Faculty Resources

Setting up Your Email and SF State ID

First, you'll need to make sure you have received your SF State ID number.  You can look up your ID number to find out what it is or if need further assistance you can review some troubleshooting tips. Once you have your ID number, you can request to have an email created.

Office assignments and keys

The School of Cinema has a small number of rooms that are used as shared offices for GTAs and lecturers.  The department’s office staff will contact you with information about your office assignment and phone number. A staff member will order any keys for you (including for your classroom if necessary), and you will be notified by e-mail about picking these up at the Facilities office. If you lose your key(s), please contact the staff.

Parking

Specific information about applying for faculty parking permits for the upcoming semester(s) will be distributed by e-mail through the College list-serv. If you have not had a parking permit before and would like to get one, contact the Cinema academic office coordinator.  If you will be on campus a limited number of days per week, you might consider purchasing daily permits. During the first four weeks of each semester, faculty may purchase daily permits at a much-reduced rate by going in person to the Parking Office on North State Drive. You will be asked to present your faculty ID, and they only accept personal checks as payment. Unfortunately, at this time, GTAs are not eligible for faculty parking permits.

Absences

If you will not hold a scheduled class meeting, please call and email the Cinema office (tel: 415-338-1629; email: cinema@sfsu.edu) and inform us. You must also inform the Director of the School of Cinema of any absence. In the event that your class must be canceled, the office student/staff will post signs on the classroom door. If necessary, the Director can help in finding a substitute. If you have an office hour scheduled for that day, we will post a sign on your office door stating that you will not hold office hours that day. We also encourage faculty to e-mail their students to inform them of class cancellations.

Faculty and GTAs accrue sick leave credits for each month of employment. The full-time rate of accrual is eight hours a month, and accrual for part-time employees is prorated accordingly. If appropriate, the academic office coordinator will contact you with instructions about reporting your absence in the University’s online absence management system.

Enrollment and grades

Enrollment management, including adding/dropping students and grading, is done entirely online through Class Services. Once your hiring paperwork has been processed and your name shows up on the class schedule as the instructor of record, you will have access to your course rosters, Canvas, etc., in Class Services. You can access Class Services through SF State Gateway. Familiarize yourself with the functions and capabilities of Class Services. Please plan to have access to your class rosters and permit numbers at your first class meeting. To be prepared to add students by permit number, if necessary, please study how this function works. You can give out permit numbers in person or e-mail them to students.

Note about classes offered through the College of Extended Learning: in Class Services, make sure you choose “Extended Learning” in the drop-down. This is where you need to be in order to view rosters, assign grades, etc. for students in courses that are supported by CEL (summer session; winter session; online certificate programs).

Periodically you will receive reminders about important enrollment-related deadlines. The chief deadline is known as the “census” deadline — enrollments at that point (usually four full weeks into the semester) are the basis for University budget/financing calculations. By this date, your online class roster should match your actual enrollment.

The deadline for entering grades is normally 11:59pm on the last day of the semester. You will receive reminders. If you have trouble entering grades or if you miss the deadline, you must contact the AOC as soon as possible.

The office staff can assist you with any questions you may have regarding enrollment and grading issues.

Canvas

Faculty instructions and access to Canvas are located online. Learn about more course technologies.

Textbooks

Order textbooks and other course materials online. You may also order texts by sending an e-mail to textbook@sfsu.edu. Try to place your orders for the next semester in a timely manner. Usually, the deadline for placing orders for the spring semester is October 15; for fall semester, April 15. 

Evaluation

The School requires its faculty, including lecturers and GTAs, to submit student evaluations in order to benefit from the insights of students and so that the School can evaluate teaching effectiveness. This process will be conducted online. The School also conducts peer evaluations of lecturers, including classroom visits and subsequent discussions about pedagogy and presentation, the goal being to provide lecturers with more detailed feedback and hence a roadmap for continued success in the classroom. Lecturers will be notified well in advance about setting up peer visits and will receive the resulting review letter. Review letters are forwarded to personnel files.

Office hours

Each faculty member should post office hours and teaching schedules on his or her office door, supply the office manager with office hour information, and adhere strictly to the schedule posted. Part-time faculty are expected to maintain one office hour per week for each three-unit class.

Academic Calendar

Bookmark the online academic calendar for references to key dates and deadlines throughout the semester, as well as the final exam schedule for fall and spring semesters.

Forms and petitions

Many petitions are handled via online portals. In some instances, “paper” (or PDF forms) might be required, student forms and petitions can be found online. In the latter case, instruct students to deliver their petitions to you, fill out and ready for your signature.  The Registrar provides access to most student forms and petitions. The Division of Graduate Studies stores forms and petitions pertaining to graduate students.

Two of the most frequently-used petitions for both graduate and undergraduate students are:

• Report of Makeup of Incomplete: This petition is only to be used for assigning a grade when a student completes an incomplete. Instructors must enter grade changes in Class Services via the Grades roster.
• Petition for Withdrawal from Course(s) or University: Instructors should enter withdrawals in Class Services via the Grades roster in Class Services, where the withdrawal request is subject to the chair’s approval electronically. 

Plagiarism policy

The College of Liberal & Creative Arts website contains useful resources regarding plagiarism in the “For Faculty” area, including a policy statement that can be included on course syllabi, procedures, and a form for reporting cases of plagiarism to the School and College. See the School of Cinema’s own internal policy.

Credit/No Credit Grading Option

Students may take up to 30 percent of their courses for a grade of Credit or No Credit, instead of a letter grade. Students who want to exercise this option can do so online up to a certain date (the “CR/NC deadline”). If necessary, refer students to the office for instructions. Consult with the office staff if you have questions. You will not be notified if a student chooses the CR/NC grading option, but you can pull up this information in your roster.

Disappearing students

Students who must stop attending after the University’s deadline for dropping a class may petition for an official withdrawal, resulting in a grade of W for the course. If students stop attending your class and do not approach you about petitioning to withdraw, the normal grade options are NC, F or WU. Refer to the SF State Bulletin for more information on grading symbols and their corresponding grade points.

Please consult with the Director of the School of Cinema for advice if needed. It is of great assistance when instructors are aware of the major deadlines, particularly the deadline for dropping a class without getting a W grade. The School will also send e-mail reminders about important enrollment-related deadlines.

Students with disabilities

The Disability Programs and Resource Center website provides information on accommodating students with disabilities, including assignment adjustments, test accommodations, electronic resources and classroom furniture.

Paychecks

Instructors are paid in six monthly installments per semester. The first installment for the fall semester is paid around the first day of October; the next four paychecks are paid around the first day of the months of November - February. The sixth is paid in the following summer. Instructors who do not return after the fall semester will receive the sixth installment in March. The six installments for the spring commence around the first day of March and continue monthly. 

Direct Deposit

Faculty are encouraged to take advantage of direct deposit to ensure timely delivery of pay. Application forms are available online and can be delivered directly to Human Resources in Administration 252, or to the Academic Office Coordinator. Often, applications are not processed in time for to take effect for your next paycheck disbursement. Pay stubs are delivered to mailboxes around the first of each month. If you have applied for direct deposit, but you do not receive a pay stub in your mailbox, check with the College of Liberal and Creative Arts Office.

Address Changes

Notify the office manager if your address changes; you will receive instructions about how to change your address in the system.

SF State Gateway

SF State Gateway is a portal to various self-service areas for faculty and staff.

Reimbursements

Faculty are reimbursed for expenditures in a wide variety of contexts. A few examples: for professional development, including travel; to use an allocation from the Instructionally Related Activities program for a class; for purchasing food or drink for a School of Cinema event. In all cases, previous approval from the Director or other similar notification is required. Regardless of the context, the following University procedures apply:

• Receipts and invoices older than 90 days cannot be reimbursed. The University does not make exceptions to this policy, although travel is a slightly different situation, in that transport/lodging reservations can be made and paid for well in advance of actual travel. Receipts must be submitted within 30 days of the conclusion of the travel.
• An itemization of expenses must be included, and if the receipt itself does not include this, please request itemization from the vendor.
• Online purchases nearly always require accompanying proof of payment; in other words, the identity of the person who made payment must be clear. If the online receipt says that Jane Doe ordered something, but does not indicate that payment by Jane Doe was collected, then a credit card statement, or a printout of the transaction from the card activity must be included — and must also include a clear reference to Jane Doe. Consult with the office manager about questions.
• Items purchased with University funds must be delivered to the university. In other words, do not arrange for anything to be shipped to your home address if you will be reimbursed for it.

Travel

SF State-funded travel must be pre-approved by the Director of the School of Cinema. International travel, in particular, requires as much advance notification as possible due to the requirement for University-purchased insurance. If you have applied for travel funding through the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, you will receive instructions about authorization forms and procedures for reimbursement. Other questions about travel funding may be directed to the Director of the School of Cinema or office manager.

College of Liberal & Creative Arts List-serve

Disseminates information by e-mail about conferences, scholarships, workshops, network alerts, building conditions (i.e. plumbing problems, fire alarms, etc.), and other matters of general interest to the College faculty and staff. We will forward your email address to the College so that you will be added to this list-serve.

Guest Speakers

Must be arranged for in advance. Contact both the Director and the office manager to request funding for a guest speaker and for guidance regarding logistics.

Lost and found

Located in the Creative Arts Building. If you find a valuable item, bring it to the Cinema office and we will send it to the lost and found.

Mail

Delivered once daily. All faculty and graduate teaching assistants have a mailbox in the faculty lounge, located in the Cinema office. Outgoing University-related mail can be placed in the outbox in the office and will be picked up by the campus postal service once daily.

School of Cinema Media Library and Bill Nichols Reading Room

Located on the Fine Arts Building third floor. Faculty may check out items from our collection of DVDs, BluRays, laserdiscs, VHS tapes, 16 mm films, and more. Faculty members are welcome to use the Bill Nichols Reading Room, a collection of books, journals, and other media donated by Professor Emeritus Bill Nichols. Graduate students might wish to hold small meetings or use the Nichols room to study. Check with the Cinema office about how to access the Media Library or how to access the Bill Nichols Reading Room.

Photocopying

Can be done in the Cinema Office. Please check with the office staff about your access code for this machine. If you plan to do a larger duplicating job (20 or more copies), you should not use the photocopier due to the expense. There are more suitable machines located in Humanities 125. Check with the office staff; with enough notice, we can assist you with large-batch copy jobs.

Social Media and Cinema Website

Sources of a wide range of information about the School of Cinema, its curriculum, facilities, faculty, and students from our website link to our pages on Facebook, Instagram, and more.

Supplies

Available in the Cinema office. Please ask for assistance from the office staff.

Technical Support

Cinema's facilities, including computer labs and Coppola Theatre, are coordinated by our Head of Technical Operations (HTO). In the absence of our HTO please contact the Instructional and Technical Support.