May 9, 2023
Faculty and administration collaborate on workload policy
Prompted in part by a request from the Kansas Board of Regents and in part by Kansas State University's needs, work is underway on a universitywide Faculty Workload Policy. Faculty and administrators are collaborating on a policy draft that will go out to the faculty for comment and discussion in fall 2023 as it moves through the Faculty Senate approval process.
The following are members of this committee, which is convened and chaired by Tanya González, interim associate provost for institutional effectiveness:
- Jennifer Anthony, department head, chemical engineering department.
- Jenny Ifft, associate professor and extension specialist, agricultural economics department.
- Katie Kingery-Page, associate dean, College of Architecture, Planning & Design.
- Philip Nel, university distinguished professor, English department.
- Edward Nowlin, associate professor, marketing department.
- Jeridy Oetken, clinical associate professor, applied human sciences department.
- Don Saucier, faculty senate president 2022-23, professor, psychology department.
The group is reviewing national best practices for workload policy as well as internal examples from departments and colleges that have begun these discussions or have established guidelines in use.
The resulting policy will offer more guidance to department heads and to faculty than the University Handbook currently provides, so they can better account for the range of job responsibilities and duties of faculty work. In addition, it will make K-State faculty workload legible to external stakeholders.
Please look for an update and opportunities to comment on this work in fall 2023. Send any questions and comments to González at tgonzale@k-state.edu.