Guidelines for Responsible Assignment of Overloads
Department of Operations and Management
College of Management
The Department of Operations and Management will use the guidelines listed below to manage the
allocation of overload assignments. They are based on the assumptions that:
 All faculty are responsible to engage in teaching, research and service activities. Faculty teaching
workload in the department of Operations and Management is 12 credits per semester.
 Academic staff are hired to primarily teach classes. The teaching load for academic staff is 15
credits. They have no responsibility to perform research or service.
 Teaching loads for faculty and staff teaching laboratory classes will be adjusted accordingly
based on the number of contact hours required for the classes.
 High quality instruction is a significant expectation of all Stout courses. Using regularly employed
faculty and staff in overload assignments assumes that consistent, high quality instruction will
be demonstrated in all course offerings, including overload assignments.
Guidelines for of overload assignments
1. Faculty and staff have the right to accept or reject an overload assignment. The Department
chair cannot require any one to work an overload assignment as part of their regular
responsibilities.
2. Overloads are considered as promotion and tenure neutral. Overloads will not be considered as
a positive or negative contribution to promotion or tenure documents.
3. Overloads shall not be considered as contributing to, or detracting from, faculty and staff
performance in probationary or post tenure reviews.
4. Faculty may request one overload per semester provided they meet their yearly goals for
teaching, service, and research. In the event goals are not met, faculty will not be allowed to
work an overload in the following year.
5. Faculty and academic staff requesting overloads must maintain student course evaluations in
the upper 25 percentile of evaluation rating scale. Probationary faculty and academic staff must
conduct student course evaluations in all courses taught in the semesters in which they have an
overload. Tenured faculty must conduct course evaluation in two regularly assigned classes and
in the overload course. in the event student satisfaction is not maintained, faculty and academic
staff will not be allowed to work an overload until the student satisfaction ratings are increased
to an acceptable level.
6. Faculty are expected to engage in research and scholarly activities as defined by department
bylaws. Faculty working on overload assignments must show tangible evidence that research
and scholarly activities are being accomplished according to their annual goals. If goals are not
met, overloads cannot be assigned.
7. Faculty are expected to engage in service to the department, college, university and community
as defined in departmental bylaws. Faculty working on overload assignments must annually
show tangible evidence that they are engaged in service or overloads may not be assigned.
8. Unique or emergency situations, such as extended sick leave by another faculty or staff, may
result in the chair seeking volunteers to accept an overload to relieve the situation. These
situations will be handled on on individual basis and these guidelines may be modified to
accommodate each unique scenario.
9. Faculty and academic staff must fully participate in the regular and overload courses to continue
with overload work. This includes updating curriculum, conducting regularly scheduled classes,
grading, timely feedback, and responsive student communication.