PROCEDURES FOR POLICY: 3-02
REVISED DATE: 07/15/2025

  1. Purpose:

    To set forth procedures for faculty workload and hours during the contract year for administrative faculty, exempt classified staff, professional faculty, and teaching faculty, to establish uniform standards for normal workload calculations, student engagement hours, and additional activities, to increase college-wide effectiveness of workload management practices, and to ensure compliance with all applicable Virginia Community College System (VCCS) regulations regarding faculty workload and hour assignments. The procedures for implementation of this policy are provided below.

  2. Procedure and/or Process Definitions:

    Administrative faculty: Individuals employed by the college to perform work related to the management of the education and general activities of the college, school/division, or department, who are normally employed on a 12-month basis beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30, and who are assigned a faculty rank for which they qualify.

    Classified employees: Employees who occupy positions that are listed in the Commonwealth’s Compensation Plan, and who are covered by the Virginia Personnel Act as found in Chapter 10, Title 2.1 of the Code of Virginia, once they have completed the probationary period.

    Clinical hours: Equates to 1/2 credit hour and 1 contact hour.

    Course contact hours: The number of lecture hours in class each week (including lecture, seminar, discussion, and other similar activities) and/or the number of laboratory, supervised study, coordinated internship, and other similar activities are indicated for each course in the course description. The numbers of lecture and laboratory hours required each week are called "contact" hours. Online courses must include the same content and deliver the same student outcomes as courses taught in the classroom. Although contact hours for online courses may not refer to seat time, they do still indicate the amount of course time devoted to lecture and laboratory instruction.

    Continuing Education Units (CEUs): Ten contact hours in an organized continuing education (adult or extension) experience under responsible sponsorship, capable direction, and qualified instruction. (A decimal fraction of a unit may be awarded for an offering of shorter duration.)

    Credit hours: Fifty minutes of faculty instruction for a 15-week semester or 750 minutes of instruction (Source: VCCS Policy 3.5.7.1.2).

    Equivalent teaching load: Teaching load adjustments translated into teaching credits and considered as part of the faculty member’s full semester teaching load.

    Exempt classified staff: Classified staff that are exempt from overtime compensation.

    Laboratory hours: Equates to 1/2 credit hour and 1 contact hour.

    Lecture hours: Equates to 1 credit hour and 1 contact hour.

    Overload: A faculty member's workload that, for an academic year (fall and spring), is: a) greater than 30 course credit hours, b) greater than 40 contact hours, or c) greater than 30 workload credits – whichever figure results in the greatest amount of overload credit hours. (See VCCS Policy 3.8.4). A faculty member's workload that, for a summer term, is a) greater than 10 course credit hours, or b) greater than 10 workload credits – whichever figure results in the greatest amount of overload credit hours. Faculty may have an overload of up to 13 credit hours for the contract year (fall, spring, and summer).

    Professional faculty: Individuals holding non-teaching positions with continuing responsibilities who are employed on a 12-month basis beginning July 1 and ending June 30, such as librarians, counselors, coordinators, and assistant coordinators, and who are assigned a faculty rank for which they qualify.

    Reassigned time: A portion of a faculty member's total workload expressed in workload credits and measured in clock hours that represents a temporary assignment of non-teaching administrative, professional, or other special duties, calculated into the workload as 1 credit hour of reassigned time equals 1 workload credit and a total of 40 clock hours devoted to the assigned duties.

    Regular academic session: Consists of the fall and spring semesters and excludes summer session.

    Substantial additional assignment: Substantial, additional non-teaching assignment/project outside of routine duties or alternative work schedule assigned to a faculty member when under full-time contract. The additional duties assignment must be of a temporary nature with a specific beginning and ending date and does not require a vacant position. Supporting documentation for this pay action must include a description of the additional duties assignment, the amount of the supplement, the duration of the additional duties assignment, interim goals, and the expected outcomes. An individual may be given a supplement of 0–10% or a flat rate not to exceed 0–10%. It may not be used to compensate faculty when they are not under their full-time faculty employment contract.

    Teaching faculty: Full-time teaching faculty hired on 9-month, 10-month, or 12-month appointment.

    Workload: The sum of all workload credits associated with a faculty member's assigned responsibilities during a semester or academic term, an academic year, or a contractual period, including teaching load and released time for temporary administrative, professional, or other special assignment duties.

  3. Procedures:

    1. Normal workload

      1. School deans are responsible for ensuring that teaching assignments and loads, including all adjustments to teaching loads, are provided to the scheduler no later than two weeks after the last day to drop with a refund.

      2. Based on the entered SIS data and reported reassigned time, the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) will generate a Faculty Workload Report for each school. School deans are required to review their respective reports, return with edits to the OAA, and ensure workload edits are made in SIS by the eighth week of the semester.

    2. Student engagement hours

      1. School deans will ensure teaching faculty student engagement hours are posted on their Canvas course shell and physical on campus office if applicable.

      2. School deans are expected to ensure that student engagement hours are included and fully detailed in every class syllabus. Copies of class syllabi will be retained in the respective school/division office.

    3. Additional activities

      1. Academic advising: School deans will establish advising assignments as needed to assist with registration and other academic activities.

      2. College and community service activities and contributions: School deans will ensure that teaching faculty develop a plan that clearly documents the college and community service activities to be performed by the individual faculty member during the annual performance cycle. Consistent with VCCS policy, such activities may include, but are not limited to the following:

        • Membership and activity in professional and civic organizations (general and/or specialized organizations at the local, state, and/or national levels);
        • The accomplishment of important professional development activities that may or may not be part of an individual professional development plan;
        • Attending and participating in professional conferences, workshops, and meetings;
        • Keeping current regarding developments in education and industry;
        • Participating in business or industrial activities related to professional field;
        • Participating in college and state-level professional development activities;
        • Being active in college and VCCS-wide committees;
        • Engaging in writing speeches and reports and in consulting;
        • Engaging in classroom-based research to improve teaching or in discipline-based research that may lead to publication;
        • Sharing innovations in using instructional technology with colleagues in other colleges;
        • Participating in the community service program at the college;
        • Participating in local college advisory committees;
        • Contributing to community welfare and community development;
        • Mentoring, coaching, and/or contributing to the evaluation of adjunct faculty including dual enrollment instructors.

      3. Professional development activities:

        1. School deans will ensure that each teaching faculty member develops a plan that clearly documents the professional development activities to be performed by the individual faculty member during the annual performance cycle. Consistent with Reynolds Policy No. 3-18, Professional Development and Renewal, faculty members will document their individual professional development plan in accordance with guidance provided in the college’s Faculty Performance and Evaluation Plan.

      4. Attendance at college activities

        1. School deans will ensure that faculty absences from these and other such events are documented with the appropriate use of accrued leave and the submission of an absence request via the HCM Employee Self-Service.

        2. Absence requests should be submitted prior to the scheduled absence.

    4. Work absences

      1. As the designated supervisor, school deans will ensure that faculty workload absences are documented with the appropriate use of accrued leave and the submission of an absence request via the HCM Employee Self-Service.

      2. In accordance with VCCS policy, sick and personal leave for 9-month teaching faculty must be used in increments of 4 hours or 8 hours. Absences of more than 1/2 day will be charged on a day-for-day basis (i.e., 5 days, 40 hours per week) regardless of the faculty member’s teaching schedule.

      3. Absence requests should be submitted upon the faculty member’s return to work.

    5. Twelve-month administrative and professional faculty and exempt classified employees teaching credit courses

      1. School deans will make hiring decisions regarding use of 12-month administrative and professional faculty and exempt classified employees to teach credit courses.

      2. School deans will ensure that the memorandum indicating supervisor’s approval is attached to the adjunct faculty contract upon submission to the Office of Human Resources (OHR).

      3. School deans will ensure the following forms/documents are submitted to the Office of Human Resources to represent the teaching field of the credit class to be taught:

        • completed VCCS-10
        • official college transcripts
        • current resume

      4. Hiring decisions that involve an administrative or professional faculty member teaching courses within their own division must be approved by the supervisor of the appropriate hiring manager.

      5. The supervisor of the appropriate hiring manager will ensure that the documentation described in Reynolds Policy 3-02, Section I.5, is attached to the “extra pay” faculty contract prior to submitting to the OHR.

    6. Teaching non-credit courses, seminars, workshops, etc.

      The Community College Workforce Alliance (CCWA) will make hiring decisions regarding use of 12-month administrative and professional faculty and exempt classified employees to teach non-credit classes. Personnel documentation required for teaching non-credit courses will be maintained by the college’s OHR.

  4. Other Information:

    Reynolds Policy No. 3-02, Faculty Teaching Load

    Reynolds Policy 3-18, Professional Development and Renewal

    VCCS Policy Manual, Section 3.8.4, Teaching Overloads