Skip to main content
Department of Psychology Psychology
  1. HOME
  2. About
  3. Resources
  4. Instruction
  5. Faculty Teaching Workload

Ladder-Rank Faculty Teaching Workload

Teaching Workload

Psychology's teaching load is four courses. Generally, faculty teach one grad course, one small undergrad course, and one large undergrad course (over 200 enrolled). The fourth class consists of individualized graduate and undergraduate instruction, as well as providing lectures in team-taught courses. During their first year, faculty are released from teaching either the small undergraduate course or the graduate seminar.

Solutions for Grad Courses with Low Enrollment

  1. Allow undergraduates to enroll in your graduate course. This is allowed and encouraged. The university does not differentiate between undergrads and grads in classes, only total headcount. Undergraduates must have a 3.0 overall GPA.
  2. When possible, conjoin an undergraduate course with the graduate course (taught at same time/place), allowing undergraduates to enroll in the course. This has the benefit of increasing our Departmental undergraduate courses offered but it does not increase the department or faculty Workload as each part only counts for 0.5 credit. This does not require much extra work; just a little extra work in the course approval.
  3. Chair may allow a course below minimum enrollment to be taught when faculty member exceeds the Departmental Workload in other classes.

Undergraduate Courses with Low Enrollment that are still taught

When an undergraduate course does not meet minimum enrollment twice, even if taught, a new or revised course must be run by the Undergraduate Affairs Committee and Chair.