absences of faculty.

Faculty Sick Leave

Regular full-time employees and academic personnel, regardless of probationary status, are eligible to accrue sick leave. Full-time academic personnel shall accrue sick leave at the rate of 7.5 hours (1 day) for each month of actual service. Whenever possible, sick leave requests should be submitted in advance to the appropriate Division Dean for their department.

Scheduled Sick Leave: For doctor appointments and other scheduled sick leave, the faculty
member should obtain pre-approval from the Division Dean by filling out the Dyersburg State Community College “Employee Leave Request Form,” which can be found in MyDSCC on the Employee tab in the “DSCC Employee Forms” webpage. Completed forms are processed in Banner and time taken reported on the “Leave Report” at month end by the faculty member. The departmental secretary keeps a total of the number of hours a faculty member takes in a given month to ensure accurate reporting of time in Banner. Upon completion and approval of reported time, the information is reported electronically to Payroll to complete the appropriate adjustments to leave time in Banner.

Non-Scheduled Sick Leave

  1. The faculty member communicates with the appropriate Division Dean and Coordinator (when applicable) via email and copies the Division Dean’s Secretary stating that he/she is unable to come to the DSCC Campus, Center, or other off-site location that day.
  2. After receiving the notification of sick status from the faculty member, the Dean (or his/her designee) determines the appropriate action to take.
  3. The Division Dean’s Office communicates the information to the off-campus Center or other location (if applicable).
  4. The Division secretary notates the faculty absence and does not discharge the absence until receipt of the Employee Leave Request Form.
  5. The faculty member fills out an Employee Leave Request Form upon return to work, reports 7.5 hours for each day missed, and forwards the form to the departmental secretary. Any exception to reporting 7.5 hours must be approved through consultation with the Division Dean and will be taken on a case-by-case basis.
  6. The departmental secretary compares hours reported on the Employee Leave Request Form to the notation made of the absence. Upon agreement, the secretary forwards the form to the Division Dean for approval.
  7. Approved forms are kept by the Division secretary until the end of the month.
  8. At month’s end, the Division secretary adds the hours to be reported per faculty member, compares those hours to the number reported by the faculty member in Banner Web Time Entry, and submits Web Time Entry approval to the dean. The dean then approves the entries and submits to Payroll for appropriate adjustments to leave time in Banner.

    A faculty member with an unauthorized absence may be subject to a salary adjustment.

Faculty Office Assignments

Faculty members are assigned office space by the Vice President for the College in consultation with the Division Dean.  No office assignment changes are made without permission of the Vice President for the College.  Any movement of office furniture and equipment must be requested by an Issue Track to the Maintenance Office and to Computer Services for inventory control.  Painting the walls, hanging wall decorations, or using other wall hangings should be done in a way that will not damage the walls. Generally speaking, office space assignments will be determined with consideration of faculty primary workstation, division and/or department location, and faculty seniority at DSCC.

Faculty Evaluations

03:01:06:00 is the faculty evaluation policy.

Compliance:

All regular, full-time faculty members are required to comply with the routine instructional objectives. Any non-compliance will be addressed in in faculty evaluations.

Definitions:

Student Learning Outcomes: The competencies that students are expected to master in a course.

Teaching Load: The normal teaching load is an average of 15 TLE per semester. Supervising a laboratory, independent study, and other special types of instruction are equated at various rates.

Principal Activity: the person’s regular assignment in the areas of instruction, research, and/or public service must be at least fifty percent (50%) of the total assigned duties.

Revision History:

Policy written May, 2005. Policy revised October, 2012; approved by Administrative Council on 12/14/2012. Policy Revised October 2022; approved by Administrative Council on 10/27/2022.