Mnookin, Zumbrunnen: Instructor workload update

The following message was sent to all faculty and academic staff from Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin and Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs John Zumbrunnen on Oct. 30.

Good morning,

We are writing to share an update regarding the teaching workload requirements established in 2025 Wisconsin Act 15. As you are likely aware, effective September 1, 2026, Act 15 requires faculty and instructional academic staff to teach a minimum of 12 credits each academic year (at least one course per semester), plus three summer credits for those with 12-month appointments. The legislation allows the Board of Regents to submit a policy with guidelines for exceptions and course buyouts to the Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) by December 1, 2025.

Yesterday, the Universities of Wisconsin released Regent Policy Document 20-25 (RPD) for a period of public comment prior to its review by the Board of Regents and submission to JCOER. This document contains standards that align with Act 15, as well as exceptions to the minimum workload requirement, guidelines for campuses to create new buyout policies, and a provision allowing for teaching equivalencies for educational opportunities provided to students outside of the traditional classroom.

We believe that the RPD provides pathways to ensure that the full range of teaching, research and service contributions made by our faculty and instructional staff can continue to be appropriately recognized and supported. We also believe that we will be able to develop implementation policies under the RPD's provisions that allow us to remain competitive across our wide range of fields and disciplines, and that permit us to recognize, appropriately, the variety of ways that teaching and learning operate across our large and diverse institution.

That said, implementation of the policy guidelines contained in the RPD will require significant additional work on our campus, along with increasing clarity and transparency about teaching efforts at the school and department level. Here's what is coming:

• After the public review period closes on November 9, 2025, the Board of Regents will vote and submit the RPD to JCOER by December 1, 2025.
• JCOER will vote on the RPD no later than January 31, 2026.
• Assuming that both the Regents and JCOER approve the policy, the Universities of Wisconsin will create a new system policy.
• UW-Madison (and other system campuses) will then create campus, school and college and, in most cases, departmental policies that align with Act 15, the RPD, and new system policy.

Special thanks to the members of the UW-Madison Ad Hoc Instructional Workload Advisory Group, which consists of faculty and academic staff, including shared governance representatives. Input provided by the group helped guide the priorities and input of our campus representatives during development of the RPD. We will continue to engage the advisory group, along with colleagues across campus, including shared governance leaders and deans, as we work together to revise workload policies in the coming months. Questions about the forthcoming campus implementation process can be directed to the Office of the Provost at [email protected].

On balance, we believe that this RPD provides us with the tools necessary to protect and further UW-Madison's ongoing strength as a world class teaching and research institution. That said, as we work together on what will be a lengthy process of policy writing and implementation, we recognize that there will be questions, concerns and some degree of ongoing uncertainty. We know that you, as faculty and instructional staff, teach in many contexts, inside and outside the traditional classroom as well as across the community and the state, and we further recognize that teaching expectations and norms vary considerably across disciplines.

We are committed to continuing to provide exceptional educational experiences for our students and to advance excellence in our research and public service missions. Our university and state are fortunate to have such talented, hard-working professionals working every day to bring the Wisconsin Idea to life. Thank you for all that you do.