Effective Date: 09.07.17
Last Reviewsd: 06.01.21
1. Teaching Loads and Assignments:
For full-time, tenure-track faculty in the Liberal Arts and Business, the normal teaching load is 35-37 credits over a four-semester cycle. For full-time, tenure-track faculty in the Natural Sciences, the normal teaching load is 34.8 to 37.2 credits over a four-semester cycle. For full-time term renewable and visiting faculty who do not have research or service obligations, the normal teaching load is 24 credits per academic year. There may be exceptions to these standard loads, based on class size, significant research or administrative responsibilities, external grants, etc. These exceptions are negotiated between the faculty member, department chair and the appropriate School Dean.
2. Advising Students:
Beginning in their second year, all tenure-track faculty are expected to serve as academic advisors, or to perform comparable departmental service at the discretion of the department chair. Some term renewable faculty also may also be asked to serve as advisors.
3. Course Management:
Each member of the faculty is responsible for ordering books and other required teaching materials by the established deadline in advance of the beginning of the semester, meeting classes at scheduled times and locations, honoring the College's reading and examination periods, and evaluating students work, including providing adequate and timely feedback to students and submitting grades by the dates established by the Registrar's Office. In addition:
A. Syllabus:
Every course taught at Stonehill must have a syllabus that includes the content and plan for assignments and examinations; student learning objectives; detailed explanation of grading policy; office hours and contact information for the instructor; expectations for students in terms of attendance, class participation; statement of policy on academic integrity; and a statement regarding accommodation for students with disabilities. For accreditation and other purposes, faculty must send an electronic copy of all syllabi to the department chair and to the Office of Academic Affairs each semester. The subject line of your email should note the course number and semester, followed by instructor's last name (e.g., BI0203, F10, Smith).
B. Office Hours:
Faculty should keep regular office hours as an important extension of the learning environment. Office hours must be communicated to departmental administrative assistants and department chairs, be posted outside faculty offices and electronically.
C. Class Cancellation:
If a faculty member is unable to meet a class due to illness, emergency or other unexpected reason, s/he is expected to try to find a colleague to cover the class. If that is not possible, the faculty member must attempt to contact their students, the chair of the respective department and the Office of Academic Affairs. In the event they are unable to contact their students, they should inform the Office of Academic Affairs.
D. Final Examinations:
Faculty are expected to give final exams in their courses, or an equivalent type of cumulative learning experience. Final examinations are scheduled by the
Registrar' s Office and are to be administered only during the Final Exam Period. If a faculty member wishes to omit the conventional 2-hour final examination, in favor of a paper, project or take-home exam, he/she should inform his/her Department Chairperson and submit the online Final Exam Omission Form to the Registrar's Office. See Policy A16.1.
4. Academic Integrity Policy:
All faculty have the responsibility to be familiar with, to support, and to abide by the College's Academic Integrity Policy found in Policy A17.2
5. Audio-Visual Media:
Both to maintain Stonehill's compliance with ADA expectations and because of Stonehill's commitment to creating an inclusive campus that treats all individuals with dignity, faculty must ensure that all students have access to audio-visual materials used for instruction, such as video tapes, film, DVDs, streaming digital media, video files, and any other material that includes an audio portion accompanying the video portion. This policy applies to all videos shown to students enrolled in Stonehill College classes.
A. When purchasing new media, captioned versions of that media must be purchased when available. If no captioned version is available, faculty will consult with the Office of Accessibility Resources about alternative options (see B3 below).
B. When choosing to assign or use media in a course, faculty must ensure that it will be accessible to the students in that course. Faculty can either:
1) choose materials that are already captioned;
2) request that captioned versions of the materials be purchased by the library;
3) consult with the Office of Accessibility Resources on the following suitable solutions:
i. Submit materials for captioning
ii. Request an interpreter
C. When a faculty member has a clear pedagogical need that requires that no captioning be used (for example, when teaching hearing comprehension of a foreign language film), that faculty member should meet with the Office of Accessibility Resources to discuss reasonable accommodation alternatives.
D. In the spirit of universal design (which seeks to create environments that are already accessible for the largest range of individuals), faculty are encouraged to always use captioning, even when no student has requested it as an accommodation. Captioning is not only useful for students with hearing loss; students with learning disabilities, students who are second language speakers, and students who are "visual" learners can all benefit from captioning.
E. The faculty member will ensure that students requiring captioning will be seated to ensure that the line of sight and lighting supports the captioning.
F. All media equipment and computers used in classrooms must be able to display captions when using media. Classroom projectors will be set to show captions as their default mode (faculty can choose to turn off captioning when necessary). Labels with clear instructions for displaying captions should appear on all equipment and media (as needed).
6. Student Course Evaluations:
Tenure track, term renewable, visiting and adjunct faculty are expected to administer student course evaluations in all courses every semester. Tenured faculty who have been on the faculty for longer than six years are expected to administer course evaluations in all their classes at least every third semester, but may administer course evaluations more frequently. See Policy A19.1