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Adjunct Faculty Responsibilities (Handbook 2014-2017)

The content of this chapter is applicable to only adjunct faculty.

CHAPTER VIII. ADJUNCT Faculty Responsibilities

8.1.   Class Rosters
8.2.   Code of Ethics Policy
8.3.   Course Syllabi
8.4.   Coursework Accommodations for Athletes and Debaters
8.5.   Office of Student Accessibility
8.6.   Final Examinations
8.7.   Grade Dispute Policy
8.8.   Meeting Classes
8.9.   Midterm Progress Report
8.10. Office Hours
8.11. Online Evaluations
8.12. Photocopy Guidelines
8.13. Testing and Grading

 


8.1.  CLASS ROSTERS
(Included since 1978; modified 2012)

Faculty members have access to their class rosters through WaveNet. Following the add/drop period, a second class roster will be sent to faculty via electronic mail from the Registrar. Instructions accompanying this roster must be followed promptly and explicitly. Discrepancies between the second roster and the students actually in attendance must be reconciled immediately so that the final grade roster will be accurate. Photo rosters are also provided through WaveNet.


8.2.  CODE OF ETHICS POLICY
(Adopted Jan 2, 2007; modified 2010, 2012)

Pepperdine University is a Christian University committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values. Members of the Pepperdine University community-faculty, staff, students, administrators, members of the Board of Regents, members of the University's advisory boards, and volunteers-are responsible for maintaining the standards of the institution and of the various communities in which they live. We value integrity, honesty, and fairness and strive to integrate these values into our daily practices.

Our ethical expectations are found in Holy Scripture, the University Mission Statement, the founding vision of George Pepperdine, and the University Affirmation Statement. Holy Scripture provides the ultimate source for our ethical standards, including the two great commands taught by Jesus: the duty to love God and love one's neighbor as one's self (Matthew 22: 37-40).

In this spirit, we commit ourselves to the highest standards of ethical conduct. We act with integrity; we treat others with respect and dignity; we carefully steward the University's resources; we avoid conflicts of interest or commitment; we maintain confidentiality; and we comply with legal and professional obligations. We are individually accountable for our own actions, and we are collectively accountable for upholding these standards of behavior and complying with all applicable laws, policies, standards, and regulations. While human and therefore fallible, we constantly strive to meet our ethical expectations. Moreover, because the Pepperdine community is composed of many distinct constituencies, we understand that, beyond the general ethical principles outlined in this document, we may be subject to additional rules of conduct specific to our respective roles within the community.

The University Code of Ethics Policy, along with instructions on how to report a violation of the Code of Ethics, is found at http://community.pepperdine.edu/hr/policies/ethics.htm.

8.3.  COURSE SYLLABI
(Included since 1988; language edited in 1998; modified 2010; 2012)

A syllabus is simply an outline of the academic content of a course, but it also serves to communicate course organization and process. Syllabi are distinctive, following the personality of the professor and the course itself; thus, there are no strict formulae for creating a syllabus. However, it is required that faculty develop syllabi that communicate effectively to students key areas of course organization and content. The following is intended to aid the process of syllabus development in order to facilitate effective communication with Seaver College students.  The following was prepared using syllabus guidelines approved by UAC on April 20, 2012. 

 Faculty must include the following content on the course syllabus:

  1. Instructor Information:
  • The methodology used for assessing student learning and the assignment of a course grade should be clearly defined.
  • Late and attendance policies also should be clearly defined.
  • Final Examinations:
  • The date and time of the final examination.  You may access this information at https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/academics/schedule/. 
  • All courses must have a final examination or concluding experience.  All final exams (or concluding experiences) must occur during the scheduled exam period.  Please review the policy on final examinations.
  • All students enrolled in the course must take the final examination at the scheduled time.  Exceptions are only granted if a student has two exams scheduled at the same time or three examinations scheduled on the same day.
  • Course Evaluations:
  • Online course evaluations are conducted for all Seaver courses. 
  • The course evaluation period opens at 5 p.m. on the WP/WF deadline day (Friday preceding the last week of classes) and closes before final exams begin (3 a.m. on the Monday of final exam week). 
  • Please encourage all students to complete the course evaluation.
  • Students with Disabilities:

Faculty may wish to include the following on the course syllabus. This content is optional.

1.  Intellectual Property:  A statement regarding intellectual property of the course content. 

You may use one of the follow statements on intellectual property or compose your own statement.

A.  Course materials prepared by the instructor, together with the content of all lectures and review sessions presented by the instructor, are the property of the instructor. Video and audio recording of lectures and review sessions without the consent of the instructor is prohibited. Unless explicit permission is obtained from the instructor, recordings of lectures and review sessions may not be modified and must not be transferred or transmitted to any other person. Electronic devices other than laptops (e.g., cell phones, PDAs, calculators, recording devices) are not to be used during lectures or exams without prior permission of the instructor.

B.  Copyright 20XX [Name of Professor] as to this syllabus and all lectures. Students shall not sell notes (or receive remuneration for taking notes) during this course to or by any person or commercial entity without the express written permission of the professor teaching this course.

C.  My lectures are protected by state common law and federal copyright law. They are my own original expression and I record them at the same time that I deliver them in order to secure protection. Whereas you are authorized to take notes in class thereby creating a derivative work from my lecture, the authorization extends only to making one set of notes for your own personal use and no other use. You are not authorized to record my lectures, to provide your notes (including any presentations, handouts, guides, outlines made available to you in this class) to anyone else or to make any commercial use of them without express prior written permission from me.

2.  Student Behavior:  You may wish to include comments related to respectful classroom discourse or standards of behavior.

3.  Dates: Indicating the following dates on the syllabus may benefit students.

  • Classes, begin and end
  • Final exams, begin and end
  • Last day to submit Change of Final Exam form
  • Holiday periods - Thanksgiving & Christmas
  • Holidays - Labor Day & Martin Luther King Day
  • Faculty Conference and Spring Break
  • "W" and "WP/WF" days
  • Graduation 


 8.4.  COURSEWORK ACCOMMODATIONS FOR ATHLETES AND DEBATERS
(Included since 2002; updated 2006)

1. When students are required to be absent from class for NCAA intercollegiate athletic competitions, debate team trips, or other co-curriculum activities sponsored by the College, the University has an obligation to help the student negotiate these conflicting responsibilities. In such cases, professors will make reasonable efforts to accommodate those absences. These accommodations may include, but are not limited to:

a. assigning alternate work to be done that captures the spirit of the assignment,

b. apportioning the weight of missed assignments among the remaining assignments, when one or more of a series
    of graded assignments are missed because of travel requirements.

c. creating make-up tests or assignments when feasible.


2. It must be acknowledged that for some classes, the class time or lab time learning experience is irreplaceable and some course requirements cannot be compensated. If a significant number of class hours are to be missed because of required competition in NCAA intercollegiate athletic competitions, debate team trips, or certain co-curricular activities, students will be encouraged to take the course during a semester when such conflicts do not exist.


8.5.  DISABILITY SERVICES
(Included since 2012)

It is the policy of Pepperdine University to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and state and local regulations regarding students and applicants with disabilities. Pursuant to these laws, no qualified individual with a disability shall unlawfully be denied access to or participation in any services, programs, or activities of Pepperdine University.  Faculty are expected to make reasonable accommodations to accommodate students with disabilities.  The Office of Student Accessibility is provide to support faculty as it helps to maintain an environment that guarantees students with disabilities full access to all University educational programs, activities, and facilities. All services through the DSO are kept strictly confidential.

The Office of Student Accessibility website is http://www.pepperdine.edu/student-accessibility/[BROKEN LINK].

The complete University policy for accommodating students and applicants with disabilities is found at http://www.pepperdine.edu/student-accessibility/university-policy/[BROKEN LINK].

Information specific to faculty may be found on the Office of Student Accessibility website at http://www.pepperdine.edu/student-accessibility/faculty/[BROKEN LINK].

8.6.  FINAL EXAMINATIONS
(Included since 1978; modified 1989 and 2002)

1. A final examination or concluding evaluative activity must be held for each regular course at the time and place published in the finals schedule. EXCEPTIONS MUST BE APPROVED IN WRITING BY THE ASSOCIATE DEAN. Failure to comply is a serious dereliction of duty as a member of the Seaver faculty, subject to disciplinary action.

2. All students are required to be present during the final exam period. Exceptions may be granted only in case of emergencies or very special circumstances. Faculty members are not required to give a student permission to take a final at any time other than the time scheduled. However, in exceptional cases, such as when a student has
three exams scheduled on the same day, students may obtain a form from the divisional office or the Seaver Dean's Office to petition to change the time or day of their exam. Students must obtain the faculty member's approval prior to submitting their petition to the Dean's Office.

3. Final reports of student grades are due in the Registrar's Office the first Monday following the last day of finals. For spring term graduation, grades of graduating seniors must be turned in on Friday at noon of finals week. Grades must be turned in online via WaveNet.

4. The grade of "I" may be given only (1) when the student is passing the course at the time an illness or emergency arises; (2) when the student does not have excessive unexcused absences; and (3) when the only work unfinished by the student is the final exam or a final major project. An incomplete grade is not intended to give students with poor grades additional time to improve their grades. Faculty-initiated grade changes (other than mere computation errors) must be submitted to the Credits Committee in writing, with justification for the change and the division chairperson's signature.

5. Faculty members who consistently award an unusually large percentage of high or low grades, when compared to colleagues will probably wish to reevaluate their grading standards. A statistical analysis of grades given by instructor, course, and division, is maintained and made available in the Dean's Office.


8.7.  GRADE DISPUTE POLICY
(Included since 2000; modified 2012)

Grades measure student performance and serve as a means of determining graduation eligibility and honors. As such, Seaver College recognizes that a fair and rigorous assessment of student coursework is vital to the mission of the school and wishes to ensure that disagreements that arise over assigned grades are handled promptly, fairly, and professionally. The grade dispute policy is found in the Student Handbook and on the University web site at http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/about/administration/dean/content/faculty/handbook/archives/adjunct_faculty_handbook_2011_2012.pdf.



8.8.  MEETING CLASSES

(Included since 1978; modified 1988)

Faculty members are expected to meet all classes promptly at the time scheduled. Necessary absences must be reported to the relevant chairperson in advance whenever possible. Absences of more than two class days, for purposes not directly connected to college duties, must be approved in advance by the division chairperson. Failure to meet scheduled classes and chronic tardiness are serious lapses of professional behavior.


8.9.  MIDTERM PROGRESS REPORT

(Included since 1988)

Students doing unsatisfactory work should be advised of their academic status no later than the eighth week of classes for the fall and spring semesters.


 8.10.  OFFICE HOURS

(Included since 1978; modified 1998 and 2006)

Arranging office hours may be awkward for adjunct faculty members, but efforts should be made to provide time for consultation with students outside of scheduled class time.  Each division provides space for such consultations, and adjunct faculty members are urged to take advantage of this provision.  Regular times, usually just before or after class, should be announced to the class and maintained conscientiously, aiming for a frequency of two times per week to be available to meet with students outside of class.


8.11.  ONLINE EVALUATIONS

(Included since 2010)

Faculty should talk with students on the first day of their classes about completing the online evaluation of the course at the end of the semester and should indicate on the syllabus that the online evaluation is a required part of the course. Course evaluations will be available in the 10 day period before final exams. When the online evaluation period begins, students are notified by an e-mail from the Dean’s Office with directions for logging in at https://courseeval.pepperdine.edu/. Students are able to print a confirmation page upon completing their evaluation for each course; printing this page does not compromise the anonymity of the students in making their responses. Faculty are advised to collect these sheets since this is the only way to verify whether a specific student has completed an evaluation. Having a high percentage of student responses is important because student evaluations play a significant role in the rank, tenure and promotion process. Throughout the evaluation period a faculty member can log-in and see the number and percentage of students who have completed the evaluations for each course.  After all grades have been submitted, faculty may login at https://courseeval.pepperdine.edu/ and see both numerical ratings and student comments for each course.

Division Chairpersons will have access to the evaluation results and in cases in which a teacher is being considered for promotion or tenure, the teaching evaluations from the previous academic year will be shared with the Rank, Tenure, and Promotion Committee; the dean; appropriate administrators; and the Board of Regents. All faculty members are expected to participate in the teacher evaluation program.

 

8.12. PHOTOCOPY GUIDELINES FOR CLASSROOM AND RESEARCH USE
 (Included since 2012)

Current copyright law grants a copyright owner certain rights regarding that owner's work. The copying, by photocopying or other means, and use of copyrighted materials can only be done subject to those rights. The University has adopted these copying guidelines for faculty and staff in an effort to achieve greater certainty of procedure, reduction of the risk of infringement of copyright, or allegations thereof, and the maintenance of a desirable flexibility to accommodate specific copying needs.

The importance of these guidelines is underscored by three common misconceptions. One misconception is that the duplication of copyrighted materials without permission for non-profit educational purposes is always permissible as a "Fair Use". This is not true. There are some very well defined limits to such uses. The second misconception is that a copyright owner is not likely to undertake efforts to protect a copyright. This is also untrue, and the penalties for copyright infringement can be very severe. The third misconception is that the absence of a copyright notice (©) signifies the absence of a claim of copyright. This is also not necessarily true and it should be assumed that a work may be protected, despite the absence of notice.

Copyright law applies to all forms of copying, whether it is done, for example: (i) at a commercial copy center, (ii) at the University's copy facilities, (iii) at a self-service copy machine, or (iv) by computer (i.e. by posting copyrighted material on the University's computer network or the Internet, or by emailing materials via a class distribution list). If you use the services of a commercial establishment, you may be asked to provide documentation of permission from the publisher.

The University encourages faculty members to exercise good judgment in the use of copyrighted materials, and to carefully and efficiently balance the following guidelines with the best interests of the students when making use of copyrighted materials.

The complete photocopy guidelines are found on the Provost's web site at http://www.pepperdine.edu/about/administration/provost/content/policies/copying-guidelines.pdf.


 8.13.   TESTING AND GRADING
(Included since 1978; modified 2002; 2012; 2013)

Grades must be assigned accurately and fairly. Careful records of student progress should be kept on file. All records pertaining to students’ work should be retained for one semester following conclusion of a class. Students deserve a clear understanding of their status and progress. This requires a systematic evaluation program on the part of the instructor. Evaluation should begin early in the semester and continue at reasonable intervals. Students may appeal grades to the relevant divisional chairperson, but only with a charge of incompetence or malicious intent.

Faculty who wish to post students' grades should post the grades in such a way that anonymity is assured.