What type of access do full-time faculty have to student records and information?
Virtually all student records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA permits sharing of information from student records for the execution of relevant institutional functions. Any decision to share student information is an institutional decision; no individual employee has a legal right to access student information. To clarify roles in accessing students’ information, in Spring, 2018, the institution generated the policies below. These policies apply to student information related to registration, course planning, grades, degree audit, and the unofficial transcript:
Role: Department Head, Grad Program Director, Concentration Coordinator
Can view any student in the system of record (including view/modify course plans and add advising notes)
Role: Internship Advisors
Can view their assigned advisees in the system of record (including view/modify course plans and add advising notes) as well as view any other students that are not their specific advisee
Role: Individual Full-time Faculty
Can view their assigned advisees in the system of record (including view/modify course plans and add advising notes)
Can I teach more or less than the standard contract course load?
The standard course load for a full time faculty member is teaching six teaching units during an academic year. There may be circumstances where a faculty member may teach more or less than a full time load in a given year. An adjustment to course load must be made up in the next academic year.
According to the full time faculty collective bargaining agreement, Article X A. 15, “If a faculty member teaches more or less than the contractually required course load in any academic year, they shall prepare with the department head and dean a plan for making up the overload or underload during the next academic year. This plan shall be forwarded to the Provost and to the President of the Association.”
It is the responsibility of the faculty member and the department head and dean to come up with the plan for this adjustment of teaching load, and to communicate that plan with Academic Affairs and the faculty union.
When Academic Affairs receives the written plan through the dean’s office, that course load adjustment is noted on the course table and the budget development table for the current year and it will be included on the course table and budget development table for the following year so that departments and divisions will have that information when preparing for the next year.
Written plans should be specific about the schedule for both years. If the plan involves multiple departments, each department head and dean should sign off on the agreement. Plans should be sent to the Provost, the President of the Faculty Association, and the Director of Academic Administration and should be attached to the course table(s) when submitted.
How many independent study projects can I teach?
Full time faculty members can teach 3 independent study projects (ISP) per term, and a total of 9 per year.
Full time faculty members are not paid for independent study projects.
Part time faculty can teach no more than 5 independent study projects per year. Each student in a Collaborative Study Project counts as 1 ISP toward the faculty member’s limit. Part time faculty who are members of a graduate student’s thesis committee count this as one ISP.
Part time faculty are paid a stipend for each independent study project they oversee. Payment is made at the end of the semester as part of the regular payroll on the 20th of the month. Part-time faculty can track their pay via the Workday Pay icon. If you do not receive your stipend, please contact Academic Administration at acadaff@risd.edu
These limits were negotiated into the faculty contracts. If a faculty member for good reason wants to exceed the limits for one term, and the dean and department head support that request, the faculty union and Academic Affairs may agree to waive the term limit, provided that the yearly limit is observed. Such requests should be sent by the dean’s office to the president of the relevant union and to the Director of Academic Administration for action.
What are my obligations if I tutor an independent study?
Independent Study projects provide a structure for an instructor to work with an individual student on a particular line of Liberal Arts research or studio project that falls outside available course offerings. Faculty are not obligated to tutor independent studies and should feel comfortable with the academic value of the proposal and their capacity to follow through from inception to final grading.
The amount of work done for an ISP must warrant 3 hours of credit. Faculty should meet with their ISP students 1 hour per week during the Fall and Spring semesters and 2 hours per week during Wintersession. The greater burden rests on the student: a student is typically in class for 36 hours a semester for a 3 credit hour Liberals Arts course and 60 hours for a 3-credit studio course. In addition, they will typically be required to do at least one additional hour of work for each hour in class. In other words, the student's proposal should demonstrate a minimum of 72 hours of work for a 3 credit hour Liberal Arts course; 120 hours of work for a studio course. Faculty should assist the student in the preparation of a cogent proposal that:
►outlines mutually agreed upon readings and written assignments for Liberal Arts studies; OR outlines mutually agreed upon output for studio studies;
►suggests frequency and timing of regular communication and meetings. You need to meet on a regular basis for critique, discussion, review, academic evaluation, etc.
The proposal for an Independent Study, like a course syllabus, establishes content and expectations.
Change in title: Critic to Senior Critic, Lecturer to Senior Lecturer
Part-time faculty get an automatic change in title if and when they move to three-year contracts. For the full sequence o contracts refer to the PTFA Bargaining Agreement posted on this website.
I don't want to apply for sabbatical leave now - can I wait?
Full-time faculty: If you are eligible to apply for sabbatical leave but choose not to apply, you will lose credit toward your next sabbatical leave. Most faculty are eligible to take sabbatical in their 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th… years of service. If you choose not to apply when first eligible and take your first sabbatical in your 10th year, your sequence will then be your 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st years.
You do have the option to postpone an approved sabbatical leave. If you apply for sabbatical leave in your 8th year but postpone it (with the agreement of your department head, dean and Academic Affairs) to your 10th year, you will be back on your original sequence thereafter (10th, 15th, 22nd, 29th… years). You may only postpone an approved sabbatical for two years; after that you will need to reapply.
It is in your best interest to apply for your leave at the time you are eligible.