The institution employs competent Faculty members qualified to accomplish the mission and goals of the institution.  When determining acceptable qualifications of its Faculty, an institution gives primary consideration to the highest earned degree in the discipline in accordance with the guidelines listed below.  The institution also considers competence, effectiveness, and capacity, including, as appropriate, undergraduate and graduate degrees, related work experiences in the field, professional licensure and certifications, honors and awards, continuous documented excellence in teaching, or other demonstrated competencies and achievements that contribute to effective teaching and student learning outcomes.  For all cases, the institution is responsible for justifying and documenting the qualifications of its Faculty.

_X_Compliance             ___Partial Compliance               ___Non-Compliance

Narrative

St. Petersburg College is in compliance with this comprehensive standard because it has established clear guidelines for determining the qualifications needed for each teaching discipline and has a stringent process for evaluating Faculty credentials in order to employ competent Faculty members qualified to achieve the educational mission and goals of the institution.  The college gives primary consideration to the highest earned degree in the teaching discipline.

Influence of Mission on Board of Trustees Requirements for Faculty

The mission of St. Petersburg College strongly influences the requirements set by the Board of Trustees for determining qualifications.  The goals supporting SPC’s mission identify the purpose of the various SPC educational programs.  The Board of Trustees’ Rule 6Hx23-2.022 then identifies the required Faculty qualifications for each type of educational program identified in the College’s goals:

Required Competencies

St. Petersburg College follows the guidelines of the Commission on College of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, repeated verbatim in the Board of Trustees’ Rule 6Hx23-2.022, for determining competencies required for Faculty in various disciplines, along with additional guidelines for developmental education, music, law, noncredit Faculty, and specialized accreditation.

SPC policy is that, wherever possible, full-time and part-time Faculty teaching associate’s degree general education courses or any other courses that transfer to a Baccalaureate degree hold at least the master’s degree in the teaching discipline or the master’s degree with a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline.

Faculty teaching Baccalaureate courses hold a doctoral or master’s degree in the teaching discipline or master’s degree with a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline.  At least 25 percent of the discipline course hours in each of SPC’s Baccalaureate Programs are taught by Faculty members holding the terminal degree in the discipline.  Some of the disciplines, such as Dental Hygiene, do not have a doctoral degree as their terminal degree.  A Master’s of Science in Dental hygiene is the highest degree currently available.  There are other disciplines that are in this category.  An explanation of each program and their appropriate terminal degree is listed in the College’s Teaching Discipline and Faculty Credential Requirements.

Faculty teaching courses not transferable hold at least the credential towards which their courses lead and work experience in that field.  The typical combination is a baccalaureate degree with appropriate industry-related work experience.  Faculty teaching courses in a non-transferable associate degree program have at least the associate degree in field.  Faculty teaching developmental credit courses must possess either teaching experience in that teaching discipline or documented graduate training in developmental education.

In compliance with SPC BOT Rule 6Hx23-2.022, degrees or coursework which count towards credentialing must be obtained from regionally-accredited institutions.

  The foreign credential organization must be one identified in the current listing by the National

These guidelines have been further clarified in the College’s Teaching Disciplines and Faculty Credential Requirements booklet, which specifies minimum competencies for academic and work experience preparation for each teaching discipline.

To determine minimum competencies the Credentials office works with discipline Program Directors, Deans, and Faculty, often in consultation with advisory committees comprised of local business and industry representatives.  The Credentials office encourages Program Directors and Deans to be aware of professional membership requirements in their fields to ensure the minimum competencies established for each discipline are appropriate.  In addition, the Credentials office has conducted program content research over the past 8 years and has collaborated with other two-year colleges on their teaching discipline requirements, with Deans and Directors of programs at other four-year institutions who offer graduate degrees in many of the fields, and with SACS staff on what their expectations are in certain fields (i.e., Humanities, Health).  Minimum competencies include criteria such as years of experience, portfolios for art Faculty, certification in specific software, and alternative accrediting agencies allowed.  For example, the requirement for Faculty in the EMS program to have various certificates (Basic Life Support Provider, Advanced Cardiac Life Support Instructor and the Basic Trauma Life Support Instructor by the American College of Emergency Physicians) was determined from recommendations from the agencies hiring SPC students and requirements stated in State law or regulations.

Documentation of Qualifications

The institution also considers competence, effectiveness, and capacity, including undergraduate and graduate degrees, related work experiences in the field, professional licensure and certifications, honors and awards, continuous documented excellence in teaching, or other demonstrated competencies and achievements that contribute to effective teaching and student learning outcomes.

These guidelines have been further clarified in the College’s Teaching Disciplines and Faculty Credential Requirements booklet, which specifies minimum competencies for academic and work experience preparation for each teaching discipline.

St. Petersburg College has a few very unique courses where alternate credentials have been identified for the discipline as a whole.  A complete definition of these disciplines is found throughout the Teaching Fields Definition Manual.

The Hiring of Faculty members

The Teaching Disciplines and Faculty Credential Requirements booklet    is used by Program Directors and Deans and hiring committees to screen applicants for full-time and adjunct Faculty openings.

Before a new full-time or part-time (adjunct) Faculty member is hired, Faculty credentialing information, as part of the employment application, is completed using a Faculty Credential form by the appropriate Program Director or College Dean.  The review continues with the approval by the appropriate campus Provost or Senior Vice President of Educational and Student Services or the Senior Vice President of Baccalaureate Programs and University Partnerships.

During the process of reviewing the application and interviewing the candidates, an assessment is made of English oral and written communication skills.  Each candidate is also required to write a statement describing his or her philosophy of education.  A Faculty applicant must be able to demonstrate competency in the use of technology in the classroom and must be able to use the technology required for the course.

Pursuant to District Board of Trustees’ Rule 6Hx23-2.201, all finalists for full-time Faculty positions are interviewed by the Program Director or College Dean, Campus Provost, if appropriate, and then the Senior Vice Presidents and President.

The Faculty Credential form accompanies the full-time or adjunct SPC Instructional applications together with copies of all official college transcripts, licenses and certifications submitted by the applicant.  There also must be verification of relevant work experience if required for that teaching discipline.  For full-time Faculty candidates, the Program Director or Dean must complete a Faculty Reference Question form.

There is an electronic database containing Faculty members and the disciplines for which they are qualified to teach (SPC Roster of Instructional Staff).  After hire, if a Faculty member wishes to teach in additional disciplines, the Faculty Credential evaluation is modified and resubmitted using the same process.

St. Petersburg College keeps on file in Human Resources, for all full-time and part-time Faculty members, documentation of academic preparation, including official transcripts and appropriate documentation demonstrating competency.  All College full-time Faculty and their degrees are listed in the College Catalog.

Responsibility for ensuring compliance in all aspects of Faculty credentialing resides with each Program Director or Dean, the campus Provost and the Offices of Educational and Student Services, Baccalaureate and University Partnership Programs, as well as Human Resources.  In 2003, SPC implemented a module of PeopleSoft, the course scheduling system used by the College, which prevents a faculty member from being assigned to a particular course unless that Faculty member has been appropriately credentialed.

Sample PeopleSoft Instructor Advisor Table with courses allowed to be taught by an instructor

SACS recent affirmation of SPC’s Level II Faculty

SPC has submitted and received approval for several substantive changes since the last reaffirmation visit.  The Commission on Colleges approved membership at Level II in December, 2001, and in November, 2002, SPC hosted a Substantive Change Committee visit to review continued compliance with the Criteria.   At that time, the Committee commended St. Petersburg College “for their vision, planning, and implementation of a creative and innovative expansion of programs to include baccalaureate degrees in high-need areas of Nursing, Teacher Education, and Technology Management in their service region.” In December 2004, the Commission on Colleges affirmed that SPC had responded appropriately to all long-term recommendations from the Substantive Change Committee regarding evaluation of educational goals of the Baccalaureate programs following the first graduations from the programs.  Since then, SPC has submitted and received approval for expanding the institution’s current degrees to include a B.A.S. in Dental Hygiene, Paralegal, Public Safety Administration, Orthotics and Prosthetics, International Business, Veterinary Technology, and, most recently, Banking (individual submissions for each added program).   Approval was received on each detailed program proposal submitted outlining the need, the scope, faculty credentials, program of study, and the assessment process.

               Dates of COC Approval for new Baccalaureate Programs

References