MPA Performance Agreement
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF PROFESSIONAL OBLIGATIONS
Instructors are expected to abide by the university standard of ethical and professional conduct. Master of Public Administration teaching appointments entail professional obligations outlined on these webpages. Please fill out, sign, and return your acknowledgement of these obligations.
PROFESSIONAL EXPECTATIONS
ATTENDANCE
The instructor of record must attend all scheduled classes in accordance with the University
Schedule of Classes. MPA courses are assigned well in advance. If an instructor believes a schedule conflict may occur, the instructor is directed not to accept the teaching assignment. It is not acceptable to substitute face-to-face class time for on-line class activities except in courses designated as online and hybrid. In cases of serious illness, the instructor must be prepared to make up the class time through extra scheduling. A scheduled absence must be approved by the MPA academic lead and the instructor of record must find a replacement. It is the instructor’s responsibility to ensure that their Tseng College teaching assignment does not conflict with state- side teaching commitments.
CARNEGIE STANDARDS
A minimum of 45 Carnegie hours are required for a 3-unit MPA course. For more information concerning these please review the DEAC Accreditation Handbook.
MPA courses meet for 4-hours over an 8-week duration resulting in 32 Carnegie hours. The remaining 13 Carnegie hours must be made up through weekly engagement activities equivalent to 1.6 hours per week, and must be documented in the course syllabus. Reading assignments cannot be used as engagement activities to cover the 13 remaining Carnegie hours. Academic engagement, beyond listening to class lectures, may include, but is not limited to, submitting an academic assignment, taking an exam, an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; attending a study group that is assigned by the institution; contributing to an academic online discussion.
COURSE SYLLABI
The university’s Educational Policy Committee has established requirements for every course syllabus. Visit the CSUN Syllabus Policy webpage for details or see the Faculty Development Syllabus Ideas and Policies Canvas site.
To better inform students about the requirements, content, and methodology of the university’s curricula, all faculty teaching classes will distribute a written syllabus to each student in the class and/or post it online no later than the first class meeting.
The written syllabus must be readily printable as a single document, and must contain the following information:
- Course description.
- Course objective(s) or student learning outcomes.
- A brief list or summary of topics or projects covered.
- Course requirements, including methods of evaluation and tentative due dates for major assignments and/or exams.
- Grading criteria including whether the plus/minus system will be used.
- Contact information including:
- Instructor’s name
- Office hours and location
- CSUN email address
- Campus phone number if applicable
- If the syllabus is revised after the first class meeting, date(s) of revision(s).
Visit the the Educational Goals of the CSUN MPA Program webpage. The webpage includes a copy of the program SLOs and a matrix connecting the program SLOs to each MPA course.
CANVAS
All MPA faculty, online and face-to-face, are required to post on Canvas the syllabus for each course at least two weeks prior to the start of classes. Canvas is CSUN's learning management system. This page provides tips and answers to faculty's frequently asked questions about Canvas, where to get training and support, etc.
- Log into Canvas. (CSUN user ID and password required).
- Please visit the Faculty Canvas Help page for a list of frequently asked questions.
TEXTBOOK ORDERS
Tseng College textbook orders must be submitted on or before the second week of:
October for spring semester courses;
March for summer semester courses;
April for fall semester courses.
INSTRUCTOR EVALUATION
Instructors are subject to university wide procedures for evaluating teaching effectiveness. Consistent with the university standard, Colleges and Departments may mandate more class visits than the minimum classroom evaluation every 24-units.
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION VIA E-MAIL
California State University, Northridge uses email as the official means of communication between faculty, staff and students. Therefore, you are expected to check your CSUN email account on a regular basis and to respond to messages related to University business in a timely fashion.
If you do not regularly monitor your @csun.edu email account, you may have notices forwarded by logging into your account and arranging to forward them through the settings in Outlook. However, if you have your @csun.edu account forwarded to a different email address, it is your responsibility to ensure that important and time-sensitive communications are not lost.
If you have any questions please refer to the CSUN Policy & Procedures for Use of Email for Official University Communication (.pdf).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Once you have read and understand the above agreement, please acknowledge your acceptance of these conditions by using the form below. If you have any questions, please contact Henrik Palasani-Minassians, Academic Director, MPA.