Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff Teaching Responsibilities and Workload (Policy #250)

250

This policy establishes UW–Whitewater’s institutional expectations for teaching responsibilities, workload, and credit‑hour equivalencies, including how those teaching responsibilities may be adjusted. It ensures the university complies with statutory minimum teaching requirements while allowing for mission‑ and discipline‑specific variations.

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

This policy applies to all UW–Whitewater faculty and instructional academic staff (IAS). 

Academic department: An academic department or its functional equivalent which could include but is not limited to schools, colleges, divisions, department-like bodies, centers, clinics, institutes, programs, or other academic units that have been formally recognized by the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. 

Administrative Duties: Responsibilities involving the operation and strategic development of an institution or unit.

Chairperson: The administrator of the academic department, including oversight of personnel, budget, and operations. 

Instructional academic staff (IAS): Academic staff members with teaching responsibilities, within TTC job family “Teaching and Learning” job subfamily “Teaching and Instruction of For-Credit Courses,” which includes but is not limited to Lecturer, Teaching Professor (all levels), and Teaching Faculty (all levels), but does not include adjunct or visiting instructional academic staff or instructional academic staff who are librarians.

Instructional Employee Development: Activities that strengthen pedagogical practice, deepen disciplinary expertise, support career progression, and ensure high-quality instruction across the institution. These can include but are not limited to: new and early career development, post-tenure review remediation, implementation of best practices in teaching, learning, and development of disciplinary expertise, development and improvement of select courses, and faculty readaptation. 

Instructional Employees: Faculty or instructional academic staff. 

Teaching is one component of faculty and instructional academic staff duties, which, beyond instruction, may include research, scholarly and creative activity, and service. They may also include administrative duties. 

Teaching workload minimums are set at 24 credit hours per academic year. 

Each instructional employee must teach at least one (1) course per semester. Instructional employees with a twelve-month contract must also teach at least one (1) course during the summer session.  

Instructional employees with clinical appointments may meet their requirements through alternative measures and instructional activities that contribute to the advancement of the students, residents, and fellows under their purview. Instructional expectations shall be documented in the employee’s job descriptions or employment agreement consistent with this policy, and performance related to these expectations will be assessed annually.

A. Credit Hour Equivalencies

The academic colleges may develop credit hour equivalency policies that permit instructional employees to meet their required teaching responsibilities under Wis. Stat. § 36.115(10) for academic work leading to the award of credit hours. The policies should include as appropriate, graduate instruction, high-enrollment courses, writing-intensive courses, laboratory, studio and discussion sessions, individual instruction, internships/field work, clinical instruction and supervision, dissertation and thesis supervision, etc.

B. Adjustments to Teaching Workload Minimums

Instructional employees’ teaching responsibilities may be adjusted as follows. 

I. Chairperson Duties

Academic department chairs’ and assistant or associate deans’ teaching responsibilities may be reduced commensurate with their duties in that role.  

An academic department includes both departments within colleges and department-like bodies, including but not limited to the examples of Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Learning, Scholarship and Technology (CATLST) and the Honors Program.  Teaching responsibilities may be adjusted as chairperson, as long as it meets the definition within this policy, even if not utilizing the title of chairperson.

II. Administrative Duties
Other administrative duties involving the operation and strategic development of an institution not involving personnel, budget, or operations may be considered to the extent permitted under UW System policy. These could include but are not limited to shared governance responsibilities, program coordinators, assistant chairs and course coordinators. 

III. Sabbatical and other leave

Instructional employees on sabbatical, federal and/or Wisconsin Family and Medical Leave Act leave, family leave, a leave of absence or other approved leave that changes their teaching assignment(s) are not required to meet the teaching hour requirement in this policy.

IV. Buyout 

The number of credit hours an instructional employee is required to teach can be reduced through buyout.  The buyout must equal the proportional cost of the approved course release using the instructional employee’s base salary and fringe benefit rate. The funding sources for the buyout must comply with system policy and be clearly documented.  These buyouts must be approved annually by the academic dean.  

V. Additional adjustments 

In addition to those listed above, instructional employees have other duties and considerations that result in an adjustment to their workload to the extent permitted under UW System policy. These could include but are not limited to: market considerations, instructional employee development, and accreditation requirements.   Accreditation requirements include adjustments to teaching loads consistent with any accreditor’s course size or other relevant expectations. 

Wis. Stat. § 36.115(8) and (10), 36.65(2)(dm) and (dn), and 36.65(6)(b) and (c),

Chapter 20, Wis. Stats.

RPD 20-25 

UWSA Policy 200-Interim 03 and Appendix A

First Approved: May 14, 2026

Scheduled Review: May 14, 2031

Questions regarding the interpretation of this policy should be directed to:

Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Telephone: 262-472-1672

Email: provost@uww.edu