Workload Including Workload Equivalencies and Related Procedures

Pursuant to the University Policy Register 3342-6-18, full-time faculty are defined as those whose sum of their teaching, research, and/or administrative responsibilities and assignments constitutes full-time employment (one hundred percent full-time employment) at Kent State University. 

Furthermore, the University Policy Register establishes that the full-time tenured and tenure-track Faculty are expected to carry a maximum workload of twenty-four (24) credit hours per academic year. All full-time non-tenure track faculty are expected to carry a maximum workload of thirty (30) credit hours per academic year. 
 
Per the faculty handbook of University Libraries, (UL) “All UL faculty work on a 12-month contract. Most functions encompassed in a UL faculty member's workload must be carried on year-round, as a prime library function is to serve the university community whenever service is needed.”

As such, University Libraries faculty are expected to carry summer workloads of twelve (12) credit hours for tenure-track faculty and fifteen (15) credit hours for full-time non-tenure track faculty.

The workload for each individual faculty member is assigned by the dean in collaboration with the supervising assistant or associate dean in accordance with Article IX “Faculty Workload” of the Tenure-Track Collective Bargaining Agreement for tenure-track faculty and in accordance with Article IX “Faculty Workload” of the Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Collective Bargaining Agreement. The workload statement each individual faculty member receives will consist of the summary of workload assignment letter, the workload assignment, and the individual faculty member’s goals.

All faculty workloads shall be made available to all University Libraries faculty and the College Advisory Committee (CAC), for review and discussion.

According to the FTNTT Collective Bargaining Agreement, “each FTNTT faculty member shall receive a statement of his/her specific workload assignment at least thirty (30) days prior to the beginning of the semester”.

According to the TT Collective Bargaining Agreement, “normally, this individual workload statement should be provided to the Faculty member no later than thirty (30) days prior to the end of the academic semester preceding the semester for which the workload is assigned”. 

For University Libraries, the 30 days prior to the end of the preceding semester applies to the summer as well.

Workload is assigned by the dean in collaboration with the supervising assistant or associate dean. Library faculty will have the opportunity to discuss with the dean and their supervising assistant or associate dean the distribution of their duties, considering the operational needs of University Libraries, the faculty member’s need for adequate time to fulfill the principal areas of educational mission, and the skills and expertise of the faculty member. 

Workload assignments developed through consultation shall strive to align with the agreed upon departmental, library and university goals to help fulfill the mission of the libraries and university. 

Formal workload consultations with individual faculty members will happen at least once a year; however, at the discretion of the faculty member or the dean, consultations may occur as often as needed. 

The workload assignment for library faculty will vary according to their assigned duties and collegially determined activities. Responsibilities and goals for librarians will be discussed and determined in the collegial process of consultation that occurs between each librarian, their supervising assistant or associate dean and the dean. 

Librarian workloads shall include considerations of reasonable comparability amongst librarians with similar duties in other units, with recognition of the diversity of duties across the library faculty. 

University Library faculty and administrators are committed to facilitating ongoing informal discussion to assist in prioritizing and balancing tasks and duties within workload assignments. 

When assigning FTNTT faculty workload, the faculty member’s performance review will be taken into consideration.  When assigning tenured Faculty workload, the Faculty member’s workload summary report will be taken into consideration. When assigning pre-tenured Faculty workload, the Faculty member’s annual job performance evaluation will be taken into consideration. 

Faculty will acknowledge that their workloads have been assigned by an email response to the University Library Dean’s office. 

When unforeseen circumstances warrant, a library faculty member may request an in-year adjustment to the workload assignment. In these cases, the dean and supervising assistant or associate dean shall consult with the faculty member and, following discussion, document and revise the workload assignment. 

The workload distribution of a librarian will be taken into account at the time of workload assignment. Through consultation it may be determined that a faculty member’s assignment could deviate from the agreed upon typical workload percentages. For example, some of the effort normally devoted to librarianship may be reassigned to scholarship. This could be prompted by the faculty member’s success in research, or in participating in grant-funded research that is not deemed “University Libraries initiated.” Another example could be when a faculty member established a pattern of low research productivity spanning over two-years. This may result in a reduction in the allocation of effort to research. 

6.1 Scholarship Assignments and Research Plans
The Dean, in consultation with the appropriate supervising associate or assistant dean and CAC, may assign workload equivalencies for scholarly/research activity. Junior tenure-track Faculty will receive an additional 1 credit hour for research (bringing their total to 3.4 credit hours). For consideration of additional research offload, a research plan is highly recommended.

6.2 Service Off-Loads 
The Dean, in consultation with the appropriate supervising associate or assistant dean and CAC, may assign workload equivalencies for service activity. From time to time, faculty may be engaged in significant professional, public, and/or other external service activities. In special cases where this service contributes to fulfilling the goals of the Department, College, and/or University, additional workload equivalencies may be granted to individuals who have taken on external service responsibilities above and beyond normal expectations. Unless already pre-determined by existing University Policy, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and/or previous Departmental action[s], all requests for additional workload equivalencies for activities above and beyond normal expectations will be determined by the dean and the appropriate supervising associate or assistant dean after consultation with CAC.

6.3 Administrative Assignments 
The Dean, in consultation with the appropriate supervising associate or assistant dean and CAC may assign workload equivalencies for administrative service. 

6.4 For-Credit Teaching 
With administrative approval, University Libraries faculty may teach for-credit offerings for other academic units (see overload assignments originating from another academic unit below). These assignments are normally assigned as overload and the curricular unit funds the overload. These assignments can be considered onload, if the assignment advances the goals and mission of University Libraries, examples include information literacy courses or courses on literature searching. In these cases, the determination of onload versus overload is based on a discussion between University Libraries administration, the faculty member and the curricular unit. 

7.1 Originating from within University Libraries
In exceptional circumstances (e.g., staffing challenges, special projects of a strategic nature, functions dictated by university policy), the dean, in consultation with the faculty member’s supervising assistant or associate dean, may assign overload. The amount of overload in credit hours and the duration of the assignment will be determined through consultation.  

7.2 Originating from Another Academic Unit
From time to time, library faculty are engaged by other academic units at Kent State to teach for-credit courses. These assignments are normally considered overload. Library faculty members must have the approval of their supervising assistant or associate dean and the dean to pursue these assignments. Administration will need to evaluate the impact of the potential overload assignment on the faculty members already assigned workload. If approved, this assignment must be documented and signed off on both the academic unit and University Libraries. The faculty member’s workload statement will then recognize this overload assignment.

If a library faculty member does not agree with their workload, they are advised to request a meeting with their supervising assistant or associate dean and the dean for discussion of their concerns.

If, after this consultation, the faculty member remains in disagreement, they can take their concern to the college advisory committee for review. The college advisory committee will consider the faculty member’s concerns and make a recommendation to the dean.