SECTION 6: FACULTY

6.1 FULL-TIME FACULTY [CR]

The institution employs an adequate number of full-time faculty members to support the mission and goals of the institution.

JUDGEMENT

Compliance Non-Compliance Partial Compliance

NARRATIVE

As approved by the North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University Board of Trustees on February 16, 2018 and by the University of North Carolina System’s Board of Governors on March 23, 2018, the mission statement of the university states:

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University advances knowledge through scholarly exchange and transforms society with exceptional teaching, learning, discovery and community engagement. An 1890 land-grant doctoral research institution with a distinction in STEM and commitment to excellence in all disciplines, North Carolina A&T creates innovative solutions that address the challenges and economic needs of North Carolina, the nation and the world.

N.C. A&T’s commitment to excellence in teaching, research and student success make faculty development a top priority, as indicated in the strategic plan, A&T Preeminence: Taking the Momentum to 2023 [BM1] . Goal 1: Excellence in Teaching, Research and Student Success outlines the university’s commitment to:

1. Enhance the quality of the faculty and staff through strategic recruitment and continuing support of current talent. 

2. Increase training and development programs, and provide state-of-the-art technology, to improve teaching, research, advisement and delivery systems. 

3. Practice effective and innovative pedagogy and strategies to enhance learning. 

4. Cultivate university-wide interdisciplinary collaborations in research, application and entrepreneurial innovation to address critical and complex problems. 

5. Strengthen recruitment, preparation, retention, graduation and placement of students. 

6. Develop and promote distinctive interdisciplinary academic programs that create innovative experiences and opportunities for students. 

7. Create programs to ensure the success of students in critical workforce careers. 

The university offers 96 degree programs—56 baccalaureate programs, 30 master’s degree programs and 10 doctoral degree programs—through seven colleges and the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (with UNC Greensboro). As captured in the organization chart, the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs has responsibility for all the institution’s academic programs. The university continuously ensures that it supports all its academic programs by hiring and retaining an adequate number of full-time faculty members to support its mission.

The university’s mission notes its commitment to distinction in STEM as well as excellence in all disciplines. During the 2019-2020 academic year, the university’s mission was supported by its 861 FTE (full-time equivalent) faculty members, approximately one-third of whom are STEM and two-thirds are non-STEM. The 861 FTE faculty are comprised of 524 full-time and 422 part-time faculty. The 422 part-time faculty account for 337 FTEs.

DEFINITIONS OF FACULTY TYPES

Full-time Faculty. A full-time faculty member is either Tenured, Tenure-Track or Non-Tenure-Track, hired for at least one academic year. Tenured and Tenure-Track faculty have continuing multi-year contracts and Non-Tenure-Track faculty have full-time term-limited contracts, for one, two or three years. The latter contracts are renewable based on performance. The University’s Faculty Handbook, Appendix B-2, Part 5, p. 9 notes that “Except as may be otherwise expressly provided in the document of appointment, all appointments to any faculty rank are on the basis of a full-time employment . . .” Tenured and Tenure-Track faculty ranks are considered to be permanent faculty and include the ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor. Non-Tenure-Track faculty ranks include: Teaching/Research/Clinical Professors of Practice; Teaching Assistant Professor, Teaching Associate Professor, Teaching Full Professor and several other ranks as outlined in the Non-Tenure Track Faculty policy. Part-time faculty are also hired, and are defined below.

Permanent Faculty. These are tenure and tenure-track faculty, whose contracts are not term-limited. While tenure-track faculty do have a time-line for earning tenure, their contracts are not term-limited, as shown in the offer letter. There are, however, specific dates given for review as they progress towards tenure. All tenured faculty, except those in full-time administrative positions, participate in post-tenure review every five years.

Non-Tenure-Track Faculty (NTTF). The NTTF Policy defines all the various types of NTTF faculty appointments that are available at the university, including Research Assistant Professor, Teaching Assistant Professor, Lecturers, Clinical Associate Professors and several others. These term-limited positions are for one, two, or three years and are renewable based on performance. They also include ranks, allowing for promotion from one level to a higher level.

Part-time Faculty. Part-time faculty have five-month appointments and many teach only one or two classes per semester. Part-time faculty includes Adjunct Instructors, who have primary responsibilities as full-time employees of the university, but who additionally teach one class per semester. The employment of part-time instructors is governed by University’s NTTF policy, p. 3.

The institution considers its full time faculty—tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure-track to be its “core” faculty. They are hired for at least one academic year at a time (nine-month appointment) and their primary responsibility consists of a combination of teaching (including identification of student learning outcomes, curriculum design, development and evaluation), research or creative activity and service (including student advising, as well asinstitutional, community, and professional service). Department chairs, assistant deans and associate deans, who are typically required to teach in addition to their administrative responsibilities, are included in the core faculty. Program coordinators, who are members of the full-time core faculty, provide oversight for the curriculum in all undergraduate and graduate programs.

Complementing the university’s full-time faculty is a group of part-time faculty, who are hired under the university’s Non-tenure Track Faculty (NTTF) Policy. Part-time faculty have five-month (one semester) appointments and many teach only one or two classes per semester. In fall of 2019 the ratio of full-time to part-time faculty, based on headcount was 55:45, as shown in Table 6.1—i. However, the university’s 861 FTE faculty are comprised of 524 full-time and 422 part-time faculty, who account for 337 FTEs. The ratio of full-time to part-time faculty, based on FTE was 61:39.

The work of full-time faculty is complemented by more than 20 assistant and associate deans as well as approximately 24 academic advisors who work through the Center for Academic Excellence, with one advisor embedded in seven of the eight colleges that offer undergraduate programs. The Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering offers only graduate degree programs. The full-time faculty are also assisted by a variety of graduate students who serve as lab technicians, teaching assistants, and research assistants. Each academic year the university hires approximately 500 graduate assistants, with 512 being hired in the 2019-2020 academic year. All classes that enroll more than 50 students are offered the opportunity to have a graduate assistant to support the faculty, including classes taught by part-time faculty.

Table 6.1—i: Fall 2019 Faculty

Faculty Status	Number (Headcount) of Faculty	Percent of Total Faculty
Full-time Tenured Faculty and Tenure Track Faculty	436	46.1
Full-time Non-Tenure-Track Faculty	88	9.3
Part-time Faculty (Full load with 1 semester contract, or partial load)	422	44.6
TOTAL	946	100
Ratio of Full-time to Part-time Faculty = 55:45 *

*Based on FTE, the ratio is 61:39.

All faculty members, whether part-time or full-time and whether teaching in-person or online, are appropriately and fully credentialed to teach their assigned courses, meeting or exceeding the minimum qualifications based on SACSCOC guidelines. Graduate students are not assigned courses to teach at N.C. A&T unless they are hired as part-time instructors and credentialed as such. Several serve as teaching assistants and lab technicians, but not as the instructor of record.

At N.C. A&T, the process for determining the appropriate number of faculty is governed by workload policies of the University of North Carolina System (University of North Carolina Policy 400.3.4, Monitoring Faculty Teaching Workloads) and the N.C. A&T Workload Assignment and Assessment Policy. While individual course assignments are done by the department chairs keeping in mind the extent to which individual faculty are involved in research and service responsibilities, the university overall maintains an instructional load equivalent of five three-hour credit courses per year per full time faculty. The department chair makes this assignment in consultation with the deans and with the overall approval of the Provost. Although the university aims to have overall annual course loads of five (5) courses per faculty on average, it does not mean that each faculty teaches five courses per year. Typically, the range is four courses per year to eight courses per year (12 to 24 credit hours per year). The average number of sections per FTE faculty, as shown in Table 6.1- ii, and the average SCH (student credit hours) per FTE faculty at N.C. A&T, as shown in Table 6.1-iii, are each consistent with our UNC System peers as reported in May 2019. The data in Table 6.1-ii shows that the number of FTE faculty compares very well with our peer institutions.

Table 6.—ii: Average Number of Sections per FTE Compared to UNC Peers—Reported for Fall Semesters.

UNC Schools	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
ECU	3.1	4.3	3.9	3.6	3.6	3.4	3.3	3.3	3.2
NC A&T	3.4	3.8	3.7	3.3	3.4	3.7	3.6	3.6	3.5
UNCC	3.0	3.1	3.0	2.8	2.9	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.7
UNCG	3.6	4.1	4.0	4.0	4.2	2.7	2.8	3.0	3.4

*The institution’s UNC Peer universities are: (a) East Carolina University, (b) University of North Carolina Charlotte, (c) University of North Carolina Greensboro)

The average student credit hours generated for N.C. A&T compared to its UNC peer institutions, shown in Table 6.1-iii, is also similar or a bit lower than its peers in some years. As a workload metric, this is good for the institution.

Table 6.1—iii: Average Student Credit Hours (SCHs) per FTE Faculty

UNC School	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
ECU	201.2	253.4	224.0	232.9	231.5	228.5	236.6	249.0	256.1
NC A&T	187.2	247.2	233.9	226.5	211.7	229.8	236.2	242.4	241.2
UNCC	216.3	232.2	237.3	248.7	236.1	252.9	259.7	264.9	252.6
UNC G	225.1	246.1	230.9	229.8	234.0	204.1	212.4	217.0	222.3

The university strives to have the majority of the courses taught by full time “core” faculty. As shown in Figure 6.1: in the Fall 2019, full-time “core” faculty taught 60.2 percent of the classes, and non-core faculty taught 39.8 percent of the classes delivered. Core faculty taught 51 percent of online classes and 49 percent were taught by non-core faculty.

Core faculty contributions to teaching can also be seen in the number of student credit hours taught each semester. In Fall 2019, 56.3 percent of undergraduate SCH and 84% of graduate SCH were taught by core faculty. The university, in Fall 2019, had a total of 12,556 students and a total FTE faculty of 861, resulting in an overall 14.6:1 student to faculty ratio.

In addition to teaching, one of the central responsibilities of a core faculty member is service, more specifically service to the university, which can take the form of committee work as well as academic advising. By directly engaging with students via academic advising, N.C. A&T core faculty provide direct support to their students’ on-campus activities and post-graduate goals. Nearly 91 percent of our 11,039 undergraduates were affiliated with a major department home; the other 9 percent are managed by the Center for Academic Excellence, which employs 24 staff members, whose primary responsibilities are advising and supporting students. Seven of the 24 staff members are embedded in the colleges that have undergraduate programs, providing advising to freshmen and other vulnerable students.

A significant amount of academic advising is done by faculty. Full-time faculty provide nearly 100 percent of academic advising to sophomores, juniors and seniors. Freshman advising is done by the full-time advisors. Part-time faculty are not assigned academic advisees. Faculty serve on a variety of committees in their academic departments and colleges as well as standing committees of the Faculty Senate and ad hoc committees established at the university level for such things as strategic planning. A list of 21 committees of the Faculty Senate in Chapter V of the Faculty Handbook.

Another important aspect of N.C. A&T’s land-grant mission is service to the community or community engagement. The university has built on its 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification each year, recognizing and honoring a faculty member who demonstrates exemplary community engagement, and hiring a Director of Community Engagement to serve as the primary contact for faculty community engagement activities. Non-academic staff contributed more than 3,500 hours of community service in 2019, valued at approximately $94,000. Faculty reports for the 2019—2020 years, archived in the university’s Digital Measures database shows more than 335 examples of community service activities.

The third responsibility of core faculty at N.C. A&T is research/creative activity. Through the collective efforts of our faculty, as supported by the Division of Research and Economic Development, N.C. A&T is currently ranked as a doctoral higher research activity university by the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education. During the 2019—2020 academic year, there were over 100 different principal investigators identified on approximately 145 externally funded research projects across the campus. Figure 6.1—ii shows the research productivity since the last accreditation in 2010. The average for the last five years is just over $60,000,000 per year, with the Division of Research and Economic Development reporting approximately 50 percent of the faculty (FT) engaged in funded research in 2019--2020.

 Figure 6.1—ii. Total Annual Awards by Fiscal Years, 2001-2019

Faculty research productivity for the 2018—2019 academic year is highlighted in the online flipbook Division of Research and Economic Development Annual Report. An analysis of the institution’s Digital Measures database shows that faculty produced more than 1250 scholarly publications during the 2019—2020 academic year. They also had more than 30 artistic and creative endeavors, and made more than 1200 professional presentations. Professional service activities topped 600.

The university employs an adequate number of full-time faculty members to support its mission and goals, and it provides continuing professional development opportunities to help them to remain current in their disciplines.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

1. A&T Preeminence: Taking the Momentum to 2023

a. University’s Mission Statement

2. Provost Office Organizational Chart, showing all Direct Reports

3. Appendix B-2

4. Offer Letter (Redacted)

5. Post Tenure Review Policy—Appendix B-3

6. Non-Tenure-Track Faculty (NTTF) Policy

7. University of North Carolina System (University of North Carolina Policy 400.3.4, Monitoring Faculty Teaching Workloads)

8. N.C. A&T Workload Assignment and Assessment Policy

9. List of UNC Peer Institutions for N.C. A&T

10. 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification