This policy is pending review by the Joint Commission on Employment Relations.
Scope
This policy applies to all UW System institutions.
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to fulfill statutory requirements for monitoring, rewarding, and reporting the teaching workload, and for establishing teaching responsibility requirements, of faculty and instructional academic staff as set forth in sections 36.115(8) and (10), 36.65(2)(dm) and (2)(dn), and 36.65(6)(b) and (c), Wis. Stats.
This policy necessarily reflects the full variety and complexity of academic instruction in contemporary higher education delivered by UW faculty and staff across 13 UW institutions, with unique missions, concentrations, and local communities, which all contribute to the University of Wisconsin System’s mission.
Definitions
For the purposes of this policy, the following definitions apply:
“Academic department” means an academic department or its functional equivalent designated by a UW institution which could include but is not limited to schools, divisions, department-like bodies, centers, clinics, institutes, and programs that have been formally recognized by a UW institution through its established processes for such recognition.
“Adjunct instructional employees” means part-time instructional employees who are employed on a per-course basis.
“Administrative duties” means responsibilities designated by a UW institution involving the operation and strategic development of an institution and does not include chairperson duties.
“Buyout” means a reduction of the number of credit hours an instructional employee is required to teach under this policy pursuant to a buyout plan as further described in this policy.
“Chairperson” means an instructional employee designated by a UW institution to be the chairperson or its functional equivalent of an academic department and who acts as the executive of the department, including the areas of personnel, budget, and operations in accordance with the UW institution’s established policies.
“Chancellor” means the chief executive of a UW institution.
“Clinical appointment” means the appointment of an instructional employee by a UW institution to a position focused on practical instruction and application of knowledge in a health sciences field, involving direct interaction with students, residents, and/or fellows in a clinical or other external setting.
“Credit hour” means a period of not less than 50 consecutive minutes per week of instructional time for each week of the semester or session that the course is offered, excluding the week of or the week immediately preceding final examinations. Credit hour may include an equivalent amount of other academic work leading to the designation of credit hours.
“Extension appointment” means instructional employees working for UW-Extension who provide learning opportunities to target audiences in Wisconsin counties.
“Faculty” means persons who hold the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor or instructor in an academic department in a UW institution and such academic staff as may be designated by the chancellor and faculty of the UW institution but does not include adjunct instructional employees, visiting faculty or librarians with faculty appointments.
“Full time” means an appointment for an instructional employee that is a 100 percent appointment.
“Instructional academic staff” means academic staff members with teaching responsibilities but does not include adjunct or visiting instructional academic staff or instructional academic staff who are librarians.
“Instructional employee” means faculty or instructional academic staff.
“Instructional time” means classroom time or instruction of students.
“Summer session” means the period of instructional activity between the end of spring semester and start of the fall semester.
“Teaching hours” means credit hours.
“Teaching staff” means instructional employees.
“Teaching responsibilities” means responsibilities of instructional employees as designated by a UW institution that involve academic instruction.
“Teaching workload” means the amount of time instructional employees spend on teaching responsibilities.
“UW System institution” or “UW institution” means any university or an organizational equivalent designated by the Board.
Policy Statement
Teaching workload minimums are delineated according to the UW institution’s research activity designation as determined by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education framework. Minimum teaching workloads for full-time (9-month) instructional employees are:
Research (R1) Universities: 12 credit hours per academic year; 3 additional credits for 12-month employees.
The Polytechnic and Comprehensive Universities: 24 credit hours per academic year; 6 additional credits for 12-month employees.
Part-Time Appointments: Teaching workload proportional to appointment FTE.
Course Minimum: Each instructional employee must teach at least one course per semester. Instructional employees with a twelve-month contract must also teach at least one course during the summer session.
Academic Department chairs’ teaching responsibilities may be reduced commensurate with their duties as chairperson.
This document establishes minimum workload expectations for instructional staff. Faculty and instructional academic staff are also subject to expectations for quality in instructional activities, along with research and other expectations appropriate to their positions. Failure to meet any and all expectations may result in changes to work duties or other personnel actions.
Instructional Employees with Clinical Appointments
Clinical instructional employees may meet their requirements under 36.115(10), Wis. Stats., through alternative measures and instructional activities that contribute to the advancement of the students, residents, and fellows under their purview. Instructional expectations shall be documented in the clinical instructional employee’s job descriptions or employment agreement consistent with this policy, and performance related to these expectations will be assessed annually.
Instructional Employees with Extension Appointments
UW-Extension instructional employees may meet their requirements under 36.115(10), Wis. Stats., through alternative measures and instructional activities. UW-Extension instructional employees shall have clearly articulated performance and curricular goals within their job description or employment agreement consistent with funding requirements and internal university and external partner priorities.
Supplemental Instructional Work for R1 Research Universities
Instructional employees also provide educational opportunities outside of traditional group classroom settings. R1 research universities may develop instructional equivalency policies that permit instructional employees to meet a portion of their required credits under 36.115(10), Wis. Stats., through activities other than standard group classroom instruction, office hours, and grading, so long as those activities involve regular and substantive interaction with students in an educational setting. Each University should have a clear policy on permitted instructional equivalencies, and the extent to which instructional employees in each department may meet part of their obligation through such equivalencies. Instructional employees whose workload includes instructional equivalencies under this section must teach at least three (3) credits in a traditional group classroom setting.
Annually, each R1 research university shall file a report of all instructional employees with supplemental instructional work equivalency being used to meet their workload requirement. The report shall be submitted to the UW System President in a timeline consistent with reporting requirements under 36.115(10)(g), Wis. Stats. and provided to the Joint Committee on Employment Relations.
Adjustments to Teaching Workload Minimums
Instructional employees may have an adjustment to their teaching hour responsibilities under this policy and for the requirements under 36.115(10), Wis. Stats. as follows:
- Administrative duties. UW institutions may designate up to 10 percent of their instructional employees for administrative duties.
- Sabbatical and other leave. Instructional employees on sabbatical, federal medical leave (FMLA) or other approved leave are not required to meet the teaching hour requirements in this policy.
- UW institutions may designate up to 10 percent of their instructional employees for other duties and considerations, including but not limited to market considerations, faculty development, post-tenure review remediation, and accreditation.
- Part-time instructional employees. A part-time instructional employee who meets their academic year teaching hour requirement in a single semester does not have to teach at least one course each semester.
Buyout from Required Teaching Hours
The mission, research activity and priorities, and external engagements vary greatly among UW institutions. Accordingly, each UW institution shall develop policies for the buyout from required teaching hours based on factors appropriate to each UW institution, subject to the minimum standards below. Buyout criteria may differ based on different instructional types and ranks, as well as appointment levels. General purpose revenue (GPR) funds and tuition funds may not be used to fund buyouts except for the following circumstances:
- Freshwater Collaborative of Wisconsin
- Dairy Innovation Hub
- Other programs categorically funded in Chapter 20, Wis. Stats.
Buyout policies must contain:
- A requirement to document the funding sources used.
- Clearly defined approval processes for buyouts at each UW Institution, including a requirement that buyouts be approved at least annually.
- The buyout amount must equal the proportional cost of the approved course release using the instructional employee’s base salary and fringe benefit rate.
Annually, each university shall file a report of all instructional employees with approved buyouts including fund source, amounts and course release. The report shall be submitted to the UW System President in a timeline consistent with reporting requirements under 36.115(10)(g), Wis. Stats. and provided to the Joint Committee on Employment Relations.
Oversight, Roles, and Responsibilities
UW System Chancellors are responsible for ensuring that their institutional systems, policies, and practices are consistent with this policy and sections 36.115(8) and (10), 36.65(2)(dm) (2)(dn), and 36.65(6)(b) and (c), Wis. Stats. The Board delegates to UW System the authority to develop policies to further define and implement this policy.
History: Res. 10968, adopted 12/07/2017, created Regent Policy Document 20-25; Res. 12407, adopted 11/19/2025, amended Regent Policy Document 20-25.