Faculty Development

Creating a syllabus

Check with your department chair about department syllabus requirements. Be sure to make extra copies of your syllabus. Most departments require that you give your department chair at least one copy of your syllabus. Be sure to check with your department chair on how many copies are required by your department.

- The purpose of a syllabus is to provide each student on the first day of class with what is expected in your class. Most syllabi provide information in three content areas:

1) The syllabus should explain how the course fits within the overall curriculum.

2) Provide details that pertain specifically to the class such as required texts and assignments.

3) Clarification on mechanical and behavioral expectations. The clearer your syllabus is in terms of expectations concerning plagiarism, attendance, missed assignments, and exams, the easier it is for you and the student to make it through the semester successfully (Walker, 2005).

Set up Office Hours

For every three hours of instruction per week one office hour should be scheduled. Ask the department chair if he or she has a space reserved for you to meet with students and prepare for class. If not, please contact the Office of Adjunct Faculty Support Programs. We currently have space available in Science West 309, Brown 309, Science East 235, Curtiss 324, ES 225, and our main office in Science East 201.

Order Books

It is recommended that adjunct faculty check with department chairs prior to the semester to find out if departments determine which books are used for classes. To order books, go to the bookstore website and locate the faculty link. Register with the bookstore, if you haven't already, and then log-in. Directions for ordering your books for each course will appear.

Access Course Roster

A FERPA form must be signed and submitted before accessing class rosters. This is the only roster you will receive. Please read the FERPA in its entirety to know what kinds of student information must remain confidential and under which circumstances you can disclose such information. To access your course roster, log in to mysvsu using your username and password. Click on the faculty link, select the appropriate semester in the pull-down menu, and select the corresponding course.

Review Canvas

Receive Training on Teaching Equipment 

Submit your Contract

Launched in 2010, Year Contracts and Section Assignments replaced the paper contracts used for hiring adjunct faculty. The Faculty tab in mysvsu is used to accept or decline Year Contracts, which cover the entire academic year, and Section Assignments, which are course-specific and must be accepted each semester. Adjunct faculty receive emails in their Outlook inbox directing them to take action in the Faculty tab in the Self Service space on mysvsu.  These instructions are included below:

Year Contract/Section Assignment(s) Instructions (21KB)

Please contact the Office of Adjunct Faculty Support Programs at (989) 964-4050 or adjunctfaculty@svsu.edu if you need assistance or have questions about this process.

Complete your Employment Paperwork

Below you will find forms that the Adjunct Faculty must complete to teach at the University. It is imperative that Adjunct Faculty complete I-9, Data Form, and FERPA before they can begin teaching. 

Use the employment checklist to ensure you have completed all of the steps necessary to begin teaching and to get paid.

Employment Check List (123KB)

• Form I-9 is required to be presented in person with the required ID (please see the last page of this form for a list of acceptable I.D.) in the original form. Please do not date the I-9 until you present the documents to the Adjunct Faculty and Academic Support office (SE 201) or Human Resources (W373). I-9 17_18 Form (551KB)
• 2015 Federal W-4 is required for all new hires
• Federal W-4 (116KB)
• Michigan W-4 is required for all new hires MI W4 (30KB)
• Saginaw City tax form is required for all residents of the City of Saginaw
• SVSU Data form is required for all new hires. You may find that as an adjunct faculty member not all of the information on this form pertains to you. Only fill out the information that you know, including the emergency contact information. Employee Data Form (56KB)
• Direct Deposit Form is not a required form but is recommended as the easiest way for your payment to be distributed. Be sure to sign and date the bottom of this form. 
• FERPA Form is required for all new hires. You will be unable to accept your contract or section assignment until this form is received at the University.

Other Forms

• Tuition Waiver form is required to receive the 50% off tuition. This benefit is good for any adjunct faculty during the semester you teach or the semester immediately following. 
• Supplemental Retirement Account is a required form if you plan to participate in the Group Supplemental Retirement Annuity plan that is offered by TIAA-CREF. There is no contribution through the university.Supplemental Retirement Account (30KB)
• Health Insurance Marketplace has the information you may need if you are signing up for health insurance through Market Place. Annual Notices (385KB)  

Submit FERPA Form

‌Every SVSU employee must comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The FERPA Faculty Form (172KB) should be submitted to Human Resources or the Office of Adjunct Faculty Support Programs. Completion of the FERPA form allows you to view class rosters on the faculty tab on mysvsu.

Get Faculty ID CArd

You can obtain SVSU identification from the Cashier's office in Wickes 166. This card should be carried with you at all times in case you ever need proof of your employment at SVSU or need your SVSU identification number.

Obtain Parking Permit

Course Evaluations

Each semester, students are given the opportunity to evaluate their courses. 
This is generally done in the classroom towards the end of the semester. 
A standard evaluation form is used and can be obtained from your faculty secretary. 
You are free to prepare additional survey questions specific to your own course in addition to the standard form. Student anonymity should be preserved. You should leave the room while students complete the forms and ask a reliable student to carry the evaluations to one of the ITS dropboxes located in the Library and Gilbertson Hall, or SCCC 122 where the forms are scanned. The procedure for retrieving the forms varies somewhat by department, but generally the forms are not available until after the semester grading cycle.

Grading Policy

• No course may be dropped after the eleventh week of the semester except in cases of documented personal emergency. Proportional dates will be used for courses of shorter duration.
• A grade of "D" is not a passing grade for any required course. Regarding prerequisites, students must obtain at least a "C" grade in all prerequisite courses before being permitted to enroll in subsequent courses.
• Grade changes may be made only for a certified error on the part of University faculty or staff.
• A course may be repeated at SVSU to raise a grade. All grades shall remain on the student's academic record (transcript), but in computing the GPA, the better grade will be counted.
• A course taken at SVSU may only be repeated at another institution if the course is an equivalent course at SVSU, the initial course grade at SVSU was a D, F, WF, or a grade of C or better is earned in the repeated course. There will be no transfer of the grade earned from the other institution and no recalculation of the SVSU GPA.
• No course can be repeated at SVSU more than twice for a grade. Appeals for additional repeats may be made to the dean of the appropriate college.
• In specified courses, students have the option of being graded on a pass/fail basis. This option requires the permission of the instructor and must be recorded in the Registrar's Office by the end of the second week of the semester or proportional times for shorter semesters.

Grades in transferred courses are not included in calculating the SVSU grade point average. Transfer credit will be removed if equivalent course work is taken through SVSU or any other transfer institution.

Graduation

Any adjunct faculty member can participate in graduation. Graduation ceremonies
are held after the fall, winter, and spring/summer semesters. About two months prior to the end of the semester, you should ask your faculty secretary for the appropriate form needed to order your regalia. This form should then be sent to the bookstore as it is their responsibility to do the ordering. You should pick up your regalia from the bookstore prior to the day of the graduation ceremony. However, if you forget, the bookstore will have it at the Ryder Center on the day of the graduation (but beware it will be wrinkled). The rental of your regalia is paid for by the University. 

Incompletes

Through the last day of the final examination period, a student may request that the instructor issue an "I" (Incomplete) grade. For students who have completed a substantial part of the course, the instructor is authorized to give an "I" if he/she judges that the failure to complete the work on time occurred for reasons beyond the student's control, or that the student was engaged in an individual research project that requires a second semester for completion.

The instructor must submit a completed Incomplete Contract signed by the student to the Registrar's Office at grading time. The Incomplete Contract outlines the work to be done and a default grade to be given if no other grade is subsequently submitted by the instructor.

For all courses except those specifically identified in the catalog as directed study, directed reading, or directed/ senior research, the deadline for completing all work is the end of the fourth week of the next semester. If no other grade is submitted by the instructor at that time, the Registrar will record the final grade specified by the instructor at the time of the Incomplete Contract.

On rare occasions when a prolonged illness or other clearly unavoidable circumstance prevents the student from completing the work, the Registrar is authorized to replace the "I" with a "W," indicating withdrawal. Grades of "I" without an Incomplete Contract on file in the Registrar's Office will change to "F" if no other grade is submitted by the instructor before the same four-week deadline.

Posting Grades

A few weeks before the end of the semester, the Registrar's office mails optic grade sheets to the faculty.  On these sheets, you are asked to write in each student's grade and to also fill in the appropriate circle for the grade.  If a student receives a failing grade (F), it is the responsibility of the faculty member to write in the designated area the last date of class this student attended.  Each sheet must be signed and dated as well.  When you return the grade sheets to the Registrar's Office (Wickes 151), one of the assistants will check them to make certain that it has been accurately completed. 

Grade sheet due dates vary by the semester.  To check for these due dates consult the calendar.