Professional staff are expected to devote their efforts to the work of their staff position during their regular work schedule. On occasion, a staff member may take on additional duties and teach a credit bearing class above and beyond their 100% FTE staff position. Note that this is only allowable once per fiscal year (July 1-June 30).
IMPORTANT: The Academic Personnel guidelines state that, “the assigned course must be outside the school/college/campus where the individual holds their staff position.” This means that it is no longer allowable for unit staff to teach within the academic unit in which they are staff. For example, a staff member in the School of Music could be appointed as a temporary lecturer and teach in Physics, but NOT in the School of Music.
When staff do teach:
- Teaching must be approved in advance by the staff person’s supervisor
- A faculty appointment must be granted to the staff member for the duration of the teaching activity. Arts & Sciences' best practice is to use the Lecturer, part-time, temporary title.
- Compensation must be paid as a Non-Faculty Teaching Allowance.
If a situation arises in which a staff member is needed to teach more than once per year, they must voluntarily reduce their staff FTE so that the two appointments (staff and faculty) do not exceed 100% FTE. In this situation, a letter should be issued by the department, and acknowledged by the staff member, outlining the effect of an FTE reduction on sick and vacation leave accrual as well as retirement contributions.
If there are staff teaching scenarios that fall outside the parameters outlined here, please reach out to Ivy Mason-Sharrah or Susan Miller.
For more information, see the HR Professional Staff Program and the Academic Personnel Non-Faculty Teaching Allowance pages.