DEPARTMENT STANDARDS OPERATING PROCEDURES (SOPs)

We have in place and strictly follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure successful running of the Department.  Below are the Department’s SOPs:

  1. Support staff, including clerical and technical staff as well as the research assistant to the Chairman, shall arrive at work on time and leave on time as per University policies and regulations. A grace period of 15 minutes will be allowed. If a support staff will be running late more than 15 minutes, that staff should notify the Chairman of the Department, through a phone call or a text message, indicating that he or she will be late or will not show up at work at all because of an emergency or a situation beyond his or her control. The staff should provide to the Chairman the specifics of the emergency or situation beyond his or her control.
  2. If a support staff will be away from work for more than two days, he or she should write Human Resources and copy the Department Chair, explaining why he or she will be absence from work and when he or she will return to work. Such letter will be kept in the staff’s file.
  3. If a student is having a problem, not administrative in nature, the first point of contact is the student’s adviser. If the adviser cannot be reached easily, the student should contact the Chairman. If the problem is administrative in nature or involves a faculty member (including the student’s adviser), the student should report the problem to the Chairman. If it is a problem that office staff can handle other than the Chairman, the student should contact support staff in the Department.
  4. Faculty and other instructional staff should be at work per their schedules. All faculty members and instructional staff are to be on time in class and to leave class per the time allotted for the class. If a faculty member will be late for more than 15 minutes due to an emergency or situation beyond the faculty’s control, he or she should call and inform the class (through one or more students of the class) that he or she is running late, but is on his or her way to class. If a faculty member will be unable to attend a class at all, he or she should give advance notice to the class and to the Chair about his or her absence from class. He or she should indicate how long he or she will be absent from class. All faculty members should abide by University policies and regulations regarding the behaviors of instructors, including class attendance.
  5. During Add & Drop, the course instructor, in consultation with the Chair, shall approve Add & Drop for the student he or she will be adding to his or her class. The instructor shall ensure that the student is eligible to do the course and that adding the student is in accordance with the class-size capacity policy of the Department and the University Policy on Class Size, meaning the instructor should not add students to exceed the class capacity as required by University Policies.
  6. The Chairman, as the academic and administrative leader of the Department, will be responsible for scheduling classes, admitting students, approving students’ course loads, allocating space for departmental activities, supervising departmental staff, managing internal and external communications, and conducting department meetings. All issues relating to these will be handled by the Chairman.
  7. All decisions and actions of support staff regarding interactions with students shall be in line with this Curriculum Guide. Every staff is expected to read and become familiar with provisions herein so that their decisions and actions can be informed and by this guide.

POLICIES OF THE DEPARTMENT

Policy on the Use of Textbooks and Instructional Materials in the Department

The Department welcomes creativity and innovation by instructors when it comes to teaching; however, it is the policy of the Department that texts, articles, and other instructional materials used by instructors and lecturers are relevant to the topics and must be relatively up-to-date. Instructors and lecturers shall challenge students to make use of textbooks, reference books, and instructional materials in the University Libraries and in other libraries accessible to them. Instructors shall ensure that students use peer-reviewed journal articles when conducting research or completing assignments. The Department shall ensure that instructors and lecturers adhere to all Faculty Senate guidelines regarding the use of textbooks, pamphlets, and all instructional materials.

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