The Rutgers web site, rutgers.edu, offers information that faculty and PTLs will find helpful under the tab Information for: Faculty and Staff as well as Information for: Current Students. A campus map is also available from RU-Info. Several subject areas in this guide will refer you to the Rutgers web site for information.

The doors of the Bloustein School, 33 Livingston Avenue, Civic Square, are generally open from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday–Thursday and from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Once you have obtained a Rutgers University ID card and have it activated by the Business Office, you will be able to enter the building after hours.

If you must miss a class due to a professional reason (speaking engagement, etc.), please contact the Dean of Students prior to the semester in which the absence will occur in order to get approval for your absence and for the school to make alternative arrangements for class coverage.

A packet containing your appointment letter and any paperwork required to put you on payroll will be provided to you each semester. All new hires must consent to a background check and the background check must be completed prior to being hired and starting work. For individuals new to the Bloustein payroll, proof of identity will need to be provided and specific instructions will be given to do so. Please be sure to complete the forms and return them to the Business & Administrative Services office promptly

All questions related to appointments should be directed to Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty or Keri Ferreira.  Delays in returning forms will result in delays in your receiving payment.

Please refer to the Bloustein Information Technology Services page for information on NetID, Email Accounts, Bloustein computer accounts, and other technology support services.

The Bloustein School requires a copy of your curriculum vitae or resume.  Please submit a copy to Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty.

All office space is assigned by the dean’s office. PTLs will be provided shared office space in room 551 and access to a copier located in room 564. You are allowed a maximum of 1,500 copies per semester. Please contact Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty to set up an account. Faculty and PTL mailboxes are located in room 564.

Please refer to the Parking section of the Location & Facilities page for information regarding parking permits and access.

Payroll for academic year part-time faculty runs

• September 1 through January 31 (fall semester), or
• February 1 through June 30 (spring semester).

Completed paperwork should be returned to Keri Ferreira in the Business & Administrative Services office. After your employment start date (Sept.1 or Feb.1) log onto the Rutgers Portal my.rutgers.edu to complete your tax forms and sign up for direct deposit.

Payroll checks are directly deposited in the bank account that you designate every two weeks on Friday.  Paycheck stubs may be accessed online at my.rutgers.edu – look for the Employee Self-Service tab.

If you do not sign up for direct deposit, your payroll check can be picked up from the mailroom on the 5th floor of the Civic Square Building.

The Bloustein School requires demonstration of continuing professional development for all full-time faculty members, including attending professional conferences, participating in training and workshops, and maintaining licenses and certifications in their fields. These items must be included in their tenure and promotion materials, as well as in their annual report to the dean on their teaching and professional activities. The Dean provides sufficient funding to support these requirements and the faculty are encouraged to apply for faculty development opportunities beyond giving papers at professional meetings.

Reappointment of part-time (professional) faculty is based upon maintenance of licenses and professional currency, as well as teaching evaluations. Part-time faculty reappointments are reviewed every semester by the Program Leader and the Undergraduate Program Director.

There are various provisions governing reappointments and salary increments of which you should be aware.

Faculty and PTLs are required to hold two hours of advising hours per course per week at a designated location on campus. Please provide your advising hours to Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty by the end of the first week of classes. This information will be made available to students and staff. It is the faculty member’s responsibility to inform staff of any change in those hours. The Associate Dean of the Faculty will monitor and remedy this policy.

Class schedules are set one year in advance and due to minimal space, are very difficult to change. If it is necessary to make any change to your class time and/or location, you must contact your program director as soon as possible.

Rutgers University policy requires that each course and each instructor should be evaluated each semester, to help assess strengths and weakness, to show progress, and to determine whether/what changes would be useful. The school insists on effective teaching and will make decisions based on that criterion. Student evaluations are completed online. Notice will be sent to instructors when online evaluations are available. The instructor should then advise the class at least three times that the evaluations are available and ask that they be completed as soon as possible. Student feedback is important for our courses to be continually improved.

Information on creating a syllabus

You must submit an electronic copy of your course syllabus 30 days prior to the start of the semester to Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty.

At a minimum, the syllabus should contain:

• Course number and title
• Instructor’s name, office hours, email address, and other contact information
• Course description, with learning goals and objectives
• Required texts and assignments
• Grading and attendance policies
• Schedule of topics
• Academic Integrity Statement

To assist you in designing your course, copies of past syllabi for specific courses are available and Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty can provide you with copies. You are also encouraged to talk to members of our faculty who have previously taught the course. While you have the academic freedom to determine the specific content and evaluation strategy for your course, it is imperative that you match your content to the course title and official catalog description. You should plan for students to receive feedback on their progress throughout the semester (quizzes, assignments, hourly exams, or other formal evaluations). It is not appropriate to base a final grade on a single assignment, paper, or exam. Graduate final exams or presentations can be held during the last scheduled class or by arrangement. The schedule for undergraduate exams, including date and location, is determined by the University Scheduling Office.

Homework and reading assignments vary widely, but 2 to 4 hours a week is an approximate average load for a three-credit course. Be sure to communicate the requirements, learning objectives and outcomes, and evaluation strategy of the course clearly in your course syllabus.

The Rutgers Learning Centers work with students, faculty, and professional staff through a variety of free academic support programs to promote student achievement.

The Office of Teaching Evaluation and Assessment Research (OTEAR) offers a variety of materials and workshops to assist faculty.  A list of scheduled workshops is available on its website.

The Rutgers University Libraries comprise one of the nation’s leading academic library systems.  In addition to its large collections in a variety of different areas, it offers a variety of services including classroom instructions, research assistance, and consultations to assist faculty and their students.

Book orders (edoptions) should be placed online.  The bookstore will also gladly accommodate you if it is more convenient to email your order to TM660@bncollege.com or hand-deliver your order to the bookstore. Please contact Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty if you encounter any problems.

Course packets are not prepared in the school. There are several alternatives available to you, primarily scanning and posting your readings on Canvas. Please contact Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty at least 3 weeks prior to the start of class for further information.

If you have a problem regarding Bloustein School (CSB-Civic Square Building) room set-ups, please contact Thomas W. Calhoun or the Bloustein School front desk staff. Please note the standard configuration for CSB classrooms is tables and chairs facing the whiteboard. If you change the configuration for your class, please return it to the standard set-up. If there are any problems with heating/air conditioning/electrical, please fill out the Facilities Request.

If you have a problem with a classroom outside of the Civic Square Building, please contact Digital Classroom Services.

Class rosters are available online. Rosters contain sensitive information and access to them must be restricted. In order to verify that rosters are only accessible by those authorized, permission is granted by Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty.  Faculty and PTLs must access them by use of their NetID and password. Online rosters give you the ability to view and print rosters, obtain email addresses of students, pull up photos of students, and submit warnings and grades online. You can access your roster at: http://sims.rutgers.edu/rosters.  Please contact Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty, with any questions or problems.

Warning rosters are issued a few weeks into the semester for undergraduate students only and allow faculty and instructors to formally warn students that they are doing poorly at this point in the semester due to poor performance, poor attendance or both. Warnings can be entered online with a warning of W1: poor performance, W2: poor attendance or W3: both. This warning does not go on a student’s permanent record. Again, verify that the roster accurately reflects the students in the course, so that they receive their grades correctly.

From time to time, you will encounter students who are unhappy about a particular grade in a course. Students are required to discuss the grade with you first. Please try to provide students with a way to contact you, by phone or e-mail, after the semester is over so that they can discuss any grade issues with you. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), be aware that you cannot discuss a student’s grades with his/her parents or others unless the student has given you written permission to do so.

If you cannot reach a resolution with the student, you should refer the student to the appropriate program director, and provide the program director with any relevant material. If the program director cannot resolve the disagreement, the student then has the right to see the Assistant Dean for adjudication. It is important to explain to the student these steps, so they are aware of their options during a grievance or grade review.

Students may add courses and drop courses without a “W” (withdraw) being noted on their records at the beginning of each semester. Students are advised to check with the Registrar’s Office for the appropriate timelines. If the initial meeting of a class does not occur until after the drop period, the “W” shall be waived provided that the student drops the class with the permission of the dean within one business day after the first meeting of the course.

Students use the Rutgers telephone registration system or the web-based online registration system to drop and add courses, adding courses primarily through the use of special permission numbers unique to each course and available only through the program. New Ph.D. students must register in person.

All non-matriculated students and select courses in the programs require special permission numbers. Students may contact you prior to the start of class for permission to take your course. Please confirm your approval to Marie O’Brien for graduate courses. Special permission numbers are not used to waive prerequisites to a course.

For classes outside the Bloustein School, please visit the Rutgers Digital Classroom Services page, click on “Contact Us” on the menu, and then click on “Request equipment.”

If you give a final exam in your course, please be sure the arrangements are listed in your course syllabus. If you teach an undergraduate course, your final examination is to be administered during the time assigned to your course through University Scheduling and clicking on “Exams” in the top menu. You can administer make-up examinations when a student is able to satisfy the faculty member that the exam was missed through no fault of the student. A note from a doctor, the student health service, or the college dean’s office is sufficient to document medical absences or schedule conflicts. Other excuses are accepted at the discretion of the instructor.

The make-up exam should be administered by a faculty member or a graduate student in a suitable space, without distractions or the opportunity for academic dishonesty.

Inappropriate make-up exam situations include:

• Asking a staff member to arrange the exam space and to “proctor” the exam
• Putting the student alone in a public space, such as the student lounge, a conference room, or a storage room
• Using another faculty member’s office
• Having an undergraduate assistant supervise the exam in the faculty member’s office, with the faculty member absent.

Appropriate make-up exam situations include: Schedule of topics

• Holding the exam in the faculty member’s office or another space supervised by the faculty member
• Finding space for a graduate student TA to conduct the proctoring
• Arranging a standard make-up time and place for the course
• Placing the student in a classroom where a full-hour proctored exam is in progress for another course, with a faculty colleague administering the exam.

Final grades are due in the office of the Registrar within 48 hours of the scheduled date of your final exam or submission of the final assignment. Grades are submitted online. If you cannot submit your final grades by the university due date, please contact Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty to make other arrangements immediately, as this could hinder a student’s graduation.

The appropriate grades for your course are listed online on your roster. If you have specific questions regarding a grade for a student, please consult the program director in your area. Further information can be found at https://nbregistrar.rutgers.edu/facstaff/index.htm.

Incomplete grades are given to students, who are enrolled in graduate courses and who fill out an Incomplete Agreement form, which is available in the Student Services office, room 183/184. Incomplete grades are given at the discretion of the instructor when the student has not properly completed the coursework requirements (i.e., major assignments or examinations). An incomplete grade becomes a PIN (permanent incomplete) after one year.

Temporary grades (“T/” grades) may be given in undergraduate courses. See here for more information.

Please note that it is a violation of federal law and university regulations to post any student grades by name or social security number, either physically in a university building, on the Internet or in any other manner. After the end of the semester, students are able to phone the registrar for term grades and, if you wish for students to be able to reclaim final exams, you may leave them, in alphabetical order, with Lynn Astorga, Director of PTL Faculty and students can pick them up beginning in January or after graduation in May.

You should retain all course papers and exams for a period of one year.

Grade changes can occur in two instances:

1. If a student was given an incomplete grade, or
2. If there has been a mistake in the final grade submitted for a student

If you need to change a grade for either of these reasons, you can go online to http://sims.rutgers.edu/rosters. Grade changes can be made online by following the prompts on your roster. Please be sure to indicate the reason for the change of grade. This request will be forwarded for approval by the Dean’s Office. You will receive notification and instruction on the approval or rejection of the grade change.

University Academic Integrity Policy

Please note that penalties for misconduct range from failing an assignment/exam to dismissal from the university. Academic misconduct almost always happens for two reasons:

1. Ignorance of academic rules and practices (in virtually every recent plagiarism case in the school, material has been taken from an internet site and placed in text without appropriate note or attribution), or
2. Pressure.

Should you verify academic misconduct, or have any problems with dishonesty, ethical violations, or harassment (whether involving you or involving others) please contact your program director and/or staff below. The school needs to know about each case. You should not try to resolve any such issues yourself. The university’s policy discusses violations of academic integrity such as cheating, fabrication, facilitating academic dishonesty, plagiarism, and denying others access to information or material. It defines four levels of offenses, with attendant sanctions and grievance hearings.

Students should discuss academic matters (including academic and professional integrity items) with the instructor involved in the issue. Should the problem remain unresolved, the student should approach the program director first and then Steve Weston, Assistant Dean of Academic Administration. The dean’s office may then decide the issue or refer the matter to a universitywide hearing for review and decision.

Your course syllabus should contain a statement on Academic Integrity. Should you have any questions or need to review the process, please contact Steve Weston, Assistant Dean of Academic Administration.

If a student approaches you directly to ask for accommodations, please inform the student that all requests for accommodations must go through the coordinator at his/her undergraduate college or graduate unit. Undergraduate students may contact the Dean of Students Office at their colleges for the name of their disabilities coordinator. Graduate students and Bloustein undergraduate direct admit students should contact Steve Weston, Assistant Dean of Academic Administration.

The coordinator will work out an individualized plan of accommodations for the student, and the university office of disability services will send a letter to each instructor who is teaching a course for which the student is registered. That letter will specify the particular accommodations to which a student is entitled in that course. Typical accommodations may include extended time on exams, offering exams in a distraction-free environment, note-takers, and perhaps even alternate forms of exams (essay vs. multiple choice).

The Office of Employment Equity is responsible for overseeing and coordinating requests for accommodation received from staff employees with disabilities. These Guidelines are established for the use of staff employees when making a request for accommodation. 

It is university policy to provide equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment regardless of their race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, military service, veteran status, or any other category protected by law.

The university is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. The Office of Employment Equity is responsible for the implementation of the university’s Affirmative Action Plan for Equal Employment Opportunity (“Plan”) and monitors the university’s progress with regard to the Plan. The Plan, which covers females, minorities, individuals with disabilities, disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, or other protected veterans, is available for inspection by employees and applicants for employment on each campus.

A copy of this policy can be found at Rutgers University Human Resources.

Rutgers University respects the religious diversity of its faculty and staff. The University prohibits discrimination based on religion and will provide reasonable accommodations for employees to enable them to exercise their sincerely held religious beliefs, unless the accommodation imposes an undue hardship on the university.

The Office of Employment Equity is responsible for overseeing requests for accommodation received from faculty and staff employees based on religion.  These Guidelines are established for the use of faculty and staff employees when making a request for accommodation.  Please contact the Office of Employment Equity with questions regarding the Guidelines, at:
Office of Employment Equity (“OEE”)
Administrative Services Building II
57 U.S. Highway 1
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-8554
(848) 932-3973 (phone)
(732) 932-0049 (fax)
employmentequity@hr.rutgers.edu

It is the policy of the university to excuse without penalty students who are absent because of religious observances and to allow the make-up of work missed because of such absences. Examinations and special required out-of-class activities shall ordinarily not be scheduled on those days when religiously observant students refrain from participating in secular activities.

As the university has grown in its diversity, a list of officially recognized holidays is no longer published. Please ask students to submit, in writing, their intention to be absent from class due to religious observance

It is the policy of Rutgers University to provide equal employment opportunities and to make the benefits and services of its educational program available to employees and students without discrimination on the basis of certain enumerated protected categories. These categories are race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, military service, and veteran status, and any other category protected by law. Harassment is a form of discrimination and, therefore, harassment directed toward an individual or group, or experienced by an individual or group, based on membership in a protected category, also violates university policy.

More information about this policy can be found at Rutgers University Human Resources.