Abstract:

Research has shown that most colleges look more favorably on faculty members who attract financial support through grant writing and engage in scholarly publications than those who concentrate only on teaching assignments. A cross campus interview of faculty members engaged in these activities reveal that they are not only “untouchable” as one professor put it, but constitute less than 10% of the entire faculty. Could it be that the remaining 90% ignore the philosophy in academia that says, Publish or Perish”?
This study was designed to examine the impact of teaching loads and Committee assignments on faculty research productivity. Two major factors were investigated. viz Teaching Load and Committee assignments.

Fifty faculty members from 3 colleges across the northern state of Louisiana constituted the population for this study. The study did not discriminate as to rank, tenure ship or years of teaching experience. One of the main assumptions of this study was that majority of the faculty members in the schools involved were required to publish and attract grants. This assumption was ascertained through responses to one of the questions in the research instrument.
Research Productivity Survey was the instrument used to collect pertinent data.
Collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi Square, t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) where applicable. Five hypothesis were tested in all and the .05 level of significance was used as a basis for rejecting or failing to reject the null hypothesis.
Findings of this study led to the following conclusions.

1) Faculty members teaching more than 4 classes produced less publications than their counterparts with less due to
time spent on lesson preparations, setting and grading exams.

2) With faculty members who exhibit prowess in grant writing and publications,
a. Teaching effectiveness was compromised 60% of the time
b. Topics they taught tend to tilt towards class discussions mainly, irrespective of the degree of calculations the
subject matter required.

3) Faculty members who wrote grants employed the assistance of work study students in critical areas like setting, invigilating and grading exams and home works more than those who did thus compromising educational standard.

4) Faculty members involved in more than two committees had far fewer publications due to,
a. Time spent on paper work (data gathering and committee reports)
b. Less attention was paid to grant writing and scholarly publications and instead more time was devoted to pleasing the administration and demonstrating ability to do the assigned duty.

Recommendations were made by the researcher with faculty views and opinions in mind.