Adjunct Faculty

This page provides information for adjunct faculty on accessing DU resources.

For information on academic policies, training and resources for teaching – including using Canvas – and a syllabus template, please go to the Faculty Resources webpage.

Please contact Marylu Hernandez at Marylu.Hernandez@du.edu or 303-871-6580 with any questions.

  • Adjunct Checklist
    1. MyDU: Log into MyDU and access your class list.
    2. Canvas: Log into Canvas to post course materials online. Canvas support is available from law-facultysupportstaff@du.edu or Andrew.Dvoracek@du.edu.
    3. Zoom: Download and log into DU's Zoom account to meet synchronously with your students.
    4. Further resources and training materials are available on the Faculty Resources Webpage.
    5. Training and information about audio-visual needs for the classroom is available at law-av@du.edu.
       
    MyDU

    To log in: https://my.du.edu/
    Username: firstname.lastname@du.edu
    Password (first time login): mmddyy (date of birth with two-digit year the first time you log in; if you have your password reset, use your four-digit year of birth mmddyyyy)

    Accessing class lists via MyDU
    Log into https://my.du.edu/
    Username: firstname.lastname@du.edu
    Password: (enter your password)
    Click on MyWeb
    Click on Expand MyWeb Menu
    Click on Faculty and Advisors
    Click on Course Toolkit
    Click on Detail Class List or Photo Class Roster
    Select a Term (Fall Semester 2024, for example)

    Canvas

    Log into https://canvas.du.edu/
    Use the same credentials as MyDU above. If you're still using TWEN, please contact Andy Dvoracek Andrew.Dvoracek@du.edu for assistance in transitioning to Canvas.
    Canvas Guides: Faculty
    Canvas Guides: Students

    Zoom

    Log into DU's Zoom account using your DU email as your (firstname.lastname@du.edu) and the same password as you use for MyDU above. Instructions for downloading and logging into DU's Zoom account.
    4-minute video demonstrating how to schedule your Zoom classes in Canvas
    Publish and Share Zoom Recordings in Canvas

    Resources

    Go to the Faculty Resources page for instructional videos.

  • Hiring and Scheduling

    Overview

    • Hire Letter
      In the months preceding the term in which you’re teaching, you will receive a hire letter, indicating the course you will be teaching, dates and times for the course, and the stipend you will receive. If you do not receive this letter more than a month before the term starts, please please contact Marylu Hernandez (Marylu.Hernandez@du.edu or 303-871-6580) to confirm that it was e-mailed to you. The classroom you have been assigned to can be confirmed on on the Class Schedules page.
       
    • Academic Calendar
      The Academic Calendar is available here and should be used as a planning tool when you are preparing your syllabus. Holidays marked on the academic calendar as classes cancelled are already factored into the required number of instructional minutes and class meetings. Faculty members will not need to add any additional classes to make up for classes cancelled by the law school due to holidays.
  • Classroom

    Classroom Access
    If you find the door to your classroom locked you have two options:

    1. 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.: Contact someone in Suite 215 (Dean’s Suite) at 303-871-6130 or Suite 444 (Faculty Support) at law-facultysupportstaff@du.edu. They will have the master key to unlock the door.
    2. After hours: Contact Campus Safety at 303-871-2334. An officer will be dispatched to unlock the door.

    If you find a classroom door locked on a regular basis, please contact John Farrell (John.J.Farrell@du.edu) so that arrangements can be made to ensure that you always have access.


    Audio-Visual Training
    Training on the classroom audio-visual equipment can be arranged by contacting  law-AV@du.edu. In select rooms, this technology is located in the lectern and the training will take approximately 10 minutes. If staff are available, this training can be accomplished 10 or 15 minutes prior to the start of class.


    Classroom Seating Charts
    To request a seating chart for your classroom, contact law-facultysupportstaff@du.edu.

    You will be given a blank seating chart for the classroom in which you are teaching. You will need to complete the chart and return it to Faculty Support in Suite 444. They will create a seating chart for you with photographs of your students and return a final printout to you.

  • Ordering Course Materials

    To request desk or review copies of textbooks in the area of law that you teach, contact Faculty Support at law-facultysupportstaff@du.edu.

    If you would like to research current books available, you can access the publisher web sites listed below. If you find a book title that you would like to have ordered for you, please contact the faculty support staff team.

    West

    Foundation Press

    LexisNexis

    Aspen Law

    NITA

    Carolina Academic

    To have an order placed for textbooks for your students, see instructions below.

    Textbooks and Course Materials
    We will ask for your textbook information for students around the time of registration (March or April for Summer and Fall terms; October or November for Spring term). We have a textbook buyer that we work with through the DU Bookstore. When you have decided which textbook(s) your students will need for your class, contact Faculty Support at law-facultysupportstaff@du.edu, who will give you instructions to place your order. They will work in coordination with the campus bookstore to ensure an adequate number of copies are available for students before classes begin. They will have access to our enrollment database and will be able to determine the number of books to order.

    Other course materials should be posted on Canvas as soon as possible. The Faculty Support team will review materials posted on Canvas for accessibility, so please post these materials well ahead of when the reading assignments are due. If you have an accommodated student who requires alternative format text, you will be notified separately and our staff will work with you to make sure all materials are accessible. 

  • Evaluations

    Course Evaluations
    Students are asked to complete evaluations online towards the end of each semester for the courses they’ve taken. Access to the evaluation is only for the classes that the student has completed. Once final grades have been submitted, the evaluation is released to the website for your review. We encourage faculty members to read the evaluations for their particular class and to use the responses as a tool in preparation for future classes.

    Course evaluations are accessible through MyDU.

    Once you have logged in, you can do a search for “Course Evaluations” and then select “Course Evaluations Search” to find specific evaluations.

  • Grades

    Grading Policies
    The College of Law employs a letter grade system of A-F. The grades issued in all required courses must have a median of 3.3 and a mean between 3.15 and 3.45. The grades issued in all non-required courses with an enrollment of more than 10 students must substantially conform to this mandatory curve. Substantial conformity means that grades cannot deviate more than 0.1 from the mandatory median and mean. If the grades issued in a course of more than 10 students substantially deviate from the mandatory curve the professor must provide the Associate Dean with adequate justification for the deviation. The Associate Dean shall make the final determination of whether an adequate justification exists for the substantial deviation. If the Associate Dean determines that adequate justification does not exist, the professor, the Associate Dean, or the Registrar shall recurve the grades.

    The law school uses letter grades to calculate grade point averages in a four-point numerical system. Letter grades have the following numerical values:

    Grade Options and Their Numerical Value
    A 4.0
    A- 3.7
    B+ 3.3
    B 3.0
    B- 2.7
    C+ 2.3
    C 2.0
    C- 1.7
    D+ 1.3
    D 1.0
    D- 0.7
    F 0.0

    Mandatory Mean and Median
    Grades in all courses of more than 10 students must substantially comply* with the mandatory mean and median grade curve as follows:

    Mean: between 3.15 and 3.45

    Median: 3.3

    *Substantial compliance means grades must fall no more than 0.1 deviation up or down for both the mean or median. Please consider this policy when you develop your syllabus and when you determine how to grade your class.

    Anonymous Grading Policy
    The Sturm College of Law employs an anonymous grading system. The SCOL requires Anonymous grading whenever the grade for the entire course, seminar, or exercise rests on a written examination. However, in other situations, such as classroom participation credit, writing exercises, skills training, and performance courses, faculty have no obligation to anonymously evaluate a student.

    Whenever a faculty member anonymously grades any part of the course, the faculty member must maintain anonymity with respect to that part of the grade until the Registrar records final grades. Students who seek to discuss their performance on an examination should not contact the faculty member until the Registrar records the faculty member’s final grades.

    Finality of Grades and Grade Grievance Policy
    Once a faculty member submits a final grade to the Registrar, the faculty member cannot change that grade unless the faculty member determines:

    • The professor has made a mistake that does not involve an issue of judgment, such as a mathematical mistake or a mistake in the conversion of a numerical score to letter grade; or
    • The faculty member has made an incorrect evaluation of a student’s work, provided that:
      • the faculty member did not know the identity of the student during the reevaluation process, and
      • the faculty member informs all students in the course about the opportunity for reevaluation.
         

    If a student wishes to have a faculty member review their examination to confirm the numerical accuracy of a grade, the student must maintain anonymity with the faculty member and make such a request through the Office of the Registrar. The student must make this request within three months after the Registrar posts the final grade.

    If a student wishes a faculty member to review their examination to confirm the accuracy of the faculty member’s evaluation of the student’s examination answers, the student must maintain anonymity and the faculty member must first inform all students in the course about the opportunity for reevaluation. The student can submit a written petition that requests a substantive reevaluation to the Office of the Registrar. The petition must include the student’s examination number and must NOT include the student’s name. The student must make this request within three months after the Registrar posts the final grade.

    Submission of Grades
    Grading spreadsheets will be provided to faculty members at the end of the semester. The Registrar’s Office distributes the spreadsheets via e-mail at that time to provide the most accurate data regarding the class. The grading sheets are provided automatically to help calculate the mean and median of the class when the faculty member enters letter grades. Remember to provide final letter grades for the course(s). Grades are due 30 days after the date of the final examination (or the due date of the final assignment.) Grades should be submitted to the Registrar’s office.

    Please feel free to e-mail the Registrar’s office with any questions.

  • Policies

    For the full set of ABA and SCOL Academic Requirements, including syllabus requirements, please refer to the Faculty Resources webpage.

  • Working at DU

    The law school provides the following benefits for our adjunct faculty:

    • Parking permit
    • Creation of a Canvas or TWEN site
    • Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw access for educational use only
    • Free CLE presentations
    • Opportunities to hear nationally recognized speakers from the legal community
    • Access to library research capabilities
    • Permission to check out materials from the Westminster Law Library
    • Interlibrary loan capability
       

    Click here for additional benefit information for adjunct faculty.

    Learn more about DU's Campus Safety.

    Hire Process

    To assist you with your employment related questions, we have an HR representative available for you at the law school. Please contact Marylu Hernandez at marylu.hernandez@du.edu or 303.871.6580 for assistance.

    The steps in our adjunct hire process:

    1. Background check – The University of Denver requires all new employees to complete a background check. All offers are contingent on a cleared background check. You will receive an e-mail from Hire Right that you are required to respond to authorize this process. This step should only take a few minutes of your time.

    2. Hire Letter – Soon after registration is completed for the semester, you will receive a letter of confirmation indicating the course you will be teaching, the days, times it is scheduled and the stipend you will receive. If you do not receive this letter in a reasonable amount of time, please contact Marylu Hernandez at marylu.hernandez@du.edu or 303.871.6580 to confirm that it was e-mailed to you. The classroom you have been assigned to can be confirmed on the Class Schedule page close to the start of the semester.

    3. New Hire paperwork – Adjunct Support will provide you with the appropriate Human Resources contact in order to complete your hire paperwork. There are three forms that you will be asked to complete:

    • I-9 form for Homeland Security requires proof of identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. Please see page 5 of I-9 form for acceptable documents (DU will need to examine one document from List A OR examine one document from List B and one from List C): http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf
    • W-4 form for IRS tax withholding.
    • Authorization for Direct Deposit of Pay is optional, though highly encouraged. You can sign up through MyDU once you have your DU ID and passcode.

    4. CVs – We also request a copy of your CV at your time of hire. These will be maintained by the Adjunct Support. If you have not yet submitted a CV or have updated your CV information, please email it to Marylu Hernandez at marylu.hernandez@du.edu.

    5. Online Profiles – The Sturm College of Law website includes a faculty directory. Included in this are profiles of our current Adjunct Faculty. Currently, not all our adjuncts have profiles uploaded. Profiles should include a photo, contact information, what you teach, if you use TWEN/Canvas, a link for your students and a bio. It can also include a CV, articles you have written and any other information that you would like to be available to the students to see.

    If you would like to view the directory to see whether you have a profile, you can go through this link: https://www.law.du.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory

    You can email your bio, photo and any other materials you would like on your profile to Marylu Hernandez at marylu.hernandez@du.edu.

    ID Card

    The Pioneer Card Office is located in Driscoll Center South on the lowest floor. You will need to bring your employee ID number or a photo ID, such as a driver’s license to request the card. They will take your photo while you are there and issue the card to take with you. This card will be active as long as you are an employee of the University. Please note: if you have not taught in a semester you may want to check with the ID office to ensure that your ID card is still active.

    • The Pioneer Card can be used to:
      • Access the gate to the Asbury Parking Garage next to the Ricketson Law Building
      • Receive a 10% discount on purchases at the DU Bookstore
      • Discount membership at the Ritchie Wellness Center
      • Check out materials at the Westminster Law Library and the Penrose Library.
      • Interlibrary loan capability: Access Prospector (http://prospector.coalliance.org) using your employee ID number. (For assistance, contact Denver Law Interlibrary Loan ).
         

    Pioneer Card Office