Supervisory Responsibilities

XI. SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

Course Assignments and Teaching Schedules

It is the responsibility of the department chair/school dean to recommend course offerings and course assignments of the members of the department/school to the college dean. Variations from the normal teaching load must be approved by the college dean; final assignment of courses will be made by the college dean in consultation with the Provost and the department chair/school dean.

Preparation of the class schedule is the responsibility of the Vice Provost for Academic Administration. However, the departments/schools will be asked to recommend their own class schedules according to the guidelines and timetable submitted by the college dean.

Course offerings, faculty assignments, and summer school schedules are due in the office of the college dean on the dates published in the Administrative Calendar.
Faculty Teaching Workloads

The teaching load of faculty members is determined by a number of guidelines, some of which are applicable to the University as a whole, some to individual departments/schools, and some to individual professors. The guidelines applicable to each of these categories are identified and discussed below.
1. Guidelines Applicable to the University as a Whole
  
  The normal teaching load for each faculty member is 24 semester units per year. For most faculty members, this means they will teach 12 units in the fall and 12 units in the spring. Responsibilities beyond teaching include advising, committee assignments, and departmental/school work. These additional responsibilities are considered to represent eight units of work, making a total work load of 32 units.
2. Guidelines Applicable to the Individual Departments/Schools or Special Functions
  
  In calculating the teaching load of most faculty members, it is simply a matter of counting the number semester units of each of the classes they teach. In some departments/schools, however, faculty responsibilities are not all carried out by teaching in a regular classroom situation. Some faculty are responsible for laboratory sessions, for private lessons in music, or for the supervision of interns. Guidelines for these special situations are available from the college dean.
3. Guidelines Applicable to Individual Faculty Members
  
  Individual faculty members may have their teaching loads reduced from the normal load of 24 units per year for a variety of reasons. Some of these are listed below.
  1. Department chairs/school deans have their load reduced by three to eight units per year. For each 24 units of faculty load in the department/school, the chair/school dean receives one unit of reduced teaching load. The minimum reduced load is three units and the maximum is eight.
  2. Some faculty members' teaching loads are reduced in order for them to carry out special assignments: director of Forensics, coaching assignments, University Marshal, etc.
  The implementation and supervision of teaching loads is ultimately the responsibility of the Provost and the college deans. Statistics are compiled on the enrollment in every course taught and on individual faculty teaching loads. These are reviewed every semester to determine trends and to make adjustments in course offerings and faculty.
Teaching Summer Sessions

Opportunities to teach during the summer sessions are available. Faculty members should contact their department chairs/school deans early in the spring semester if they are interested in teaching the next summer. Remuneration for teaching in a summer session is based upon the summer session pay scale which is established by the Administrative Cabinet. If enrollments fall below minimum numbers, reductions in these salaries occur or courses are canceled.
Leaves of Absence
The university provides leaves for graduate study and sabbatical leaves as described in the PLNU Faculty Handbook. Leaves without salary support or support for graduate study are handled on an individual basis in consultation with the college dean.
Illness

Whenever a member of the department/school is forced to miss classes because of illness, and when it is feasible, department chairs/school deans make an effort to staff the classes of the person who is ill with other members of the department/school. If it appears that the faculty member will be absent from class for an extended period, the department chair/school dean should inform the college dean who, in consultation with the department chair/school dean, will make arrangements to staff the faculty member's classes.
Supervision of Non-faculty Personnel

The department chair/school dean shall be responsible for making work assignments and the supervision of all non-faculty personnel employed to work for the department/school. Usually this is restricted to the supervision of a department/school assistant. This responsibility includes the signing of all time sheets and the conducting of the annual personnel review.
Preparation of Department/School Catalog Materials

Department chairs/school deans, in consultation with the Vice Provost for Academic Administration or a designate who is responsible for the publication of the University catalog, shall prepare the material which is to be included. As noted previously, any curricular changes in the department/school's offerings must be submitted to the APC for their review prior to submission to the catalog editor(s).
Coordination of Textbook Orders

Orders for textbooks are solicited by the University bookstore. As a general rule, department chairs/school deans are asked to encourage the adoption of the same text(s) for courses which have multiple sections. (This is not meant to stifle individual professors' unique approaches to a subject. It is meant to encourage some standardization of the materials covered in a given course.) Also, chairs/school deans are requested to encourage the use of a given text for a given course for at least two years in order to keep textbook costs for the students as low as possible.
Purchase of Library Books and Periodicals

All orders for library books shall be channeled through the chair/school dean of the department/school or his/her designee. Although the department chair/school dean may wish to establish a departmental/school library committee or some other way of implementing book orders, it is ultimately his or her responsibility to develop that section of the library in which books for the department/school are found.
All orders for new periodicals shall be approved by the chair/school dean of the department/school in conjunction with department/school members whose discipline is most closely related to the subject matter of the journal.
Secondary Employment and Involvement

As specified in the faculty contract, faculty members are not to engage in other remunerative employment unless approval in writing is granted in advance by the University administration. Faculty requesting such approval should submit their request to the department chair/school dean who, in turn, will forward it to the college dean for a response.
Department /School Chapels

Department/school chapels are scheduled one or two times each semester by the Vice President of of Spiritual Development. These times are used for spiritual enrichment, departmental/school bonding, advising, and general information sharing times. It is the responsibility of the department chair/school dean or designee to organize and lead these chapels, when scheduled.