Faculty Workload

Section 4.L – Faculty Workload

During the academic year, full-time faculty are expected to be on-campus for instructional and institutional activities such as teaching, advising, office hours, meetings, and events required by the College.

Full-time faculty primarily teaching lecture-based courses will have a teaching load of 18-21 contact hours per week. Full-time faculty primarily teaching a combination of lecture, lab, and team-teaching courses will have a load of 24-27 contact hours per week. Full-time instructors in non-credit programs will have a load of 30-33 credit hours per week. The workweek for all full- time employees including faculty and non-credit instructors consists of 40 hours of accountability to the College. Full-time faculty and instructors are expected to hold five office hours weekly with increased office hours during periods of orientation for employees and students, registration and advising. Faculty, Department Chair, and Program Head workloads may be adjusted up or down based on course enrollment, course delivery format, number of course preparations,student graduation requirements, and other factors affecting the viability of a course or schedule.

Adjunct faculty or part-time instructor teaching loads may vary but should not exceed 18 contact hours weekly unless approved by the academic dean and vice president.

Offload Contracts for Full-time Faculty

An Offload contract may be provided to full-time faculty who, if teaching lecture-basedcourses has 21 contact hours per week or if teaching a combination of lecture, lab, and team-teaching courses has 27 contact hours per week, agrees to teach additional courses and/or sections.

Offload contracts for full-time faculty will be determined based upon several factors including the number of courses taught, number of course preparations, and number of students enrolled at the 10% date of the semester. Thus, offload contracts for full-time faculty will be awarded after the 10% point. Offload contracts must be approved by the Department Chair, Academic Dean, and Vice President of Instruction and Student Services.

(approved November 18, 2019)

Procedures

Full-time Faculty Workload Model

Full-time faculty carry responsibility in two areas:

• Teaching and Learning – 80% of a full-time faculty position is comprised of instruction, which includes classroom teaching and grading student work, course design, advising and office hours.
• Institutional Service – 20% of a full-time faculty position is comprised of service to the institution, which includes committee service, advising student clubs and organizations, student recruiting or other duties such as service on a short-term task force or committee, assisting with College events, and professional development.

A traditional workload includes responsibilities in both areas listed above.

A non-traditional workload can be established for full-time faculty when departmental or College goals temporarily require faculty time and attention outside of the traditional workload. Determined before the start of an 8 or 16-week academic term, non-traditional workloads adjust the percentages in each of the responsibility areas for a defined period of time to enable faculty to assume other duties. Program head, Dean and VP approval are required for establishing a non-traditional workload.

Work Week and On-Campus Requirements

The workweek for all full-time employees, including faculty and continuing education instructors, consists of 40 minimum hours of accountability to the College as part of the normal (5) day work week consistent with the faculty job description. During the academic year (fall and spring semesters), full-time curriculum faculty are expected to be physically present on-campus a minimum of 24 hours (subject to change) each week for instructional and institutional activities such as teaching, advising, office hours, meetings, and events as required by the College. Exceptions to this must be approved by the VGCC Human Resources Office.

Traditional Curriculum Faculty Instructional Workload Determination

Three factors determine full-time faculty workload in the instruction category (80%): weekly course contact hours, the number of students enrolled in course sections, student FTE per 16-week semester. Higher numbers in any one category may off-set lower numbers in another category.

Full-time faculty in math, science, English, foreign language, social sciences, humanities, fine arts, physical education/health, business, education, medical office administration, criminal justice/public safety administration, paralegal, information technology and human services disciplines will normally teach an 18-21 instructional contact hour workload per 16-week semester, or 36-42 instructional contact hours per academic year (fall and spring semesters).

Full-time faculty in other disciplines such as nursing, radiography, medical assisting, welding, automotive technology, cosmetology, HVAC, culinary, mechatronics, and electronics will normally teach a 24-27 instructional contact hour workload per 16-week semester, or 48-54 instructional contact hours per academic year (fall and spring semesters).

The minimum student enrollment per course section is 10 students.

NOTE: Highly experiential programs may require practical experience courses that do not fit into normal contact hour workloads. In these instances, deans and program heads will work with faculty to determine workload.

NOTE: Some courses may be designed for concurrent instruction. Such courses will count as one course in faculty workload determination.

NOTE: Continuing education course instruction will be included in instructional workload for full-time curriculum faculty (contact hours and course prep) according to the following:

• If continuing education students and curriculum students are enrolled in the same course section, the course section counts as one course in the curriculum faculty workload.
• If a curriculum faculty member teaches separate curriculum and continuing education course sections, both sections will count in the faculty workload.

Office Hours

In addition to course instruction, full-time faculty are expected to schedule and attend at least five office hours weekly for meeting with students. Office hours are periods of time during the work week specifically established for students to meet with faculty. Office hours may also be used by faculty to engage in student outreach and recruitment activities. Faculty are expected to be available during all scheduled office hours. Up to two (2) office hours per week may be designated as virtual office hours only. Faculty must be in real time during these office hours. The other three must be held in-person on a campus unless otherwise arranged with a Program Head, Department Chair and Dean.

Course Viability, FTE and Distribution of Instructional Load

Course Viability

To be considered a viable course, at least 10 students must be enrolled by the course’s first day of class. Course sections with 10 or more students will be included in full-time faculty instructional loads.

Program Heads, Department Chairs and Academic Deans, in consultation with the Vice President of Learning, Student Engagement and Success are responsible for deciding whether a course with less than 10 students will remain on the schedule. If a course is approved to continue with less than 10 students, it will be included as part of the faculty instructional workload. All efforts will be made by Department Chairs, Program Heads and Academic Deans to limit excessive course preparations for faculty.

Student FTE

FTE is a way to measure the amount of course hours taken by students. For actual FTE, one FTE equals 512 scheduled class hours per year. A full-time faculty instructional load must yield a minimum of 9 student FTE per 16-week semester or enough student FTE to justify the full-time faculty position in a program area. Program Heads, Department Chairs and/or Academic Dean will ensure that course scheduling reduces the likelihood of low-enrollment courses.

When a full-time faculty instructional load for a 16-week semester meets the contact hour requirements but does not meet the minimum student FTE requirement, the Program Head, Department Chair and/or Academic Dean will adjust the faculty’s workload percentages to include additional institutional service for the term. Additional service will contribute to departmental or College needs or goals. Adjustments to workload percentages must be documented and signed by the faculty and academic dean. In this circumstance, faculty are not eligible for instructional overload pay.

Distribution of Faculty Instructional Workload

Full-time faculty are responsible for delivering instruction for courses scheduled at any campus or other designated location, courses scheduled for day and evening hours and courses in all program levels. Program Heads, Department Chairs and Academic Deans are responsible for ensuring faculty instructional workload is evenly distributed among fulltime faculty in a program area. Factors considered in even distribution are:

• Total contact hours across a 16-week term
• Aggregated student FTE in course sections assigned to full-time faculty
• Aggregated number of students in course sections assigned to full-time faculty
• Number of course preps
• Time of day and location of course sections
• Course level (in programs with clearly defined 1st and 2nd years)

Dean approval is required to designate full-time faculty as responsible for instruction in only one level for programs with clearly defined 1st and 2nd years. Once approved by the Dean, the Vice President will acknowledge the instructional assignment.

Curriculum Department Chair, Program Head, Academic Dean, Adjunct Faculty and Staff Instructional Workload

Curriculum and Continuing Education instruction may be delivered by adjunct faculty or other qualified VGCC staff as approved by the Academic Dean.

* Department Chair and Program Head instructional workloads may be adjusted up or down based on course enrollment, course delivery format, number of course preparations, student graduation requirements, and other factors affecting the viability of a course or schedule.

** Teaching responsibility is in combination with administrative duties of these administrators. Additional pay for instruction is available only when teaching a course scheduled outside of the staff member’s normal working hours.

Continuing Education Coordinators/Directors: Teaching load is set at 20% of the total workload to allow sufficient time for Administrative and program management duties. This load may vary depending on the needs of the department or institution.

Continuing Education Lead Instructors: Teaching load is set at 50% of the total workload to allow sufficient time for program management duties. This load may vary depending on the needs of the department or institution.

Course Caps

Course caps for all online, hybrid and traditional seated curriculum classes will be set at 25 students, with the exception of English, developmental courses, and co-requisite sections.

An exception to this rule will be made for classes that have capacity limits.

• Course caps for all online, hybrid and traditional seated English courses will be set at 20 students.
• Course caps for all developmental Math and English sections will be set at 20.
• Course caps for all co-requisite Math and English sections will be set at 16.

Caps for some courses may be determined by available equipment, space, program selective admission, or licensing board requirements.

Overload Contracts and Stipends for Full-time Faculty

Overload Contracts

An overload contract may be considered for full-time faculty who agree to teach additional courses or course sections above their maximum scheduled workload. Program heads and department chairs may request overload contracts for faculty teaching a course for the first time or to meet other student needs.

Overload contracts will be granted at the 10% point in a term (8 or 16-week) once approved by the Department Chair, Program Heads, Academic Dean, and Vice President of Learning, Student Engagement & Success.

Stipends

An additional stipend will be awarded to full-time faculty when student enrollment in a course section exceeds the established student cap at the 10% point in the term in which the section is scheduled and when enrollment in all courses within the faculty’s teaching load is 80% of total capacity. Sixteen-week and first 8-week courses will be assessed for enrollment together; second 8-week courses will be assessed for enrollment separately.

Faculty will be awarded stipends according to the chart below:

Stipends will be paid immediately after the 10% points in 16-week and second 8-week terms.

• 1-4 Students enrolled over the course cap = $500.00
• 5-9 Students enrolled over the course cap = $800.00

(Procedures approved January 27, 2025)