ISU professors are working more than professors at the other Regent universities.

Iowa State faculty reported working an average of 57.9 hours per week during fall 2004. Faculty at the University of Iowa reported putting in an average of 57.4 hours per week, and those at the University of Northern Iowa reported 53.4 hours, according to the Faculty Activities Report.

“The way the faculty spent their time does reflect the missions of the institutions,” said Barb Boose, communications officer at the Board of Regents.

On average, ISU faculty spent about 27 hours a week involved in teaching activities and 21 hours per week on research.

Tenured and tenure-track faculty at Iowa State spent approximately the same percentage of their time teaching, but tenure-track faculty spent a greater portion of their time on research and less on administrative activities than did tenured faculty.

Individual faculty members spend their time in a variety of ways.

“I work 58 to 60 hours a week,” said Stephanie Madon, assistant professor of psychology.

“When I’m teaching, a lot of time is spent in the classroom.”

Madon spends four days a week teaching during fall semesters. She spends numerous hours preparing for lectures, going over the lectures and power point presentations, making sure nothing needs to be changed.

She also makes exams for her classes, talks with students and teaching assistants, is a member of the faculty senate and serves on multiple committees.

“People just keep getting busier,” Madon said about trends in her workload.

“People have high standards and want to be prepared.”

Madon said professors end up working more as a result of higher standards.

“For every 50 minute class, I spend one hour the night before and two hours the morning of preparing for the lecture,” Madon said.

Computer science lecturer Shu-Hui Chang spends 30-45 hours a week on course material.

“I spend about 15-20 hours a week to answer student e-mails,” Chang said.

“It is very intensive, and students are meant to be taken care of in an almost 24 hours per day, 7 days per week fashion.”

The computer science class Chang teaches enrolls 1,000 students each semester.

She makes herself available to students 24-7, even answering phone calls from students at 11 p.m.

“I always put my students first,” Chang said. “Each day, I meet with students both virtually and physically.”

Other faculty at Iowa State also know the importance of putting students first.

“I am nearly 100 percent teaching-oriented,” said Debra Atkinson, senior lecturer and internship supervisor for the department of health and human performance.

Atkinson spends her time either in the classroom, preparing for lectures and projects, grading and evaluating and meeting with students for feedback and reviewing their performance.

“I spend about 25 hours a week working on course material,” she said.

“There are so many students in some of my classes, and there are a lot of projects that are involved.”

Atkinson scores her projects manually, not using the typical Scantrons in other lecture classes.

“When students are working on stuff and busy, I am not so busy. Once they’re done and turn it in, my work begins,” she said.