Course Scheduling & Staffing

April 5, 2024: Initial Spring 2025 Planning and Staffing Sheets Due to Dean’s Office
April 19, 2024: Spring 2024 Course Availability Letters Sent
June 3, 2024: Spring 2025 OL Course Development and Proposals Due
November 1, 2024: Spring 2025 Assignment Letters sent to Faculty

Schedule Updates Slide Deck
Schedule Updates Recording

Summer Term Planning

Online Course scheduling & staffing	Questions: MET Dean’s Office (metacad@bu.edu)
Summer Term (on campus) scheduling & staffing	Questions: Summer Term (sumadmin@bu.edu)
Online Course development & updates	Questions: Kim Crosta (kimrich@bu.edu)

MET Summer Term 2024 Planning Calendar

Faculty Proposals of Online Course Development & Significant Updates (20% or more of course) 

• IMPORTANT: Faculty who need to develop or update an online course to run in Summer 2024 are requested to submit an online proposal form after obtaining Chair/Program Head approval. The proposal form is available on the APC webpage under “Online Course Development & Significant Updates.” BU Virtual has limited bandwidth each semester for developments and updates and your adherence to the submission deadline is imperative for planning. For each proposal, the Dean’s office will coordinate with BU Virtual to finalize the planned term launch. The final timeline of the course development will be confirmed upon the approval of the proposal. Faculty will also be notified if further approval is needed such as APC and eCAP.  If you have any questions, please contact Kim Crosta at kimrich@bu.edu. 

Minor course updates include:

• Modifying a course description
• Changing a course title
• Updating a course prerequisite
• Changing a non-required course number
• Phasing out a non-required course

Submit Minor Course Changes

Faculty who need to develop or update an online course to run in a future semester are requested to submit an online proposal form after obtaining Chair/Program Head approval. The proposal form is available on the APC webpage under “Online Course Development & Significant Updates.” BU Virtual has limited bandwidth each semester for developments and updates, and your adherence to the submission deadline is imperative for planning. For each proposal, the Dean’s office will coordinate with BU Virtual to finalize the planned term launch. The final timeline of the course development will be confirmed upon the approval of the proposal. Faculty will also be notified if further approval is needed such as APC and eCAP.  If you have any questions, please contact Kim Crosta at kimrich@bu.edu. 

Scheduling is completed by each academic department to create the schedule found on MyBU. It is important to keep the information up to date and complete so classes can be scheduled correctly. To accurately plan upcoming Semester course offerings, the Dean’s Office Course will provide a pre-populated Detail Sheet to begin the planning process.

All departments need to coordinate a schedule that offers a balance of classes on the various days of the week, and that is staffed appropriately when course offerings are submitted to avoid day and time changes closer to the start of the new semester. These types of changes significantly affect enrollments, and should be avoided whenever possible.

Lowering course caps below 30 for graduate courses requires justification from the department and approval from the Associate Dean.

All coordinators in charge of submitting staffing information should be aware of the MET overbase and overload policy for full-time employees and full-time instructors at Boston University, as well as the deadlines and implications for the Part-Time Faculty Union.

An overview of how to fill out staffing sheets can be found HERE

Staffing is completed by each academic department. It is important to keep the information up to date and complete so classes can be scheduled correctly.

Each class that you have requested to schedule has been added to your department staffing sheet. To staff a course, add the instructor’s first name and last name in the respective columns. Please ensure that every column is complete for each course/instructor.

The following are the appointment/staffing procedures and guidelines:

1. 1. 1. Reappointment: Updated CV (every two years) and updated demographics.
      2. Full-Time Administrators (903 Status): Provost’s approval is required for an initial appointment (memo from the Dean must confirm that teaching duties do not interfere with administrative duties, and if compensation is proposed, memo should confirm that the compensated hours do not overlap).
      3. Emeritus Faculty: Require reappointment using the Extension of Service Form, submitted to the Faculty Analyst with cover memo for the Dean and a current CV.

If you have a new faculty member joining for the upcoming semester, there are some additional steps that need to be taken to get them onboarded properly.

Information on the full onboarding process for MET faculty as well as FAQs and resources can be found on the MET Instructor Portal