Instructional Faculty Office Hours Policy
1.00 Purpose
The Instructional Faculty Office Hours Policy provides a campus-based description of the minimum expectations for faculty office hours.
This policy is intended to reflect the University's commitment to the principles, goals, and ideals described in the Cal State Monterey Bay Founding Vision Statement and to its core values.
2.00 Definitions
Asynchronous interactions are a transmission of information and communication that occurs intermittently, not in a predetermined time frame, nor at regular intervals, and neither in real time. The asynchronous online office hour may include the cumulative time responding to student email, student posts to faculty in discussion forums, text messages, or other means, that occur outside of scheduled class time.
Instructional Faculty are individuals who are responsible for teaching courses. "Faculty" noted below should be interpreted as a reference to instructional faculty.
Synchronous interactions are a transmission of information and communication in real time. A synchronous online office hour may include chat, instant messaging, video-conferencing, or similar methods when it occurs outside of scheduled class time.
3.00 Faculty Office Hours
Faculty members' office hours are regularly scheduled times in which faculty members are available to their students for support and advising. To achieve this availability, each semester or instructional period, faculty members are expected to provide a schedule of office hours during which they will be available to their students and others for consultation and publicly designate availability by appointment.
3.10 Number of Hours
Faculty members who are teaching six (6) or more Weighted Teaching Units (WTUs) across at least two (2) courses in an academic program (e.g., two 3-unit courses) are expected to hold a minimum of 120 minutes of regularly scheduled office hours per week. Face-to-face classes should have a minimum of 30 minutes of office hours face-to-face per week.
Faculty teaching fewer than six (6) WTUs, or a single six (6) WTU course shall hold a minimum 60 minutes of regularly scheduled office hours per week.
A faculty member should designate additional synchronous online or face-to-face office hours above the required minimum to meet student needs.
3.20 Time of Day and Access
The time of day of office hours shall be scheduled to maximize opportunities and convenient student interactions. In addition to regularly scheduled office hours, faculty shall provide opportunities for consultation with students by appointment (e.g., in-person or electronically) at mutually convenient times to a reasonable extent.
Office hours are required through the instructional period, including Assessment Week.
Individual departments or colleges may develop guidelines on office hours that differ from this policy but may not decrease the minimum office hours requirements. Departmental or college guidelines shall be developed collaboratively in compliance with shared governance and in consideration of workload guidelines in the CSU/CFA Collective Bargaining Agreement.
3.30 Notification
The faculty members' office hours must be submitted to the Department/School office and posted, along with faculty email address near the faculty member's office and/or posted publicly by the Department office by the end of the first week of instruction. Office hours, including schedule, location, and contact information, shall be listed on the syllabus for each course, in accordance with the campus' Syllabus Policy . Faculty shall post office hours in the Learning Management System.
Faculty should strive to maintain the designated office hours. In cases of necessary cancellation, faculty shall notify their Department office and students in a timely manner. Faculty shall make every effort to reschedule previously canceled office hours as soon as possible after a cancellation in support of student success.
4.00 Continuous Renewal
This policy shall be reviewed ten years from its effective date. This policy may be reviewed before that time as necessary.
s/ President Vanya Quiñones
Effective Date: April 25, 2025
Certification of Process
Reviewed by: Educational Planning and Policy Committee, Associated Students, Academic Leadership Team, Enrollment Services & Student Affairs, Academic Senate.