The Faculty Teaching Load Report provides an overview of the department's teaching staff and their course load for that semester. It conveys the faculty member's release time in Department Administration, Research, Public Service, Academic Support, Institutional Support or Student Support. The Institutional Effectiveness (IE) office collects the faculty instructional and release time FTE from all twenty-six academic departments throughout campus.
Academic Affairs utilizes the Faculty Teaching Load and Released Time reports produced by the Institutional Research office for two overarching, ongoing analyses used for planning, budgeting and staffing purposes. First, teaching productivity as depicted by the Teaching Load Analysis assists Academic Affairs with course planning and staffing each semester. It is also used for a Full Time Equated Teaching Faculty (FTETF) calculation to produce a ratio of full to part-time instructors as mandated in a faculty collective bargaining agreement. Second, the Released Time Analysis is used to understand the complex nature of academic department work beyond the normal teaching function, which also assists in analyzing non-teaching duties such as research and service.
At the end of each academic year, the Institutional Research office enters the faculty FTE for instruction and release time into a database that is utilized by the Finance and Planning Office. This data is required to prepare for the State of Michigan Higher Education Institutional Data Inventory Report (HEIDI) as well as budget planning, evaluation and and analysis throughout the year to assist in the decision-making processes of the university.