Planning the Curriculum

The primary standard for summer course scheduling should be student demand. Previous experience has taught us the following:

• One of the best indicators of demand in the summer is demand during the previous academic year and in previous summer sessions.
• Enrollments in the Maymester and Summer I sessions are typically greater than those in Summer II or Summer III.
• Summer III is designed to accommodate classes that require more time than is possible in any of the other sessions: internships, directed/independent studies, thesis supervision, and clinical experiences. This session permits greater flexibility in both scheduling and faculty assignments. The scheduling of “traditional” classes during Summer III should be limited to those that require more time than is possible during the other sessions (e.g., research classes or writing intensive classes).
• Among undergraduates, most students enrolled during the summer are juniors and seniors.
• Evaluations of previous summer sessions by students indicate that most of the students registering during summer sessions do so to hasten their graduation dates. This may be to “make up” for courses they previously failed or to “catch up” for withdrawals. Some students are accelerating their plans of study so that they might graduate in less than four years. Still others enroll because they must: students who have attempted a minimum of 30 hours and whose GPAs are less than 2.000 at the end of the semester will be suspended. The University makes no exceptions to this policy. Thus, a significant number of students attend summer sessions to make up GPA deficiencies.
• Department chairs should not schedule multiple sections of the same class unless they are confident of demand and unless the nature of the class absolutely dictates that per section enrollment be limited. For example, if the enrollment limit in a class during the fall or spring is 40, and 25 or 30 students typically enroll in the class during the summer, there is no need to offer two sections of the course during the same summer session. Scheduling more than one section of the same class in the summer increases the possibility that at least one of the sections will be canceled, and this penalizes the students.

Types of Classes

• Traditional courses are those offered in typical lecture/discussion formats. The target enrollments for traditional courses are fifteen (15) students in undergraduate courses and twelve (12) students in graduate courses.
• Per student stipend courses include independent and directed studies and similar courses. Obviously, these classes by design have very low enrollments.
• Experiential education courses include practical/clinical courses that must follow special enrollment guidelines as specified by accrediting and certification programs and agencies. In consultation with Department Chairs, Deans will provide lists of these courses to the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs before students begin to register for summer sessions. In some cases, faculty remuneration will differ from the typical stipend. Deviations from standard remuneration policies must be recommended by the Dean and approved by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
• Internships are credit-bearing experiential opportunities in which students participate. Most of these take place at off-campus sites, where an on-site supervisor assists the faculty member with the coordination of the activity.

Scheduling Classes

The scheduling of classes in RIM is the responsibility of each department. However, schedules should not be entered into the RIM database until the scheduling templates have been completed by the department and approved by the Dean. In addition, the College of Graduate and Extended Education must be involved in the scheduling of extended education courses, since those courses must be fit into available classrooms at extended sites. Likewise, any changes to the summer school class schedule must be made by the department. However, schedule changes must be completed using appropriate forms and procedures and must be approved in advance by the Dean, who will then notify the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs.

All internships should be scheduled during Summer III. This does not necessarily mean that the student’s work in the internship will last from early May until the end of July, although the student will not receive a final grade for the internship until the end of Summer III, no matter when the actual work begins and ends. This limits the number of “incomplete” grades we previously awarded to students who enrolled in internships scheduled in shorter summer terms.

Changes that affect budgets (course additions, deletions, changes in faculty assignments, etc.) must be approved in advance by the Dean, who will then notify the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs.

Any changes affecting extended education courses must be also be approved by the Dean of the College of Graduate and Extended Education.

It is the responsibility of the department to make sure that all information on RIM is kept up-to-date.

Cancellation of Classes

Ideally, careful and thoughtful planning on the part of colleges and departments will minimize cancellation of classes, for deleting classes from the University’s planned schedule has the potential to create inconvenience and hardship for both students and faculty. Since that inconvenience and hardship increases as the University approaches the beginning of summer sessions, decisions about cancellation should be made as early as possible in the spring. Once registration for summer sessions begins, the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs will provide periodic enrollment reviews for department chairs and Deans. These reviews will especially note classes that are at risk of cancellation.

As soon as it becomes obvious that the enrollment for a class is likely to fall well short of the target census date enrollment [for traditional undergraduate courses, fewer than fifteen (15) students, and for traditional graduate courses, fewer than twelve (12) students], the Dean will cancel the class, unless exceptional circumstances require the offering of the course. Factors the Deans may consider in making a decision whether to cancel a class that has an enrollment less than the target may include the following:

1. The need to accommodate groups of students who:
   • Will not have another opportunity to take the course to meet graduation requirements in a reasonable amount of time
   • Need the course as a prerequisite for a course that will be offered in the fall semester
   • Are part of a graduating or continuing cohort of students in a program
   • Are “caught” by curriculum changes to their programs
   • Are registered for summer classes to take courses that were shifted to the summer from the spring or fall terms for budgetary or other reasons
   • Are area professionals who need courses to meet licensure or other certification requirements
2. The extent to which the departmental average enrollment for that summer term within a course’s category (i.e., on-campus undergraduate, on-campus graduate, extended education) meets the target enrollment.

If the Chair feels that a course should be offered even if it does not meet the target enrollment, the Chair will so notify the Dean. If the Dean agrees, the course will be offered, and the Dean will notify the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs.

• In rare cases, cancellation decisions may be made during the registration process in the spring.
• In late April, the Dean and the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs will engage in discussions about additional courses recommended for cancellation. These conversations will include the Dean of the College of Graduate and Extended Education for graduate courses and courses offered at off-campus locations.
• Another review and discussion will occur one week prior to the beginning of each session. Deans will cancel courses with fewer than the target enrollments no later than five working days prior to the first class meeting, unless the Dean determines a need to defer the cancellation decision until the first class meeting.
• The final date for cancellation of courses will be the census date established for each session. Decisions to cancel classes at this late date should be made only under extraordinary circumstances.

Questions regarding the cancellation of courses should be addressed to the Dean, not the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs or the Registrar. If a course is cancelled, the College Dean (after consultation with the Dean of the College of Graduate and Extended Education, if appropriate) will notify the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs, the academic department, and the Registrar’s Office. (The Registrar’s Office will not cancel a course without authorization by the Dean. The cancellation of courses offered off-campus must also be approved by the Dean of the College of Graduate and Extended Education.) It is then the department’s responsibility to notify the instructor of the course as well as students enrolled in the course. Departments should offer students their assistance and that of the Advising Centers in helping them pursue other summer registration opportunities.

Occasionally, it may be necessary to cancel a summer class for reasons unrelated to enrollment, such as the sudden unavailability of a qualified instructor. In such instances, the department must immediately notify the Dean of the desire to cancel the class. The department should make every effort to find a qualified instructor prior to making this decision.

Instructional Stipends and Teaching Load

• Compensation for Summer Sessions for Teaching and Research faculty teaching a traditional course will be at the rate of 2.25% of the annual base salary per credit hour, with a minimum of $1,100 and a maximum of $1,800 per credit hour.
• Adjunct faculty will be paid at their academic year rate for each assigned course. Note: all adjunct faculty assigned to teach during the summer must first be part of the University’s Adjunct Database, as must adjunct faculty who teach during the fall and spring. This enables departments and Deans to verify that instructors have the credentials to teach the course(s) they are assigned.
• Administrative and Professional faculty who teach summer courses will be paid at the adjunct rate for faculty in their discipline, unless otherwise specified in the faculty member’s contract.
• Salaries for faculty supervising internships, independent studies, directed studies, theses, and similar courses will be paid on a per student stipend basis of $250 per student enrolled on the census date, up to a maximum of the amount the faculty member would earn if he/she were teaching a traditional three-hour course. This applies to both graduate and undergraduate courses. Salaries for faculty in this type of offering will be based upon the enrollment on the census date for the session in which each class is scheduled. No “late adds” to this type of course will be made by the Registrar’s Office without the permission of the instructor, who will receive no additional compensation. Exceptions will be considered in cases in which it can be documented that the instructor and the department chair approved the course prior to the deadline to add courses.
• The maximum summer earnings will be based on the Faculty Handbook policy that the total earnings from all employment within the University for the entire year shall not exceed 133 percent of the faculty member’s full-time academic salary.
• The maximum number of semester hours a faculty member should be assigned to teach during summer sessions (inclusive of all sessions) is twelve (12). Except in unusual circumstances, faculty should not teach more than two traditional courses during sessions that are offered concurrently (e.g., Maymester and Summer I). Policies related to faculty teaching load outside the academic year are articulated in the Teaching and Research Faculty Handbook. (See the section headed “Summer Employment.”)
• Faculty who teach traditional classes scheduled as part of an approved extended campus program during the summer sessions will be paid the same rate and will be subject to the same guidelines as faculty who teach on campus. Reimbursement for travel and associated expenses incurred in travel to off-campus teaching sites or to meet with off-campus students engaged in independent studies or similar activities must be pre-approved by the Dean of the College of Graduate and Extended Education.
• Formal contracting with faculty to teach during summer sessions will occur in two phases:
  • Phase 1: Faculty who have been assigned to teach summer classes will receive an offer of employment to teach during summer sessions approximately two weeks prior to the end of the Spring Semester.
  • Phase 2: Contract letters for faculty teaching in any summer session will be distributed after the census date for each session.
• In the event that a faculty member is unable to fulfill the requirements in the teaching contract, he/she should notify the department chair and the Dean. The Dean, in consultation with the department chair, will assign another qualified instructor or cancel the class (depending on the circumstances and the availability of a qualified instructor) and will notify the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs.

Payroll Schedule for Summer Sessions

The payroll schedule during summer sessions will be included with contract letters.

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