Faculty Assignments

Faculty assignments are made approximately 6-8 weeks prior to the term start and are made based on an objective and highly contextualized process. It starts by the assigning of full-time faculty and Professional Adjunct Lecturers (PALs). The remaining courses and/or sections are assigned to adjunct faculty. The following factors are taken into consideration when selecting adjunct faculty, among others:

• Approved-to-teach courses at the time of scheduling.

• Track record of successfully teaching the course(s) at NLU.

• Compliance with Department of Labor laws governing the total hours that can be taught by adjunct faculty in the year.

• Faculty’s professional fit, performance, and instructional excellence.

• Content areas, years of experience, and experience teaching in an online course modality.

• Our university diversity, equity, and inclusion values.

• Course Evaluation Data of previous teaching at NLU including IDEA scores (student evaluations), course engagement, classroom observations, student feedback on assignments and the use of the EAB student success system along with follow up on student interventions.

• Meeting deadlines and timely completion of course preparation and grade entry.

• Accreditation standards and related ratio requirements.

Faculty assignments are accepted via a survey or email communication sent out approximately 7 weeks before the term starts.