Behrend College Guidelines for the Implementation of AC80: Faculty Outside Professional Activities and Conflict of Commitment
Purpose
To set forth guidelines related to approvals required for full-time faculty members to engage in outside professional activities.
Behrend College Guidelines
- Behrend has no unit guidelines for outside professional activities beyond those described in AC80, except those below for teaching.
- Holding a tenure-line appointment or holding tenure at another institution is prohibited.
- In general, full-time faculty members should bring all teaching activities for other institutions to the attention of their School Director.
Examples of teaching activities that do or do not require approval from the School Director/Vice Chancellor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs are given below. For cases not specified below, the faculty member should seek advice from their School Director.
Teaching activity that does not require prior approval by the School Director:
- Credit and non-credit courses offered through Behrend’s Community and Workforce Programs (Continuing Education) when the course is part of the faculty member’s semester load
- Lectures, seminars, or workshops of a limited nature presented at professional conferences or other institutions (e.g., guest lecturing at another educational or non-educational institution, presenting a seminar to a local civic organization)
- Serving on a master’s or doctoral committee at another institution
- Teaching non-university groups brought on campus for education or training
- Teaching at other institutions outside the appointment period. Note: Approval for teaching credit courses at other institutions outside the appointment period is not required, but annual disclosure is required (per AC80)
Teaching activity that does require approval by the School Director:
- Teaching that requires supplemental pay from Penn State, including:
- Continuing Education courses during appointment period and during summer (limited to 4 days/month during the appointment period)
- Non-Behrend World Campus courses that are not part of a faculty member’s regular load
- Behrend residential or Behrend World Campus courses that are not part of a faculty member’s regular load (e.g., overload)
- Teaching for pay at other institutions or for World Campus during the appointment period
- Research or teaching that involves intellectual property agreements
- Teaching a credit or non-credit course for pay at another educational institution during the faculty member’s appointment period that does not directly compete with a Penn State course.
- Chairing a Ph.D. or master’s thesis committee at another institution
Teaching activity that will not be approved except under special circumstances and that requires permission from the Vice Chancellor and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs:
- Teaching a course for another educational institution that directly competes with a Penn State course during the faculty member’s appointment period