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College of Nursing

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Policies

Faculty Workload Policy  

The following workload policy is based upon the University of Missouri-St. Louis Campus workload policy:

• Appointments are made for the academic year (nine-month, mid-August - mid May). Twelve month appointments may be granted based upon area of expertise and needs of the College and consistent with the policies stated in the University of Missouri Collected Rules.
• Tenure-track faculty members receive, upon the recommendation of appropriate administrators and the dean of the College, a series of one-year appointments. All untenured regular faculty members are reviewed annually regarding their progress toward tenure in light of the College's standards for performance of tenure-track faculty.
• Nontenure track faculty members (teaching, clinical, and research) are not eligible for tenure. Nontenure track appointments are made on an annual basis. Eligible senior nontenure track faculty may apply for a multi-year appointment not to exceed three years.
• The responsibility for assigning teaching loads to individual faculty members rests with the Dean, with input from other administrators in the College. Teaching assignments will be coordinated between the program directors and the Dean or Associate Dean as the Dean's designate. The overall needs of the College will be taken into account as well as the expertise of individual faculty members, the University's faculty workload policy (ies), and availability of financial resources.
• Workload assignments (teaching/scholarship/service) will be reviewed and revised as appropriate on an annual (and, when appropriate, semester) basis by the Dean in consultation with appropriate College administrators.
• Full-time faculty members may be released from some portion of teaching to provide administrative services and/or engage in scholarly activities.
• Delineation of faculty responsibilities detailed below is the standard expectation. Faculty may request an alternate workload to meet projected goals.

Goals

• Insure that the College's most valuable resource, its people and in this case the faculty members, are deployed in ways that best contribute to fulfillment of the mission of research, teaching, and service.
• Provide measures of workload against which the distribution of faculty assignments can be assessed; and,
• Provide one measure of the need for faculty.

Teaching Responsibilities

The most critical role assumed by faculty is to provide excellent instruction to students. In the College of Nursing, the standard expectation of full-time tenured and tenure track faculty for teaching is 60%. This equates to an overall average of eighteen (18) semester credit hours (or the equivalent in clinical/laboratory instruction) of direct instruction during an academic year (fall and spring). Individuals with 12 month appointments will ordinarily provide additional instruction during the summer semester (three semester credit hours or the equivalent in clinical/laboratory instruction). Full-time nontenure track faculty teaching load shall consist of 80% teaching. This equates to an overall average of twenty-four (24) semester credit hours during the academic year (9 months). Faculty may be assigned to provide instruction on campus or at various Outreach sites. Instruction may involve traditional classroom teaching, laboratory responsibilities, clinical facility responsibilities, interactive telecommunication activities, and/or Internet based instruction. Faculty members with full teaching loads shall receive 3 workload credits per year for course preparation, evaluation, and student meeting time. Faculty members will receive 1.5 workload credits for a 3 credit course or the equivalent when teaching a course for the first time to accommodate the new preparation involved.

Reductions in teaching load for administrative service

The College of Nursing is organized by academic programs. Teaching responsibilities of academic program directors and coordinators will be approved by the Dean of the College.

Teaching workload issues related to tenured/tenure track faculty:

• Assistant professors may receive a reduced teaching load in the first two years of their appointment consistent with the policies stated in the University of Missouri system Collected Rules. Assistant professors with an active research program may request continued reduced teaching load to pursue research and publication on an individual basis.
• Tenure track and tenured faculty members may request a reduced teaching load to prepare grant proposals that have a high potential for funding.
• Tenured faculty members (associate/full professors) are expected to teach a minimum of 18 workload credits (or equivalent) each academic year unless they are released for service or they are conducting funded research.
• Tenured faculty members will not be released from teaching to pursue research unless extramural funding supports their research.
• Tenured faculty members who are not research active and who meet the College's service expectations will be assigned an additional 3-6 workload credits in teaching responsibilities for the academic year.

Teaching workload issues related nontenure track faculty:

• Any release from teaching of a nontenure track faculty member must be approved by the Dean of the College.
• Nontenure track faculty members may request a reduced teaching load to prepare training, demonstration or similar grant proposals that support the teaching or service missions.

Leaves of absence:

Several types of leave may be available to faculty members related to research, academic development, or special projects. These are: development and research leaves, and sabbaticals. Funds to help offset the cost of such leaves vary from year to year and are based on College resource availability and needs. Approval for leaves must be sought from the Dean and Provost. Approvals take into account the availability of other faculty members to pick up the additional teaching load, the nature of the work to be done during the leave, and College priorities. University of Missouri-St. Louis policies describing these leaves are available.

Additional Considerations Influencing the Teaching Workload of UMSL College of Nursing Faculty

Class Sizes

Minimum class size:

The following minimum enrollment guidelines are used to determine course viability:

Enrollment in each pre-licensure undergraduate clinical section is ordinarily limited to eight students while enrollment in each post-licensure clinical section is 15. Ratios for those clinical activities associated with the advanced practice nursing internships will be maintained at 1:6.

Maximum class size:

For courses that exceed the stated maximums, the Dean will make one of the following adjustments:

1. create a second section with enrollment not to exceed the stated maximum per section; or,
2. assign a graduate teaching assistant to assist with the course.

Courses taught in a lecture/seminar/discussion format have a value credit of one semester hour of credit for one contact (50 minute) hour taught for a semester or equivalent time frame.

Faculty members teaching courses to outreach sites are expected to make at least one visit per semester to each site. The Division of Continuing Education provides payment to faculty members for the time and travel expenses associated with these visits.

Clinical instruction involves those educational experiences in which the faculty member directly supervises students in clinical settings. Faculty directly supervising pre-licensure undergraduate students in structured clinical activities receive one workload credit for every two clock hours of clinical activity. Faculty members teaching the Senior Synthesis course receive one and one-half workload credit per credit hour allocated for student clinical experiences to account for the need to be available to students on multiple days of the week, in the evening, and on weekends.

Courses with clinical sections will have a designated course coordinator. This individual will normally also be responsible for the didactic delivery of the course. The course coordinator will be responsible for orienting and working with all faculty members assigned to clinical sections and will be given one workload credit.

Core support courses required for the nurse practitioner option (Advanced Health Assessment, Advanced Pathophysiology and Advanced Pharmacology) will have a designated course coordinator when the course is taught by an adjunct faculty member. This full time individual will be responsible for the overall coordination of the course and will receive one workload credit.

Laboratory instruction involves those educational experiences in the College's learning laboratory in which the faculty member is present in the laboratory and directly supervises the learning experiences. This instructional activity is equivalent to 1 semester hour of credit for every two clock hours of instruction.

Dissertation and clinical scholarship supervision involves guiding students through the process that culminates in the successful defense of the dissertation or clinical scholarship project. Faculty members will receive 1 workload credit per semester for a maximum of three semesters for those students for whom the faculty member serves as dissertation or clinical scholarship project chair. A qualified faculty member normally serves as chair of a maximum of four dissertations or clinical scholarship projects at any given time. Only those activities affiliated with supervisory responsibilities for students enrolled in the College of Nursing will be recognized through credit.

No adjustment will be made in the workload of faculty providing continuing education instruction unless approved by the Dean. In the event that a faculty member is released from teaching by the Dean to provide continuing education instruction, the faculty member will receive no additional compensation. Faculty who provide continuing education service in addition to their assigned workload (that is, without release from teaching) will be reimbursed for their continuing education activities according to University policy.

Overload teaching will be undertaken only under extenuating circumstances. If a faculty member is assigned to a teaching workload that exceeds the parameters discussed in this document, the Dean or Dean's designee will either decrease the faculty member's teaching assignment in a subsequent semester (banking) or adjust the faculty member's salary according to University policy. Extra compensation (overload) shall not exceed 20% of a faculty member's annual salary per calendar year. Faculty with administrative responsibilities may not be paid for overload.

If a faculty member is assigned to a teaching workload that does not achieve the parameters outlined in this document, the Dean will either increase the faculty member's teaching assignment in a subsequent semester or adjust the faculty member's salary. The Dean or Dean's designee will consult with the faculty member to determine the means by which the shortfall will be corrected. Every effort will be made to resolve the shortfall in the same fiscal year as that in which it occurs.

Advancement of the profession is a critical component of the College. Full-time tenured and tenure track faculty normally have 20% of full time workload expectations devoted to scholarly activities. Workloads will be adjusted for tenured or tenure track faculty who do not maintain an active research program and secure external funding.

• Tenured/tenure track faculty members are expected to maintain an active research program that culminates in on-going successful external funding. All proposal budgets should include monies for faculty salary support in accordance with University of Missouri-St. Louis policies and the policies of the granting agency. Tenured/tenure track faculty members are expected to publish their findings in refereed professional journals.

• Nontenure track faculty may potentially negotiate their workloads so they can pursue the scholarship of teaching and/or practice. Nontenure track faculty members are not expected to actively pursue research activities; thus they are expected to show evidence of the scholarship of teaching and/or scholarship of practice through such activities as manuscript development that focuses on teaching or practice; development of innovative learning aids (i.e., published textbooks, textbook chapters, instructional modules); program grant awards that support teaching and learning and/or practice; presentations related to teaching and learning and/or to practice; and/or consultation reports.

All faculty members are to provide service to the College, campus, system, community and profession. Service may include committee responsibilities (appointed or elected), serving as the College's representative to external constituents, participating in recruitment and retention activities, and/or mentoring and advising students. Faculty members receive 20% of the total workload for service-related activities. This is equivalent to approximately 310 hours over a nine month academic year and should be considered when determining appropriate service responsibilities.

Initial proposal by Dean, 4/22/98
Provided to Nursing Faculty, 5/6/99
Revised 2/18/00
Revised 9/25/01
Revised 8/26/02
Revised 4/25/03
Revised 3/24/04
Provided to Nursing Faculty, 5/4/04
Revised 8/28/07

Provided to Nursing Faculty 9/17/07

Policy Title: Verification of Faculty Health Status

Effective Date: Fall 2000

All faculty members who interact with clients/patients are required to document their health status with the University's Health, Wellness, and Counseling. No faculty member may provide clinical instruction in institutional settings without documentation of her or his health status with the University Health Service. Faculty members are responsible for completing annual updates as required by the College of Nursing. The College's Associate Dean will collaborate with University Health, Wellness, and Counseling to ensure that all faculty members providing clinical instruction in institutional settings fully meet the health requirements outlined under "Related Procedures" below. The College of Nursing will assume responsibility for the costs of all immunizations and tests required in order for faculty to perform their job responsibilities when these immunizations and tests are provided by the University Health, Wellness, and Counseling. Payment for immunizations and tests provided by other health practitioners and/or facilities are the responsibility of the faculty member.

University Health, Wellness, and Counseling will receive, review and maintain all medical records of nursing faculty members who interact with clients/patients.

• Immunizations

• These records are to reflect immunity against the following via proof of immunization or acceptable titer:

• • MMR [Exempt if born before 1957].
  • Diphtheria and Tetanus [within the last 10 years)]
  • Hepatitis B--Evidence that the series is completed or sign declination statement.
  • Varicella [Chicken pox] -Proof of a positive Varicella titer or doses of vaccine or date of disease.

• Screenings 

• • Annual negative PPD or a negative chest X-ray.
  • Drug screen (five panel screen performed by University Health, Wellness, and Counseling prior to employment - if positive, a second test will be performed. Results must be negative to be eligible for employment.

In addition, the faculty member's record must include evidence of a negative TB skin test or negative chest x-ray. If TB skin test is used as evidence, this test is required annually. Evidence of current CPR certification is also a requirement and is to be submitted to the College of Nursing Dean's Office annually.

Policy Title: Faculty Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens and Other Infectious Agents

Effective Date: Fall Semester, 2000

Policy

The College of Nursing will establish and periodically review the protocol for any faculty member exposed to bloodborne pathogens and other infectious agents in laboratory or clinical settings. All faculty will be informed in writing of procedures to follow for any incident/injury involving exposure to bloodborne pathogens and other infectious agents.

• • If the faculty member has not already sought medical treatment, the University Health, Wellness, and Counseling Service will refer her or him to a health care provider or agency for appropriate medical intervention.
  • If the faculty member declines to seek recommended intervention following an exposure, the she or he
  • is required by the University Health, Wellness, and Counseling Services to sign a declination statement.

UMSL •
Last updated: 10/31/2012