Unit Workload Policy and Procedures

Department: Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Date: July 2023

A. Introduction

The Department of Medicine (DoM) is a clinical sciences unit within the Faculty of Medicine. Aligned with the mission of the University of Toronto, the DoM is committed to being an internationally significant research department, with undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programs of excellent quality.

The DoM is a research-intensive department engaged in the education and training of undergraduate medical students in the clerkship years, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, postgraduate residents and fellows.

The DoM consists primarily of clinical (MD) faculty and a much smaller number of tenured/tenure stream, CLTA and part-time faculty. Clinical (MD) faculty are excluded from all Faculty of Medicine workload policies. Henceforth, the workload statements made herein pertain exclusively to tenured, CLTA and part-time faculty in the DoM.

The majority of faculty members are engaged in research as is required of all such faculty members at the University of Toronto. In addition to research, faculty members supervise undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral trainees, and other laboratory personnel, which involves a very significant time commitment. The teaching of undergraduate Arts and Science and medical students is also an essential activity of the faculty. The DoM is not a graduate, nor undergraduate, designated Department. Therefore, allocation of workload will be assigned in a manner that is cognizant of, and in partnership with, the activities in the faculty members’ affiliated basic science departments (if applicable).

The Department of Medicine recognizes that workload is determined by numerous factors such as cyclical and yearly demands, flexibility, collegial discussion and transparency.

B. General Principles

The three principle components of a faculty member’s activities are research, teaching and service. This unit workload policy concerns the teaching and service components of faculty life. This Policy does not specify expectations around research, creative or professional activities, which are self-directed.

The purpose of this Policy is to ensure a fair, reasonable, equitable and flexible distribution of workload consistent with the diversity of research, teaching and service activities for this group of faculty.

The Dispute Resolution will be in keeping with the Dispute Resolution Process as outlined in Section 9 of the University of Toronto Workload Policy and Procedures for Faculty and Librarians (WLPP).

A member who has a complaint with the assignment of their workload, which they deem to be in violation of this Policy, must raise their complaint with the Chair within 20 working days of the assignment. If the complaint is not resolved within 10 working days, the member can refer the complaint to the Dean. If the matter is still not resolved within a further 10 working days, the member can refer the complaint (within 10 working days thereafter) to the University of Toronto Workload Adjudicator.

C. Teaching

The teaching assignment for full-time faculty will generally not exceed the equivalent of three half courses per year. This will include between 0.25 and 1.0 Full Course Equivalents (FCE) per annum at the undergraduate level and 0.25 FCE every third year at the graduate level. At the undergraduate level, this corresponds to a load between one-half of a one-semester course and two one-semester courses. Faculty members may also be asked to be involved in the training of undergraduate students as supervisors in research project courses as well as participate on graduate student advisory committees, qualifying or thesis examination committees.

Graduate student supervision by members of the Graduate faculty is considered part of both their research and teaching activities, and is not a substitute for classroom teaching activities.

The total teaching workload of the faculty members holding joint appointments in the Department and another department will not normally exceed that of faculty members with a single departmental affiliation, and will be assigned by mutual agreement among the Chairs of the Departments and the faculty member.

CLTA faculty will have teaching assignments similar to full-time teaching or tenured/tenure-stream faculty.

Teaching workload for part-time faculty is pro-rated based on the above standards.

Teaching Workload Considerations

Teaching workload refers to in-class contact hours where the faculty member is lecturing or actively participating in class discussions. In considering the teaching component of workload, the following relevant factors are taken into considerations: class size; total number of students in all of a member’s courses; course coordination and program direction; the mix of courses (undergraduate/graduate); the nature of the course (team-taught, inclusion of writing intensive or critical skill components, seminars, etc.); mode of delivery; contact hours (in-class and outside formal scheduled class time); scheduled office hours and other meetings with students; the administration, preparation, setting, invigilating, and marking of assignments and examinations, including make-up examinations; advising, counseling, writing of reference letters, or equivalent duties; tutorial, lab or on-line direction; supervision and training of Teaching Assistants or equivalent; course preparation, especially for new courses; supervision of senior essays or their equivalent, directed reading courses and independent studies courses or their equivalent; web-site and Quercus construction and maintenance; dealing with issues of academic misconduct; and graduate supervision, including the supervision of their theses and membership on graduate supervisory committees other than primary supervision.

The normal teaching workloads described above represent levels that are designed to ensure that faculty members can devote adequate time to their research and service activities. Holders of external salary awards (i.e., CIHR New Investigator, Canada Research Chair) and/or faculty holding significant administrative roles may be assigned a reduced teaching and service workload consistent with the terms of the award or activity (i.e., 75% protected time for research). Faculty members with large research groups deeply engaged in the supervision of trainees may be assigned a reduced undergraduate teaching workload.

D. Service

Service contribution may be at the Departmental, Faculty or University level and typically involves membership on various committees or other duties. The general expectation is participation on three or more committees that support the academic mission of the Department of Medicine, and/or its cognate departments or units, and/or the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. The load may vary over the academic year. Certain duties such as Associate Chair, Graduate Coordinator, Undergraduate Coordinator, and Chair of Research Committee or equivalent carry additional responsibilities and time commitments.

Service at the National (grant reviews, panels, boards, etc.) and International level (advisory committees, manuscript and grant reviews, etc.) is also expected. Faculty members are expected to accept an equitable share of administrative responsibilities through participation on committees and decision-making bodies within the Department and across the University; however, those carrying a higher than normal service load may be assigned a reduced undergraduate teaching workload.

This Policy will be circulated annually to all Faculty members in the DoM and will be accessible via the DoM website and offers of appointment and renewal letters (if applicable) will include a copy of the Policy.

It is the responsibility of the Department Chair and, if applicable and/or necessary, cognate Department Chairs (from departments such as Physiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics) in consultation with their respective Undergraduate, Graduate and Course Coordinators, to assign the upcoming teaching and service components in the Spring of each year after the annual review for that academic year is complete. Meetings between the DoM Chair, the Faculty member, and all heads of units to which the member is appointed will take place to discuss workload and expectations between units. This may occur in any given year in which one of the Unit Workload Policies is amended or at the request of the faculty member or any of the heads of relevant Units. The Chair will document each faculty member’s workload in a letter signed by the Chair and faculty member. The letter will outline the faculty member’s teaching commitments (undergraduate and graduate) for the following academic year, and outline the majority of their departmental service commitments. It is recognized, however, that not all service commitments can be established at this point in the cycle.

The DoM will review this Policy at least every three years and invite faculty to provide input via the DoM Workload Committee.

F. Dispute Resolution

The Dispute Resolution will be in keeping with the Dispute Resolution Process as outlined in Section 9 of the University of Toronto Workload Policy and Procedures for Faculty and Librarians (WLPP).