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Questions to Ask Your Chair or Department Representative

Attention!

While many campus policies and procedures are universal, there are sometimes significant differences between departments and programs on campus. For that reason, you may wish to inquire at your department about the following items:

  1. Has my paperwork been sent to Human Resources? (This is important because you cannot log in to the portal at myUCF until your paperwork is done and a Network ID, or NID, is created for you.)
  2. Who in our department is responsible for PeopleSoft permissions? (You may need their help accessing myUCF and the class roster.)
  3. If my NID isn’t active yet, who can print out my rosters for me?
  4. What is the login information for the instructor’s computer in the classroom where I will be teaching? (It is typically your NID and NID password. Check with support personnel on regional campuses for local policies).
  5. Will I be assigned a faculty mentor? How does our department handle mentoring for new faculty?
  6. Where can I find our department’s governance documents, annual evaluation standards, and tenure and promotion guidelines?
  7. What is our department’s procedure for reporting sick leave?
  8. How many office hours per week should I hold?
  9. Will I be issued keys for our department offices and/or building?
  10. What are the departmental policies regarding overrides to fill a class beyond its standard enrollment cap?
  11. How can I make photocopies for class?
  12. Does our department or college provide instructional supplies like dry-erase markers?
  13. Do we use Scantrons in our department? If so, which color? Where do we get or buy them? And how do we grade them (is there a reader in the department, or do we use the Test Scoring Services)?
  14. Does our department have a document or website explaining how my courses fit into the larger curriculum? You’ll want to pay particular attention to curricular goals and to what extent your class includes prerequisites or instills basic skills needed for courses further in the curriculum.]
  15. Will I “inherit” a syllabus for my class, or perhaps several previous examples? Is it preferred that I customize the syllabus or leave it as received?
  16. Are there department-specific policies that should be in every syllabus (e.g., about use of technology, Turnitin, etc.)? (See our syllabus page for several examples of standardized policy statements.)
  17. Does the department have a recommendation about whether I should use plus/minus grading or flat grading?
  18. Does our department have a standard process for adding captions to videos, or am I expected to perform this task myself?
  19. When are department faculty meetings? Am I expected to attend?
  20. Who does the textbook ordering for our department? What are our internal deadlines?
  21. Will I receive a physical inbox/mailbox in the department?
  22. Where can I find information about our department’s travel approval and reimbursement procedures?
  23. What is our department’s policy regarding teaching at other universities or colleges while teaching at UCF?