Appendix B- Guidelines for Teaching Workload Reporting and Human Resources Practices

Updated August 31, 2026

 

This appendix provides operational specifications in preparing and responding to Wis. Stat. § 36.115(10)  and Regent Policy Document 20-25. These specifications provide a common approach and general practices for the Universities of Wisconsin institutions to follow. Additional complexity of contractual assignments, individual UW institution practices, and various nuances in operation that are not explicitly stated within this appendix are required to be documented and available for transparency, accountability, and audit purposes.

1. POPULATION

A. Covered Employees

    1. FACULTY: Faculty titles in the FA Job Family “Faculty” are included unless noted as excluded.
    2. INSTRUCTIONAL ACADEMIC STAFF (IAS): Instructional Academic Staff titles in the following categories:
      • TL Job Family “Teaching and Learning”, “Teaching and Instruction of For-credit Courses” Job Sub-family, and,
      • Clinical and CHS titles in the IC Job Family “Instructional Category.” Clinical titles have designated procedures noted in the adjustment and credit hour equivalency sections, as noted below in section 7.

  2. B. Exclusions

    1. FACULTY: Faculty Librarians are excluded from the population.
    2. IAS: Instructional Academic Staff in the following categories are excluded from the population:
      • TL Job Family and Teaching and Instruction of For-credit courses Job Sub-family with Librarian Business Titles.
      • IC Job Family with Adjunct, Visiting, and Emeritus Job Titles.
      • Employees hired on a per-course basis, which includes Lecturer titles (these are employees that do not have Adjunct titles).

2. DEFINITION OF FULL-TIME-EQUIVALENT (FTE)

FTE definition for purposes of this policy and reporting: Full-time equivalence (FTE) for Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff is defined by the employee’s appointment letter. The enterprise Workday HR system captures full-time equivalencies broken down by fund and function.

Each institution may determine what constitutes a full-time teaching load for instructional employees. Full-time teaching loads may vary from the minimum teaching workload requirements and are distinct from the proportional application of FTE to the minimum teaching workload requirements.

3. REQUIRED MINIMUM TEACHING WORKLOAD

  1. 9-month appointments: Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff are required to teach 24 credit hours in an academic year at the UW Polytechnic and Comprehensive institutions and 12 credit hours at the UW Research (R1) institutions. Each instructional employee must teach at least one (1) course per semester.
  2. 12-month appointments: Faculty and IAS are required to teach six (6) additional credit hours at the UW Polytechnic and Comprehensive institutions and three (3) additional credit hours at the UW Research (R1) institutions with at least one (1) course being taught in the summer.
  3. Part-time appointments: Minimum instructional credit-hour activity requirements will be proportional to the FTE assigned. A part-time instructional employee who meets their academic year minimum teaching workload requirement in a single semester does not have to teach at least one (1) course each semester.

4. REQUIRED MINIMUM TEACHING WORKLOAD CALCULATION

  1. Calculation: The calculation of the required minimum teaching workload is based on the employee’s total FTE less buyouts and adjustments multiplied by the course credit hour requirement per the type of UW institution.
  2. Buyout: A buyout is defined as externally funded (non-GPR supported) activity (in proportion to a full FTE). GPR funded activities identified in Stat. § 20.285 can be categorized as a buyout (e.g., Freshwater Collaborative, Dairy Innovation, other programs identified).
  3. Adjustments: Adjustments to the teaching workload minimum are permitted as provided in each UW institution’s policy and defined by the following activities:
    1. Type 1 – Adjustments articulated in system policy that include adjustments for
        • Academic Department Chairs,
        • Sabbaticals or other paid leave that changes teaching assignment,
        • Clinical Titles, and
        • Extension responsibilities.
      2.  These adjustments are not subject to a specific percentage cap based on Covered Employees as set forth in Appendix B.1. These adjustments must be designated in the Workday HR system.
    2. Type 2 – Adjustments outlined under Section 5.B.VI.1 and 3 are discretionary and determined through institutional policy. These adjustments are subject to a specific percentage cap based on Covered Employee population as noted in the applicable sections of this policy.
      • UW institutions are required to document individual discretionary reassignments by type of activity and in FTE terms. These data should be documented and available for reporting by UWSA and for audit purposes.
      • Adjustments under B.VI.1 and 3 will be totaled by UWSA and reported as part of the allotment toward each institution’s available pools of discretionary adjustments.

5. MEASUREMENT OF MINIMUM CREDIT HOURS TAUGHT AND CREDIT HOUR EQUIVALENCY

  1. Credit hours taught are based on the course credit hour, unless equivalencies are established in and applied by institutional policy.
  2. Credit hour equivalency allows for instances where the course credit hour does not represent the contact hours or workload activity. This includes, but is not limited to allowances for dependent sections, laboratory, studio and discussion sessions, and other teaching activities as listed in Appendix A- Credit Hour Equivalencies.
    1. UW institutions are required to have written policies in place for credit hour equivalencies.
    2. UW institutions are required to document at the institutional, school/college, or Academic Department level individual course credit hour equivalencies by reason and credits allotted.
  3. As outlined in Section 5.B.IV, at R1 institutions, credit hour equivalencies are also permissible in instances where instructional activities are not captured through credit hour group classroom instruction so long as those activities involve regular and substantive interaction with students in an educational setting as documented under and permitted by institutional policies.
    1. Instructional employees, excluding those with clinical or extension appointments, whose teaching workload includes equivalencies under this section must teach at least three (3) credits in a group instructional setting (online or face-to-face).
  4. Individualized instruction course credit hours may be included along with group instruction at institutions where this activity is considered part of teaching workload.

6. RECORD KEEPING AND REPORTING RESPONSIBILITIES

A. Administrative Data Systems

    1. Faculty and IAS employee FTE by fund and function are maintained in the enterprise Workday Human Resource system. Academic Department Chair designations, Sabbatical/other leave shall be consistently coded and maintained in Workday/Human Resources.
    2. Instructors of record shall be identified for each course section and maintained in institutional PeopleSoft Student Information Systems (SIS).

B. Pre-populated Template

    1. UWSA will provide institutions with a pre-populated template including relevant employee HR records and additional records.
    2. UW institutions can modify the templates according to the buyout, adjustment, and credit equivalency specifications or other circumstance per institutional policy.

C. UW Institution Reporting Responsibilities

    1. UW institutions must code and maintain individual records in the Workday HR and Peoplesoft SIS data systems to provide for consistent reporting.
    2. UW institutions must maintain documentation in an electronic form of applicable policy on Type 2 discretionary reassignments and credit hour equivalency along with annual documentation of employees’ affected/associated metrics.
    3. UW institutions must complete the pre-populated system-provided template with Type 2 discretionary reassignments, credit hour equivalencies, and other adjustments where appropriate.

D. Legislative Reporting by UWSA

    1. UWSA will report instructional employee workloads under Wis. Stat. § 36.115(10) to the Wisconsin Legislature on behalf of all UW institutions.
    2. UWSA will review and reconcile information provided by UW institutions prior to reporting instructional employee teaching workloads.
    3. UWSA will generate a dashboard and other reports to reflect the fulfillment of the legislative teaching workload requirements under Wis. Stat. § 36.115(10).

 7. OTHER OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

  1. Employees with more than one appointment are tracked and recorded separately as appointment may have different teaching responsibilities.
  2. Overloads for instructional activity beyond the contractual agreement (regular workload) do not affect FTE. Additional credit hours taught will not be removed from administrative records or templates as instructional employees may exceed the minimum teaching workload requirements.
  3. Clinical/Clinical Health Science and Extension titles may be treated as adjustments to the instructional activity in full. Per individual institutional policy, institutions may also grant equivalencies for part or all of an employee’s minimum teaching workload.