An Analysis of Computer and Information Sciences Faculty Workloads in Higher Education

The professoriate is a foundational component of higher education and impacts program success. This study describes computer and information sciences (CIS) faculty workloads empirically. Specifically, the study examines the relationship between workloads and individual characteristics, occupational characteristics, and organizational context. The role of faculty in higher education is characterized in terms of research, teaching, and service. This study examines the relationships of faculty individual characteristics, occupational characteristics, and organizational context across the percent of effort allocations in workload in regards to teaching, research, and service. The National Center for Education Statistics most recent examination of the faculty is the 1999 National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOFP-99) data. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS. To answer the research questions means, standard deviation, frequencies, percents, correlations, and t-test. This study found the majority of faculty workload is spent on teaching and the majority of program and faculty evaluation is based on research. The study suggests that more research is needed to develop a better picture of CIS faculty.