Wednesday, September 6, 2017

FLRG Report #8: Final Recommendations from the 2016-2017 Faculty Load Review Group



FLRG tri-chairs Ken Alfers, Zarina Blankenbaker, and Matt Hinckley, presented the Faculty Load Review Group (FLRG) recommendation report and supporting documentation (including the Work Group ALPHA, BRAVO, and CHARLIE recommendations) to Chancellor May, Vice Chancellor Lonon, and Chief Talent Officer Susan Hall, in May 2017. Specifically, the FLRG report recommended that lecture and lab instruction be equalized in the calculation of full-time faculty load, that class sizes be made more equitable by discipline and course across the District according to discipline committee recommendations, and that compensation for coordinator/chair duties be made more equitable across the District. Upon initial review, Dr. May agreed the recommendations, if implemented, would bring about greater equity and consistency in the calculation of full-time faculty load.

Dr. May also said he will have Boston Consulting Group review the FLRG recommendations (and the Faculty Hiring Process committee recommendations) in the context of efforts to increase faculty diversity as well as the likely need to increase the overall number of full-time faculty in the District and refine our compensation models to retain faculty. Therefore, it is likely that any final decisions to implement FLRG recommendations would take several months, depending on the time frame of the work of the Boston Consulting Group.

Both the FLRG tri-chairs, and the Faculty Council, have recommended to Dr. May that FLRG be recommissioned in 2017-2018 to help write the guideline documents to implement the recommendations (should they ultimately be accepted), and to study and recommend other ways to increase equity in overall faculty work load, particularly in non-teaching institutional service, differing telecommuting definitions and arrangements (particularly on-campus office hour and institutional service expectations for faculty who teach online for load), and professional development experiences to promote range advancement.

While we counsel continued patience as we wait for the Boston Consulting Group review to progress, we reiterate that Dr. May wants faculty and instructional leaders to avail themselves of forthcoming opportunities to engage with the Boston Consulting Group.

Previous Advance Blog posts on FLRG can be found at this link.

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