Author: Ashlei Watson

The College encourages and expects faculty to remain active in their professional or academic disciplines. These activities can take many forms, including doing professional work or providing services for pay. However, such activity should not interfere with the faculty member’s ability to fulfill their CCS responsibilities. In the event that the College determines that such outside professional activity conflicts with the satisfactory performance of the faculty member’s obligation, the Dean of Graduate or Undergraduate Studies may require that the faculty member cease such activity or appropriately and effectively adjust the faculty member’s teaching commitment and/or status.

No equipment or supplies owned or provided by CCS are to be taken off campus and used in conjunction with any external work, unless the faculty member obtains prior agreement in writing from CCS and accepts responsibility for the item as part of that agreement. A copy of such an agreement must be provided to the appropriate Department Chair or facility director.

The College assumes no responsibility and/or liability for the competence or performance of outside activities engaged in by faculty members, nor may any responsibility be implied in advertising with respect to such activities.

Instructors who cannot meet a class for valid reasons must contact the Department Chair and the Program Manager, as well as make all determined efforts to provide each student with as much advance notice as is realistically feasible. In the event of prior knowledge of valid inability to meet a class, faculty have several options:

• They may arrange for a substitute instructor with a current full-time or adjunct faculty, or a member of the department’s adjunct “pool,” 
• Upon approval of the Department Chair, move the class to a synchronous or asynchronous online format where all content for that class will be covered, or
• Schedule an equivalent make-up class period. 

If the faculty member misses class due to illness or another valid reason approved by the appropriate Chair, and an adjunct instructor serves as substitute instructor, the College will provide appropriate remuneration for the substitute. The Program Manager should initiate a payment request for the substitute. The request should be signed by the Department Chair and forwarded to the Academic Affairs office. Full-time faculty do not lose pay when they miss a class, nor are they paid when they offer their services as substitute instructors. As this is the case, when full-time faculty require a substitute for their own classes, they should first call upon other full-time faculty for coverage when possible.

CCS expects faculty members to perform their duties in a satisfactory manner. The duties and responsibilities of faculty members are described below, and CCS may assign other duties from time to time. In addition, CCS expects faculty members to adhere to the institution’s guiding principles and observe the rules, regulations, policies, and procedures of the College.

The schedule of each faculty member is arranged by the Department Chair in consultation with the faculty member. Department schedules are subject to the approval of the appropriate Dean. A full-time faculty member must be scheduled to teach at least one class per semester in the department to which they are appointed unless on sabbatical or leave.

Full-Time Faculty Teaching Load

The full-time faculty teaching load is defined as three 3-credit courses per semester, totaling 9 credit hours. Lecturer and Instructor positions hold a teaching load of four 3-credit courses per semester.

Course releases constitute a reduction in a full-time faculty member’s standard teaching load and are governed by the College’s Course Release Policy. Approved course releases adjust the faculty member’s assigned teaching load for the applicable term but do not alter other institutional responsibilities. 

Sabbatical leave and partially paid professional leave are governed by separate institutional policies and provide approved release from teaching responsibilities for a defined period to support scholarship, research, creative activity, or professional development. Faculty members on approved sabbatical or partially paid professional leave are not assigned a teaching load during the leave period and are expected to fulfill the terms and conditions outlined in the respective policies.

Department Chairs can refer to the Department Chair section of the faculty handbook for teaching load and responsibilities.

Overload Assignments for Full-Time Faculty

Summer teaching and faculty-led study abroad courses are considered outside of the standard academic year teaching load and are compensated as overload assignments. Participation in summer teaching or study abroad does not reduce the faculty member’s regular academic year teaching responsibilities.

Overload assignments, including summer and study abroad courses, are subject to institutional approval, enrollment viability, and budget considerations. All overload assignments must be requested and approved in advance through the Teaching Assignment Overload Form. Final approval is contingent upon review by the appropriate Dean and confirmation of available budget.

Faculty teaching study abroad courses are responsible not only for instructional delivery but also for program leadership, student supervision, and engagement outside of scheduled class time. These additional responsibilities are recognized within the overload compensation structure rather than through adjustments to the standard teaching load.

Full-time faculty members may not exceed two courses, or six credit hours, in total summer teaching assignments, inclusive of all summer sessions and faculty-led study abroad courses, unless approved in advance by the appropriate Dean based on programmatic need, enrollment demand, and budget considerations.

Adjunct Faculty Teaching Load

Adjunct faculty are not subject to the full-time teaching load defined above and are employed under separate terms of employment. Adjunct teaching assignments, including summer and faculty-led study abroad courses, are compensated at the established adjunct per-course rate.

To maintain compliance with institutional and employment requirements, adjunct faculty teaching assignments may not exceed 29 hours of work per week. For purposes of calculating instructional workload, a three-credit studio course is considered 13.5 hours per week and a three-credit lecture course is considered 6.75 hours per week. Teaching assignments will be monitored to ensure compliance with this limitation across all assigned courses and instructional activities.

Adjunct faculty who teach study abroad courses are compensated at their standard adjunct rate and are expected to fulfill all instructional and program-related responsibilities associated with the course, including student supervision and participation in program activities.

All adjunct teaching assignments, including summer and study abroad courses, are subject to institutional approval, enrollment viability, budget considerations, and compliance with the maximum weekly workload limitation.

Full-time faculty are eligible to receive employment contracts of up to three academic years in length. The contract is in the form of a letter of appointment that incorporates the policies, duties, responsibilities, and other information contained in this Handbook. An appointment is to a specific department, and, in some cases, to a section or concentration within that department, but this does not preclude teaching outside of one’s department. With the issuance of an initial contractual letter of appointment, faculty members are given access to the CCS Faculty Handbook. In certain circumstances, a faculty member may be employed without a contractual letter of appointment. In such a case, the faculty member is employed at will, and either CCS or the employee may terminate the relationship, with or without cause, at any time.