Engagement of External Teaching Professionals.

The Boston University School of Public Health (SPH) is deeply committed to training the next generation of public health leaders, a core element of the School’s mission. Our reputation for excellence in public health education rests on the dedication of our outstanding faculty, as well as external teaching professionals who bring their extensive expertise and experience into the classroom.

External teaching professionals (ETPs) have diverse roles and levels of engagement with SPH that vary considerably, requiring a process to ensure that we are thoughtful, consistent, and clear in our allocation of resources for instructional support. This group includes any course instructor whose primary employment is not at SPH as a primary faculty member, such as:

• Faculty with primary appointments at SPH but who are not employed by SPH as their primary employer (e.g., primary employment at VA or Slone Epidemiology Center).
• Faculty with secondary appointments at SPH. This includes faculty who hold primary appointments at other Boston University schools or colleges (e.g., BUSM) and hold secondary appointments at SPH.
• Faculty with adjunct appointments at SPH. This includes professionals or scholars whose primary place of employment is not BU or whose primary employment within BU is not in a faculty role.
• Public health professionals, who are otherwise unaffiliated with BU. This includes professionals or scholars who do not have a faculty appointment at BU and whose primary place of employment is outside of BU.
• Postdoctoral associates or research scientists who have teaching responsibilities described in their appointment letter as part of their core duties and responsibilities.

Under special circumstances, other staff employed by SPH may be engaged to teach a particular course, provided that the staff member has the appropriate academic credentials and practical expertise to provide quality instruction.  If a staff member with such expertise has expressed interest in engaging in teaching, the following steps apply:

• The relevant Department Chair will reach out to the staff member’s supervisor to ensure the staff member’s performance is in good standing and that the course instruction time and engagement with students will not conflict with the staff member’s core duties and responsibilities of the role which they were hired to carry out at SPH.
• Upon ascertaining that the staff member has (a) been regularly performing at a “Successful” or above level in their core role and that (b) serving as an instructor for a given course will not conflict with the staff member’s core work hours/core duties of their position, the requesting chair will obtain written approval via email from the Associate Dean for Administration and the Associate Dean for Education.
• The Associate Dean for Administration will then approach the staff member to ascertain interest in the teaching opportunity and that the teaching will not conflict with core responsibilities. Provided there is such expressed interest and the staff member’s concurrence in writing, the staff member may be engaged to serve as the instructor for the particular course. This will be done as an unusual exception and not more than once per calendar year.

Requesting an ETP

Requests for ETPs must be made during the annual budget process, which takes place in March for the upcoming academic and fiscal year. Chairs should prepare a proposal that discusses the need for the appointment of ETPs and specific requirements that are relevant for recruiting. It is important to note that conversations regarding the approval of teaching roles or related compensation should not take place with potential candidates until after the request has been finalized. These requests are approved by the Dean or the Dean may delegate approval to the Associate Dean for Education.

Recruiting an ETP

When recruiting a new ETP, departments have several resources for advertising the position, including posting to the BU Human Resources website using their courtesy posting form (which will list the position on both the BU webpage and HigherEdJobs.com). The department may also choose to post the position on LinkedIn or other job listservs. The deadlines to recruit ETPs are outlined below, specific to the anticipated semester of teaching.

Hiring an ETP

Once an ETP candidate has been identified, department chairs must include ETP information (e.g., home address and personal email) as part of the course scheduling details submitted to the Registrar’s Office by the appropriate scheduling deadlines. If the scheduling deadline has passed, the department chairs must submit a Late Schedule Request (LSR) Form, which collects course and instructor information (home address and personal email). ETP information must be submitted in advance of the deadlines listed below in the rightmost column.

The Associate Dean for Education issues a letter of engagement to each ETP that includes the terms of the engagement and related service. Engagement letters describe the course(s) to be taught (pending adequate enrollment) and level of compensation, with a copy to the department chair and department director of administration. The letters must be issued by the dates outlined above to ensure that there is adequate time to gather all of the information necessary to properly communicate the terms of engagement, to ensure that the ETP has sufficient time to be onboarded, and ensure that the appropriate compensation is received in a timely manner.

It is extremely important that the department identify the ETPs by the deadlines outlined in the table above. The deadlines are intended to ensure that instructors (a) receive payment on time, (b) have access to Blackboard and other services, and (c) have the opportunity to take advantage of teaching and advising resources prior to the start of the semester. These same deadlines apply to returning ETPs who may have taught in previous semesters. Department administrators should follow up with their individual external teaching professionals to be sure that they have received their ID and appropriate access.

Compensation

Most ETPs are compensated at a flat rate that is determined by the University and adjusted each year. Typically the funds are paid directly to the individual; however, faculty with primary appointments at another School or College within BU also have the option of applying the funds toward covering their BU salary or having the funds deposited to their BU discretionary account.

Postdoctoral associates and research scientists may receive salary coverage as per the normal coverage rubric (i.e., 15% for a 4-credit course, prorated by number of instructors and/or credits) provided that the teaching responsibilities are described in their appointment letter as part of their core duties and responsibilities.

Communication and Onboarding

• Once an ETP has been engaged to teach a course, the department academic program administrator or director of administration reaches out to the ETP to ensure they are appropriately onboarded by ensuring they have a BUID, an active BU email account and that they understand any relevant training materials and other prerequisites necessary to prepare one for teaching at BU. Resources for course instructors are also shared as part of this onboarding.
• Enrollment is monitored in the weeks leading up to every semester start. In some cases, course cancellations must occur due to low enrollment, which may result in an external teaching professional not being assigned to a course they had previously been assigned to teach. If a course is cancelled for low enrollment, a follow-up letter is issued to the ETP to indicate that the course will not be run and that they will not receive compensation.
• Every time a class cancellation results in an external teaching professional not being assigned, the Department Chair or designee will email the affected ETP; a follow-up phone call may also occur.
• Course evaluations and any other assessment of performance is shared with the ETPs and will, as is appropriate on a case-by-case basis, be followed up by a conversation with the Chair about how these may affect future engagement.