Normal Teaching Load

1. The normal teaching load for Centre College Faculty is six courses or 18 credit hours per academic year.
2. From time to time it may be necessary for the Division Chairs or the deans to levy certain requests for teaching assignments on specific divisions or programs; for example, the staffing of courses in humanities, first-year studies, or other courses.
3. Bookkeeping concerning the number of courses taught by each faculty member per term and per year is the responsibility of the Division Chairs.
4. Under special circumstances, the administration may request a faculty member to teach an overload. In that case, a commensurate reduction in teaching load in another term will be arranged.
5. Any reduction of or exception to the normal teaching load of six courses must be granted by the Dean of the College.
6. Independent and directed study courses were conceived as possibilities for exceptional students who wish to go beyond the requirements of a major program. Normally, they are not to be offered as alternatives to regular requirements in a major or minor. The curriculum is designed by a program to be a coherent complement of courses with due consideration for breadth and depth. Supplementary courses to the major offering may be offered in response to student interest and Faculty availability (comparative literature, e.g.). The policy of program approval for course substitution in the major or minor remains in effect when the course to be counted toward the major is a regularly scheduled course.

   A course that is normally offered as a regular course should not be offered as a directed or independent study unless there is a significant reason (e.g., a student has been abroad and missed a particular course for a major). Centre does not guarantee to a student that a second major or a minor can be completed; therefore, the College is under no obligation to accommodate scheduling difficulties by offering regular courses as directed studies. Personal preferences of students are not a justification for requesting directed studies. Circumventing specific courses or instructors is not a legitimate reason for asking a faculty member to teach the overload of additional independent or directed studies.