Careful consideration should be given to the preparation of Time Schedules so that each department makes efficient use of its teaching resources and ends up with as few "low enrollment" courses as possible ("low enrollment" is defined as fewer than 15 students in a three-credit course at the undergraduate level, fewer than 10 students in a three-credit course at the graduate level). Because the registration period for the Spring Term is much shorter than that for the Fall Term, it is especially important that hard decisions about course offerings be made prior to the submission of the Time Schedule.
Decisions about course offerings in any academic year must be consistent with balanced programs for both graduate and undergraduate students. At the same time, however, they must take into account the constraints on the resources which are available to teach these courses: regular faculty, TAs/TFs, and part-time faculty/visitors. Hence it is essential that chairs do the following:
- Undertake careful curriculum reviews with an eye to reducing the total number and/or the variety of courses offered and maintaining reasonable enrollment maxima on non-introductory courses.
- Reduce the number of multiple sections when enrollments in one or more of them are considerably below the authorized capacity; if feasible, schedule multiple sections with time overlaps so that low enrollment sections can be collapsed; and utilize rooms with a seating capacity of at least ten above authorized capacity to allow for absorption of a few additional students as necessary.
- Make all commitments to part-time faculty or other appointment stream faculty conditional on the requirement of meeting minimum enrollments and inform these individuals that they may be replaced by full-time faculty or TA/TFs whose own courses might be canceled because of low enrollments. A statement about this must be included in the contract letter to every part-time faculty member.
- When a course to be taught by a full-time faculty member is canceled due to low enrollment, he/she must either be given another course assignment, be given an equivalent administrative assignment, or make up the canceled course in another term. The arrangements involved should be documented in a letter from the department chair to the faculty member, and the Senior Associate Dean should be copied on this correspondence.
- Monitor enrollments carefully throughout each registration period so that course cancellations and reassignments of faculty can be made as early as possible.
- Cancel any course that is not a required part of a departmental program and does not have an enrollment of 15 students at the undergraduate level or 10 at the graduate level. The earlier it is decided to cancel a course, the more time is available for you to reassign your faculty and for the students to find another course.
- A faculty member may occasionally choose to teach several low enrolled courses in the same term, in which case the combined enrollments may be counted toward an appropriate teaching load.
The Dietrich School Dean's Office has access to course enrollment information for the past several years. If your own departmental records of enrollments in specific courses are not complete, you may consult printouts with this information in his office.