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SECTION 320: FACULTY OBLIGATIONS AND TIME REQUIREMENTS
SOURCE: NDSU President
- Basic Obligations
Regular faculty appointments carry those responsibilities and privileges traditionally identified with academic positions. While a minimum of specific restrictions are imposed on the activities of a faculty member, they are under obligation to render to the University the most effective service of which they are capable. Moreover, they are expected to increase their depth and range of competency with increased length of service. All members of the faculty have a responsibility to develop their professional proficiency.
Faculty member obligations fall into these four broad areas: (1) academic instruction, (2) research and other scholarly activities, (3) administrative and related duties, and (4) professional service to communities. Primary responsibilities for most appointees include the functions of teaching and research.
These broad statements of faculty responsibility mean that faculty members are accountable to the University during the term of their appointment (including summer school appointments) for all necessary or appropriate teaching, research, administrative, and service obligations. More specifically, this means that faculty members are obligated to meet all their scheduled classes, to schedule and be available for a reasonable amount of consultation hours in their office, and to attend scheduled meetings that are related to their professional obligations.
- Office Hours
Faculty members are considered professional personnel responsible for accomplishing the tasks for which they are employed. Faculty members are responsible for making time available for student conferences and are expected to post a listing of office hours.
- Annual Leave
While nine-month faculty members thus have considerable flexibility in scheduling and fulfilling these professional obligations, they should not regard as automatic vacations all those periods when University classes are in recess. It should be clearly understood that there is no formal annual leave policy established for faculty whose regular term of employment is less than 12 months either by the State Board of Higher Education or by the University, other than the obvious fact that all faculty members are entitled to take the holidays defined by the State of North Dakota for state institutions. This should not be interpreted to mean that nine-month faculty members are obligated to work from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM on all other days of the academic year, just as it would be inappropriate to assume that faculty members are excused from all academic responsibilities during the breaks provided for students. Instead, the guiding principle should be the more flexible requirement of professional obligation and accountability referred to above.
- Sick Leave
This same philosophy prevails at NDSU with regard to sick leave for faculty whose regular term of appointment is less than 12 months. Although there is no formal sick leave policy or provision for such faculty, the understanding is that they have the opportunity to reschedule their commitments or make appropriate voluntary arrangements with their colleagues during times when sickness makes it impossible or unwise for them to meet their professional obligations. This does not guarantee any certain amount of paid sick leave hours or days to faculty members whose regular term of appointment is less than 12 months, but the flexibility it provides seems to meet the needs of most faculty members. Where extended illness or disability is involved, however, the amount of such informal sick leave shall be limited to a maximum of two weeks for each year of academic service to NDSU, unless an exception is authorized by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. In any event, the University's TIAA-CREF disability insurance provides salary benefits after six months of disability.
HISTORY: November 28, 1989; Amended January 1998, December 2002, October 2007