MUNFA Joint #28 Article 3

SIGNED JOINT #28
ARTICLE 3

November 12, 2000
Joint #28
Article 3

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF FACULTY MEMBERS

3.01 All Faculty Members have certain duties and responsibilities which derive from their positions as teachers and scholars with academic freedom. The professional duties and responsibilities of Faculty Members shall be an appropriate combination of:

(a) undergraduate and graduate teaching;

(b) research, scholarship, and creative and professional activities;

(c) academic service, which may include the application of the Faculty Member’s academic or professional competence or expertise in the community at large.

The pattern of these responsibilities may vary from time to time and from individual to individual. For the majority of Faculty Members, however, the principal duties will be in areas (a) and (b) above.

3.02 Faculty Members have a professional duty to develop and maintain their scholarly competence and effectiveness as teachers. Teaching includes the following responsibilities which shall be discharged in accordance with all relevant Senate resolutions and regulations:

(a) It is the responsibility of Faculty Members to teach their assigned courses in accordance with course descriptions in the University Calendar and the schedule shown in the approved timetable. By mutual consent of the Faculty Member and class, determined by fair and equitable procedures, class meeting times may be adjusted with the approval of the Administrative Head. Such approval shall not be unreasonably denied. Faculty Members shall make reasonable efforts to teach courses in accordance with the policies of their Academic Unit.

(b) Faculty Members shall inform their students of the methods and planned schedule of evaluation in their courses. Upon request, Faculty Members shall provide the Administrative Head with information describing their current courses, which may include course outlines, bibliography (if appropriate), methods and instruments of evaluation, planned schedule of evaluation and student consultation arrangements. Faculty Members shall provide the Administrative Head with any material describing their courses which is required by external accreditors.

(i) being available on campus for consultation. In the case of Faculty Members teaching distance education courses, consultation necessary for such courses need not be carried out on campus. In any case, Faculty Members shall be available at scheduled times for not less than two (2) hours per course per week for consultation, to a maximum of five (5) hours per week. These arrangements shall be made known to their students in writing not later than one (1) week after the start of lectures in a semester;

(ii) accepting a fair and equitable share of advising duties. Such duties shall be performed off-campus only with the Faculty Member’s consent. Faculty Members shall not unreasonably withhold their consent.

(d) Faculty Members shall examine or otherwise evaluate students in courses and programmes for which they are responsible. This includes the evaluation of student work within a reasonable period of time after its submission, its demonstration or its performance and acceptance of a fair and equitable share of grading or marking in team-taught or multi-section courses with a common final examination.

3.03 The duty to engage in scholarly activity includes:

(a) the conduct of research, scholarship, and critical, creative, professional or developmental work; and

(b) the dissemination of such work through publication, demonstration, presentation, exhibition or performance, or by other means appropriate to the discipline.

Both (a) and (b) must be present to comprise scholarly activity.

3.04 In fulfilment of the obligation to render academic service within the University, Faculty Members have the right and responsibility to take a fair and reasonable share of administrative responsibilities:

(a) through membership on appropriate bodies, for example the Senate, and on Departmental, Divisional, Faculty, School, and University, and other Committees and Boards;

(b) by undertaking other administrative tasks.

Faculty Members shall be elected or appointed to such bodies only with their consent. Those who have the responsibility to make such appointments shall make every effort to ensure that academic service commitments are equitably shared. Faculty Members shall not unreasonably withhold their consent.

3.05 In the exercise of academic and administrative responsibilities, members of Academic Units shall treat colleagues and students so that objectivity, fairness, respect for privacy and absence of discrimination are maintained in all deliberations, recommendations and decisions.

3.06 Participation of Faculty Members in the work of learned societies, disciplinary associations, professional organizations and associations, and organizations related to the professional competence or expertise of the Faculty Members shall constitute academic service within the meaning of Clause 3.01 (c) .

WORKLOAD OF FACULTY MEMBERS

3.07 The determination of course offerings shall be the responsibility of the Administrative Head. In determining course offerings the Administrative Head shall take into account the resources of the Academic Unit and expertise of the Faculty Members as well as the needs of the students. Every reasonable effort shall be made to ensure that the combination of offerings shall provide students with access to courses so that they may progress through their programme of studies in a timely manner.

3.08 The duties and responsibilities of Faculty Members fall into three (3) categories, set out in Clause 3.01.

(a) In the absence of specific alterations effected under Clauses 3.13 – 3.29, the following two categories shall constitute approximately equal proportions of a Faculty Member’s work:

(i) undergraduate and graduate teaching;

(ii) research, scholarship and creative activities which may include professional activities that enhance the Faculty Member’s professional competence or standing, or which advance the discipline.

(b) Some academic service is expected of each Faculty Member. The contribution of a Faculty Member in the academic service category shall be sufficient to ensure that collegial responsibilities can be carried out.

3.09 The normal amount of teaching assigned for an Academic Year for Faculty Members in each Academic Unit shall be referred to as the “teaching norm.” The teaching norm for each Academic Unit is shown in Appendix E. The norms shown in Appendix E shall remain the norms for the duration of the Collective Agreement.

3.10 The teaching load of all Faculty Members shall be set at the teaching norm for their Academic Unit except as varied by writing in accordance with this Collective Agreement.

3.10#1x St. John’s Campus

(a) The Administrative Head shall indicate the courses that ought to be offered in the upcoming Academic Year and shall consult with the Faculty Members in the Academic Unit concerning which of these courses they wish to teach. The Administrative Head shall indicate in writing to the Faculty Members that this is preliminary to the assignment of teaching workload.

The Administrative Head shall then make a preliminary assignment of the number of courses and the particular courses to be taught by each Faculty Member and circulate this preliminary list of all teaching assignments to all Faculty Members and invite comments.
After giving consideration to these comments, the Administrative Head shall notify each Faculty Member in writing of his or her teaching assignments. These assignments shall be fair and equitable when viewed over a two year period.

3.10#2x Grenfell College

Each Programme Chair of a single discipline Programme Unit at the College, shall indicate the courses that ought to be offered in the upcoming Academic Year and shall consult with the Faculty Members in his or her Programme Unit concerning which of these courses they wish to teach. The Programme Chair shall indicate in writing to the Faculty Members that this is preliminary to the assignment of teaching workload.
The Programme Chair shall advise the Division Head on the course offerings and the assigning of individual teaching responsibilities in his or her Programme Unit.
For an interdisciplinary Programme Unit, the Division Head shall issue a preliminary list of all teaching assignments to all Faculty Members in that Programme Unit and invite comments.
After giving consideration to these comments, the Division Head shall assign individual teaching responsibilities in a fair and equitable manner when viewed over a two (2) year period after consultation with the Programme Chair within that interdisciplinary Programme Unit.
Division Heads with responsibility for course assignments to Faculty Members at the College who are not in Programme Units, shall follow the procedure listed for the St. John’s Campus in 3.10#1x(a), (b) and (c) above.

3.10#3x Teaching assignments shall be made and announced at least two (2) months before the start of a semester. In making such assignments, the Administrative Head shall take into account the following factors.

(a) The number of separate courses taught by each Faculty Member;

(b) The number of scheduled contact hours per course;

(d) The number of students enrolled in each course;

(e) The number of hours of academic advising and consulting per course;

(f) The level (introductory, upper year, graduate, et cetera) of each course;

(g) The type (lecture, laboratory, seminar, et cetera) of each course;

(h) Assistance of graduate students or colleagues in the teaching of courses;

(i) Additional hours of preparation required for a new course;

(j) The amount of intern, clinical, research, thesis, and other academic supervision of undergraduate and graduate students;

Responsibility for the supervision of laboratory work as part of the scheduled courses;

(l) The abilities and expertise of each Faculty Member;

(m) The number of years of university teaching experience of each tenure-track Faculty Member in her or his first year.

3.10#4x Faculty Members shall not be required to teach in more than two (2) of the three (3) semesters which comprise the Academic Year. A Faculty Member who agrees to teach in all three (3) semesters of an Academic Year shall not be required to teach in more than four (4) of the six (6) semesters of two (2) successive Academic Years. The Administrative Head shall make a serious effort to arrange the courses to be taught and the scheduling of teaching duties in a fair and equitable manner when viewed over a two-year period.

3.11 In Academic Units not established prior to the date of the signing of this Collective Agreement, the Dean, Director, Associate Executive Director of the Fisheries and Marine Institute, or Principal shall determine the teaching norm for the Academic Unit, following consultation with the Department Head when the Academic Unit is in a departmentalized Faculty, or at the College, with the Division Head. In all cases, the Administrative Head shall have previously sought the formal advice of the Faculty Members in the Academic Unit. The teaching norm shall be a minimum of four (4) and a maximum of six (6) lecture courses or their equivalent as set out in Clause 3.12 and shall be fair and equitable in relation to the workloads assigned to other Academic Units.

3.12 Within ninety (90) days of the signing of this Collective Agreement, course equivalencies shall be established or confirmed for all Academic Units according to the following procedure:

(a) Equivalencies established in accordance with the Collective Agreement 1996-99 shall remain in effect for the duration of this Collective Agreement unless altered by the procedures in this Clause.

(b) Where equivalencies were not established in accordance with the Collective Agreement 1996-99, within (20) twenty days of the signing of this Collective Agreement the Dean, Director or Principal shall determine whether equivalencies are to be determined by Department, Division, Faculty, School or College.

(c) If the decision in (b) above is to establish equivalencies by Department or Division, then each Administrative Head shall, following Collegial Consultation, determine the equivalence of all non-standard teaching formats, including, but not limited to, laboratory courses, and intern, clinical, research, thesis and other academic supervision of undergraduate and graduate students in the Academic Unit relative to a three-hour lecture course. This determination shall be fair and equitable, and shall be circulated to all Faculty Members in the Academic Unit.

(d) If the decision in (b) above is to establish Faculty- or College-wide equivalencies, the Dean, Director or Principal shall establish a Special Committee consisting of three (3) Faculty Members elected by and from among the ASMs in the Faculty, School or College and two (2) Faculty Members appointed from among the ASMs in the Faculty, School or College by the Dean, Director or Principal. After receiving the report of the Special Committee, the Dean, Director or Principal shall determine the course equivalencies. This determination shall be fair and equitable, and shall be circulated to all Faculty Members in the Academic Unit.

(e) When new teaching formats are established, the Dean, Director or Principal shall, following Collegial Consultation, determine the course equivalence for the new format. This determination shall be fair and equitable, and shall be circulated to all Faculty Members in the Academic Unit.

VARIATIONS FROM THE TEACHING NORM

3.13 On an annual basis the proportion of a Faculty Member’s work devoted to teaching may be increased under one or the other of the following provisions:

(a) A voluntary increase may be given following a signed agreement between a Faculty Member and the Administrative Head. With this increase in work devoted to teaching, the expectations for research, scholarly, creative and professional activities shall be correspondingly reduced. This provision shall be applied either when the Faculty Member voluntarily takes on one or more sections beyond the normal teaching assignment or when, without a change in the number of course sections, the Faculty Member voluntarily undertakes implementation or operation of a major teaching project or program for which there is a demonstrable need in the Academic Unit. Such voluntary increases in teaching shall not be available to tenure-track appointees. These increases shall be taken into account in all promotion assessments.

(b) Where the Faculty Member’s record of research, scholarly, creative and professional activities is significantly below expectations, judged over the past three years, the proportion of their work devoted to teaching may be increased by one course or equivalent above the teaching norm in an Academic Year.

3.14 The Parties agree to make their best efforts to ensure that the students who would have been taught by Faculty Members who retire as a consequence of an early retirement incentive programme will continue to be taught by the remaining Faculty Members through a combination of offerings that provide students with access to courses so that they may progress through their programmes of study in a timely manner.

3.16 (a) Notwithstanding Clauses 3.08 – 3.13, upon a declaration of anticipated financial exigency, the Dean, Director, Associate Executive Director of the Fisheries and Marine Institute, or Principal of each Faculty, School or College shall strike a Special Committee to consider temporary increases in teaching workload of one (1) course for all Faculty Members in that Faculty, School or College. The extra teaching shall not begin before the first semester that starts at least sixty (60) days after the Board declares financial exigency.

(b) This Special Committee shall consist of three (3) Faculty Members elected from the Faculty or School and two (2) Faculty Members appointed by the Dean, Associate Executive Director of the Fisheries and Marine Institute or Director. The College shall establish a Special Committee in the same way as Faculties and Schools on the St. John’s campus, except that the Principal shall appoint two (2) Faculty Members. In the case of non-departmentalized Faculties or Schools, the Special Committee shall consist of three (3) Faculty Members elected from the Faculty or School and two (2) Faculty Members appointed by the Dean or Director from the Faculty or School or from one (1) or more cognate Academic Units designated by the Faculty Members in the Faculty or School. The Special Committee shall establish its own procedures but allow input from all Faculty Members in the affected Faculty, School or College. The Special Committee shall also meet with the Dean, Director, Associate Executive Director of the Fisheries and Marine Institute or Principal of the affected Faculty, School or College.

(c) The Dean, Director, Associate Executive Director of the Fisheries and Marine Institute or Principal, following a special meeting with the members of the Faculty, School or College, shall make representation to the Special Committee when he or she believes that such a temporary increase is required. The Special Committee shall evaluate this claim and submit its written report to the Dean, Director, Associate Executive Director of the Fisheries and Marine Institute, or Principal within twenty (20) days, and at the same time, circulate the report to the Faculty Members of the Faculty, School or College.

(d) The Dean, Director, Associate Executive Director of the Fisheries and Marine Institute or Principal may, after seriously considering the report of the Special Committee, assign a temporary one-course increase in the teaching workload for all Faculty Members in the Faculty, School or College.

(e) For subsequent years the process may be repeated with newly-formed Special Committees.

3.18 Faculty Members appointed to special externally-funded named chairs, where the expectation of the funding group(s) is that the chair holder will be predominantly involved in research, shall teach the number of courses per year agreed at the time of appointment to the chair. Such appointees shall not be eligible for a teaching assignment reduction under Clause 3.20.

3.18#1x University Research Professors, during the five-year period of the award, shall teach the number of courses per Academic Year as determined by the University policy governing Research Professors.

3.19 (a) Faculty Members whose duties and responsibilities are set out in Articles 5, 6 and 24 shall have teaching workloads consistent with those Articles.

(b) ASMs whose appointments do not have a “(Research)” designation in Academic Units without a teaching programme shall have teaching workloads consistent with the teaching workloads of the Academic Unit(s) in which they are assigned teaching.

(c) The teaching portion of the workload in Academic Units without a teaching programme shall be taken into account in promotion and tenure assessments.

3.20 In each Academic Year, every Faculty, School or College shall set aside a minimum of one percent (1%) of its normal teaching capacity, for the purpose of granting teaching remissions in support of research. Where the minimum of 1% of normal teaching capacity would be less than one remission there shall nevertheless be one remission in that Faculty, School or College. The allocation of these teaching remissions for this purpose shall be subject to the following conditions:

(a) Normal teaching capacity shall be defined as the total number of tenure-track or tenured Faculty Members in a given Faculty, School or College on September 1 of the year preceding the Academic Year in which the remissions are to be granted multiplied by the teaching norms for the Faculty, School or College.

(b) No more than one course shall be remitted under this Clause for a Faculty Member in a given Academic Year.

(c) A Faculty Member who already has a teaching remission for research purposes for the year in which remissions are to be granted under the provisions of this Collective Agreement shall not be eligible for remission under this clause.

(d) The criteria for assessing applications for teaching remissions under this Clause shall be:

(i) the strength of the applicant’s research record;

(ii) the potential scholarly value of the research for which support in the form of a teaching remission is being sought;

(iii) the applicant’s need for a teaching remission in the year in question in order to pursue the research in a timely fashion.

(e) Applications for a teaching remission under this provision must be submitted to the Dean, Director or Principal of the applicant’s Faculty, School or College by April 15 of the year preceding the Academic Year for which the remission is sought.

(f) The number of remissions under this Clause shall be at least the minimum specified, provided there are s sufficient number of applicants.

3.22 With the written consent of the Faculty Member, a larger proportion of academic service may be undertaken with a consequent reduction in the expectation for scholarly activity.

3.23 (a) All variations from the normal pattern of work shall be made in writing with a copy to the official personal file.

(b) Variations from the normal pattern of work shall be made on a fair, reasonable and equitable basis.

(c) For all Faculty Members whose workload assignments differ from the normal pattern, the variation shall be taken into account in promotion and tenure assessments.

3.25 By mutual consent of the Faculty Member and the Administrative Heads, part of the normal academic duties of the Faculty Member may be assigned and carried out in Academic Units other than the one in which the Faculty Member holds his or her appointment provided the Faculty Member is competent to teach in the other Academic Unit. Neither the Faculty Member nor the Administrative Heads shall unreasonably withhold his or her consent.

3.26 From time to time, and following her or his consent, a Faculty Member may be assigned extra teaching, in addition to the previously assigned teaching, with no corresponding decrease in the expectations for research productivity. Such extra teaching duties shall be compensated in accordance with this Collective Agreement by remuneration or by remission from future teaching duties.

3.27 The extra teaching referred to in Clause 3.26 may consist of one (1) or more course sections or the addition to an existing section of a number of students so that the increase in numbers is equivalent to or greater than the average for courses of that format and level (undergraduate or graduate) in that Academic Unit. In instances when the Administrative Head has notified the Faculty Member in writing that he or she is not to participate in laboratory section(s), such laboratory teaching shall not be classified as extra teaching for the purposes of Clauses 3.26 and 3.27.

3.28 A Faculty Member shall not unreasonably deny a request by the Administrative Head to undertake extra teaching in order to replace another Faculty Member who is unable to teach his or her course. When such extra teaching duties extend beyond two (2) weeks, the Faculty Member shall be compensated in accordance with this Collective Agreement by remuneration.

3.29 Arrangements for additional teaching duties under Clauses 3.26 and 3.27 shall be formalized in writing within two weeks of a Faculty Member accepting the additional teaching duties, and shall be included in the Faculty Member’s official personal file.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

3.32 Faculty Members in St. John’s shall not be assigned courses that require travel outside of the St. John’s area without their consent. Faculty Members at the College shall not be assigned courses that require travel outside of the Corner Brook area without their consent.

3.32#1u If justified, Faculty Members shall be provided with a reasonable amount of teaching assistance from Student Markers and Teaching Assistants. Such teaching assistance shall be provided upon written request to the Administrative Head, and if justified according to the nature of instruction, enrolment, requirements of the course syllabus, the balance of the Faculty Member’s duties and responsibilities, and whether or not Laboratory Instructors or Instructional Assistants are assigned to the course. If the request is justified but teaching assistance is not provided, an appropriate adjustment shall be made in the Faculty Member’s assigned teaching duties.

3.33 It is recognized that from time to time, and for sound academic reasons, a Faculty Member’s teaching responsibilities may have to be altered within two (2) months prior to the start of, or during a semester. When an assigned course is cancelled, the Administrative Head may, following consultation with the Faculty Member, assign a replacement course to be taught at some future time agreeable to the Faculty Member. In such an event, the Faculty Member shall be compensated for any teaching of the assigned course which has been cancelled, in accordance with the Collective Agreement.

3.34 When the University has sponsored the creation or major revision (about 35%) of a course in Distance Education, by granting course remissions, by making special payments, or by otherwise specifically providing for it, the ASM(s) who prepared the course may be assigned the teaching of that course, provided that the delivery mode of the course remains substantially unchanged, as part of the normal teaching assignment on no more than three (3) occasions without the mutual consent of the ASM(s) and the Administrative Head.

3.35 Three (3) times a year, at least one (1) week before the start of each semester, the Administrative Head shall provide to every Faculty Member in his or her Academic Unit a tentative list of all course sections and instructors, the number of students per section, together with a list of all members expected to be on leave, for that semester and the next.

3.36 The supervision of students registered in thesis work, or laboratory work outside of course work, and including advanced, directed and independent or individual research projects, shall not be assigned without the Faculty Member’s consent. Such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld. This supervision shall be considered part of the teaching load.

3.37 After the start of a course a Faculty Member shall not be removed from the course, except in accordance with this Collective Agreement.

3.38 Unless provided for otherwise in the letter of appointment or by reduction of duties and responsibilities under Article 5, Faculty Members are employed by the University for twelve (12) months in each year, and except for holidays and vacations, shall meet their professional responsibilities throughout this period.
W. E. Schrank

J. E. Strawbridge

Collective Agreements

SIGNED JOINT #28 ARTICLE 3

SIGNED JOINT #28
ARTICLE 3