University Senate voted on a policy Thursday that would address additional pay to professors for teaching beyond a regular 12-hour courseload. The pay would include hours spent helping students with their master's/doctoral theses and other work beyond what is already required by the university.
While the vote was unanimous in support of the policy, it would still cause some problems, associate professor of history Kevin Smith said.
"One of the difficulties in figuring out a way to provide additional compensation for [teaching beyond 12 credit hours] would be actually implementing it," Smith said. "Basically, the faculty is paid for their 12 credit-hour load. Trying to figure out some mathematical percentage of how working with one student on one project, regardless of the amount of work, compares to that normal credit hour load [would be difficult]. Even in a single department, faculty put in a varying amount of time [into additional teachings]."
Chris Shea, Chairman of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, said that the support of the policy is understandable. While the policy may not bring as many benefits as wanted, it is potentially beneficial for professors, he said.
"It takes an incredible amount of time to work on an honors thesis or master's thesis [with a student]," Shea said. "On some level, with the teaching load here, we have more demands on us than professors at other universities who are only teaching perhaps one or two courses a semester. Certainly it is a humane idea on the part of the university and the senate."
The other item voted on was the policy that would require each faculty member to attend at least one University Commencement ceremony each year. The item was passed with minimum opposition but brought more discussion on whether or not it was a good idea.
However, the issue of rightful pay was more pertinent because it is less straightforward, Shea said.
"It would be great if we all had compensation [for such teachings]," Shea said. "The problem will be that in the end, it probably won't turn out to be compensation in a way that we'd like, such as more money or less teaching."
In theory, the policy is sound, but the fact that it must be applied to all departments is the main problem mathematics professor Ralph Bremigan, said.
"Doing an independent study in some cases means you'll be spending an hour with one person whereas in others, you'll be spending a tremendous amount of time with them," Bremigan said. "It isn't that the university gets more money from the state because we have decided on this policy. In the end, I suspect that [a professor] doing a modest amount of [additional teaching] will be considered part of one's normal responsibilities. If they do a little more than that, then they'll be rewarded with merit pay."
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