UCSD - The Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies

IR/PS Faculty Handbook

SECTION 4: ACADEMIC ADVISING, CURRICULUM, AND ISSUES RELATED TO STUDENTS

ACADEMIC ADVISING

All incoming graduate students are assigned a faculty advisor. Students typically retain the same advisor for the first year. Together with the Associate Dean of IR/PS and the Director of Degree Programs, advisers serve as graduate students' personal contact with the Graduate School. They advise students regarding curricular requirements and their academic programs. Graduate students should meet with their advisers at least quarterly.

CAREER SERVICES

The Career Services Office oversees student career advising and internship placement. The Career Services director and staff organize a wide variety of workshops on career search strategies and sponsor colloquia featuring representatives from industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. A detailed description of activities and programs is available at: http://www-irps.ucsd.edu/resources/career_services.php.

CLASS SCHEDULING

See "Curriculum," below.

COURSE EVALUATIONS

All courses are evaluated at the end of the quarter. The Faculty Support Assistant will provide each instructor with an appropriate number of blank course evaluation forms for distribution to his/her class. Each instructor must designate a student to collect the completed evaluation forms and return them to the Faculty Support Assistant by the end of the final week of classes.

The results of course evaluations will be made available to the instructor for retention or disposal. Because the Committee on Academic Personnel (CAP) specifically instructs us not to include anything other than the quantitative scores for individual instructors in merit/promotion files, we do not provide typewritten copies of students' comments submitted with the evaluations. However, photocopies of student commentaries will be made available to the instructor.

CURRICULUM

CATALOG COPY
The IR/PS Academic Affairs Office coordinates production of the IR/PS Catalog and the IR/PS entry in the UCSD General Catalog. General Catalog copy is due the first week of January. Both the Director of Degree Programs and the Student Program Coordinator should be notified of all new and changed courses and course deletions by early October. The course approval process must be completed in order to have course changes, deletions, or additions included in the new version of the catalog.

CLASS SCHEDULING
Schedule information is available from a variety of sources. A list of IR/PS courses during the current quarter is posted at the front desk in the Dean's complex. A current UCSD "Schedule of Classes" (which lists all classes taught at UCSD during a given quarter) is available via Student Link. Please consult the Computing Services Manager regarding access to Student Link.

The Associate Dean oversees the scheduling of classes at IR/PS. The class scheduling process is conducted approximately 5-7 months in advance. Throughout the process, faculty Field Coordinators play a vital role in working with the Associate Dean and staff involved in course scheduling to coordinate discussions with faculty in key curricular fields, resolve coverage issues, identify potential replacement instructors, and participate in periodic curricular reviews.

The schedule of fall classes is due at the Registrar's Office the preceding January. The winter schedule is due by late July, and the spring schedule is by due mid-October. Faculty members may notify the Student Program Coordinator regarding their preferred teaching times and days; however, preferences must be adjusted to accommodate space availability. Registrar policy dictates that each department's courses are to be scheduled evenly across the teaching day and throughout the week, Monday through Friday.

Although the precise dates vary from year to year, the following timeline should provide a general sense of the process.

October - November: The Director of Academic Personnel and Curricular Planning issues a call for faculty sabbatical and leave plans for the upcoming year. The Student Program Coordinator issues a call for faculty teaching schedules for the upcoming year.

November - December: Initial class schedule developed for the upcoming academic year (September - June).

January - February: Dean's office submits request to the SVCAA for TFTE funds for the upcoming academic year. Fall Quarter class schedule determined and submitted to Registrar's Office in late February.

March - April: Registrar's deadline for final changes to the Fall Quarter schedule is in mid-April.

Early May: Fall Quarter schedule distributed; students begin enrolling.

July: Preliminary schedule for Winter Quarter must be submitted to the Registrar's Office.

August - September: Winter Quarter class schedule finalized and submitted to the Registrar's Office by early September.

October: Winter Quarter schedule distributed; students begin enrolling. Spring Quarter class schedule is determined and submitted to the Registrar's Office in mid-October.

November: Spring Quarter class schedule is finalized and submitted to the Registrar's Office by mid-November.
Early February: Spring Quarter schedule distributed; students begin enrolling.

Once students have begun to enroll, the schedule and individual course times are considered final. At this point, course cancellations will require the approval of the Associate Dean. The course meeting time may be changed after the first regularly scheduled class meeting, provided that a) all students can meet at the new time, and b) a room is available. Given these constraints, it generally proves impractical to move classes.

CLASSROOM CHANGES
The Student Program Coordinator processes all requests for classroom assignments and room changes. Once the schedule of classes is printed, scheduled class times cannot be changed except for small seminars, when there is a serious conflict, or when the assigned classroom will not accommodate the class.

COURSE APPROVAL FORMS
All courses taught at IR/PS are required to have a Course Approval Form on file. See the Director of Degree Programs regarding policy details and required forms. Course descriptions must be 40 words or less. The Associate Dean reviews all proposals for new courses.

TEACHING LOAD REQUIREMENTS
Preliminary faculty teaching assignments for the following academic year should be submitted to the Student Program Coordinator by early November (minor changes can be accommodated through February). It is critical that we have this information in order to prepare our instructional and temporary funding budget (TFTE) request for review by the Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs early each January.

Workload
The standard course load for IR/PS faculty members is four courses per year. Faculty members receive one credit for teaching an elective course. Core courses are offered either in single, large sections, or they may be divided into two separate sections. Faculty members who teach one large section or two individual sections of a core course receive two course credits toward their annual teaching load. Faculty members who teach one section of a core course that is offered in two sections receive one course credit. If a faculty member co-teaches a single, large section of a core course, he or she receives one course credit toward the annual teaching load. (New assistant professors generally do not teach core courses. Nor do they generally co-teach core courses during their first year.)

In negotiation with the Associate Dean, course relief is provided for sabbaticals, leaves of absence, and for exceptional administrative service such as for journal editorship. Please notify the Director of Academic Personnel and Curricular Planning of any changes in your normal teaching load.

Faculty members may teach two courses per quarter in each of two quarters and no scheduled classes in the third quarter, but only if teaching and scheduling needs of IR/PS allow for this. In such cases, all other faculty responsibilities, office hours, committee assignments, supervision of graduate students, etc., must be met. The Associate Dean approves all requests regarding teaching load.

Course Buy-Out Policy
At the discretion of the Dean, faculty members may buy out of courses if they have income from grant or fellowship funds to pay the cost of a temporary replacement instructor. Faculty members may be expected to identify qualified replacement instructors. Graduate students are not acceptable replacement instructors for graduate-level courses.

In June 2002, the IR/PS faculty formally adopted the following internal course buy-out guidelines:

· Faculty may use extramural dollars to buy-out of up to two courses per year, at
the rate of 1/6 of the participant's annual salary per course.
· IR/PS will retain 100% of the released salary, of which a portion must be used to replace the uncovered course(s).
· Participation in this program should in no way reduce the service commitment of the faculty member. The faculty member must remain on campus for the duration of the buy-out, with the exception of standard leaves of absence within policy. Any exceptions require SVCAA approval.
· Faculty wishing to participate in this program must seek endorsement from the Associate Dean and the Dean of IR/PS.

Absences from Class Sessions
Faculty members are required to be in residence during quarters in which they are teaching. Absences of up to ten service days (14 calendar days) must be approved by the Dean. For more details, please consult Section 4, "Benefits, Compensation, and Privileges."

Any faculty member who needs to rearrange a class session due to an approved absence should consult the Director of Degree Programs and the Associate Dean regarding their plans and make-up arrangements.

OFFICE HOURS

Faculty members are normally expected to provide three office hours per week for each class that they teach in a given quarter. Faculty members should inform the Faculty Support Assistant of their office hours before the first week of class each quarter. Hours should also be posted on the faculty member's office door. The Faculty Support Assistant provides a form for this purpose each quarter. The Faculty Support Assistant will prepare a summary list of faculty office hours based on information submitted by the faculty. It is important that faculty members keep longer office hours during the first two weeks of each quarter and during advising week.

If a faculty member cannot keep office hours on a particular day, he or she should contact the Faculty Support Assistant so that students can be notified by posting a notice on the faculty member's office door.