Policy Overview

September 4, 2008

This policy applies to tenure-track faculty only.听

听To ensure that quality in our courses remains high and that faculty have time to remain current in both their subject area and technology, adequate time to meet with individual students, and time to grade substantive written work, the campus has an interest in making sure that faculty do not take on excessive amounts of work. 听听

Tenure-track faculty all have regular teaching loads designated in their letter of offer and any subsequent amendments to that letter. 听These loads differ depending upon rank and discipline. 听Whatever a faculty member鈥檚 basic load, a faculty member may take on no more than one additional course per semester (3 credit hours). 听This does not include independent study classes. 听This does include courses taught through Continuing Education, courses taught outside one鈥檚 home school or college, and those taught on other CU campuses. 听Faculty who teach at non-CU campuses must report such efforts under the 鈥�1/6th Rule鈥�;听faculty and unit leadership should be sure that overload teaching and outside commitments under the 鈥�1/6th Rule鈥� do not compromise their performance in their basic academic assignments of teaching, research, and service.听

The following statement should be included as a condition of employment in any "overload" and "additional" job letters of offer:

"I certify that this additional teaching appointment does not exceed the limit on overload teaching, which allows no more than one additional course per semester over and above the equivalent of a full-time appointment. This overload limit includes all courses taught at the University of Colorado, including Continuing Education and other CU campuses."听

With regards to Summer Session teaching, approval normally will be granted to teach no more than one course during any single Summer Session. Concurrent course teaching in overlapping Summer Session terms will be discouraged. In those cases in which a faculty member is teaching a one-credit hour course (such as a field study, seminar or lab course) the faculty member may elect to teach up to three, one-credit hour courses during a Summer Session term.
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Exceptions:听
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Non-tenure track faculty are not bound by this policy; their course 听overloads are governed by any policies set up by the Dean of their units.听
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Self-paced courses taught through Continuing Education will not count against overload teaching limits. 听
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听Business Faculty Overload Teaching Compensation: 听A normal teaching overload situation for a faculty member on the Boulder Campus is considered as one additional course or the equivalent of three credit hours per semester. 听As an exception, at the Dean鈥檚 discretion, a Business faculty member can also teach in a non-credit Executive Education course(s) involving up to 37.5 contact hours and be considered compliant with the campus overload teaching policy for faculty. 听However, this discretionary overload may not be the equivalent of two, three credit hour courses. 听听
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Engineering School and CAETE Students: 听As an exception, the enrollment of CAETE students in Continuing Education distance learning course sections is not considered overload teaching.

If you believe that another exception may be pertinent, an appeal may be sent to your dean.