The guidelines below are grounded in the philosophy that all tenured and tenure track faculty members are expected make significant contributions in the areas of teaching, research, and service.

The department chair/director is responsible for maintaining the proper balance of teaching, research, and service activities within the department.

1. Every department should have established expectations for 'normal' teaching, research, and service loads.
2. Deviations from the normal departmental teaching load must be negotiated in advance with the department chair/director. Reasons for deviations include, but are not limited to: Professional Development Assignments, fellowships, leaves of absence, extraordinary service responsibilities, teaching for other departments or programs, and sponsored research. Whenever possible, these decisions should be made during the annual evaluation and planning cycle.
3. Reductions in teaching loads should not entail financial loss to the department and, where possible, should provide the department with financial support.
4. Faculty must obtain approval of the department chair/director before applying for external funding, even through the UofM Foundation; otherwise the department may not be in a position to honor commitments for buyouts or reduced teaching loads. Such proposals should be discussed with the department chair/director well in advance of the proposal deadline.
5. Buyouts for sponsored research should not be automatically deducted from the faculty member's teaching load, but may also be deducted from university-sponsored research and/or service. For example: If a faculty member is bought out for 20% of his academic year salary, he may receive a one-course teaching reduction and a 10% reduction in university-sponsored research instead of a two-course deduction. There is always an expectation of faculty service for faculty who are not on leave; faculty should not be allowed to buyout completely from service commitments.
6. Faculty who receive course buyouts or other course load reductions during the academic year should have low priority for summer teaching.