Information for New RTF Faculty

The following is information about many administrative aspects of teaching in RTF and at UT.  Please keep all of this in mind as you prepare your course materials and contact Rachel Walker at rachel.walker@austin.utexas.edu with any questions.

Some of the university websites listed below will not be available to you until you receive your ID Card.  Once your appointment is finalized, please go to the ID Center on the first floor lobby of the Flawn Academic Center (FAC) (Scroll down for map.) to have a UT ID card made.  Be sure to bring a valid form of photo identification. 

Academic calendar

The academic calendar is viewable online at http://www.utexas.edu/calendars/

Canvas

UT offers Canvas Course Management Software to faculty to use to organize their classes.  You will appoint your TA on Canvas, so s/he can help you upload course materials, enter grades, post class announcements, etc.

Class Rosters

You can access your class rosters and many other teaching tools on-line via CLIPs.   

Roll Call

You should call the roll on the first class day, and every day through the 4th class day, which is the last day that students can easily add or drop the course.  Then check again on the 13th class day, as students can drop the class through the 12th class day.  You can ask Jennifer Porras, Senior Academic Advisor, to drop a student from your course who does not attend the first class meeting.  Please note that some students may add the class after the first class day and thus should be allowed to remain in the class, so please be sure to note enrollment changes day to day. If you have questions about the beginning of classes, we can certainly discuss this in more detail.

Colloquium

During the fall and spring semesters, the Department hosts the Media Studies Colloquium, a lecture series with guest presenters and current students speaking on diverse media studies topics. The colloquium is required for Ph.D. and M.A. students, while tenured and tenure track faculty are strongly encouraged to attend. Open to all.

Computer trouble-shooting

Please request assistance online at Landesk or by visiting the College's tech team on the CMA 3rd floor, behind the TV screens. You may also call their office at 512-471-1199. Please see below regarding technology in your classroom.

Copying of course materials 

The copier available to you in the departmental office may be used for copying of exams, syllabi, and small quantities of other class materials.   

Course Evaluation Survey (CES)

At the close of the course all instructors are required to administer the teaching evaluation surveys provided by the University’s Measurement and Evaluation center. The Department staff will alert you to the procedures for administering this survey.

Digitizing course materials

The department copier can send digitized copies of materials to your email address or flash drive, which you can then post on Canvas.  To link to materials at the library, please see find, borrow, or request

Email

Faculty are expected to read all department email thoroughly, respond to all requests, and meet all deadlines.  Please pay special attention to emails from RTF staff and administrators as you are responsible for keeping up with the information they send out.

New lecturers can sign up for a UT email address at https://get.utmail.utexas.edu/

Registration/Enrollment

UT uses an online registration system. Students are assigned access times during university-wide registration periods. The first opportunity to register for a course generally occurs the semester before the course is offered. Subsequent add/drop periods are also offered to allow students to change their schedules. You can view your class information in the UT online course schedule at http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules.

Course Descriptions 

The course descriptions on the UT Course Schedule are brief and general by necessity. The full course descriptions for your classes are currently posted on the RTF site at http://rtf.utexas.edu/undergraduate/courses and/or http://rtf.utexas.edu/graduate/courses. For changes to course descriptions, Elana Wakeman can make updates to the RTF course description pages; Rachel Walker and Lee Sparks can update the official UT Course Schedule, though only during designated periods.

Course Restrictions

Courses listed as "restricted" are reserved for RTF majors only so they have first opportunity to register for our courses.  The Academic Advising Staff in the Moody Undergraduate Education Office  monitors these restrictions and may lift them during add/drop periods if there is room in the course and the instructor approves the change.

Course Prerequisites

Click on the unique number(s) next to your course(s) in the UT course schedule to review your prerequisites.  Course prerequisites will be enforced in the registration system, and students with the stated prerequisite can register for the class. Given that we often don’t have enough capacity for students who meet the prerequisites (our own majors), we want to ensure that we are supporting timely graduation efforts.

Faculty who wish to allow a student without the stated prerequisite into their course may submit their request via Prerequisite Waiver Request Form. Those permissions will be submitted into the registration system by the Moody undergraduate education team in time to allow students to attempt to add themselves to the course during the add/drop period directly preceding the course semester.  Again, this procedure prioritizes students with the stated prerequisite and does not ensure enrollment in the course.

Waitlists

Moody uses an automated waitlist system for most upper-division classes. If your class fills to the closing limit, additional students can place themselves on the waitlist.  If anyone drops the class, students from the waitlist are automatically added.  The online waitlist is active until the end of the 4th class day of any given semester. 

Adding Students

Advisors cannot selectively add students to courses at instructor request. All students must add themselves into courses using the registration system, either by adding the course or getting on a waitlist to be added. The prerequisite waiver system above and the waitlist system will allow an opportunity, if seats are available, for those students who cannot get in during the first registration period to be considered for a seat before the new semester begins. The only courses for which faculty can selectively determine which students can enroll are courses where “consent of the instructor” is the published prerequisite.

"Late Adds"

For the first four class days, students have the ability to add/drop classes online (assuming there are open seats) as well as place themselves on waitlists.  No manual adds will be processed during the first four class days.  After the 4^th class day, the online registration (and waitlist) system shuts down. Advising will query faculty about the last day they will allow late adds after the first registration period closes. Late adds will be managed centrally by the Academic Advising team after the 4^th class day in of the semester, following the faculty’s deadline preference and only if there are available seats. 

Closing Limits

If faculty want to increase the closing limit in their courses, they should discuss it with their chair/director first, before requesting that the Undergraduate Education team add seats. The increase cannot be allowed to add a particular student; if the course capacity is increased, the system will take the next eligible student off the waitlist. The undergraduate education team cannot process an increase in closing limit without both the chair approval and—to ensure classroom capacity compliance, where appropriate—the review of Cassandre Alvarado, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education.

Graduate Student Enrollment (in undergraduate classes)

If a Moody graduate student wishes to register for an undergraduate seat in a Moody course, that student should contact our graduate program coordinator, Mallory Nimis, to submit a request.  The graduate program coordinators have received thorough instructions for how to submit this online form and route it for the necessary review and approvals.  Because undergraduate classes are primarily reserved for undergraduate students, adding a graduate student to an undergraduate section will always raise your seat count by one.   (Course prerequisites are not enforced for graduate students; it's your responsibility to determine if a student has the skills necessary to succeed in the course.)

Faculty Class Attendance 

Faculty should not be away from classes for more than an absolute maximum of four days, and should not miss more than two days of classes at a time, widely spaced, with an absolute maximum of two such absences per session. It is essential that faculty be in residence for the first and final days of class. Please do not plan to leave Austin prior to the day that your class officially ends (e.g., last class day or final exam day), and plan to be available to students, at least via email, for a few days' time after you have posted and turned in your grades.

Faculty Handbook

Please review the department policies and procedures in the RTF Faculty Handbook available through the Department website:    This should be your "go-to" place for information you need to work in RTF, and you are responsible for being familiar with this information.

Faculty Innovation Center

Offers a plethora of information and services for new faculty:
https://facultyinnovate.utexas.edu/

Faculty Meetings

These meetings are usually for tenured and tenure-track faculty, full-time lecturers and senior lecturers only.  However, the first meeting of the academic year is often open to all.  You will receive invitations by email for all meetings you are requested to attend.

All tenured and tenure-track faculty are expected make themselves available on Mondays from 12:00 – 1:00 for ad hoc faculty meetings during the Fall and Spring semesters.  These meetings usually occur in CMA 5.130 (RTF Conference Room) for sub-committee meetings or CMA 5.136 (LBJ Room) for full faculty meetings.

Final exam dates and policies

The University’s final examinations policy is available at http://catalog.utexas.edu/general-information/academic-policies-and-procedures/examinations/

University rules for final exams include the following:

• If you choose to give one, it must be on your assigned final exam day (go to the course schedule, choose the current semester, then click “final exams”).
• If you instead give a final exam on the last class day, it must be for less than 30% of the total grade.
• It is recommended that the due date for final assignments be on the last class day of the semester.  However, you may also choose to make your official UT final exam date the official due date.
• You cannot schedule required class activities during the exam preparation days (“dead days”) at the end of the semester (see http://registrar.utexas.edu/calendars for dates).  You may have “optional office hours” during these dead days (including reserving a room for those that wish to attend).
  

Grades

Faculty members are free to develop their own methods of evaluating the performance of students in their classes, but they are required to make the methods of evaluation to be used known in writing before the end of the fourth class day each semester and the second class day each summer term. Responsibility for assuring adequate methods of evaluation rests with departmental faculties and is subject to administrative review. In courses with multiple sections, departments should provide for necessary coordination. Materials used in evaluating a student’s performance must be collected by the instructor at or before the regularly scheduled final examination. The final examination is a common method of final evaluation in courses.

Letter grades are used to record the instructor’s evaluation of students’ performance in a course. The following grades are used: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, and F.  It is your choice whether you want to use +/- grades, or whole letter grades.  Your choice must be stated on the syllabus.  There is no University scale for =/- grades (you determine what grade earns an A- versus an A, for example.)  Members of the faculty are not authorized, without the academic dean’s approval, to withhold a final grade or to defer reporting a final grade at the end of the semester other than by the use of the symbol X. X is the indication of incomplete work.  You determine if an X is warranted and you set the deadline for the work to be submitted to you.  Once you determine the grade, the incomplete and other grades may be changed at:   Changing a grade    If a grade is withheld without the dean’s approval, the grade may not be added to the official records later without the written approval of the academic dean.  After a grade has been reported to the registrar, it may not be changed unless the instructor made an error.

For grade submission instructions and deadlines, please go to http://registrar.utexas.edu/staff/grades

To send early absence/failure reports to students, use the CLIPs service: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/nrport/clips_nros.WBX.  For each student selected you may choose up to 3 standard messages from a list of 10 and include comments or suggestions for improving his/her performance or attendance. Once submitted, a secure email message detailing this information is sent to the student and a report is sent to the dean’s office.

Grading Papers (Resources for Faculty) + Writing Support Resources for Grads and Undergrads

Go here for assistance/support/advice about grading papers and referring students for help with writing.

Graduate Studies Committee (GSC - only for faculty who teach graduate courses)

All faculty who teach graduate courses and participate in graduate committees are expected to attend these meetings.  These are scheduled as needed and are organized by the studies area Graduate Advisor and Graduate Coordinator.

ID

Once your appointment is finalized (I will let you know), please go to the ID Center in the 1^st floor lobby of the Flawn Academic Center (FAC) to have a UT ID card made.  Be sure to bring a form of photo identification. Learn more on duo two-factor authentication.

Keys

The RTF Office Manager will contact you with your office number and information about keys. 

Mandatory online training about sexual harassment and equal employment opportunity policies/laws  

All UT employees must complete these training modules, which take about twenty minutes. Sometime after the semester begins, please log on to https://utdirect.utexas.edu/cts/profile.WBX, using your UT EID.  The system will automatically take you to the modules required for your job title.

Office

The RTF Office Manager will contact you soon with your office number and information about keys.  

Office Hours

We require faculty to hold posted office hours for at least three hours each week, either in their offices or in some other designated on-campus location (or in accordance with the latest Covid-safety guidance, you can set up virtual office hours).  Faculty must make themselves available to any students who have classes during office hours, by appointment.

Parking

You will have the opportunity to pay for a garage space at faculty orientation (info to come). The closest garages are the 27th St. Garage and the San Antonio Garage.   More info at http://www.utexas.edu/parking/parking/garages/. You may also be able to participate in the occasional parking program, which offers reduced rates.

Payroll

Official payroll semester dates are different from actual course dates and are Sept. 1 - Jan. 15 for the Fall semester and Jan. 16 - May 31 for Spring.  Pay dates for the fall semester are on the first of the month in Oct., Nov., Dec., Jan. and Feb.  The Feb. paycheck covers the Jan. 1 - 15 pay period.  Pay dates for the spring semester are on the first of the month in Feb., Mar., Apr., May and June.  The Feb. paycheck covers the Jan. 16 - 31 pay period.  

Profile

To add your bio to the RTF faculty web page, please fill out the faculty web profile with your headshot, bio, and CV so that our Sr. Programs and Communications Coordinator, Elana Wakeman, can create the page for you. 

Public Relations

Our Sr. Programs & Communications Coordinator is Elana Wakeman, ewakeman@austin.utexas.edu or 512-471-6617.  Please contact her regarding any publications, speaking events, screenings, news, etc. that you’d like to promote. She may promote items via department emails (to faculty, staff, students, and visiting scholars), social media, relevant calendars, slides for the College’s monitors, and the RTF website. She can also bring the news to the attention of the College Communications team who can draft press releases and work with UT Communications and/or outside media. Additionally, she can alert the College Communications team about significant works and events to be considered for inclusion in the Dean's bimonthly e-newlsetters, "Moody Messenger," which he sends to all Moody College faculty and staff during the fall and spring semesters.

You may want to access the Moody College's media platforms: https://moody.utexas.edu/marcom/media-relations-moody-experts & https://moody.utexas.edu/marcom.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty and Lecturers: please send a recent picture, preferred contact details, and brief bio to Elana for the RTF faculty website: http://rtf.utexas.edu/faculty .

Reading packets

Should you wish your students to have a class packet of readings, we strongly recommend that you have these prepared at a nearby copier company, such as Paradigm Books (512.472.7986 or www.paradigmbooks.com) or Jenn's Copy and Binding (512.473.8669 or jennscopies.com - directly across the street from our building).   Your students will be responsible for purchasing the packet from them.  We are simply not equipped to have large class packets copied on the departmental copier.   These companies prepare copyright checks and prepare your packet from your originals within a few weeks’ time before the semester begins.

Restriction of student information.  Protect their privacy; know the law.

You are responsible for adhering to the following laws: http://registrar.utexas.edu/students/records/ferpa/faculty

Room reservations

MCOC rooms can be reserved through Appspace or by reaching out to the RTF office manager.  Please note that only faculty and staff can reserve most College classrooms and meeting rooms. Some rooms within the College and University are available for reservation by graduate students.  Undergraduates who need space for class projects are required to go through their TAs for assistance.  All classrooms for regularly-scheduled classes are reserved by Rachel Walker during the regular course scheduling process.  

Screenings and Final Presentations

It is customary for production classes to screen their work during the end of the semester screenings, which usually occur the week after classes end. The Production Area Head and Communications Coordinator will coordinate your class' screening date with the other production faculty. You will need to ensure that your students meet any deadlines imposed by the dept tech staff (Keefe, Susanne, Jeremy) in finalizing their projects for screening. You and/or your TA will be responsible for assembling your class screenings.

Screening materials

If you would like to screen clips in class, you may use your own resources or borrow materials from the RTF Media Library.  You can discuss what items you’ll need with Lee Sparks, our Media Librarian.  You can reach him at Lee.Sparks@austin.utexas.edu or at 512-471-1906.  About two weeks after your official appointment begins, you can go through the online reservation system to request resources: https://web-apps.communication.utexas.edu/usher/Services/ .  Please only order materials you know you will use in class, and if you only need to show a short clip, please try finding on YouTube before asking the department to purchase a copy.

Student Support and Emergencies

It is important that you help students to become aware of the University facilities that can help them, and certainly the University Writing Center (http://uwc.utexas.edu/) is one facility to which we routinely refer people. Please also review the resources available at the Sanger Learning Center http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/slc , Services for Students with Disabilitieshttp://ddce.utexas.edu/disability/ , and the Counseling and Mental Health Center http://cmhc.utexas.edu/ .

If you have concerns about a student’s behavior, please contact the Behavioral Concerns Advice Line at 232-5050 or contact them online at Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL) . If a student is in immediate danger to himself or someone else, please call 911 and notify the RTF main office immediately afterward.  For more information, please see: wikis.utexas.edu/display/RTF/Student+Behavior+Concerns

Syllabus

Teaching Assistant

Our Graduate Program Coordinator, will notify you of your TA assignment(s), if applicable. Your TA can assist you with either research or teaching assistance – but her/his hours should not average more than the number of hours per week for which s/he is appointed.  Please read information about working with TAs at https://utexas.atlassian.net/wiki/display/RTF/Working+with+TAs+and+AIs

Technology in your classroom

Detailed info about the technology capabilities of your classroom is available at http://moody.utexas.edu/about/facilities
If you have questions, please contact the technical staff:  comm-help@austin.utexas.edu or 512-471-1119x1.

Textbooks

The University has partnered with the Co-op to make sure UT is complying with a federal law that mandates required course material information be available to students at least 30 days prior to the start of class. The Co-op compiles all the course information and makes it available to the students on the UT Direct website. Even if you do not require a textbook, you need to log onto the Adopt system and flag “No Books Required” – this will change the message to students from “No information available” to “Your professor has indicated that no books are required.” This will most likely reduce your call and email volume from students with questions.

Although you must submit your book list to the Co-op, students are NOT required to order their books from them. They are welcome to search for their best deals online. 

Instructions on how to submit your textbook list to the Co-op can be found here:

How to Submit Textbook Adoptions

Faculty FAQs.   Scroll down for FAQs.

*IMPORTANT:  Faculty members may be given permission to use their own textbook for a course they teach, but only with prior approval from the Provost.  Guidelines and required forms can be found here: Authorization to use Textbooks Written by a Member of the Faculty

Travel (Tenured and tenure-track faculty only)

Please see the main Faculty Handbook page for all travel policies and forms.

RTF Staff

Please see our bios at https://rtf.utexas.edu/staff

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time with questions or problems (471-4058).

Sincerely,

Rachel Walker