Workload Policies – Being Clear and Transparent Goes a Long Way

IU is in the midst of a policy realignment process. These policies cover a range of issues from our academic calendar to program and faculty reviews. How do we create new programs? How do we evaluate administrators? How do we evaluate faculty – pre and post tenure, tenured, or on the non-tenure track? The rigor we bring to bear on our research and instruction is a point of pride for all of us at IU Indianapolis and our policies should reflect this.

In thinking about faculty evaluation and post-tenure review policies, it is best to consider these in the context of unit level workload policies. What is a faculty member’s annual workload? Is it a 40/40/20 load with 40% of workload allocated towards research, 40% towards teaching and 20% towards service? What does a 40% teaching load look like? What does it mean for research? What does a 20% service commitment mean?

The disciplinary diversity at a university like ours allows for differences in expectations across schools, colleges, and departments. For example, the research expectations for business school faculty, such as peer-reviewed publications and citations, can differ from those for faculty in the department of biology, who are often evaluated based on federally funded grants and peer-reviewed publications. Similarly, a faculty member’s teaching load could vary depending on the class size – teaching a class with 200 students versus 40, or teaching 4 courses versus teaching 4 courses and overseeing doctoral and post-doctoral students. Service levels also differ based on the type of work (serving on a promotion and tenure committee is quite different from serving on a parking committee).

A clear and transparent workload policy also helps faculty as they move up the ranks. The service expectations for junior faculty may be minimal until they receive tenure. Similarly, a full professor may be expected to move to a 50% teaching, 30% research, 20% service if their research does not grow over time. Sound workload policies are also important for faculty on the non-tenure track where the teaching and service expectations are higher.

An effective workload policy should improve transparency of expectations while respecting disciplinary differences in the way we teach, research, and serve. Interestingly, input from faculty through the COACHE survey (2023) pointed to the need for clear and transparent workload policies. I have also heard the same suggestion from faculty that I meet at my Jag Table Talk sessions at Teas Me.

Download a resource on workload policies and get the implementation toolkit.

Go Jags!

Latha Ramchand
Chancellor