SBTCE 8-2-103.1: “Each Fall/Spring semester must consist of 16 weeks for instruction. The full-time faculty teaching load shall fall in the range of 15 to 18 semester credit hours or 20 to 24 instructor classroom/lab contact hours.”
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Terms of employment
- Full-time teaching faculty are employed for a minimum of 40 hours per workweek. Teaching faculty are employed for 39 weeks (nine months), encompassing the Fall and Spring Semesters. The summer semester stands alone and is not a guaranteed employment period. Academic deans, assistant deans, department heads, and academic program directors are expected to work during the summer semester. Non-teaching days and non-workdays are identified in the GTC academic calendar.
- Teaching faculty are exempt employees, meaning they are expected to work with their direct supervisor to accomplish the expectations of their job. Their work schedule is flexible, with coordination and approval from the academic dean through their direct supervisor.
- Faculty are required to be on campus to teach the face-to-face component of any course and to fulfill other direct and indirect instructional activities defined in Section III, if applicable. Additional time may be required at the discretion of the academic school dean.
- Faculty must maintain availability to conduct college business and student services Monday through Friday.
- Academic Calendar Non-work days: Faculty may request to work during the non-teaching workdays indicated in the college academic calendar, such as spring break week, for use at an alternative time. This option may be considered at the discretion of the academic school dean if there are no additional costs to the college and no classes are canceled. If approved, alternate time off must be used within a 12-month period from the regularly scheduled non-teaching workdays.
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Teaching assignments
- Full-time faculty may be assigned credit or non-credit courses to fulfill their teaching loads. Their teaching schedule may consist of day, evening, weekend, blended, and/or online classes. Assigned classes may be taught at any of GTC’s campuses as well as off-campus locations such as career centers, local high schools, and/or business and industry sites.
- When instructors are assigned to teach courses on two or more campuses during a single workday, travel compensation will be provided according to GTC travel procedures. Adjustments in other on-campus activities may be considered.
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Teaching loads, schedules and related duties
Faculty workload will be established based on contact hours as defined in this document, and the reference is based on weekly contact hours. Academic deans will determine the required weekly teaching loads prior to the beginning of the semester for each department. The Chief Academic Officer (CAO) may adjust the minimum teaching loads for specific semesters when warranted. The contact hours described in this paragraph are instructional hours only and do not include other Direct Instructional Activities as defined in this section. Course lecture, lab (or clinical) and total credit hours are defined in the GTC catalog description. If a faculty workload includes a combination of credit and contact hours, the faculty member's load should be determined using the total of lecture and lab contact hours. See the Course Contact Hour Calculations Examples table below.
Course Contact Hour Calculations Examples
| Course Name |
Lecture Hours / Lab (or Clinical) Hours / Credit Hours |
Load |
| ENG 101 English Composition I |
(3-0-3) |
Three (3) lecture contact hours |
| BIO 210 Anatomy & Physiology I |
(3-3-4) |
Three (3) lecture contact hours plus three (3) lab contact hours equals six (6) total contact hours. |
| MEC 299 Research in Advanced Mechatronics |
(0-12-4) |
Zero (0) lecture contact hours plus twelve (12) lab contact hours equals twelve (12) total contact hours. |
Telecommuting
- Schedule Card Submission
Faculty* members are required to submit a Schedule Card by the first day of each full semester, including summer semester. The Schedule Card must demonstrate a 40-hour workweek for full-time faculty and clearly indicate which hours are designated for telecommuting.
Adjunct faculty must also submit a Schedule Card indicating all teaching hours. Also, telecommuting must be designated where applicable on the schedule.
School deans and the Continuing Education & Economic Development director may have additional requirements for the required Schedule Card.
- Submission Process
The completed Schedule Card must be submitted first to the respective immediate supervisor and then forwarded to the Dean’s Office for review and recordkeeping.
The Schedule Card should include the faculty member's name in the designated signature area before emailing it to the supervisor. The Schedule Card must be sent using an official Greenville Technical College email address.
School deans and the Continuing Education & Economic Development director may have additional requirements for the submission/approval process for Schedule Cards.
- Changes to Telecommuting Hours
Any deviation from the approved telecommuting hours—such as additional telecommuting time—requires the faculty member to submit a Faculty Telecommuting Deviation Request Form and receive supervisor approval. This form must be submitted to both the supervisor and the Dean/Director at least two days prior to implementation.
School deans and the Continuing Education & Economic Development director may require more advanced notice for changes.
- Compliance and Consequences
- All faculty and supervisors must review the Telecommuting Guidelines.
- Faculty who fail to submit a Schedule Card by the required deadline will be considered non-compliant.
- Non-compliance may result in:
- Written warning from the supervisor.
- Mandatory in-office work schedule until compliance is achieved.
- Reduction or suspension of telecommuting privileges at the discretion of the supervisor and Dean.
- Continued non-compliance may lead to formal disciplinary action in accordance with institutional policy.
- Supervisors can also be held in non-compliance for failure to review Schedule Cards meeting the required elements.
*Includes all Academic Program Directors, Department Heads, Assistant Deans, and Faculty
Fall and Spring Semester
- The faculty teaching loads for each fall and spring semesters are 18 lecture contact hours or 24 total contact hours for lecture/lab (or clinical) courses. Academic schools may have unique criteria by which contact hours are determined. Faculty loads cannot be distributed between semesters.
- Full-time teaching faculty are required to post and maintain a minimum of eight (8) office hours per week to assist students with their coursework during the fall and spring semesters. A minimum of four (4) office hours must be on-campus hours. The remaining four (4) office hours may be virtual. Faculty teaching all online courses in a term are required to post and maintain eight (8) office hours on campus. Office hours should be scheduled around the instructional hours to accommodate students attending classes and may include availability outside traditional business hours. Occasionally, other duties may conflict with the scheduled office hours, and faculty are expected to adjust office hours as needed to meet other commitments. Office hours must be posted in the college’s software.
- Faculty whose load is based on lecture contact hours must work 14 hours of unassigned time, which includes Indirect Instructional Activities as described in this section (f) of this document.
- Faculty whose load is based on lab (or clinical) total contact hours must work 8 hours of unassigned time which includes indirect instructional activities as described in this section (f) of this document.
Fall and Spring Hours
| Fall & Spring Only |
Contact hours |
Office hours |
Unassigned time |
| Lecture contact hours |
18 |
8 |
14 |
| Lecture/Lab (or clinical) total contact hours |
24 |
8 |
8 |
- The academic dean or designee will work with faculty members to minimize the number of unique classes taught each term and approve semester schedules. Faculty will post all scheduled teaching hours and advising hours (if applicable) in their Outlook calendar. Additionally, academic school deans may require faculty to complete schedule cards prior to the start of each semester.
- An instructor’s duties include direct and indirect instructional activities.
- Direct Instructional Activities include course instructional time, office hours and other related assignments at the discretion of the academic dean or designee.
- Indirect Instructional Activities are not directly connected to teaching and may be on or off-campus and must be approved through the academic dean or designee. Indirect instructional activities may include, but are not limited to, curriculum development/revision, committee assignments, special events, recruiting, professional development, industry/community contacts, technology training, accreditation activities, maintenance of instructional equipment, administrative duties and other activities as assigned. These duties do not typically qualify for release time.
- GTC considers the minimum class size to be 15 students. The academic dean or designee may approve classes with fewer than 15 students at their discretion and with appropriate justification on file.
- Instructors with 41 or more students in a class after drop/add will receive a $500 stipend per eligible class to be paid at the end of the semester.
- Only full-time faculty members are eligible to teach Cooperative Work Experience (CWE) without written permission from the Chief Academic Officer. CWE cannot be used to meet a faculty member’s required load and must be approved by the department head and academic dean. The faculty member will receive compensation of $150 per student.
- Faculty and staff teaching under a dual-secondary agreement will be paid at the adjunct rate. The dual compensation cannot exceed 30% of the employee’s annualized base salary of the primary employing agency in a fiscal year. (Reference State Policy 8-2-100.1 Procedure)
Summer Semester
- The summer semester stands alone and is not a guaranteed employment period. The equivalent full-time faculty load for the summer semester is 12 lecture contact hours or 18-20 total contact hours for lecture/lab (or clinical) courses. Academic schools may have unique criteria by which contact hours are determined.
- For faculty teaching reduced summer loads, their salary and unassigned time are adjusted downward proportionally.
- Faculty teaching less than 50% of the load in the summer are paid as adjunct instructors and are responsible for paying for the cost of their insurance benefits (contact Human Resources for additional information).
- Ten (10) office hours are required of full-time faculty during the summer semester, and five of the hours must be on-campus hours. For faculty teaching reduced summer loads, their total office hours and on-campus office hours are adjusted downward proportionally.
- Faculty whose load is based on lecture contact hours must work 18 hours of unassigned time, which includes Indirect Instructional Activities as described in this section (h) of this document.
- Faculty whose load is based on lab (or clinical) total contact hours must work 10-12 hours of unassigned time, which includes indirect instructional activities as described in this section (h) of this document.
Summer Hours
| Summer Only |
Contact hours |
Office hours |
Unassigned time |
| Lecture contact hours |
12 |
10 |
18 |
| Lecture/Lab (or clinical) total contact hours |
18-20 |
10 |
10-12 |
- The academic dean or designee will work with faculty members to minimize the number of unique classes taught each term and approve semester schedules. Faculty will post all scheduled teaching hours and advising hours (if applicable) in their Outlook calendar. Additionally, deans may require faculty to complete schedule cards prior to the start of the semester.
- An instructor’s duties include direct and indirect instructional activities.
- Direct Instructional Activities include course instructional time, office hours, and other related assignments at the discretion of the academic dean or designee.
- Indirect Instructional Activities are not directly connected to teaching and may be on or off-campus and must be approved through the academic dean or designee. Indirect instructional activities may include, but are not limited to, curriculum development/revision, committee assignments, special events, recruiting, professional development, industry/community contacts, technology training, accreditation activities, maintenance of instructional equipment, administrative duties, and other activities as assigned. These duties do not typically qualify for release time.
- GTC considers the minimum class size to be 15 students. The academic dean or designee may approve classes with fewer than 15 students at their discretion and with appropriate justification on file.
- Instructors with 41 or more students in a class after drop/add will receive a $500 stipend per eligible class to be paid at the end of the semester.
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Overload
- Instructors will receive an overload when their workload exceeds the required load (lecture contact or total contact) for the fall or spring semester or the top of the range for the summer semester. The overload must be associated with a course and cannot be associated with a release time activity.
- Academic deans or designees may require overloads as needed in the absence of available instructors. The academic dean may consider other duties and locations when making class schedule assignments. Instructors receiving an overload may be required to hold additional instructional hours on campus.
- Release time activities must be a part of the faculty’s assigned standard load and cannot be part of the faculty’s overload. Only courses can be considered as an overload.
- An individual faculty member may not assign him or herself an overload. Academic deans are authorized to approve faculty overloads up to 90 contact hours. The CAO’s approval is required for overload contact hours in excess of 90 hours.
- Faculty are required to administer a final exam or an equivalent educational activity during the scheduled final exam period. Faculty teaching an overload will receive three additional contact hours per class for administering the final exam.
- Faculty with a reduced teaching load normally are not eligible for teaching overload compensation; however, extenuating circumstances may warrant overload compensation. Such extenuating circumstances are determined on a case-by-case basis by the academic dean and CAO.
- Compensation will be paid for an overload as follows:
- For full-time exempt faculty, overload is paid for the contact hours taught over the maximum loads described above. The hourly pay rate will be based on either the faculty’s hourly rate, computed based on the 9-month annualized salary divided by 2,080, or the adjunct rate, whichever is higher.
- Overloads must be paid in the same semester earned.
- Overload payment will be based on the following:
Faculty Overloads
| Method of Faculty Loading |
Start of Overload
Fall & Spring Semesters |
Start of Overload
Summer Semester |
Hours Paid |
| Lecture contact hours |
> 18 lecture contact hours |
> 12 credit hours |
Total lecture contact hours of the course + 3 hours for final exam |
| Lab (or Clinical) total contact hours |
> 24 lab (or clinical) contact hours |
> 18-20 contact hours |
Total lab/clinical total contact hours of the course + 3 hours for final exam |
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Administrative Supplements
Faculty pay supplements are designed to compensate for permanent or temporary duties associated with supervisory and or management responsibilities. Supplements may also be used to compensate for special projects. Such supplements will end when deliverables are met. Supplemental pay agreements are completed annually or as needed and approved by the CAO.
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Non-Teaching Faculty Workdays
Non-teaching faculty workdays are those days specified on the academic calendar that provide time for faculty collaboration, course prep, assessment, committee meetings, and professional development. On-campus requirements will be as follows:
- Full week of non-teaching faculty workdays:
Faculty are required to be on campus for 25 hours per week, distributed as necessary across the week. This includes faculty who typically teach fully online courses. All remaining hours of the 40-hour workweek requirement may be completed remotely.
- Single days of non-teaching faculty workdays:
Faculty are required to be on campus for an average of five (5) hours per day. For example, if there are three (3) consecutive non-teaching faculty workdays, the faculty member must be on campus for 15 hours total. The hours may be distributed as necessary across the three days. It does not require five (5) hours on campus for each of the three (3) days. It could be eight (8) hours one day and seven (7) hours another day. If it is a single non-teaching faculty workday, the faculty member is expected to be on campus for a minimum of five (5) hours.