6.2.a FACULTY QUALIFICATIONS
For each of its educational programs, the institution justifies and documents the qualifications of its faculty members.
JUDGEMENT
Compliance 
Non-Compliance Partial Compliance
NARRATIVE
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is committed to hiring highly qualified faculty to deliver its educational programs. To help ensure that each search is successful in attracting highly qualified and diverse applicants, N.C. A&T utilizes a Faculty Hiring Toolkit: A Guide to Faculty Recruitment and Selection, which serves as a guide to hiring diverse and scholarly faculty.
N.C. A&T acknowledges its obligation to justify and document the qualifications of its faculty. Once a vacant position has been discussed and approved by the Provost, the recruitment process begins. The department chair or designee will consult with the dean to determine the minimum and desirable qualifications for the position and write the position description for posting. The minimum qualifications for all tenure-track faculty hires includes a terminal degree in the discipline or a closely related discipline, as defined by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The university’s Faculty Hiring Toolkit outlines the entire hiring process and helps to ensure fairness and consistency. The Toolkit, Section 4. Preparing for the Search, notes that “minimum qualifications must include a terminal degree. And, in keeping with the university’s mission, tenure-track faculty who are hired at the rank of associate or full professors are also expected to have experience in research and demonstrated scholarly productivity. Verifying of faculty credentials is a critical part of the hiring process, and is discussed more fully after Table 6.2.a.
Some non-tenure-track positions may accept a master’s degree if the faculty member will be teaching only at the undergraduate level. All instructors who taught during the Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters are included in the institution’s Faculty Rosters. As shown below, the Faculty Rosters are presented by colleges, and within each college by academic department.
Table 6.2.a: Links to Faculty Rosters for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020
|
FACULTY ROSTERS |
|
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences |
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1. Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education |
|
College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
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2. English |
|
Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics |
|
2. Business Information Systems and Analytics (formerly Business Education) |
|
3. Economics |
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4. Management |
|
College of Education |
|
2. Counseling |
|
College of Engineering |
|
College of Health and Human Sciences |
|
1. Kinesiology |
|
2. Nursing |
|
3. Psychology |
|
Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering |
|
College of Science and Technology |
|
3. Biology |
|
5. Chemistry |
|
8. Mathematics |
|
9. Physics |
|
Center for Academic Excellence |
N.C. A&T carefully and judiciously documents the credentials of each faculty member it hires and repeats the process if the faculty member is scheduled to teach courses that were not included in the initial credentialing. The faculty credentialing process is initiated by the academic department chairs who submit each credentialing package to the college/school dean for review and approval, then passed on to the Office of Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness in the Division of Academic Affairs, where the credentialing officer (who is always the Vice Provost for Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness and SACSCOC Liaison) does the final review and approval. The approved package is returned to the department, and must be included in the hiring packet of each faculty. The approved credentialing form (form 1 and form 2) becomes a part of the final hiring packet of each faculty. The hiring of a new faculty member cannot be completed without an approved credentialing form included in the hiring packet. The process is the same whether the institution is hiring a tenure-track faculty, a non-tenure-track full-time faculty, a part-time faculty or an adjunct faculty. It is required for all who will serve as the instructor of record for a course. After initial credentialing it is sometimes necessary to re-credential a faculty, when s/he is assigned a course for which s/he was not credentialed. In preparation for each semester, the Graduate Dean checks to make sure that all graduate level courses are scheduled to be taught by faculty qualified to teach at the graduate level, the primary consideration being that they hold the appropriate terminal degrees in their disciplines.
The university maintains copies of all faculty transcripts and credentialing forms (for those hired since fall 2013) to ensure institutional documents are available for review as needed. Hard copies of the transcripts and credentialing forms are also kept in the office of Academic Budget and Personnel, located in the Office of the Provost.
The university has adequately presented the qualifications of its faculty and explained any no-traditional qualifications to show that its educational programs are delivered by qualified faculty.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
1. Faculty Toolkit—A Guide to Faculty Recruitment and Selection
3. Toolkit, Section 4. Preparing for the Search
4. Approved Faculty Credentialing Form (names redacted)
a. Sample A
b. Sample B