CON Faculty Workload Guidelines

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Appendices

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER COLLEGE OF NURSING
Faculty Workload Guidelines	Subsection: Appendix B2
Section - Appendices	Originating Date: January 2006
Responsible Reviewing Agency: Executive Council	Revised: September 2006 Revised: January 2008 Revised: August 2009 Revised: August 2010 Reviewed: January 2015 Revised: November 2020
Related documents:

General Principles

1. The work of the College of Nursing (CON) is accomplished through the committed and collaborative activities of its Faculty which are based on the professional model and directed toward achievement of the College of Nursing mission, goals, and strategic plan.
   1. The work of the CON faculty includes teaching, scholarship, service, and practice as defined in the Standards for Promotion and Tenure for Academic Rank (Appendix A) or in the Standards for Promotion for Clinical Rank (Appendix A2).
2. Consistent with the Promotion and Tenure documents faculty select their preferred roles based on rank. Work allocation is differentiated based on faculty role.
3. Faculty are encouraged, in collaboration with their supervisor, to focus their professional development in two areas as consistent with the Promotion and Tenure Guidelines.
4. The work of the CON faculty will fulfill the educational mission aligned with existing resources.
5. The CON supports all forms of scholarship: research, practice/service and teaching scholarship defined as: generating new knowledge, translating knowledge, and disseminating knowledge to the professional community and the public.
6. These guidelines are flexible and should be interpreted broadly, as the needs of individual faculty members, specific courses and projects, and those of the College will vary. The goal of this document is to provide a framework within which faculty members, their assistant deans, and associate deans and program directors collaborate to meet the College’s mission, support the strategic plan, and foster individual faculty growth, development, productivity, and success. Effort allocation guidelines are designed to promote the best faculty effectiveness available to meet the mission, goals and strategic directions of the College of Nursing.
7. Faculty effort is communicated in relation to percentage of FTE. The full-time equivalent (FTE) percentage makes work assignments comparable across various contexts. An FTE of 1.0 means that the person is a full-time faculty member, while an FTE of 0.5 signals that the faculty member is only half-time or that a particular assignment will require half time work.

Faculty Role Preferences

Faculty role preferences are varied and depend on personal development goals (academic promotion and tenure or clinical promotion), rank and credentials, employment negotiations, and organizational needs. Faculty effort is inherently related to faculty preferences and areas of role productivity, and faculty effort guidelines, in general, are consistent with the concept of role preferences and productivity and those for promotion and tenure. There are three major roles: a) teaching intensive and/or teaching scholarship productive, b) research/scholarship productive, and c) practice/scholarship productive.

Teaching

Teaching is a core value and all faculty are expected to have a teaching assignment.

•      An example of full-time work for teaching intensive and/or teaching scholarship productive faculty is:
  • 80% (.80 FTE) teaching in a semester
  • 10% service in a semester
  • 10% teaching scholarship in a semester (See below for examples of teaching scholarship)

Division Assistant Deans and faculty may negotiate for an alteration in teaching based on other workload considerations.

Research

Research is a vital component of the mission of the UNMC College of Nursing, and the college is committed to increasing its research initiative. Faculty who have identified research as a priority focus area are expected to fully engage in those efforts, with the support of their Assistant Dean and the Niedfelt Nursing Research Center (NNRC).

•      An example of full-time work for research intensive and/or research scholarship productive faculty is:
  • 40%-60% teaching in a semester
  • 30%-40% research in a semester
  • 10%-20% service/funded practice in a semester (See below for examples of research scholarship)

Practice

Practice is another area valued within the college of nursing. Nurse Practitioner faculty are expected to keep current their knowledge and skills to support continued licensure and certification, and quality nursing education. However, practice is not limited to APRNs. Any faculty member is welcome to partner with another institution for faculty practice. Faculty who seek practice agreements outside the CON are asked to work through the Morehead Center for support in that process.

•      An example of full-time work for practice and/or practice scholarship productive faculty is:
  • 40%-70% teaching in a semester
  • 20%-40% funded practice in a semester
  • 10-20% service/scholarship in a semester (See below for examples of practice scholarship)

Scholarship

Scholarship in nursing can be defined as those activities that systematically advance the teaching, research, and practice of nursing through rigorous inquiry that 1) is significant to the profession, 2) is creative, 3) can be documented, 4) can be replicated or elaborated, and 5) can be peer-reviewed through various methods. (Edwards, J., Alichnie, C., Easley, C. E., Edwardson, S., Keating, S. B., & Stanley, J. (1999). Defining scholarship for the discipline of nursing. AACN White Paper.)

Scholarship is highly valued by the College and University. Faculty shoulder the responsibility to seek and bring in funding to support their scholarship, and they receive investment time for scholarship with the expectation that they will become funded and/or disseminate teaching, research, and practice scholarship for this effort allocation. Tangible outcomes, such as funded grants and contracts and publications, are considered the return on investment. Faculty who do not engage in scholarship will have the FTE allocated to scholarship reassigned to teaching. The following are examples of scholarship in the areas of teaching, research, and practice. These are consistent with P & T criteria.

Teaching

• Educational grants
• Author of educational peer-reviewed publications on teaching innovations and/or evaluations
• Text books and book chapters
• Development of simulation activities
• Regional, national, international presentations of learner-centered strategies and evaluation
• Editor of an education journal
• Development of evidence based guidelines
• Program consultant
• New course development and evaluation
• Program development and evaluation
• Writing test questions for national certification exams
• Member of editorial boards of education journals
• Inter-professional collaboration to develop new courses or learner-centered activities
• Develop and/or pilot-test innovative use of technology in teaching

Research

Practice

Service

Professional service is important to the university and community. Faculty are asked to participate in service activities at about 20% of FTE. As rank progresses from assistant, associate, to full professor, the level of service changes; for example, one progresses from a task force within the College to higher level University service and from a committee member to committee chair.

The following are examples of service activities:

• Committees within the CON or University
• Professional service to community groups
• Service to local, regional, national, international professional organizations
• Holding a leadership position in a professional organization