Responsible University Officer:
Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost
Responsible Office:
Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor &
Provost
FACULTY WORKLOAD POLICY
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Purpose
The University of North Carolina Board of Governors’ Policy 400.3.4 requires constituent institutions to
develop and implement policies and procedures to monitor faculty teaching loads and to approve
significant or sustained variations from expected minimums. These policies must include the criteria and
approval process for reductions in institutional load attendant to other faculty responsibilities.
UNC Policy 400.3.4 also requires each institution to adopt a standard methodology for collecting data to
monitor teaching loads, and to implement an annual faculty performance evaluation policy that measures
and rewards all aspects of faculty workload.
This document describes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Faculty Workload Policy
pursuant to UNC Policy 400.3.4.
Definitions
Faculty Workload: The entirety of a faculty member’s responsibilities that may include instruction,
research, clinical duties, public service, and other duties as assigned.
Standard Annual Faculty Teaching Load: The minimum number of organized class courses faculty are
expected to teach in a given academic year as defined in UNC Policy 400.3.4.
Faculty Teaching Load: The number of semester credit hours or courses an individual faculty member
is assigned to teach in a semester or an academic year.
Policy Statement
Faculty Workload
Consistent with other major research institutions, the overall workload of UNC-Chapel Hill faculty
members typically includes teaching; instruction-related activities such as advising and course
development; research, scholarship, and creative expression; clinical duties (in health affairs); service
to the University, the community, and the profession; administration; and related activities required to
support the mission of the University.
Faculty Teaching Loads
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has established teaching workload criteria based on the
standard annual faculty teaching load defined in UNC Policy 400.3.4. For research universities, this
standard teaching load consists of four (4) organized class courses per academic year (fall and spring).
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UNC Policy 400.3.4 indicates that reductions in the standard annual faculty teaching load are
justifiable due to increased administrative responsibilities, externally-funded research, course
buyouts, and additional institutional and departmental service obligations.
Teaching loads for individual faculty may vary from the average four-course annual load based on the
type of faculty position and the terms and conditions of the appointment. For example, faculty
appointed to fixed-term Lecturer positions in which teaching is the primary responsibility may be
assigned loads that exceed the average. Appointments to faculty positions with research rank
modifiers, often funded completely by sponsored research grants, may carry few, if any, teaching
duties.
Teaching workload criteria may differ by school or department based on factors that include the
following: the unique mission of the unit, the nature of instruction in the discipline; the structure of the
curriculum (e.g., measured in terms of contact hours instead of traditional 3-credit-hour semester
courses); accreditation requirements for professional education; faculty responsibility for supervision
of practica, internship, and clerkship experiences; special service obligations to the public;
responsibility for patient care; obligations for delivering non-credit continuing education to
professionals in the state; and other factors.
Establishing and Approving Faculty Workload and Teaching Load Criteria
UNC Policy 400.3.4 acknowledges the complexity of faculty work activities and notes that individual
faculty teaching loads are best managed at the department and school level, and not the system or
state level. UNC-Chapel Hill faculty workload criteria are established and reviewed for compliance
with the Board of Governors and the University’s teaching workload policies. Processes are in place
to approve significant or sustained variations from expected minimums.
University Level. The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost will assign responsibility for
developing school-level faculty workload policies to the Deans, will review and approve these policies
in the context of University and Board of Governors policy, and will review and approve any
significant departures from the established teaching workload criteria.
College/School Level. In consultation with department Chairs or other school leadership, Deans will
develop school-based faculty workload policies that address criteria for teaching loads. These policies will
be submitted for review and approval by the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. The Dean will also
review and approve department-level faculty workload policies and any significant departures from
school-level policies. In schools without a department structure, or at the Dean’s discretion, the schoollevel policy may apply across the organization.
Department Level. Department Chairs will develop unit-level faculty workload policies and criteria for
teaching loads that are consistent with University and school-based policies while taking into account
unique factors related to the mission of the unit and instructional practices appropriate to the discipline.
Department workload policies should address course equivalencies and conditions under which individual
faculty teaching-load modifications may be approved in response to increased administrative
responsibilities, externally-funded research, including course buy-outs, and additional institutional and
departmental service obligations. These policies will be submitted for review and approval by the Dean.
Individual Faculty Workload Assignments. The department Chair (or the Dean in schools without
separate departments) is responsible for planning and approving the workload assignments of
individual faculty members. Department Chairs may take into account the needs of the school,
department, programs, and students as well as the faculty member’s qualifications and appointment
conditions in assigning individual faculty workloads. Assignments that vary significantly from
expected department and school teaching loads must be approved by the Dean.
Joint Appointments. For faculty with appointments in more than one department, the Chair (or
Dean as appropriate) of the department in which the faculty member has his/her primary appointment
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is responsible for planning and approving the workload of the faculty member in consultation with the
chairs of the other appointing units.
Monitoring and Reporting on Faculty Teaching Workload
In accordance with UNC Policy 400.3.4, UNC-Chapel Hill will use the University of Delaware’s National
Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity methodology for collecting data on an annual basis to
monitor faculty workload. These data, aggregated at the department level, will be used to monitor
University workload policies. Faculty teaching loads in clinical departments in Medicine and Dentistry,
which are not included in the National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity, will be monitored
using standards defined by the accreditation and professional bodies governing those organizations.
Annual Faculty Evaluation Process
Each school will implement annual faculty performance evaluation policies and procedures that measure
and reward all aspects of faculty workload, separately and in combination. The evaluations may be
conducted in conjunction with, but not in place of, the evaluations prescribed in the University’s existing
policies related to untenured and post-tenure faculty.
Related Regulations, Statutes, and Related Policies
UNC Policy 400.3.4 Faculty Workload Policy. UNC Board of Governors.
Policy on Untenured Faculty. Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Academic Personnel
Policies.
Post-Tenure Review Policy for Tenured Faculty. Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Academic Personnel Policies.
Contacts
Subject
Contact
Telephone
Email
Institutional and schoolbased faculty workload
policies and procedures
Dr. Ron Strauss, Executive Vice
Provost
919-962-2198
ron_strauss@unc.edu
Teaching workload data
collection procedures
Dr. Lynn Williford, Assistant Provost
Institutional Research & Assessment
919-962-1339
lynn_williford@unc.edu
Document History
Effective Date: September 1, 2014
Last Revised Date: September 1, 2014
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