Bruin Brief 2021-10-22: Lecturers' teaching contributions

All teachers are unique and essential.  All of us have strengths to contribute and needs that must be met. Today’s Bruin Brief explores the contribution of lecturers to the teaching enterprise.

Lecturers contribute significantly to the School of Nursing.  Lecturers make visible and valuable contributions to the School of Nursing.  Academic Personnel policy states that lecturers’ responsibilities do not include research. “In view of the limited responsibilities in areas other than teaching, appointees to this series normally will be assigned heavier instructional loads (relative to full-time equivalent service) than those normally carried by departmental appointees in the professorial series.” In our School, that amounts to 32 units/year for a full-time position.

Lecturers teach in many ways. Like other instructional personnel, lecturers contribute to the School’s educational mission by teaching classes, developing and maintaining excellent instruction, and advising and mentoring students. The appointment letter that lecturers receive makes the point that teaching includes “conducting weekly student office hours; attending program meetings and weekly meetings to coordinate curriculum development, placements, site development, and any other aspects of clinical instruction, assisting with program-specific student clinical evaluations as needed (i.e. skills and simulation lab, OSCEs, advanced practice assessment labs, etc.), evaluating student applications and comprehensive exams as needed, and participating in annual curricular and strategic planning retreats.”

Lecturers teach well over half of the School of Nursing classes, labs, discussion sections, and seminars. Whether in the classroom, during nurse specialty coaching sessions, or in office hours, lecturers guide and support students at pivotal touchpoints in their academic journey.

The lecturer workload policy spells out the equivalence, in units, for different teaching assignments.  The principles are similar to the teaching workload guidelines in the Faculty Handbook, with courses typically earning a workload unit for each academic unit. The policy also specifies units available for reading comp exams and admissions packets. This is the resource that Program Directors use when making teaching assignments.

Nursing faculty maintain some basic qualifications.  Nurses on faculty maintain a California Registered Nurse (RN) license.  If applicable, we must also meet the requirements of specialty certification as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and maintain certification for the duration of our appointment. It makes sense that we model what we teach about the value of professional credentials.

I am learning all the time about the diversity of contributions and expertise available within our School. Lecturers make a noted and important difference in the School, and are welcome colleagues. Thank you for all you do!

Lecturer Policy Resources http://ucaft.org/content/unit-18-mou

Contract | UCnet https://www.apo.ucla.edu/policies-forms/the-call/lecturer-series#I .