Instructional Policies

Rights and Responsibilities of Faculty Members as Citizens and as Teachers.

See Regents' Rules, Series 31004.

Minimum Faculty Academic Workload Requirement

Statutory Requirement. State law requires the Board of Regents to adopt rules concerning faculty academic workloads. Texas Education Code Section 51.402 recognizes that important elements of workload include classroom teaching, basic and applied research, and professional development. Workload for the faculty members of the institutions of The University of Texas System is expressed in terms of classroom teaching, teaching equivalencies, and presidential credits for assigned activities. It is expected that every faculty member will be regularly engaged in scholarly research or creative activities, in serving on faculty committees, and in interacting with students in various extracurricular ways. The one aspect of a faculty member's duties for which a minimum level of activity has been defined, however, is direct instruction. See Policy Memorandum 76-III.24-5, Minimum Faculty Academic Workload Requirement.

Undergraduate Academic Advising for Non-majors

The Dean of Undergraduate Education is responsible for organizing, administering, and monitoring undergraduate advising for students who have not declared a major and for those who are not seeking a degree.

Undergraduate Academic Advising for Majors

Academic advising is an integral part of each faculty member's teaching responsibility. Careful, informed advising should help students formulate and implement their plans for the baccalaureate degree. The advisor's responsibility is to explain degree requirements and oversee a student's progress, and equally important, to assist the students in exploring areas particularly suited to their interests or career goals. Academic advising, in short, should help students learn to use the resources of the University to fulfill their special educational aspirations.

The Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education is responsible for organizing, administering, and monitoring undergraduate advising. Generally, that function should be based upon the following procedural model.

1. The Office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education (or other appropriate office) will retain a file for each undergraduate student registered in the College. This file will include all pertinent information regarding the student's past academic record, current status, and future academic plans. (For example, the file should contain transcripts of past college work, upper-level evaluation of courses taken elsewhere, letter of admission, record of deficiencies, grade reports, notice of academic probation or suspension, notice of special honors such as College honors list, grade changes, drops and adds, individual instructor's requirements for making up incompletes, and the degree plan.) The file should also contain any petition waiver or agreement regarding fulfillment of degree requirements; such extraordinary arrangements are the responsibility of the Master and are not valid unless signed by the Master or his/her designate.

2. All new students should first proceed through the Master's office (or other appropriate office) during their first registration. At that time, each student will be assigned an advisor, in most cases temporary, who will briefly explain the degree program, the meaning of any deficiencies and how they may be made up, and distribute any material pertaining to the degree requirements which the programs provide for their students. A preliminary degree plan will be devised, signed by the advisor, and sent to the Master's office (or Program office) for the student's permanent file.

3. After registration, and during the first semester at UTD, the Master will assign each student a permanent advisor, a faculty member who normally teaches in the student's program, and who will remain the student's advisor during the student's career at UTD. The student will be informed of his/her advisor and instructed to contact him or her for an appointment if the need arises. The student and advisor, or someone under the supervision of the advisor, will meet during the first semester for the purpose of more fully explaining the degree requirements and discovering the student's academic plans and career goals. The student should be advised that the Catalog governs requirements; and advising should conform to it. The student may also be offered information about support services such as career development and financial aids, and should be advised about the possibilities for graduating with honors.

4. The Office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education (or other appropriate office) should insure that each student has been assigned an appropriate advisor and that he/she has been advised during the first semester. Advice should be accessible to students throughout the semester; and students should be strongly urged to seek advice each semester.

5. The student must meet with his/her advisor, or someone under the supervision of the advisor, at the beginning of the semester in which he/she plans to graduate for the purpose of completing a final degree plan. The advisor should ascertain that all degree requirements have been fulfilled, that deficiencies have been made up, and elective and interdisciplinary requirements have been met. The advisor will then sign the final degree plan and the application for graduation.

6. The College Master will check the final degree plan and application for graduation (and honors, if pertinent) and forward them to the Registrar's office.

Graduate Academic Advising

This activity is coordinated by the Dean of Graduate Studies and administered by the schools either by the Dean of Graduate Studies or the department/program head or the program areas within a school.

Policy on Office Hours

It is essential that students have access to faculty members for individual consultation. Faculty members are expected to maintain regular office hours and conference periods most advantageous to students and to post such hours on their office doors.

U.T. System Advisory Guidelines for Posting Grades

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 provides that personally identifiable student records are not public and requires educational institutions to maintain the confidentiality of these educational records. Although the posting of student grades is not specifically addressed by the Act, the general requirements of the Act clearly regulate the form of grade postings. The ensuing guidelines are consistent with the requirements of the federal Act and are based on interpretations of the student and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Office in the U.S. Department of Education, numerous legal reviews, and interpretations by the U.T. System Office of General Counsel.

1. Requirement

a. Course grades of an individual student may not be posted or made available in any public manner by name, initials, Social Security number (in whole or in part), unique assigned student identification number, or any other personal identifier, except when the student has signed an authorization to release the specific record.

2. Guidelines

a. Although it is not absolutely clear that grades for examinations, lab work, homework or other graded assignments constitute confidential student records, the spirit of the Privacy Act strongly suggests that such grades not be posted without specific written consent of the student.

b. A "made up" number assigned by the individual faculty member and given only to a student for posting grades would not be considered personally identifiable.

c. If grade posting is done, student consent should be provided on an individual form since a circulated list might create peer pressure to sign. A consent form should be maintained for at least one full semester after the conclusion of the course.

Outside Employment and Consulting

The policies of The University of Texas at Dallas regarding consulting and outside employment are contained in Policy Memorandum 79-I.3-29.

Conditions on the Grade of Incomplete

The Academic Council and Senate, with the concurrence of the President, adopted the procedures concerning assigning the grade "Incomplete" by members of the faculty. These procedures can be found in the on-line catalog from "incomplete" in the alphabetical indices of each online catalog:

http://www.utdallas.edu/student/catalog/

 

Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty

Official policies on scholastic dishonesty are stated in The University of Texas at Dallas’ Handbook of Operating Procedures, Title V.