4 3 Teaching Load

[Nina Zahra]

Inmathematics departments at U.S. research universities, typical teaching loads are 1+2 or 2+2, with 1+2 being common at fancier or better funded schools. See this chart for some data; I don't know how accurate it is, but it looks approximately right to me. 1+1 is not absolutely unheard of, but it is very rare. Of course what counts as a "research university" is unclear, and some places that consider themselves research universities may have 2+3 loads, but I don't think any of the more prestigious research universities have 2+3.

Of course there are a lot of other factors that come into teaching load. How much flexibility is there in the course assignments? How does the teaching credit differ between huge lecture courses and small graduate seminars? How many people (if any) get a reduced teaching load? Does the department allow faculty to buy out of teaching using grant funds? Without answers to questions like these, a numerical comparison of teaching loads only tells you so much. What I'd recommend is that you apply for every job you might plausibly want, and then once you start to get interviews or offers you can look into the teaching conditions at these schools in detail.

A lot of teaching is done. It is easy to get the impression, when talking with faculty from the relatively small number of research institutions, that there is little teaching. But most institutions in the U.S. are not research institutions, and most institutions have teaching as their primary mission.

A two-course-per-semester load would be viewed as extremely light at most institutions; three to four courses per semester is common in mathematics departments at the university level. Higher loads are common at the community college level.

When applying for positions, one of the easiest faux pas to make is to try to negotiate an unrealistically low teaching load. It is unlikely that a school will give a new tenure-track professor a load significantly different than the existing ones have. But they will view the request as as a sign the applicant hasn't done their research, or a sign the applicant will not be a good fit.

So you want to know the typical load at a school as soon as possible in the interview process, preferably before you apply. When investigating the typical teaching load at a school, there are several important things to ask about:

The "N + M" system of counting loads is not universal. Many schools count loads by the credit hour. In these schools, a 12-hour-per semester load is viewed as high, and not compatible with much research -- essentially a 4+4 load. But if the school has courses that are more than 3 credit hours, a 12-hour load might be a 3+3 load. In mathematics, the three calculus courses are often 4-hour (or even 5-hour) courses, and sometimes so is differential equations or linear algebra. You have to research this on a school-by-school basis. Schools with loads higher than 12 hours per semester are unlikely to require any research, but I have heard of some teaching-only schools with 15-hour (or higher) loads (e.g. community colleges).

Only the best research schools will guarantee a light teaching load. Many schools have a uniform, heavy load for everyone - but then give "research release time" to reduce the teaching load of faculty who are active in research.

This was true even at the highly ranked institution where I did my PhD - the default load was used mainly for older faculty who were no longer active in research, while the lighter load was used for research active faculty. Research releases have become common even at non-research-intensive schools that want to increase their research profile. In almost all cases, they are not written into the contract, and are handled by a separate policy. So you also have to investigate these on a school-by-school basis.

For example, at my institution the default load is 12 hours per semester, which is typical for this type of institution. But research active faculty receive a reduction to 8-9 hours per semester. Several freshman and sophomore level classes, including precalculus, calculus, and others are 4-hour or 5-hour classes. So, depending on the way the course schedules turn out, the 12-hour load is often a 3+3 load, and the 8-9 hour load can be a 2-2, 2-3, or 3-3 load. For me, this is a quite reasonable load which allows me to publish regularly as well as teach several courses.

Some institutions guarantee a sabbatical before tenure, which can help offset a higher teaching load. The main examples I've seen of this are small liberal arts colleges. At other institutions, you will never get a sabbatical before tenure (e.g. regional public universities). So you need to investigate the sabbatical policy, as well, because a semester or year of no teaching significantly affects your average teaching load in the surrounding years.

The final question about teaching load is whether there is a balance between the amount of teaching and research you would like to do, the amount of teaching and research you are expected to do, and the amount of teaching and research you are able to do with the teaching load at the institution. Low teaching loads, on their own, are not a guarantee of happiness!

Teaching loads of 1+2 or 2+2 (where the courses are 3 credit hour semester courses) are typical of the better research universities. Some institutions do weird things like the quarter system or semester courses that are 4 credit hours, but there are ways to adjust for this.

Teaching loads of 3+3 or even 4+4 are quite common at regional comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges. Keep in mind that most tenure track faculty positions are going to have those kinds of higher teaching loads.

If I were looking at teaching loads and comparing positions, I'd also be looking at the types of courses that I'd have to teach and the size/format of the classes. For example, I have a 2+3 teaching load, but I get to teach small junior/senior/graduate level courses for science/engineering/math majors in my areas of interest. I'd rather have this teaching load than a 2+2 load where 3 courses per year were large sections of freshmen calculus for business majors and I only got to teach one upper division course per year in my area.

Not all courses are the same size, although I suspect that the vast majority are the standard "3 credit hour" size. A minority but reasonable number of courses, though, are 4 credit hours (particularly in my area, math). A few courses are even 5 credit hours at some institutions. It depends on the field to a great extent. Nevertheless, the number of courses is still very important. Teaching a four-hour and a five-hour course for a 2-course load is less work, usually, than teaching three different 3-hour courses. [Thanks to Oswald Veblen]

To answer the part of the question about preps: It's easier to teach two sections of the same course than it is to teach two entirely different courses. A 3:3 load with two preps means that you teach 3 sections per semester but two sections are of the same course. For example, you might teach two sections of Calculus I and one section of ordinary differential equations for a 3 course load with two preps.

In the US, most academic courses are 3 credit hours, nominally meeting for 3 hours per week (often 3 sessions of 50 minutes each on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or two sessions of 75 minutes each on Tuesday and Thursday.) However, you'll find some courses that are two credit hours or four credit hours (or even five credit hours in some science courses with labs.) In assigning teaching load it's common to just count all of these as one course even though four credit hour courses take more time than 3 credit hour courses.

Teaching Load Policy governs the teaching load of all tenured, tenure-track, and term faculty with instructional appointments, as well as tenured faculty who also have an administrative faculty appointment.

Each college/school has a customized, comprehensive faculty workload guideline to set consistent teaching, service, research expectations and buyout standards by units. Establishing transparent, equitable workload policy involves consideration for qualitative performance issues, career stage and disciplinary culture focused on teaching, scholarship and research.

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Having a physical list of ways you can start class, end class, structure discussions, and facilitate readings is helpful. These are a few teaching activities that I can apply to nearly any English class. They include:

This policy provides guidelines for instructional faculty and for department chairs, deans, and others responsible for faculty workload. The Board of Regents' policy (Title 4, Chapter 3, Section 3) regarding the teaching portion of workload is that university faculty are expected to teach six courses per academic year (three + three), with the teaching workload for faculty who are heavily involved in doctoral programs or research being reduced equivalent to the increase in doctoral-level instruction and/or research.

"Workload" consists of teaching; scholarly research, creative activity, and/or professional development; and service. The scholarly research or creative activity assignment is a critical feature of the culture of a research university, and it is expected that all tenure-track and tenured faculty will maintain a program of research, scholarship or creative activity. All non-tenure-track faculty on continuing appointments, such as lecturers, are expected to maintain a program of professional development appropriate to the area in which they teach.

The distribution of responsibilities in these areas for each faculty member is to be specified in an individual statement of professional responsibilities, or "role statement," to be determined by the faculty member in consultation with the department chair (or equivalent). Role statements are prepared annually, at the beginning of the calendar year or term of employment. The distribution of responsibilities in an individual faculty member's role statement may vary from one year to the next. If it becomes necessary to change the distribution of responsibilities significantly during the calendar year, the faculty member and chair should revise the role statement. The distribution specified in the annual role statement must be considered during the faculty member's annual evaluation.

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