1. Faculty may not be paid stipends or given reduced loads when their duties are specifically listed as an appropriate expectation of faculty under Article IV, B of the Faculty Status and Welfare Handbook, or when a faculty member teaches a course in excess of the maximum contractual load to cover for a faculty member on a one-semester sabbatical leave.
Faculty must be paid stipends, and/or reduced loads granted when
1. the assigned duty or activity is essentially administrative
(a) to department Chairs (or program Directors whose responsibilities and duties are identical, or nearly so, to that of chairs).
(b) to the chair of the Faculty Senate.
(c) where the university does not provide the support personnel normally responsible for such activity and faculty perform these duties out of necessity on a regular and consistent basis.
2. to faculty who teach courses in excess of the contractual load except as in 1 above.
Stipends or reduced loads other that those listed above may be granted for activities that are essentially interdepartmental or supra-departmental, although such activity might be considered the non-compensated responsibility of a faculty member with the approval of his or her department Chair and Dean. To qualify for a stipend or reduced load, a job description must be submitted. This job description must then be reviewed by an ad hoc committee of department Chairs who will compare the description with that of department Chairs and recommend an equitable stipend.
Stipends and Course Reductions for Activities Outside the Classroom.
The practice of paying stipends and/or allowing course load reductions for various activities aside from classroom teaching, while providing practical solutions to problems, subverts the concept of merit-based reward and again distorts efforts to maintain appropriate staffing.
Teaching is the primary responsibility of faculty. The maximum instructional load spelled out in the Faculty status and Welfare Handbook is given in terms of credit hours. Certain types of courses, labs for example, do not have academic credit assignments that reflect the duties and responsibilities imposed on students or faculty that teach them.
In addition to teaching (and research), two components, student advisement and supervision of student research, should be an integral part of what faculty do, perhaps under the rubric of service. In any event, faculty should on average advise 11-12 students each. Department chairs (in the case of declared majors) or deans (in the case of undecided students) should assign advisors based on the proportionate service activities undertaken by department faculty. Chairs or deans would attempt to apportion the advising activities equitably, --not necessarily equally. Supervision of student research during the academic year, whether graduate or undergraduate, should likewise be considered as part of the normal faculty activity. While individual programs may label the activity differently (e.g., senior research, research participation, thesis research, independent study, etc.), the amount of supervision required should be judged by the chairman in conjunction with departmental faculty and the dean. As with student advisement, chairs should attempt to apportion such activity equitably given the overall workload and contribution of individual faculty members. The sum total of such activity as well as its meritorious performance should be considered in faculty evaluations and merit increases.
These two components, essentially intertwined with teaching, should be the collective responsibility of academic departments (or equivalent units) which should then be allowed to deploy resources (human and material) in the manner department faculty find beat reflects the interests of the department and individual members. The university, on the other hand, must provide departments the resources and the flexibility needed to meet their responsibilities and goals without requiring each and every faculty member to participate equally to all of the component functions. Faculty should not receive stipend payments during the academic year for performing these activities, and course load reductions would be the collective responsibility of individual departments.
Should affirmation be given to the concept of collective responsibility, then (most) all departmental activity that is clearly associated with teaching, advising, or research supervisor would not ordinarily receive added compensation. All departmental activities currently receiving such compensation, such as program direction, advising, or student research supervision would fall under the administrative direction of departmental chairs. If the activity is necessary, the collective responsibility for seeing that it is carried out should be the shared responsibility of the department (or unit).
Activities which clearly do not fall within the obligation of an existing department (or unit), that are inter- or supra departmental in scope, should be considered for compensation through a stipend or course load reduction if the activity is essentially administrative. The amount of compensation will be determined according to the procedures outlined in the following section.
Administration
Administering is what administrators do. When faculty are asked to administer, they should be compensated with a stipend and/or an appropriate course load reduction. Compensation should be based both on the administrative workload as well as on the degree of responsibility required. The most prevalent administrative position at this university is that of chairman of an academic department (which, incidentally, should have its limits defined). While the responsibilities and workloads of departmental chairs will vary somewhat depending upon 1) the number of faculty, 2) the number of majors in that department, and 3) resources and facilities assigned to that department; they all share many duties in common. Consequently it is recommended that a base stipend of $2,000 along with a maximum teaching load of 9 credit hours (or the equivalent) be established for all department chairs who shall receive a separate contract or agreement recognizing their summer commitment and who shall assume the responsibility for satisfactorily carrying out all the activities listed in the accompanying common job description. Modest incremental adjustments to an average of $2,500 can be added to the base stipend to account for the variations cited above as well as the level of performance of individual chairs much as current practice permits.
All other activities for which compensation can be considered, including program directors, would require a job description to be compared against the common job description for departmental chairs. This description will be submitted by the chair to the dean and vice-president for academic affairs to an ad hoc committee of chairs. The chairs will recommend appropriate proportionate compensation by comparing the job description with that of their own.