Office of Strategic Communications
Brand Guide
Office of Strategic Communications
Brand Guide

Faculty Office Hours

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Faculty Office Hours

Overview

To streamline how faculty office hours are collected and displayed across the College of the Liberal Arts, we’ve developed a centralized tool that allows faculty members and unit group captains to submit and manage office hour information. 

This standardized process ensures: 

  • Consistent formatting across all unit websites. 
  • Easier updates for semester-specific office hours. 
  • Increased accuracy and clarity for students and colleagues. 
  • Reduced reliance on staff to collect and manually input this information. 

Faculty members can log in, submit their office hours for the upcoming semester(s), and have them automatically displayed on their directory pages. Group captains can also view, add, and edit faculty submissions for their units. 

Update your office hours
Instructions for Group Captains

How It Works

  1. Log In: Visit the Office Hours website, and log in using your Penn State credentials. 
  2. Select Units (First-time only): If it’s your first time using the tool, you’ll be prompted to select the unit(s) you’re affiliated with. 
  3. Add Office Hours: Enter your office hours for the current or upcoming semester(s). 
  4. Edit as Needed: You can return to the tool at any time to update or remove your hours. 

Your office hours will automatically appear on your directory pages and will be removed after each semester ends. 

Group captains are designated staff or faculty in each unit who have additional access to oversee submissions. Captains are typically the same group captains from the college events calendar—one of your unit’s communicators. 

As a group captain, you can: 

  • View all faculty office hour submissions tagged with your unit. 
  • Add or edit office hours on behalf of faculty. 
  • Encourage timely submission of office hours within your unit. 

If you have questions about how to view or make updates to your unit’s office hours, please submit a ticket to the Strategic Communications team.  

Formatting and Best Practices

To maintain consistency and readability across all directory pages, please follow these formatting guidelines when entering office hours.

  • Spell out days of the week:
    Tuesdays and Thursdays, not T/Th or Tues/Thurs 
  • Use an en dash (–) with no spaces to indicate time ranges:
     2:00–4:00 p.m., not 2-4pm or 2 – 4 p.m. 
  • Use periods in “a.m.” and “p.m.” 
  • Write “noon” instead of “12:00 p.m.”
    (e.g., 11:00 a.m.–noon) 
  • Include the location:
    Wednesdays, 1:00–3:00 p.m., 232 Sparks Building
    Tuesdays and Thursday, 3:00–4:00 p.m., Zoom (See course syllabus for link.) 
  • Abbreviated or inconsistent day formats (Mon, Weds) 
  • Time formats without punctuation (2-4pm, 10am–12pm) 
  • All caps (TUESDAY, AM/PM) 
  • Vague entries like “by appointment only” (unless truly the only option) 
    • If you are available only by appointment, please consider specifying preferred days or providing contact information. For example: 
    • By appointment Monday–Thursday. Email abc123@psu.edu to schedule. 
  • Leaving the office hours field blank. 
    • If you are not holding office hours for a given semester—for example, if you’re not teaching—you should still submit a brief note so your directory remains up to date and helpful to students. Consider using one of the following: 
      • No office hours this semester. 
      • Not teaching during fall 2025. 
    • Even if you’re unavailable for scheduled office hours, including a message helps set expectations and provides clarity. Avoid leaving the office hours field blank, as that can be confusing or suggest the information is missing. 

Note: Group captains and the Strategic Communications team reserve the right to make minor formatting changes to office hour submissions to maintain consistency and clarity across unit websites. 

FAQ

Yes, Group Captains can add or edit office hours when needed to ensure consistency and clarity across unit websites. These edits are typically limited to minor adjustments such as correcting typos, aligning with University editorial style, standardizing phrasing (e.g., “By appointment only”), and formatting for readability. Substantive changes to content (like altering the actual days or times listed) should only be made at the request of the faculty member or in coordination with them.

Faculty should update their office hours at the start of each semester to reflect their current availability. Because office hours are automatically removed at the end of every semester, there’s no need to proactively delete outdated hours—simply enter your new schedule when the next semester begins. If your availability changes during the semester, you are expected to update your entry so students have the most accurate information. Faculty may enter office hours up to three semesters in advance if they know their schedule, or they can wait until the start of each semester once their hours are confirmed.

Yes, faculty are encouraged to update their office hours at any point during the semester if their availability changes. While hours should be entered at the start of each semester (and will be automatically removed at the end of the term), you may edit your entry whenever needed to ensure students always have accurate and up-to-date information.

For technical help or clarification on formatting guidelines, Submit a ticket to the Strategic Communications team.