Common Expectations of the Faculty
As noted in the Georgia Highlands College (GHC) Faculty Evaluation Policy, the members of the Corps of Instruction at GHC are essential to fulfilling GHC’s educational mission and goals. All members of the Corps of Instruction are expected to engage in teaching and student success. Additionally, tenure-track and tenured faculty participate in service and scholarship activities. All activities are expected to be conducted with a high degree of collegiality, professionalism, and integrity.
Teaching
Teaching refers to the duties associated with traditional lecturing, management of classroom and class discussions, facilitating online learning, supervising classroom activities or online activities, meeting with students outside the classroom to support their learning, supervising and training in a laboratory or clinical setting. Teaching imparts knowledge and/or skills to students and encourages them to make their own connections to what they already know. The primary responsibility of GHC’s Corps of Instruction is teaching, while emphasizing best practices for engaging students.
Therefore, each member of the Corps of Instruction will deliver effective instruction using assigned modalities, apply various teaching strategies to support student learning and success, engage in professional growth opportunities, and contribute to the ongoing assessment and enhancement of teaching practices and curricula.
Additionally, each member of the Corps of Instruction will provide advising and/or mentorship to students, guiding them in their academic and career pursuits to foster growth, confidence, and success.
Service
Faculty members contribute valuable academic, cultural, and technical expertise to their communities, profession, and institution. These efforts enhance the quality of work and effectiveness of learning environments while cultivating essential skills for classroom management and institutional and/or student success. Effective service extends beyond classroom duties, encompassing a wide range of contributions that support the institution and its mission. Georgia Highlands College highly values service to the institution, acknowledging its essential role in enhancing students’ educational experiences.
Accordingly, each faculty member will engage in opportunities that are enriching to the college community and/or aligned with the college’s mission, initiatives, shared governance, service areas, and student success.
Scholarship
As experts in their disciplines, faculty members must remain current in their field-specific knowledge and pedagogy while pursuing scholarly activities or academic achievements that align with their field, support student success, foster pedagogical innovation, and uphold the mission of GHC.
To that end, each faculty member will contribute to academic, college, and/or professional communities through research, creative activity, or academic achievement.
Student Success
(Student success is interwoven throughout all faculty responsibilities.)
Faculty members are expected to approach every student interaction as an opportunity to empower, inspire, and support student achievement. As a central pillar of GHC’s mission, student success informs all aspects of faculty work, both inside and outside the classroom.
Accordingly, each faculty member is expected to actively promote student success through engaging instruction, meaningful service to the college and community, and participation in scholarly activities that enhance learning outcomes and student achievement. To ensure alignment with this mission, at least one goal in either teaching, service, or scholarship must be explicitly and measurably tied to student success.
Workload Percentages
Tenure-Track Faculty
A faculty member who holds the rank of Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor will follow the workload outlined below.
| Area | Percentage | Number of Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching | 70% | 3 |
| Service | 20% | 2 |
| Scholarship | 10% | 1 |
Non-Tenure Track Faculty
A faculty member who holds the rank of Lecturer or Senior Lecturer will follow the workload outlined below.
| Area | Percentage | Number of Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching | 100% | 3 |
| Service | 0% | Optional |
| Scholarship | 0% | Optional |
Administrative Faculty
A faculty member who serves as a Division Chair or in another administrative role with a required teaching load will follow the workload distribution outlined in the table below Assigned administrative responsibilities are considered part of the faculty member’s overall service expectations.
| Area | Percentage | Number of Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Teaching | 30% | 2 |
| Service | 60% | 3 |
| Scholarship | 10% | 1 |
Standard Required Duties
The following duties are required of all members of the Corps of Instruction and are measured on a scale of Meets or Does Not Meet.
- Hold all scheduled class sessions through the final exam period in the assigned modality.
- Adhere to the Syllabus Policy.
- Model effective oral and written communication in all instructional and professional settings.
- Ensure grades are visible and up-to-date in the learning management system throughout the term.
- Adhere to the Office Hours Policy.
- Contribute to assessment and accreditation efforts as required.
- Provide academic advising to students during designated advising periods.
- Attend departmental, school, faculty, and college-wide meetings unless formally excused.
- Attend graduation ceremonies unless formally excused.
- Complete all required trainings (e.g. annual compliance, cybersecurity) by the posted deadlines.
- Exhibit professional behavior and demonstrate full compliance with Georgia Highlands College (GHC) and University System of Georgia (USG) policies.
