The state’s higher education board voted quietly Thursday to increase the required number of teaching hours for most faculty members at two Utah universities.
Instructional faculty — those who primarily teach and are not on the tenure track — will now need to increase their teaching workload from nine credits per semester to 12 at the University of Utah and Utah State University.
Typically, those instructional members make up the majority of the faculty at the average school, accounting for about 60% or more, according to national data.
Now, most faculty at those universities will need to teach one additional class per semester for a total of four courses. That’s about the same amount of classes that the average student takes.
The increase came in a tweak to policy approved unanimously by the Utah Board of Higher Education at its monthly meeting. The agenda item was placed on the general consent list, and there was no discussion about it.
“The primary goal of the board’s faculty workload policy is to ensure all institutions in the Utah System of Higher Education remain focused on their most important job: educating students,” said the system’s Commissioner Geoff Landward in a comment to The Salt Lake Tribune.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah System of Higher Education Commissioner Geoff Landward speaks during a Utah Board of Higher Education meeting in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 28, 2025.
But some faculty feel it’s the latest in a slew of recent moves questioning the work of professors and instructors.
Several raised concerns about the policy change during the University of Utah’s Academic Senate meeting on Sept. 29, ahead of the higher education board’s vote.
“I’m seeing proposed revisions to teaching and the number of course loads,” said Maureen Mathison, a professor in the U.’s Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies. “Will that increase our teaching loads?”
Sarah Projansky, the school’s vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, said she was alerted to the change and explained it applies only to instructional faculty — so Mathison, who is tenure line, would not be included.
Projansky said because of that, she sees the policy as “well-calibrated” to have a limited impact.
The change comes after several other states have more broadly increased the required teaching hours for faculty, with some Republican lawmakers complaining that professors are not teaching enough classes — leaving students without enough course options to graduate on time.
Utah since 1998 has had a policy under the Utah System of Higher Education called “Faculty Workload Guidelines” that list the mandated hours for instructional faculty.
The requirements for those who are on the tenure track are left to the schools. That’s largely because tenure-track faculty are also balancing research requirements and working to publish papers.
Instructional faculty — also referred to as career-line and typically with titles such as adjunct or lecturer — are usually focused only on teaching and under a limited contract by the school.
Katharine Coles, a tenured English professor at the U., said she is concerned that many in her department have existing contracts with years left and that those should not be changed to include more hours now.
(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Katharine Coles, U. English professor and former Utah poet laureate, in her Salt Lake City home Monday April 2, 2018.
Projansky said it’s often the case that those are signed annually to update required teaching hours, but said no current contracts will be changed.
The updates to the required hours are set to start with the fall 2026 semester.
They only apply to the two research institutions in the state. Before, the U. and USU had the lowest amount of required teaching hours for instructional faculty.
The four public regional colleges — Utah Valley University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University and Utah Tech University — are already at 12 required hours per semester and that was not changed.
The state’s two community colleges — Salt Lake Community College and Snow College — have the highest requirement at 15 required hours per semester and also remained the same.
“Prior to the change, full-time instructional faculty at the research universities had a lower workload expectation than similar faculty at the other public universities in the state,” Landward added in his statement.
The point, he said is to “ensure consistency across the system.”