Course Release for Faculty Advising Doctoral Students

Creating a culture of scholarship and supporting doctoral student development is an important facet of COE faculty work life.  The school-wide Educational Leadership doctorate draws on the talents, expertise and time of many instructors across department and program areas.  One way to recognize faculty contributions to this endeavor is to offer faculty workload credit for being committee members and advisors for student accomplishment of program milestones.  While the total amount of time and effort dedicated to supporting COE doctoral students cannot be directly rewarded, the Doctoral Faculty Workload Release Policy is an attempt to honor the valuable efforts of instructional faculty.

Note: Service on doctoral committees outside of the COE is not included in the policy.  Faculty should note this service on their Curriculum Vita.

The policies below are tied to students who have started the program with specific cohorts.

I. Workload release criteria for being a committee member or an advisor

Cohorts prior to 2010 for Postsecondary specialization and prior to 2012 for Curriculum and Instruction specialization:

 COE Doctoral Committee Service Prior to 2010/2012 cohorts (Core, Proposal, Defense) serving on a doctoral committee

• • • 1 point per milestone

    • 5 points = 1 credit workload release

COE Doctoral Paper Committee Chair prior to 2010/2012 cohorts (Core, Proposal) chairing a doctoral level paper

• • • 1 credit of workload release

COE Doctoral Dissertation Chair prior to 2010/2012 cohorts chairing a doctoral dissertation through the paper and the defense

• • • 3 credits of workload release

* No matter where the students are in the program students carry these credits with them.

II. Workload release criteria for being a committee member or an advisor

Cohorts beginning in 2010 for Postsecondary specialization, beginning in 2012 for Curriculum and Instruction specialization and all subsequent cohorts.

 Faculty advisors teaching in the specialization classes in Year 1 and 2 of the student program: Beginning in 2010, the COE doctoral program underwent substantial revision.  The goal was to design the program to help students finish in 3-4 years, to meet the needs of working professionals and to frontload the program credits.  In light of these changes, the policy frontloads and ties some of the faculty release credits to their participation in teaching and advising in the specialization classes that are running concurrent with the COE program core classes. These are the expectations for the awarding of the release (“advising”) credits.

• 1. Students take 9 credits a term in their first two years in the program (9 X 6 terms = 54 credits).  Half of those credits (27) are COE core class credits.  The other half of those credits (27) are specialization classes.  Faculty teaching in the associated specialization classes are the advisors for these students for their core paper and through the rough draft of their proposal.  

  2. Specialization faculty members receive 24 doctoral release advising credits for working with 8-10 students over 6-8 terms (fall, winter, spring, summer) for the first two years of the program.  Summer is an option, not a requirement. There are 2-3 faculty members in each specialization working with the students for two years in a learning community seminar that is coordinated with the doctoral program core classes.  The department chair and the specialization faculty work out how and when these credits are distributed over the first two years of the program.  Essentially we are front-loading the workload release as advising credits.  In the past advisors had to wait until the student completed the milestone to collect their credits.

  3. The reason that the advising credits are frontloaded is that the specialization faculty members are expected to assist their students in finishing the core paper, a program milestone, by the program deadline of December 31 in Year 2.  Note: Specializations have different core deadlines before December 31, but all students must finish by December 31 in Year 2.  If the student does not finish the core by December 31 in year 2, the student will be exited from the program.  

  4. In addition, specialization faculty members are expected to assist the students in completing a rough draft of their dissertation proposal by the end of year 2.  Students may move onto other doctoral advisors at this time but they should have in hand a rough draft of all three chapters of their dissertation proposal. 

  5. Faculty who serve as members of the student doctoral committee but are not teaching in the specialization faculty receive 1 point for every milestone committee on which they serve (core, dissertation proposal, dissertation) after the student has completed the milestone.  Five points equal one credit of release.  

  6. Faculty must contact their department chair to receive approval before they can use the credits in their workload.  Requests to the department chair should include student name and milestone name.  Department chairs have the right to limit individual release to 4 credits per academic year for each faculty member.

COE Doctoral Committee Service as of 2012 cohorts (Core, Proposal, Defense) serving on a doctoral committee

• • 1 point per membership

  • 5 points = 1 credit workload release after defense

COE Doctoral Paper Committee Chair as of 2012 cohorts (Proposal) chairing a doctoral level proposal paper defense

• • 1 credit of workload release after defense of dissertation proposal

COE Doctoral Dissertation Chair as of 2012 cohorts chairing a doctoral dissertation through the paper and the defense

• • 2 credits of workload release after defense of dissertation