Department of Sociology Faculty Workload Policy

Classroom Instruction

Degree program instruction forms a key component of the Sociology Department’s core mission and it is fundamentally important and expected that all Sociology Faculty members engage in high-quality classroom teaching.

Research Stream Expectations

Research Stream Faculty members will teach 3 Sociology courses, or 9 credits per academic year, subject to the following principles:

•  For the purposes of this guideline, one class represents three credits and approximately 39 direct student contact hours.
•  Faculty should aim to teach two larger 100, 200 or 300 level courses and one 400 or 500 level smaller course.
•  Faculty should teach approximately 175 students per academic year, averaged over a three-year period.
•  Faculty should teach a minimum of 2 undergraduate courses.
•  Teaching duties for which additional pay is offered will not be counted toward classroom teaching expectations.

Educational Leadership Stream Expectations

Educational Leadership Stream Faculty members will teach 5 Sociology courses, or 15 credits per academic year, subject to the following principles:

•  For the purposes of this guideline, one class represents three credits and approximately 39 direct student contact hours.
•  Faculty should teach a minimum of 4 undergraduate courses.
•  Faculty should aim to teach approximately 300 students per academic year, averaged over a three-year period.
•  Teaching duties for which additional pay is offered will not be counted toward classroom teaching expectations.

Exceptions

A number of factors will determine exceptions to the above classroom teaching expectations. For example, faculty wishing to teach smaller courses may teach an additional three credit course to distribute the same number of students across more courses. Final decisions with respect to course assignments will be the responsibility of the Department Head.

The exceptions outlined below may reduce the expected teaching commitment of Faculty by one three-credit course per academic year. These exceptions are not additive and a combination of these roles or other exceptions will not result in a teaching load reduction below 2 courses of classroom instruction per academic year.

• Significant administrative roles: Major administrative roles constitute exceptional service to the department and are accompanied by a one-course release. These roles include: Graduate Studies Chair, Undergraduate Studies Chair and Editor for a major sociology journal. The Department Head may make an equivalent determination for other administrative roles on a case-by-case basis.
•  Research Chairs, salary or other awards that have require reduced teaching loads: Examples include, but are not limited to, Canada Research Chairs, CIHR New Investigator Awards, and MSFHR Scholar Awards.
• Course buyouts: Some internal awards and external funding agencies provide funds to divert time from teaching to research activities. Faculty can buy out one course per academic year at a cost of $15K. Final decisions with respect to course buyouts will be the responsibility of the Department Head.

The exceptions outlined below may reduce the expected teaching commitment of Faculty below 175 students per academic year.

• Unique Curricular Needs: Faculty may be asked by the Department Head to teach smaller courses providing a service to the Department or enhanced learning opportunities. These requests may result in teaching less than 175 students.
• Graduate Teaching: Faculty teaching a graduate course will likely teach less than 175 students.

The factors below would reduce the expected teaching commitment of Faculty below the minimum expectations.

• Faculty members on sabbatical leave, medical leave, administrative leave, or secondments within and/or outside of UBC.
• Faculty members with reduced or joint appointments, who will have proportional reductions in classroom teaching expectations.
• Faculty members with exceptional circumstances, as approved by the Department Head.

Research Stream Expectations

As a research-intensive department within the Faculty of Arts, all Professoriate Stream Faculty are expected to be actively seeking funding, conducting, and publishing the results of scholarly investigations.

All Sociology Faculty in the Research Stream are expected to:

• Maintain an active portfolio of research projects;
• Actively seek peer-reviewed competitive funding if/as necessary to support their research projects. This should include funding as principal investigator; and
• Publish the results of their studies in peer-reviewed scholarly journals or in books published through scholarly presses on a regular basis. This should include manuscripts as lead or senior author.

Educational Leadership Stream Expectations

Educational Leadership Stream Faculty are expected to excel beyond the normal requirements of excellent teaching with impact beyond one’s own classroom – within the Department, University, and in the broader academic community.

All Sociology Faculty in the Educational Leadership Stream are expected to:

• Make contributions to curriculum development and renewal;
• Provide leadership through teaching and learning initiatives and through mentorship;
• Pursue activities that support evidence-based educational excellence, leadership and impact within and beyond the university; and
• Obtain funding for educational improvements through grants such as TLEF if/as necessary to support projects.

Academic Service

All Sociology Faculty are expected to engage in service within the Department, the UBC community and the broader scholarly community. At a minimum, Faculty within Sociology should be engaged in the following academic service activities:

• Attend the following meetings:
  • Sociology Faculty meetings
  • Appointments, Reappointments, Promotion, and Tenure Committee meetings
• Maintain active participation in service to the University, including:
  • Active participation in at least one non-compulsory Sociology Committee (e.g. graduate committee or workshops & seminar series).
  • Active participation in at least one additional UBC committee at the Sociology, Faculty of Arts, or UBC level.

Community Service and Knowledge Dissemination

Sociology faculty are also expected to undertake meaningful engagement in the broader academic and non-academic community, such as scholarly societies, conference leadership and community engagement, including knowledge dissemination to policy makers and/or communication with the general public.

Exceptions

Factors that might lead to a lower service commitment include:

• Faculty members on sabbatical leave, medical leave, administrative leaves, or secondments within and/or outside of UBC.
• Faculty members with reduced or joint appointments, who will have proportional reduced expectations.