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Faculty Resources

Faculty Expectations and Responsibilities

Full-time and part-time faculty are expected to fulfill varying responsibilities related to teaching, advising, academic department and program meetings, and tenure proceeding, among others. As these highlights are not comprehensive, please refer to your academic leadership for complete information.

Faculty Expectations and Responsibilities //

FTF = Full-Time Faculty | PTF = Part-Time Faculty

Teaching (FTF, PTF)

Refer to the Center for Teaching Excellence resources on effective teaching.

Office Hours (FTF, PTF)

Faculty are expected to provide academic support to students through regularly scheduled office hours. Refer to your academic school leadership and program chair for policies related to scheduling and posting office hours.

Program Chairs (FTF, PTF)

Consult with Program Chairs for course and teaching expectations. Please contact your school office or the faculty directory for contact information for your program chair.

Starfish Progress Reporting (FTF, PTF)

Complete academic progress reports during Early Progress and Mid Semester reporting periods using Starfish, Penn State’s academic progress and advising reporting system. Refer to Academic Policy G-7: Student Progress Reporting for more information.

Faculty Advising (FTF)

Full-time faculty typically serve as a faculty advisor to third-year and higher students. (New faculty typically do not serve as a faculty advisor in their first semester.) Advising resources and information on policies and procedures can be found at the Penn State Advising website. First- and second-year students typically receive academic advising through the Lambert Undergraduate Advising Center (see Identity Student Support Services page). Third-year students and higher are typically assigned a faculty advisor to provide more focused advising related to the student’s degree and career path.

Responsibilities as a faculty advisor include, but are not limited to, document advising interactions in Starfish, respond to Starfish progress reports directed at the faculty advisor, and provide regular reviews of advisees’ progress towards degree completion.

NOTE: New Faculty typically do not serve as academic advisors in their first semester.

Activity Insight (Promotion and Tenure) (FTF)

Collect, organize, and display data for the purposes of annual reviews, promotion and tenure, and much more using Penn State’s Activity Insight system. Online training resources are available at the Activity Insight training website. Faculty are encouraged to sign up for notifications of new training videos. The University Park Activity Insight Support Office offers online training sessions to all faculty every semester. Contact your ASM for upcoming training dates.