Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- On the average, faculty in the major departments at UNLV spend less than six hours a week in the classroom.
And things aren't much different at the University of Nevada, Reno, where the average is 7.8 hours a week in "eyeball-to-eyeball" instruction.
These figures have prompted raised eyebrows from some members of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, which reviews state budgets.
"We were not aware of this," says committee Chairman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas. "We're going to take a look at it. We pay them good money."
Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said, "If they're being paid to teach, there should be some standard for the teaching time and the research time."
She said additional information needs to be provided by the University and Community College System of Nevada. "Six hours is not appropriate," she said.
These figures were gathered by the committee staff from the departments of mathematics, economics, history, civil engineering, social work and education (curriculum and instruction only) at UNLV and UNR. It showed the average hours in the classroom at UNLV was 5.6 per week, teaching 7.9 credits with an average of 59.2 students taught per instructor.
According to Academe, the bulletin of the American Association of University Professors, the salaries at UNLV range from $42,700 to $65,500 with an average of $50,000. At Reno, the range is from $41,700 to $70,800 with the average at $55,000. Reno has an average higher salary because it has more doctoral courses.
The university is challenging the figures gathered by the committee staff, which got the information from the schools themselves.
Rick Bennett, director of government relations for UNLV, said the figures by the legislative staff members don't match up with university statistics. And they don't take into consideration such things as classroom preparation time, student counseling and research.
"We will be coming back to the committee with accurate figures," he said. His figures show UNLV faculty spend 8.8 hours in the classroom and teachers at Reno put in 8.1 hours a week.
Jim Richardson, lobbyist for the Nevada Faculty Alliance, says there's a discrepancy in the budget committee's figures. He said there's not that wide a difference between the Las Vegas and Reno campuses.
"There's a lot of nondirect class time working with students," Richardson said. "A lot of time is spent talking with students out of class, working on projects, grading exams and supervising graduate programs."
Chancellor Richard Jarvis suggested to the committee last week that professors spend 54 to 58 hours a week on the job in various duties, including research and public service.
Giunchigliani said, "I think there is a legitimate issue to be made as to how many hours are being worked or taught. They need to break out who's doing research. I understand there has been more of a push for that.
"But not everybody is doing research. If we're paying wages and salaries and if that is even close to being accurate, that's not prudent.
"If you're paying full teaching, then somebody else is probably teaching your class ... that's probably a grad assistant. Maybe what should be explored is what is a minimum time in the classroom and, granted, preparation should be counted."
Giunchigliani, a public school teacher in Clark County, said the district contract calls for 35-37 hours in the classroom.
It's a different story when comparing the universities with the community colleges, where the average time spent in the classroom by a professor ranges from 9.8 hours at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno to 14 hours at the Community College of Southern Nevada and Western Nevada Community College in Carson City.
The figures for the community colleges were gathered from the history and English departments.
Richardson said the community colleges have a different mission. "They are not expected to research and scholarship and get grants. UNR brought in $70 million in grants last year. They have a different mission."
He said community college instructors work hard and some even find time to write books.
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