02-03.20 – Policy on Outside Employment, Outside Professional Services, Outside Teaching, and Offload/Overload Teaching by Full-Time Faculty

  1. Policy Statement:

    Full-time faculty members may earn additional pay above and beyond their institutional base salary at Towson University (the “University”) during an appointment period. The President delegates authority to the Provost to make decisions and to delegate the right to make decisions to deans, subject to the terms of this policy. For information regarding institutional base salary for full-time faculty, see University Policy 02-03.11, Policy on Institutional Base Salary for Full-time Faculty.

  2. Definitions:

    1. “College Dean” means the dean of the college of which the relevant faculty is a member.

    2. “Delegated College Dean” means a College Dean to whom the Provost has delegated authority to grant the approvals required under this policy, in accordance with the terms of this policy.

  3. Responsible Executive and Office:

    Responsible Executive:
    Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

    Responsible Offices:
    Provost’s Office; College Dean’s Offices

  4. Entities Affected by this Policy:

    All full-time faculty.

  5. Procedures:

    1. Employment Outside of the University:

      Faculty may engage in outside employment including consulting, private professional practice, or contract work for up to one day per week or its hourly equivalent. Such employment may not interfere with the faculty member’s responsibilities on campus (as determined by the faculty member’s chair and the College Dean) and may not be used as an excuse to not accept an assigned course schedule, absence from individual class sessions, or lack of attention to departmental and institutional responsibilities for shared governance and service. The faculty member bears responsibility for avoiding potential conflicts, disclosing any tensions that inadvertently arise, and discussing appropriate resolutions with the department chairperson and College Dean. (See USM Policy II-3.10, Policy on Professional Commitment of Faculty.)

    2. Professional Services and Offload/Overload Teaching Within the University:

      During an appointment period, full-time faculty members may receive a stipend for consulting, offload/overload teaching, or professional services within the University only with the advance written approval of the Provost or Delegated College Dean. (See USM Policy II-3.10, Policy on Professional Commitment of Faculty.) With such approval, faculty members teaching eight instructional units during two semester terms may teach up to one additional course as an overload each term; those teaching seven instructional units may teach one additional course per year; and those teaching six instructional units may not teach additional courses for compensation as overloads.

    3. Teaching Outside of the University:

      As indicated in USM Policy II-3.10, Policy on Professional Commitment of Faculty, and USM Policy II-3.20, Policy on Teaching Outside the Home Institution by Full-Time Faculty, a full-time faculty member may only teach at another institution for additional compensation with the advance written permission of the Provost or Delegated College Dean of his or her home institution. The faculty member may never teach more than two such courses during a contract year.

    4. Reporting:

      All faculty who engage in the activities described in sections A through C above, will be required to fill out the University Full-Time Faculty Outside Employment, Outside Professional Services, Outside Teaching, and Offload/Overload Teaching Form for the upcoming academic year and to submit it at the same time as the faculty member’s Annual Report (AR). Activities proposed on the University Full-Time Faculty Outside Employment, Outside Professional Services, Outside Teaching, and Offload/Overload Teaching Form must be approved by the College Dean. Completed forms will be retained in the College Dean’s Office.

    5. Approvals:

      Delegated College Deans must: (1) implement this policy consistently, and (2) submit a report to the Provost within 30 days of the end of each semester, in a format acceptable to the Provost, describing all approvals granted pursuant to this policy during the semester. The Provost may revoke any authority granted to any dean at any time. The Provost may also approve exceptions to this policy under exceptional circumstances; the Provost may not delegate authority to approve exceptions to this policy under exceptional circumstances to any dean.

Related Policies:

USM Policy II-3.10, Policy on Professional Commitment of Faculty

USM Policy II-3.20, Policy on Teaching Outside the Home Institution by Full-Time Faculty

TU Policy 02-01.00, Towson University Policy on Appointment, Rank, and Tenure of Faculty

TU Policy 02-03.11, Policy on Institutional Base Salary for Full-Time Faculty

Approval Date: 07/13/2016

Effective Date: 07/13/2016

Approved By: President’s Council 07/13/2016

Signed By: President’s Council

How to Request the Policy PDF

This online version of the policy may include updated links and names of departments. To request a PDF of the original, signed version of this policy, email the Office of the General Counsel, .