1. Faculty Handbook The Faculty Handbook states that the normal full-time teaching load is 15 credits per term, including 12 credits of assigned courses and 3 credits of reassigned time for advising, committee, departmental assignments, and faculty governance. Part II Section 3b

2. Non- Lab Majors We propose that all non-lab majors would be mandated to create 3-credit degree maps for their degree programs. All probationary faculty in these programs would receive a 3-credit release per year for scholarly activity if they are progressing toward tenure and promotion. Newly promoted associate professors would be given a 3-unit release per year for a 3-year period. They could apply for a subsequent 3-unit release per year for an additional 3-year period if they demonstrate sustained progress toward promotion to full professor. Associate professors who are eligible for promotion to full professor based on years of service would be eligible for a research release only when they have been successful in their promotion to full professor. Full professors would be assessed a course release for research based on a sustained level of engagement at the level of full professor. A newly promoted full professor would be eligible for a 3-unit release per year for a 3-year period. At the end of the 3-year period, he or she could re-apply for release demonstrating sustained scholarly output.

3. Science Lab Majors Tenure-track faculty teaching in science lab majors would receive.75 course credits for labs. Currently, faculty receive.5 course credits. At this time, science faculty often have between 15 and 18 contact hours per semester. In the proposed recommendation, tenure-track faculty that demonstrate engaged scholarly activity, will create a 2+2 (two courses, 2 labs) equivalent load which would equate to 24 contact hours, but 21 workload credits based 3 hour labs at.75. A 2+2 workload equivalent was proposed both by the Faculty Committee on the Status of Women and the Science chairs. The dean would work with the department chairs, and all attempts would be made to manage the curriculum in ways that would not increase the need for substantial increases in new faculty lines. It would be necessary to justify programs with specialized accreditation according to national standards.

4. Special Programs Special programs such as Music, Theatre, and Art would work with the dean and Teacher Education would work with the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs to assess workloads. All non-tenure track faculty would maintain at least 24- credit loads.

5. Cost Growing consortium of colleges and universities that we will be able to benchmark Growing consortium of colleges and universities that we will be able to benchmark Currently, we have 122 tenure-track faculty. Thus, a very conservative maximum cost to creating a pool of release time would be $500,000. That said, the administration expects the costs to be mitigated by the following factors: An outside consultant showed that we have excess seat capacity throughout programs, seat capacity that can be used by students moving from the 4-credit to the 3-credit model. Not all tenure-track faculty would be eligible for course release. Non-tenure track faculty would be teaching at full capacity. Currently, department chairs receive 2 course releases (mostly 8 credit hours). In this recommendation, chairs would receive a 3-credit release for service and a 3-credit release for research if eligible. Thus, the total release would be 6 credit hours for department chairs. Chairs of large and/or complex departments could negotiate an additional course release. As departments revise their curriculum from 4 credits to 3 credits, they would need to pay special attention to curricular bloat. In other words, most departments with few exceptions should maintain the 30-30-30 rule (30% for General Education, 30% for major requirements, and 30% electives).

6. Scheduling In 2014, we will propose a new uniform schedule, which will include times when no classes are scheduled to allow for co-curricular activities and meeting times. We will also investigate the possibility of adding an early short break in fall and spring terms since our fall and spring breaks are late. Finally, we will look at feasibility of some block scheduling of courses to allow for student flexibility in scheduling to accommodate our working students.