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Unit Workload Policy and Procedures

Department: Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine                     Date: July 1, 2024

A. Introduction

The Department of Medicine (DoM) is a clinical sciences unit within the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Aligned with the mission of the University of Toronto, the DoM is committed to being an internationally significant research department, with undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programs of excellent quality.

The DoM is a research-intensive department engaged in the education and training of undergraduate medical students in the clerkship years, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, postgraduate residents and fellows.

The DoM consists primarily of clinical (MD) faculty and tenured/tenure stream, Contractually Limited Term Appointment (CLTA) faculty and part-time faculty. Henceforth, the workload statements made herein pertain exclusively to tenured, CLTA and part-time faculty in the DoM; this workload policy is not applicable to clinical (MD) faculty.

The DoM is not a graduate, nor undergraduate, designated Department. Therefore, allocation of workload will be assigned in a manner that is cognizant of, and in partnership with, the activities in the faculty members’ affiliated basic science departments (if applicable).

The Department of Medicine recognizes that workload is determined by numerous factors including but not limited to cyclical and yearly demands, flexibility, collegial discussion and transparency.

B. General Principles

The three principal components of a faculty member’s activities are research or pedagogical/professional development including scholarship, teaching and service. This unit workload policy (Policy) relates to the teaching and service components of a faculty member’s workload. This Policy does not specify expectations around research or pedagogical/professional development including scholarship, or creative or professional activities, which are self-directed.

The purpose of this Policy is to ensure a fair, reasonable, equitable and flexible distribution of workload consistent with the diversity of research, teaching and service activities for this group of faculty.

Each member will be provided with a written assignment of their workload duties on an annual basis that includes the member’s percentage appointment and details of teaching and service by no later than June 30th.

Faculty members holding budgetary cross-appointments to more than one unit should be assigned teaching and university service duties in a manner consistent with their percentage appointment in each unit. A common meeting involving the faculty member and all heads of units to which the member is appointed should take place to discuss workload and to resolve any conflicts in expectations between units. This meeting should occur, in person or by telephone, in any given year in which one of the Unit Workload Policies is amended or at the request of the faculty member or any of the heads of relevant units. A written record of the teaching, supervisory, and service expectations agreed at the meeting shall be kept by the unit heads and the faculty member.

C. Teaching

The teaching assignment for full-time tenured/tenure stream faculty will generally not exceed the equivalent of three half courses (1.5 Full Course Equivalents, FCS) per year. This will include between 0.25 and 1.0 FCE per annum at the undergraduate level and 0.25 FCE every third year at the graduate level. At the undergraduate level, this corresponds to a load between one-half of a one-semester course (0.25 FCE) and two one-semester courses (1.0 FCE). The minimum teaching workload for full-time tenured/tenure-stream faculty members is two (2) half courses per year. Faculty members may also be asked to be involved in the training of undergraduate students as supervisors in research project courses as well as participate on graduate students, qualifying or thesis examination committees.

Tenure stream faculty are expected to pursue and hold appointments with the University of Toronto’s School of Graduate Studies so as to undertake graduate student supervision and/or participation on graduate student program advisory committees. This is considered part of both their research and teaching activities, and is not a substitute for classroom teaching activities.

Faculty holding part-time appointments will have the same teaching loads as full-time faculty in similar appointment categories, pro-rated to their FTE.

Teaching Workload Considerations

Teaching Workload Considerations Teaching workload refers to in-class contact hours where the faculty member is lecturing or actively participating in class discussions. In considering the teaching component of normal workload, the following relevant factors are taken into consideration:

  • Class size;
  • The expected total number of students in all of a member’s courses;
  • Course coordination and program direction;
  • The mix of course levels (introductory, upper year, graduate, etc.);
  • The nature of the course (e.g., team-taught, inclusion of writing intensive or critical skills components, first-year seminars, foundation courses, etc.);
  • Mode of delivery;
  • Contact hours, including in-class and outside of formal scheduled class time;
  • Advising duties or equivalent;
  • Tutorial, lab, or studio direction or equivalent;
  • Supervision of teaching assistants or equivalent;
  • Level and/or hours of teaching assistant support;
  • Level and/or hours of technical and/or pedagogical support for online teaching;
  • Marking/grading responsibilities or their equivalent;
  • Course preparation, including but not limited to extraordinary course preparation such as new courses, “short notice”, preparation of courses delivered by alternate modes, and for courses which are cancelled;
  • Supervision of senior essays or their equivalent;
  • Directed reading courses and independent studies courses or their equivalent;
  • Graduate supervision, including but not limited to supervision of dissertations, theses or equivalent, and including membership on graduate supervision committees in capacities other than primary supervision.

The normal teaching workloads described above represent levels that are designed to ensure that faculty members can devote adequate time to their research or pedagogical/professional development including scholarship and service activities. Holders of external salary awards (i.e., CIHR New Investigator, Canada Research Chair, etc) may request a reduced teaching and service workload consistent with the terms of the award. Faculty members with large research groups who are deeply engaged in the supervision of trainees may also request a reduced undergraduate teaching workload.

D. Service

Faculty members are expected to accept an equitable share of administrative responsibilities through participation on committees and decision-making bodies within the Department and across the University; however, those carrying a higher than normal service load may be assigned a reduced undergraduate teaching workload.

Service contribution may be at the Departmental, Faculty or University level and typically involves membership on various committees or other duties. The general expectation is participation on three or more committees per year that support the academic mission of the Department of Medicine, and/or its cognate departments or units, and/or the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. The load may vary over each academic year.

Service at the national (e.g., grant reviews, panels, boards, etc.) and international level (e.g., advisory committees, manuscript and grant reviews, etc.) is also expected.

E. Procedures

This Policy will be circulated annually to all Faculty members in the DoM and will be accessible via the DoM website. Offers of appointment and renewal letters (if applicable) will include a copy of this Policy.

It is the responsibility of the Department Chair and, if applicable and/or necessary, cognate Department Chairs (from departments such as Physiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics) to assign the upcoming teaching and service components in the Spring of each year after the annual review for that academic year is complete. The Chair will document each faculty member’s workload in a letter signed by the Chair and faculty member. The letter will outline the faculty member’s teaching commitments (undergraduate and graduate) for the following academic year, and outline the majority of their departmental service commitments. It is recognized, however, that not all service commitments can be established at this point in the cycle.

The DoM will review this Policy at least every three years and invite faculty to provide input via the DoM Workload Policy Committee.

F. Dispute Resolution

A member who has a complaint that the assignment of their workload is in violation of paragraph 3.1 of the WLPP or this workload policy must raise their complaint in accordance with Section 10.0 of the WLPP.