Faculty FAQs

Please find the Academic Calendar on the Registration and Records website for Winter Session dates.

For Winter Session courses, faculty will be paid 1/38 of their base nine-month salary per winter credit hour taught.

The University may cancel a Winter Session course if minimum enrollment numbers are not reached. Faculty may refuse to teach a course if it does not reach minimum enrollment.

The University may offer under-enrolled courses to faculty at a reduced compensation rate based on the BGSU Summer AY16 Proration Schedule.

If, after signing the Winter Session teaching contact, enrollment subsequently decreases, the faculty is guaranteed the prorated salary corresponding to the enrollment level when the faculty signed the contract. If enrollment subsequently increases, the faculty shall be compensated based on the increased enrollment.

Should a faculty choose not to teach a prorated course, the University shall follow the Winter Session teaching policy and may offer the prorated teaching opportunity to another qualified person. 

No faculty is guaranteed a teaching assignment during the Winter Session. No faculty can be required to teach during the Winter Session. Winter Session course offerings and their staffing will be recommended by the academic unit’s Chair/Director, based on student/programmatic needs, in cooperation with the Office overseeing Winter Session, and following the University’s “Guidelines for Assigning Winter Session Courses.” The Guidelines shall provide criteria for determining a qualified pool of faculty to be considered for a Winter Session course offering. Criteria shall include interest, expertise, and experience required to teach the course; rank and seniority may not be used to determine the qualified pool of faculty. 

No faculty member is required to teach during the winter session.

Faculty may teach no more than six credits in no more than three distinct course sections during Winter Session. In unique circumstances, requests for an exception to the maximum teaching load may be submitted to the Dean. 

Although this is extremely rare, required courses for majors cannot be offered solely during the Winter and Summer Sessions. As a result, Summer and Winter Session teaching should be considered as an additional or overload part of the faculty member is normal teaching responsibilities. Any exceptions to this rule must be approved by the Dean and Chair/Director, and Provost.

Because full-time faculty members are hired on a nine-month contract, they are expected to work during the regular academic year which now includes the Fall Semester and Spring Semester, which now includes Winter Session. Historically, faculty have used the time between the end of Fall Semester classes and the beginning of Spring Semester classes to perform work-related activities in the areas of teaching/librarian effectiveness, scholarly/creative activity, and/or service. It is understood that faculty who do not teach during Winter Session will continue these activities. 

Faculty members who do not teach during the Winter Session will not receive additional pay. 

Yes, faculty on FIL may still participate in the winter session

Winter Session courses will be assigned using “Guidelines for Assigning Winter Session Courses” as required by CBA Article 38: Winter Session. The guidelines can be found on the Provost’s web page. 

Yes, but there is no obligation for the University to count the course as in-load. The decision will be made by the Deans. Deadlines for submitting requests and hearing back from the Deans on their decision can be found on the Provost’s web page. 

Yes, but no BUFM can be required to teach during the Winter Session. Deadlines for the Dean to submit requests and hear back from BUFM on their decisions can be found on the Provost’s web page. 

There will not be any additional pay dates or payroll cycles. For monthly payments, any payment for the Winter Session would be paid on either January 20^th or February 20^th and dependent upon when the contract was received. Those submitting timely contracts will most likely be paid in January. Those received after the cut-off for January payroll will receive their pay on the February check.

For bi-weekly payments, it is dependent on when those contracts are received and processed. They should include a start date, and the first bi-weekly pay date, after the start date, would be their first pay. Since the Winter Session is over 3 weeks, bi-weekly agreements would most likely be paid out evenly over two bi-weekly pay periods.

An adjunct professor may teach up to a maximum of 9 credit hours for the winter session.

Below are the numbers of instructional minutes required by credits for 3-week Winter Session courses:

Credit Hrs              Mins/Day            Total Mins

1-credit                  50                        750

2-credits                100                     1500

3-credits                150                     2250

4-credits                200                     3000

5-credits                250                     3750

Departments notify students, faculty, Registration and Records about classes being cancelled no later than the first day of the fall examination period.

Winter course evaluations will be similar to Summer Session course evaluations. The tool used will be up to the unit’s discretion, or what they have used in the past.

Yes, faculty must submit assessment data each time they teach a Perspective courses, including the Winter Session.

Faculty should identify the textbooks for their courses and post them in Hero prior to the first day of registration for Winter Session, so that students know the total cost of the courses for which they are registering. Winter enrollment and spring enrollment will begin the same day.  

Faculty will not be compensated for independent studies, thesis hours, dissertation hours, etc. similar to Summer Session. In addition, these cannot be “bundled” together within a unit for payment related reasons.

Federal and state financial aid will be available and the hours taken during winter session will be added to credit hours taken during spring session to determine overall enrollment for the spring semester. For example, a student enrolled in 3 credit hours during winter session and 9 credit hours during spring session will be considered full time with 12 credits for federal and state financial aid. Institutional scholarships will not be available for winter session, thus a student in the same scenario would be considered enrolled for 9 credits when determining institutional aid eligibility. Students must have submitted a current Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and have a complete financial aid file to be considered for federal and state aid. Winter session will be its own line item on the bill, separate from all other sessions in spring semester. If you have questions, contact the Financial Aid office at 419-372-2651.

Graduate programs may not allow their graduate students to utilize their graduate scholarship dollars during Winter Session. The use of graduate scholarship dollars is limited to fall semester, spring session, and summer semester. 

Please see the Graduate College webpage on Graduate Assistantships. There you will find beginning and ending dates regarding contracting, stipend amount, etc. 

All Graduate Assistants on 9-month academic year (AY) stipend contracts will receive pay disbursements in equal installments from the beginning of their AY contracts to the end of their AY contracts. (AY contracts are composed of Fall Semester plus Spring Session.) Graduate Assistants who work during Winter Session will receive a separate contract for Winter Session that will be paid in disbursements in addition to the AY contract. No additional allocation will be awarded for this purpose; Winters Session stipends will come from the unit’s annual stipend allocation or external funding such as research grants.

This policy includes the classifications of: Teaching Assistant (TA); Teaching Associate (TI) for instruction; Research Assistant I and II (RA I & II) to conduct/support research (especially grant funded); and Housing Associate (HA), live-in staff members for the Office of Residence Life, who assist in the daily operation of an undergraduate residence hall. 

No, FADs cannot receive compensation for teaching a class during winter session. They can teach, but since they are on contract, there is no additional pay. However, 12-month faculty teaching a winter session course could be compensated, since they are not FADs.