Faculty members may from time to time teach courses that are in addition to the course load requirements specified in their effort allocation (e.g., PTEAP portfolio, employment contract). “The term ‘overload teaching’ applies to faculty members teaching academic courses in addition to the course load requirements of their ‘usual faculty activity,’ as determined by their effort allocation, for which a base salary is paid.” (PM III-17.17(6)). 

The following sections provide guidance regarding collegiate options for compensating faculty for overload teaching, including: 

1. Course Banking, and
2. Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses (PM III-17.17(6)). 

Note that the Post-Tenure Effort Allocation Policy (PTEAP) (PM III-10.5(e)) also may be used to provide individualized portfolios regarding teaching loads, but that policy is not addressed here. 

Given that the course banking guidelines are newly developed, colleges intending to implement a course banking program should follow their internal governance processes, with the assistance of the Office of the Provost, when implementing the program.

When it serves collegiate needs, colleges may explore implementing a course banking program to offer faculty the option to group their courses into a consolidated block of time in order to reduce their teaching load in a future term and allow for more intensive focus on research and/or professional productivity. Course banking is a voluntary program; it is possible that not all colleges will opt to allow course banking and not all faculty members will be able to participate in it. In colleges that opt to offer this program, faculty members in good standing may have the option to bank courses taught over and above their assigned allocation within the guidelines below and to negotiate a time to “redeem” those courses, as feasible, to fulfill their teaching load during a subsequent term. 

Guidelines 

1. Eligibility:
   1. All full-time tenure-track/tenured and clinical faculty members who have been employed at the University of Iowa for at least one full academic year are eligible to participate in course banking. Faculty in phased retirement may redeem courses banked prior to beginning the phased retirement period but may not bank additional courses during phased retirement.
   2. Only faculty members who are meeting or exceeding expectations with regard to all of their ordinary responsibilities (e.g., teaching, research, and service for tenure-track faculty) are eligible to participate in a course banking program. Otherwise, a PTEAP reallocation should be considered to reflect more accurately a faculty member’s portfolio performance.
   3. Even where a faculty member is eligible to participate in the course banking program, each request to bank or redeem an overload course must be considered on a case-by-case basis by the faculty member’s departmental executive officer (DEO) or equivalent in light of departmental or collegiate constraints.
2. Course banking compared with other means for addressing additional teaching activity: Colleges and departments differ in terms of how various teaching activities count as part of teaching loads (e.g., number of PhD students advised, course innovations, team teaching). When a faculty member teaches in excess of the usual teaching load as determined by departmental or collegiate standards, both monetary and non-monetary options are available to compensate the faculty member. For instance, the DEO or equivalent may provide overload teaching compensation or count the teaching as extra activity for purposes of determining a merit raise. Alternatively, and depending on both departmental and individual faculty needs, it may be appropriate to consider non-monetary options for addressing overload teaching such as course banking or a PTEAP portfolio. 
   
   Each of these approaches is a separate and distinct option for addressing overload teaching, and which is most appropriate for a given situation will depend on a variety of factors. As such, course banking is not necessarily interchangeable with other options for addressing overload teaching activity. For example, no faculty member shall be compelled to participate in a course banking program in lieu of being paid extra compensation for teaching a course over the faculty member’s typical assigned load. Likewise, faculty are not entitled to extra compensation for unredeemed banked courses except as provided herein, and courses taught for extra compensation shall not count as banked courses within this program.
   
   In addition, while course banking and a PTEAP portfolio can allow faculty to adjust their teaching efforts, they are different in important ways. The PTEAP applies only to tenured faculty, while the course banking program is potentially available to all tenured/tenure-track and clinical faculty. Moreover, a PTEAP portfolio involves the shifting of a faculty member’s effort from one area of responsibility to another (e.g., away from research to teaching). In the course banking program, by contrast, a faculty member must meet or exceed performance expectations in all areas of teaching, research, and service to be eligible to participate in the program, and the additional course to be banked is taught over and above the faculty member’s ordinary responsibilities.
3. Course banking deficits prohibited: When a faculty member’s class is cancelled due to low enrollment or other reasons, the cancelled class shall not be counted as a deficit in a course banking program. Rather, the DEO (or equivalent) and faculty member shall negotiate an alternative arrangement to satisfy the teaching load requirement. Such arrangements may include but are not limited to: a course-equivalent teaching assignment (e.g., new course creation, teaching another course on-load within the same academic year, or mentoring junior faculty); temporary reallocation of the faculty member’s assigned workload (e.g., an individualized PTEAP portfolio for tenured faculty); the faculty member’s redemption of a previously banked course; or additional collegiate service.
4. Earning and redeeming banked courses:
   1. A faculty member may bank up to one course per semester or two courses per year. The maximum number of redeemable banked courses a faculty may have at any given time shall not exceed half of the faculty member’s usual annual teaching load, or two courses, whichever is greater. For instance, a tenured faculty member with either a three- or four-course annual teaching load could have two courses banked at any given time.
   2. A faculty member must use banked courses within three years of banking (e.g., courses banked in the Fall 2018 must be used during or before Fall 2021) or risk forfeiting the banked courses. If the faculty member does not request to use the banked courses within the required three-year time period, the department (or college in nondepartmental units) may choose to allow the faculty member an extended time period within which to use the banked courses. Likewise, if the department (or college in nondepartmental units) is unable to allow the faculty member to use banked courses within the required three-year time period, the faculty member may choose to agree to an extended time period within which to use the banked courses. If departmental or collegiate constraints prevent the faculty member from using the banked courses within the required time period (or extended time period, if applicable), the banked courses shall be compensated as described below (see Course Banking subsection (A)(4)(e)).
   3. A faculty member who resigns voluntarily with unused banked courses remaining may redeem the banked courses for compensation only if departmental or collegiate constraints prevented the faculty member from using the banked courses prior to the end of the faculty member’s employment at the university.
   4. A faculty member may not redeem unused banked courses for compensation if the faculty member is terminated for cause or resigns in lieu of termination for cause. In other cases of termination or nonrenewal, such as where a faculty member’s position is not renewed due to a department or college’s changed economic circumstances, the faculty member may redeem unused banked courses for compensation as described below (see Course Banking subsection (A)(4)(e)).
   5. When compensation for banked courses is appropriate under these guidelines, it shall be based on the department or college’s ordinary practice regarding extra compensation for teaching that was in place at the time the teaching occurred. See Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses guidelines below.
5. Service and other non-teaching obligations: A semester in which a faculty member has no teaching obligations is not a leave semester, and both service and regular participation in the life of the college are expected unless otherwise exempted.
6. Collegiate implementation requirements:
   1. Collegiate implementation guidelines: All colleges electing to offer a course banking program shall adopt collegiate guidelines setting forth the terms of the program and must submit the collegiate guidelines to the Office of the Provost for approval. Collegiate guidelines shall incorporate these guidelines but may also include additional terms that are not inconsistent with these guidelines. Specifically, collegiate guidelines shall specify: faculty tracks that are eligible to participate in the course banking program, whether courses taught during the summer may be banked for use during the academic year, timelines for requesting to redeem banked courses, course equivalency guidelines, processes for requesting and redeeming banked courses, and clear language regarding the consequences of failing to redeem courses within prescribed time periods or before resignation or termination, as described in these guidelines.
   2. Application form to participate in the course banking program: This document should inform faculty members requesting to participate in a course banking option of all material terms of participation as defined in these guidelines and collegiate guidelines. The faculty member must sign the application to indicate an understanding of the terms of participation. The application to participate in the course banking program should be approved only if all guidelines are met, and approval of a faculty member’s participation in the program as a whole does not constitute approval of any particular request to bank a course or to redeem a banked course.
   3. Form to request to redeem banked courses: This form shall include the date of the request, the date of requested usage, and an explanation of how the banked courses are equivalent to the courses for which the banked courses would substitute.
   4. Collegiate accounting system: Colleges and/or departments will need to keep a central accounting system for banked courses.

Policy Manual Chapter III section 17.17(6) provides that “[a]ll teaching for extra compensation must be approved on a case-by-case basis by the faculty member’s departmental executive officer or equivalent. . . .” The following guidelines are intended to assist DEO’s and others in determining when it is appropriate for faculty to teach overload courses for extra compensation and what compensation is appropriate for such teaching. 

1. Each approval of overload teaching for extra compensation should be in the best interests of the department (or college in non-departmental units).
2. The faculty member should hold a regular faculty appointment (tenured, tenure-track, clinical-track) and must be meeting or exceeding expectations in the fulfillment of all work duties. If a faculty member is underperforming in any area of the faculty member’s portfolio (e.g., research productivity), the DEO or equivalent may deny the opportunity to teach a course for extra compensation.
3. It is the faculty member’s responsibility to provide assurance that the overload teaching “will not interfere with performance of regular responsibilities.” (PM III-17.17(6)).
4. Faculty who have part-time or administrative appointments, or course releases due to research funding, are eligible to teach overload courses for extra compensation. If a department (or college in non-departmental units) consistently schedules a part-time faculty member to teach additional courses on an overload basis, it is encouraged to reevaluate the faculty member’s contract to determine whether a fuller appointment is appropriate.
5. Overload courses taught for extra compensation may not also be counted as “banked courses” in colleges that offer a course banking program.
6. The Summer and Winter Session Salaries (PM III-17.8) policy requires that faculty members appointed on an academic-year basis must be paid one-ninth the previous year's salary for each three-semester-hour course taught during a summer or winter session. While the one-ninth rule may be helpful in setting the amount of extra compensation faculty will be paid for teaching an overload course during the academic year, it is not required for such teaching.
7. Restrictions stated in the Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses policy (PM III.17.17(6)) are followed, including: PM III.17.17(6)b(2). Course number and enrollment limitations. Academic courses taught for extra compensation are limited according to the following:
   1. Academic-term and distance-education courses: Faculty and staff members who hold regular full-time appointments (nine or twelve months) may be permitted to teach one course for extra compensation during the fall, spring, or winter sessions, not to exceed two total courses taught for extra compensation during the academic year. Additionally, faculty and staff members who hold fiscal-year appointments may be approved to teach one course during the summer session.
   2. Exceptions: Exceptions to these limits may be requested in writing to a DEO or equivalent, or, in the case of staff, a supervisor and department head. Once recommended, the exception must be approved by the collegiate dean of the college in which the course is being taught and, if for a course taught through the Office of Distance and Online Education, the Dean of University College.

• Chapter III-17.17(6) Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses
• Chapter III-17.8 Summer and Winter Session Salaries
• Chapter III-17.13 Extra Compensation for Participants in University-Sponsored Short Courses and Conferences
• Chapter III-10.5(e) Post-Tenure Effort Allocation: https://policy.uiowa.edu/human-resources/faculty#TenureTrackFaculty

The following chart is designed to clarify the roles and responsibilities for requesting and approving teaching courses for extra compensation (i.e., “overload teaching”). For further information, contact your collegiate Faculty HR Representative or the Office of the Provost: Alaina Hanson, senior director of faculty human resources, alaina-hanson@uiowa.edu or 335-3015.

• Ensure teaching for extra compensation complies with the policy (17.17(6) Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses). For additional information, see “Teaching for Extra Compensation FAQ.”
• Inform DEO/supervisor as early as possible of offer to teach an academic course. Include course #, title, meeting dates and times in notification.
• If number of courses and/or students exceeds policy limits, submit request for exception in writing to DEO/supervisor. Include course #, title, meeting dates and times in notification and rationale for why an exception to the course limits should be allowed. If approved, submit DEO/supervisor written approval to hiring department.

• Assign instructors to courses as soon as possible. Departments are strongly encouraged to initiate the prior approval form according to the Registrar’s guidelines to assign instructors in advance of early registration deadlines, or as soon as the instructor is identified. Allow enough time to find a replacement if permission is denied to the proposed instructor.
• Develop an offer letter to instructor for each course taught for extra compensation (see “Teaching for Extra Compensation Offer Letter Template”); secure signature and attach signed letter to workflow “Special Comp Prior Approval” form. If the Prior Approval form is submitted after the start date, a brief justification is required in the Remarks section on the workflow form.
• Initiate “Special Comp Prior Approval” workflow form as soon as possible to allow adequate time for form to be fully reviewed and, in some cases, denied. Attach the signed offer letter to the form.
• If a written exception approval is required from the DEO/supervisor, attach the documentation to the workflow form.

• Ensure courses taught for extra compensation by supervisees comply with policy (17.17(6) Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses). For additional information, see “Teaching for Extra Compensation FAQ.”
• Review requests to teach for extra compensation and determine whether to approve or deny. Reasons for denying a request to teach or an exception to the policy may include, but are not limited to:
  • Concerns about the employee’s performance in their primary position,
  • Departmental/unit operational demands,
  • Course exceeds the policy-determined course limits,
  • Written exception was not submitted and approved.
• When reviewing Special Compensation workflow forms, use the “Current Total Special Compensation” field to review the amount of and reason for other Special Compensation payments made to the employee during the current fiscal year. This will assist in assessing the number of courses taught to date and whether the current request causes an instructor to exceed the course limits (e.g., two courses during an academic year for academic appointments; three courses for fiscal year appointments).
• If a written exception approval is required, submit written approval to the Academic Department in which course is being taught.
• Work with Faculty HR Representative to run the HR Report, Special Comp - Overload Instr, to stay informed of extra compensation received by departmental faculty and staff; data may be useful in annual reviews, departmental course planning and case- by-case approval process.

• Ensure compliance with policy (17.17(6) Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses) when approving Special Compensation Prior Approval: Course Instruction and Design workflow forms. For additional information, see “Teaching for Extra Compensation FAQ.”
• When reviewing Special Compensation workflow forms, use the “Current Total Special Compensation” field to review the amount of and reason for other Special Compensation payments made to the employee during the current fiscal year. This will assist in assessing the number of courses taught to date and whether the current request causes an instructor to exceed the course limits (e.g., two courses during an academic year for academic appointments; three courses for fiscal year appointments).
• Run HR Report, Special Comp - Overload Instr, on a quarterly basis to identify any outliers and intervene, as needed.

• Ensure compliance with policy (17.17(6) Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses) when approving Special Compensation: Course Instruction and Design workflow forms. For additional information, see “Teaching for Extra Compensation FAQ.”
• Assist departments and orgs in monitoring employee compliance with the policy. For additional information, see “Teaching for Extra Compensation FAQ.”
• Run HR Report, Special Comp - Overload Instr, on a quarterly basis to monitor potential concerns and encourage colleges/divisions to do the same.
• Provide annual notification to campus regarding policy and resources.

• Ensure policy compliance with policy (17.17(6) Extra Compensation for Teaching Academic Courses) when approving Special Compensation Prior Approval: Course Instruction and Design workflow forms. For additional information, see “Teaching for Extra Compensation FAQ.”
• Assist departments and orgs in monitoring employee compliance with the policy, in particular the GIS limits.

“Teaching for extra compensation” is often referred to as “overload teaching.” “Overload teaching” refers to faculty members teaching academic courses over and above their regular (“on-load”) course assignments. UI staff members may also teach as adjunct faculty over and above the assigned duties for which their base salary is paid. The policy is designed to ensure that neither the quality of instruction nor the quality of effort toward primary employment obligations is diminished when assuming these additional responsibilities.

• Faculty (full-time): Faculty on academic year appointments may be approved to teach one course each semester or two per academic year; Faculty on fiscal year (twelve-month) appointments may be approved to teach one course each semester and one during the summer.
• Staff (full-time): Staff on fiscal year appointments may be approved to teach one course each semester and one during the summer. Course work performed must take place outside the employee's regular work hours or charged to vacation time, unless otherwise approved by their supervisor.
• Faculty and Staff: Guided Independent Student (GIS) courses are limited to 36 students per course.

Yes. The policy establishes limits but, in special circumstances, an employee may request an exception to the limit. Requests for exception must be submitted in writing to a faculty member’s DEO or equivalent, or in the case of staff, to a supervisor and department head.

Teaching during the summer session by faculty members on academic year (nine-month) appointments is exempted from the overload teaching guidelines, since the summer session is not considered part of the academic year contract. However, teaching during the summer session by faculty and staff members appointed on a twelve-month appointment is considered when factoring overload limitations. Given the condensed nature of summer session courses, when approving the request to teach a course on overload during the summer, department chairs and/or supervisors should take into consideration the impact on an employee’s other job requirements during that condensed time.

Yes. The University has defined the academic year as beginning three days prior to fall classes and ending with spring commencement (see III.17.9), therefore courses taught during semester breaks (e.g., Thanksgiving, winter, spring) will be considered as being taught on overload and governed by this policy.

Yes. Since you are requesting additional employment from the University, it has an interest in ensuring that you are able to meet the required level of commitment and are in good standing with your primary position before offering you additional responsibility, as well as ensuring that teaching will not interfere with any responsibilities that may arise in the evening or on Saturday.

Yes. A DEO/supervisor has the right to deny the request of a faculty/staff member to teach for extra compensation for the University. Teaching on overload for the University is an employee opportunity, not an employee right. Reasons for denial include, but are not limited to: 

• Course exceeds the policy-determined course limits,
• Written exception was not submitted and approved,
• Concerns about the employee’s required level of commitment and/or performance in their primary position,
• Departmental/unit operational demands.

• Offer Letter: Departments must issue offer letters for courses being taught on overload (see “Teaching for Extra Compensation Offer Letter Template”), and the signed offer letter must be attached to the workflow form. The workflow form will route to the DEO/supervisor for approval. If the number of courses exceeds the policy limit, a written exception approval from the DEO/supervisor must be attached to the workflow form.
• Prior Approval: Payment for courses taught on overload require prior approval in UI Workflow using a “Special Compensation Prior Approval: Course Instruction” form. Different forms exist for faculty, P&S, and SEIU employees. This form will inform supervisors of the type of course being taught (e.g., GIS, academic term), and the expected payment for this effort. The “Current Total Special Compensation” field on the Prior Approval form can be used to review the amount of and reason for other Special Compensation payments made to the employee during the current fiscal year.
• HR Reports: The report “Special Comp – Overload Inst” listed under “Standard Report Frequency Recommendations” in HRIS should be run quarterly to review those who have received special compensation for course instruction. The report will show the names, number, and amount of payments made to each person teaching a course. This will provide a basis for determining whether exceptions have been sought and granted as appropriate.
• Access to Extra Comp Teaching History: A supervisor is able to see prior Special Compensation payments received in supervisees’ ePersonnel files. This information may be useful when approving requests to teach on overload and also during performance review, particularly if concerns related to performance and/or attendance need to be addressed.