Almost two years ago, Boise State University instituted a workload policy that worried some faculty members. Its basis is an algebraic-seeming formula with components--"teaching: 6 + x; scholarship: 2 + y; service: 2 + z"--that critics found difficult to believe could provide the flexibility that administrators promised. Some professors thought the policy would just add a layer of administrative bureaucracy. This article discusses the new workload policy at Boise State University which gives professors remarkable flexibility in their teaching, research, and service. Boise State has described its goal as redefining itself as a "metropolitan research university of distinction." The policy measures out in 30 "units" the teaching, scholarship, and service that faculty members are supposed to do in an academic year. It covers about 480 full-time faculty members (not including those in the library) who are tenured or on the tenure track. Faculty members and administrators agree that the flexible-workload policy has served as a catalyst for professors to broaden their scope.