Additional contracts will be issued when the annual faculty load exceeds the equivalent of 12 semester hours per Fall/Winter semester, or three hours per summer session, and includes all teaching on behalf of the university — on campus, online, and at external sites. Faculty members should not be assigned a teaching load of more than 15 undergraduate credits per semester or 12 graduate credits per semester during fall and winter semesters. When additional contracts are required, it is imperative that a conflict of interest or its appearance be avoided in the assignment of teaching responsibilities.
Full-time faculty members at Southern Adventist University agree to devote themselves to our mission of teaching, mentoring, research, and public service. Fulfillment of these responsibilities demands a full-time, 100 percent commitment to normal university duties, including remaining current in the discipline to which the faculty member is appointed. For some faculty members, developing one’s professional expertise and expanding one’s arena of service may involve teaching, consulting, or serving at other institutions. By these means, many faculty members improve their disciplinary skills; they serve educational institutions and professional organizations, business, industry, and government; and they bring positive recognition to the university.
In the conduct of compensated outside services, faculty may not make any use of the name of Southern Adventist University for any purpose other than professional identification of the faculty member, nor may they claim any university or institutional responsibility for the conduct or outcome of such activities.
As part of the annual PDO goal-setting/performance-review process, each faculty member must describe his/her general plans and general percent of effort to be allocated to anticipated compensated outside service activities for the year ahead. Each faculty member must agree, with his/her department chair/school dean, on the faculty development benefits that will be gained by the planned compensated outside services. During the period prior to the next goal-setting/performance-review, significant changes to this agreed-upon plan must be approved by the head of the academic unit.
Full-time faculty members should normally limit their aggregated compensated outside services to no more than an additional 20 percent over their total, university effort during a given calendar year, upon approval of the head of their academic unit. The department’s chair/school’s dean may restrict a faculty member’s compensated outside service effort to less than 20 percent.