Thank you for agreeing to serve as a non-senate faculty member (lecturer) for the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts. As a lecturer in our school, you perform critical work that is greatly appreciated. We look forward to working with you to create a strong partnership in educating our students.
Support for Lecturers
Lecturers who are not serving as primary instructors for courses are expected to work under the direction of the primary course instructor. That instructor should clearly outline the goals of each course, communicate your duties and provide you with the support you need to execute them.
Should you feel that you are not being provided with the support you need to carry out your duties, or if you have other difficulties related to interaction with your primary course instructor, please inform your faculty supervisor and she/he will work to address your questions or concerns.
Should you need assistance, the SSHA Dean's Suite is located in the Classroom and Office Building, on the second floor. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and from 1-5 p.m., and on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon, unless otherwise noted. Please check-in at the reception desk, COB 259, to meet with SSHA staff members.
The following SSHA staff members are located in the Classroom and Office Building on the second floor, and can provide assistance as follows:
Anne Zanzucchi, Associate Dean for Student and Instructional Services
azanzucchi@ucmerced.edu
• Anne can assist you with: academic misconduct/dishonesty, work-related conflict, and general administrative-related questions.
Christine Howe, Executive Assistant to the Dean
chowe2@ucmerced.edu
• Christine can assist you with: office assignments and keys, Cat Card building/room access.
Becky Smith, Assistant Dean, Academic Personnel and Human Resources
rsmith7@ucmerced.edu
• Becky can assist you with work-related conflict, personnel-related matters, and email account set-up.
Vanessa Woodruff, Academic Personnel Analyst
vwoodruff@ucmerced.edu
• Vanessa can assist you with personnel-related matters.
Casey Delfino, Course Scheduler
ssha.curriculum@ucmerced.edu
• Casey can assist you with course-scheduling-related requests including classroom adjustments, midsemester and final grade submissions, and instructional software requests.
Alyssa Conley, Instructional Services Assistant
ssha.curriculum@ucmerced.edu
• Melissa can assist you with: course evaluations, TA desk copies, Scantron machine training, and Independent Study Form processing.
Brenda Maldonado-Rosas, Manager of Student Services
bmaldonado-rosas@ucmerced.edu
• Brenda can assist you with: questions related to undergraduate students, including course registration (late adds or drops), concerns related to student behaviors in the classroom (i.e. students in distress), and provide referrals to campus units supporting student success.
SSHA Operations
ssha.reception@ucmerced.edu
• SSHA Operations can assist with loaner equipment-related questions.
Printer Access
Instructions on how to print using the printers (Pharos) and the drivers you will need to download can be found here.
For those of you who are providing instruction this semester, we have already set up your account in the system. Please note, this account should only be used for printing instructional related materials. For non-instructional materials, please use your personal account option. Please reach out to ssha.reception@ucmerced.edu if you need assistance with setting up a personal account.
FYI: As a cost-savings measure, it is encouraged that you print black & white copies. The cost for printing is: $0.04 for black & white copies and $0.16 for color copies
For all other questions contact, ssha.reception@ucmerced.edu and your inquiry will be directed to the appropriate staff member.
Before classes start:
- Meet with the instructor in charge of your course to discuss his/her goals and program learning outcomes for the course and your duties. This person may be your mentor if you are the instructor of record.
- Familiarize yourself with UC Merced's academic regulations regarding issues such as grading policy, dropping and adding courses, and UC Merced's policy on academic honesty.
During the semester:
- Be an effective teacher. Prepare for class and give clear presentations of the material to your students. Be sure everything you do in class supports student development of the course learning outcomes and goals.
- Be on time and prepared for all assigned meetings of your course.
- Hold at least two hours of office hours per week, and be prepared to devote all of that time to meet with students. Clearly announce the time and place of your office hours in class, in your syllabus/syllabi, and on CatCourses, and encourage students to drop by.
Duties, support, and evaluation of lecturer:
- Proctor exams include midterms as scheduled, or as directed by the primary course instructor, and final exams as scheduled by the Registrar. Proctor exams actively to guard against academic dishonesty.
- Review session rooms can be reserved through the Office of the Registrar at the following link: https://registrar.ucmerced.edu/services/room-reservations
- Convey to your primary course instructor in a timely manner any anomalous failure rate or problems with individual students.
- Maintain a positive and professional relationship with your students and peers.
- Attend lectures as required by the primary course instructor.
- Attend all TA meetings as scheduled and/or as required by the primary course instructor.
- Write or provide questions for quizzes and exams as required by the primary course instructor.
- Work through exams and quizzes ahead of time as requested and report problems to the primary course instructor in a timely manner. Do NOT divulge any information about the content of upcoming exams or quizzes to students.
- Grade laboratory reports, homework problems, quizzes, and exams as required. Maintain confidential and accurate records.
- Return graded materials to students in a timely fashion. Please note that Family Educational Rights and Privacy Acts (FERPA) regulations require graded materials to be returned to students individually, not placed in public to be picked up.
- Perform all grading and submit all scores for which you are responsible to the primary course instructor, and/or post scores to CatCourses as required by the primary course instructor, before the designated deadline.
- Ensure that everything you do in class is related to the goals and student learning outcomes of the course. Explicitly teaching to help students achieve the course's student learning outcomes and communicating this clearly to your students is very important.
Students and instructors should be aware of the student learning outcomes for the course and for the major. If you have questions about how to use student learning outcomes in your teaching, contact your course instructor/faculty supervisor.
Instructor Absence Procedure:
If you are unable to attend one of your assigned, required lectures or sections, please notify your faculty supervisor or discipline lead prior to your absence to arrange for a TA or colleague to cover or complete any lectures, sections or tasks that you are required to perform. When uncontrollable or unanticipated circumstances (e.g., illness) arise, and you feel you cannot hold class, please notify your classes via CatCourses and also send an email to ssha.curriculum@ucmerced.edu and CC Megan Topete (mtopete@ucmerced.edu) so that appropriate signage can be posted on your classroom door(s). If you are unable to email, you may also call SSHA Reception at 209.228.7742 or SSHA Instructional Services Staff at 209.228.2336 to inform a staff member of your absence. However, if your reason for absence is an interview, medical appointment, or family or personal matter, it is your responsibility to make the necessary arrangements well ahead of time, in preparation for your absence. Under NO circumstances should you miss any aspect of your teaching duties for personal extracurricular activities. If you are attending an academic conference or the like and know well in advance that a class will be canceled, it is your responsibility to arrange for a colleague to substitute for you or make some other arrangement to personally deliver instruction.
After the instruction is over:
Lecturers and primary course instructors should meet to be sure all grading is completed and all necessary information has been shared in order to submit final grades. Provide any other input on the course requested by the primary instructor.
Depending on the date of the final exam, the grading process may extend into the week after the instructional end of the semester.
Course Evaluations:
Each lecturer will be evaluated at the end of every semester by students and once per academic year by his or her assigned faculty supervisor. Additional comments may be solicited from other faculty members, instructors, or teaching assistants with whom the lecturer interacted.
