Teaching Loads in Academic Physics
George D. Phillies
[mod. note: I've accepted this with some misgivings. First, is the subject
matter really appropriate for this group? Second, should the group carry
stuff not in plain-text format? The principle of "light moderation" seems to
require a "yes" answer to these, but the point is debatable. Comments on
the appropriateness of material like this can be sent to the "administrative"
address physics-rese...@ncar.ucar.edu, but will *not* be posted, at
least not by me. -- MWJ.]
The following is in LeTeX style. Cut after this line.
\begin{document}
\centerline{\large\bf Teaching Loads, Representative Schools}
This table is the current result of my survey of sci.physics, sci.chem,
sci.math, sci.biol on Internet. I thank a long list of contributors, many of
whom requested anonymity. To err on the side of caution, I have not included
contributors' names here.
The columns in the table report the school, the department, the number of
semesters in the regular academic year, the number of courses taught during an
academic year, the load (number of courses taught at one time), sabbatical
leave conditions, and teaching load for undergraduate projects. It has not
escaped my attention that most of us also have committee duties, graduate
teaching, and/or research, but I have not included these numbers in the UG
projects columns.
I have sorted departments by their course load --- the number of courses taught
at one time by one faculty member. Observe that we have a very large group of
schools at which faculty teach one course at a time, a smaller group at which
faculty teach 1.5 courses at a time on the average, and a still smaller group
at which faculty teach 2 courses at a time. In some departments teaching load
is conditioned on research activity. These departments all fall in the same
group; in these departments faculty teach one or two courses at a time
depending on research activity. Institutions with teaching loads above 2
courses at a time are largely undergraduate-only colleges at which faculty do
not have significant research obligations.
Some departments quote teaching loads in contact hours. These numbers are
highly deceptive. For example, one finds departments in which contact hours
include laboratory contact hours; in other departments contact hours include
advising, research, etc. so that a 12 contact hours nominal load reduces to
under two courses at a time.
The sabbatical leave question produced many very complex answers; see notes.
In the most common patterns faculty get sabbatical leave every seventh year,
either 1/2 year at full pay or 1 year at 50 or 80\% pay. The question about
senior theses or equivalent undergraduate teaching loads (mandatory junior-year
projects, e.g.) appears to have been ill-phrased by me, so the data in the last
column mean different things at different institutions. I've used {\em some}
to describe schools at which a load was mentioned but where its magnitude was
unclear.
\pagebreak
\centerline{\large\bf Teaching Loads, Tabular Data}
\vspace{2ex}
\begin{small}
\noindent \begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|l|l|l|l|}
\hline
School&Department& Terms & Courses & Load & Sabbaticals & UG Projects \\
\hline
U of Rochester& Biology & 2& 1-1.5 & 0.5-0.75 & 1 in 7(h) & some \\
\hline
Illinois, U-C.& Astronomy & 2 & 2 & 1.00 & (a) & 0\\
McGill & Chemistry & 2 & 1 & 1 & 1 in 7 & 0 \\
Northern Ill.\ U. & Chemistry& 2& 2 & 1& 1 in 7 & 0 \\
Ohio State & Chemistry & 3 & 3 & 1.00 & ? & ? \\
Queen's U &Biology& 2 & 2 & 1.00 (n) & 1 in 7 & 0 \\
Rochester& Chemistry & 2& 2 & 1.00 & 1 in 7(h) & some \\
Rochester& Physics & 2& 2 & 1.00 & 1 in 7(h) & some \\
Stanford & EE & 3 & 3 & 1 (e) & (f)& 0 \\
Stanford & Appl.\ Phys.\ & 3 & 3 & 1 (e) & (f)& 0 \\
Tufts & Chemistry & 2 & 2.2 & 1.1& 1 in 7 (h) & 0.75 \\
WPI & nominal & 4 & 3& 0.75& 1 in 7 (h) & 4 \\
\hline
Alaska & Chemistry & 2 & 2/4 & 1/2 & rare & some \\
Maryland & Chemistry & 2 & 2/4 (i) & 1/2 (i) & ? & ? \\
Nebraska-Lincoln& Chemistry& 2 & 2/4(i)& 1/2(i) & (g) & 0\\
\hline
Campinas/Brazil & Chemical-Physics & 2 & 2-3 & 1.50 & ? & 0\\
Clark U.& Chemistry & 2 & 3 & 1.50 & (b) & (c)\\
Duke& Chemistry& 2 & 2-3 & 1.5 & 1 in 4 & 0 \\
Kent State & Physics & 2 & 3-4 & 1.5-2.0 & 1 in 7 (h) & (r) \\
Ohio State & Zoology& 3 & 2 \@ 4-5ch/3 (i) & 1/1.5 (i) & 1 in 7 & some \\
Portland State & Chemistry & 3 &3-6 & 1.50 & rare & 0 \\
Queen's U & Geology & 2 & 3 & 1.50 & 1 in 7 & 0 \\
Regina & Chemistry & 2 & 3-4 & 1.5-2& (p)& ? \\
Texas-Dallas & Nat.Sci.\& Math.& 2 & 3-3.5& 1.5-1.75 (l)& ? & $ \sim 0.5?$ \\
Toledo & Med.\ \& Biol.\ Chem.\ & 3 & 2-4 & 1.5 & 1 in 7 & 1-2\\
\hline
Carleton & Earth Science& 2 & 4 & 2.00 & (p)& ?\\
Manitoba& Geology & 2& 4& 2& ? & ? \\
North Texas & Physics & 2 & 4 & 2 & - & - \\
Queen's U & Geography & 2 & 4 & 2.00 & 1 in 7 & 0 \\
\hline
Catawba College & Chemistry & 2 & 5 & 2.5 & 0 & 0.25 \\
\hline
Edinboro U of Pa.& Chemistry& 2 & 24ch (j,k,m) & 12ch (j,k,m) & $\sim 0$& 0\\
Penn State & & & & & & \\
\ \ \ \ Ogontz Campus & Physics & 2 & 6 & 3 & 1 in 7 & some \\
Penn State & & & & & & \\
\ \ \ \ Schuylkill Campus & Physics & 2 & 7 (6 w/ labs)& 3.5 (16 ch) & 0 &
0\\
SE Missouri & Computer Sci & 2 & 6 & 3 (12ch (j)) & 1 in 6 (m) & 0 \\
George Fox College & Biology & 2 & 6-7 & 3.5 & 1 in 7 & 3-5 \\
South Dakota State & Chemistry & 2 & 6-8 & 3-4 & 1 in 5 (g) & 0 \\
St.Bonaventure& Chemistry & 2 & 7-8 & 3.5-4 & 1 in 7 & 0 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{small}
\pagebreak
\centerline{\large\bf Notes}
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (a): After 8 years: two semesters at 2/3 salary, or 1 semester at full salary;
After 6 years: two semesters at 1/2 salary, or 1 semester at full salary;
After 4 years: one semester at 2/3 salary;
After 3 years: one semester at 1/2 salary.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (b): 7th year at 80\% pay for full year or 100\% pay for
one semester. Chair gets release time of two semesters a year but
takes one.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (c): Not officially counted.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (d): deleted.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (e): faculty members who taper down on research, and don't
assume major administrative responsibility (e.g., managing department
admissions) are asked to teach more.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (f): One-year half-salary every seventh year.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (g): Unpaid.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (h): full salary for one semester, or one-half salary for one-
year.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (i): $a/b$: More research-active are $a$, less are $b$.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (j): ch = contact hours.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (k): Compensation for all overloads.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (l): Factor of 1.5 for organized graduate courses.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (m): Includes lab contact hours.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (n): For good researchers, grad courses or field courses t over
in 2-3 weeks. Heavy teaching load: first year courses with
up to 500-800 aspiring pre-meds.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (p): half-sab every 3 years, full sab after 6.
\vspace{1ex}
\noindent Note (r): Nominal load 12 ch including research, committees, and
advising. Typical 5 ch teaching, 7 ch for other duties.
\end{document}