Nursing programs have struggled with defining the faculty workload. Most academic institutions with a healthcare focus use a percentage of time allotted for teaching, research, service, and practice. The mission of the institution often dictates which of the four carries the most weight. Some institutions define the teaching load based on academic hours while others use contact hours. Typically, service receives the smallest percentage of the assigned faculty workload. Yet, service is the area in which many miscellaneous tasks are allocated.
Student advising, committee service, and service to the profession are often incorporated in the small percentage of time allotted for service. There are many responsibilities outside of the typical roles that must be addressed in order to support the student experience and enhance the student’s satisfaction, retention, and ultimate success. Nursing faculty fill ancillary roles and become the collaborator with all other departments and students, the investigator, the information technologist, the program marketer, the peacemaker, the stabilizer, and the overall problem solver in order to promote the mission and vision of an organization. Many activities are not captured in traditional faculty workload models.
This presentation will demonstrate the process used to identify student “touch points” with representatives at a health sciences university and begin to capture some previously elusive faculty roles. The presentation will include an assessment of faculty service involved in the process of evaluating applications for admission and a description of how the faculty workload was reduced over the period of one year at a health sciences university
