Compliance Certification Report
| 2.8. | The number of full-time faculty members is adequate to support the mission of the institution. The institution has adequate faculty resources to ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs. In addition, upon application for candidacy, an applicant institution demonstrates that it meets the comprehensive standard for faculty qualifications. (Faculty) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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[Compliance] |
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Narrative: |
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| The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is in compliance with Principle 2.8 because the number of full-time faculty members is sufficient to support the University mission of research, teaching and service, and faculty resources are adequate to ensure the quality and integrity of academic programs. UAH determines the adequacy of the number of full-time (FT) faculty using the following data: total number of FT faculty; number of FT faculty by rank, tenure status, and college; undergraduate class size; faculty student ratios; faculty teaching loads; faculty research productivity; and faculty service productivity. UAH also monitors the use of part-time faculty. Accreditation of programs, internal program reviews, and annual reports by all academic units also measure adequacy of faculty resources to ensure the quality and integrity of academic programs. Programs in the following colleges have recently had their accreditation reaffirmed: Administrative Science (2003 by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business [AACSB International]), Engineering (2004 by [ABET, Inc.]), and Nursing (1999 by both the Alabama Board of Nursing [ABN] and the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education [CCNE]). The Computer Science BS program in the College of Science is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET through September 30, 2006. The music program in the College of Liberal Arts is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music [NASM]; the last review was in 2000. Also, in the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of Art and Art History is in the process of seeking accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and the Department of Education is working towards initial accreditation with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Number of Faculty The number of full-time faculty is adequate to support the University's mission. As described in the document Campus Level Planning Processes: Campus Plan, Goals, Results, and Effectiveness, a thorough analysis of enrollment and faculty resources in 1997 indicated that the institution could, in fact, accommodate additional students with its number of faculty at that time. Based on this analysis, an institutional goal to increase enrollment while holding faculty positions essentially constant was established. Therefore, over the past five years, the total number of full-time faculty has remained relatively stable, in accord with this plan. Between fiscal years 1997-1998 and 2001-2002, there was only one tenure-track faculty line added in the University. Credit hour enrollment increased by 18 percent from Fall Semester 1997 to Fall Semester 2002. In the fiscal years 2002-2003 to 2004-2005, the faculty increased by 13.5 full-time equivalent (FTE). Five positions went to our African-American recruitment initiative; three positions went to Nursing which all along had been operating with teaching efficiency substantially above their benchmark; three positions were added to Administrative Science to serve strongly increased enrollment in that college; and 2.5 positions were added in Science in support of research areas of particular strength and opportunity. Table 2.8.a shows the five-year history broken down by appointment type. Table 2.8.a Full-Time Faculty* by Type of Appointment (Five-Year History) A further indication of the adequacy of faculty resources is provided through benchmarking against other institutions. Two of UAH's colleges (Engineering and Science) have PhD programs and attract significant federal research funding. UAH's other colleges (Administrative Science, Liberal Arts, and Nursing) are master's degree granting entities, with substantial expectations in scholarship and creative activities. Accordingly, in most benchmarking with other institutions, (teaching productivity, workloads, faculty salaries, etc.) UAH compares its Engineering and Science Colleges with other "doctoral" institutions, and its Administrative Science, Liberal Arts, and Nursing Colleges with other "comprehensive" institutions. The adequacy of the number of UAH faculty compared to its peers, as measured by the National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity, (Delaware Study), is displayed in Table 2.8.b. The majority of programs have student/faculty ratios comparable to or smaller than peer institutions. Several of the programs with student faculty ratios higher than those at comparable universities have subsequently received additional faculty positions Table 2.8.b Delaware Study FTE Students Per FTE Instructional Faculty for Fall Semester 2002 Faculty by Rank and Tenure Status In the Fall Semester 2004, UAH had 310 full-time faculty members, including 18 research faculty and 18 academic administrators. Table 2.8.c shows a breakdown of these by category and rank. The ranks of the 274 full-time instructional faculty members are: 78 professors, 84 associate professors, 81 assistant professors, and 31 instructors/lecturers. As shown in Table 2.8.d, the distribution of instructional faculty ranks varies among the colleges: the Colleges of Engineering and Science have the largest proportion of full professors (49 percent and 40 percent, respectively) whereas the College Liberal Arts has the largest proportion of associate professors (42 percent), the College of Nursing has the largest proportion of assistant professors (81 percent), and the Library faculty are mainly lecturers (88 percent). Table 2.8.c Fall Semester 2004 Full-Time Faculty by Category and Rank* Table 2.8.d Fall Semester 2004 Full-Time Instructional Faculty* by College and Rank A total of 157 (57.5 percent) of the full-time instructional faculty were tenured, with another 58 in tenure-earning positions. Table 2.8.e provides a breakdown of tenure status by colleges only. Nursing and the Library have fewer than 50 percent of full-time faculty holding tenure. The fact that 78 percent of the faculty are in tenured or tenure-earning positions indicates a well-prepared and experienced faculty for the University as a whole. Table 2.8.e Fall Semester 2004 Full-Time Instructional Faculty* by College and Tenure Status Credit Hour Generation Table 2.8.f displays Fall Semester 2004 credit hours generated by full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and graduate teaching assistants. A total of 73,400 credit hours were produced in the Fall Semester 2004, of which 50,387 (68.65 percent) were taught by full-time faculty. Full-time faculty taught 66.67 percent of undergraduate credit hours and 82.53 percent of graduate credit hours. Table 2.8.f shows the credit hour production by college for full-time and part-time faculty, and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). Except for Nursing, where the majority of part-time faculty provide clinical instruction within courses taught by full-time faculty, the proportion of undergraduate credit hours shows little variation among the colleges. Graduate credit hour production shows a larger variation among the colleges, with the full-time faculty proportion ranging between 64 percent (Administrative Science) and 94 percent (Science). In Fall Semester 2004, part-time faculty accounted for 31.35 percent of total credit hour production (see Table 2.8.f). The College of Nursing had the lowest reliance on part-time faculty (6.32 percent) due to the fact that the majority of part-time faculty members in nursing provide clinical instruction within courses taught by full-time faculty. The College of Science had the highest (35.02 percent). Our location in an area of significant research and development in science and engineering is advantageous to the Colleges of Science and Engineering. For these disciplines, it is an advantage to be able to hire adjunct faculty who have strong academic credentials plus substantial experience in industry. They are able to draw on unusually skilled scientists and engineers from Marshall Space Flight Center and from major companies like Boeing, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Grumman. Thus UAH has a respected and competent group of adjunct and part-time faculty who share their work experiences in the classroom and thus enrich student learning. Table 2.8.f Fall Semester 2004 Credit Hour Production (CHP) by Part-Time Faculty, Graduate Teaching Assistants, and Full-Time Faculty Class Size UAH has an adequate number of faculty members to maintain relatively small class sizes, providing increased opportunities for individualized attention to student learning. Out of 771 undergraduate sections taught in the Fall Semester 2004 (not including labs), only 50 enrolled 50-99 students, and only 11 enrolled more than 100 students. The most common class size was 20-29 (197 sections had this enrollment), and almost as many enrolled 2-9 and 10-19, as shown in Table 2.8.g. Sixty-six percent of our classes enroll 29 or fewer students; only 1.9 percent enroll more than 100 students. Table 2.8.g Undergraduate Class Size, Fall Semester 2004 (excluding labs) Faculty Workload Faculty workload includes expectations in the areas of teaching, research or creative achievements, and service. The distribution across these areas for individual faculty members is based on the type of appointment. Guidelines for faculty workload are presented in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter 7, Section 5, and are further explicated in a May 8, 1992 memorandum from the president. The following sections describe each of the three areas and further support the adequacy of the faculty in meeting the institutional mission of teaching, research and service. Faculty Teaching Load The UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter 7, Section 5, defines the usual teaching load for full-time, research active faculty as 18 semester hours per academic year. Teaching loads may be up to 24 semester hours depending on departmental needs and missions as well as the other responsibilities of the faculty member. The teaching loads for non-tenure earning faculty are generally 24 semester hours per academic year. This load might vary depending on the terms and expectations established at the time of appointment. Department chairs and deans are responsible for monitoring teaching loads. The institution provides a salary supplement for faculty who teach an overload as a means of rewarding those who from time-to-time assume greater than normal teaching responsibilities. The fact that only a few faculty members, as shown in Table 2.8.h, have been eligible for those supplements is an indication of the adequacy of the number of faculty to teach courses offered by the institution. Table 2.8.h Faculty Receiving Salary Supplements for Teaching Overload Faculty Service Annual reports for the colleges provide details of service loads for individual faculty. The range of types of service activities makes quantification and comparison of service workloads more difficult than teaching and research. Department chairs and deans are responsible for monitoring service contributions as a part of the total faculty workload. Special efforts are made to keep junior faculty service loads low during their tenure-earning years. Annual reports from the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science are included as examples. Research and Creative Activities The high level of productivity in research and creative achievements further supports the adequacy of the faculty to carry out the research mission of the institution. The bulk of UAH research funding is generated by grants and contracts for which a faculty member is the principal investigator. In FY04, UAH received slightly more than $50M in research funding, the major sources for which were NASA (~$17.4M) and the Department of Defense (~$14.7M), as shown in Table 2.8.i. Over a five-year period, research expenditures showed a relatively steady growth, from ~$35M in FY00 to ~$45M in FY04. Table 2.8.i Distribution of Awards, FY04 The National Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity (Delaware Study) provides a comparison of sponsored research expenditures per FTE tenured and tenure-earning faculty at UAH as compared to that of faculty in similar institutions. These data, presented in Table 2.8.j, indicate that in the majority of disciplines at UAH, faculty exceed sponsored research expenditures at other institutions. Table 2.8.j Delaware Study Sponsored Research Expenditures per FTE Tenure Track Faculty Member Faculty research productivity is also indicated by the number of publications and presentations. Data reported in college annual reports shows substantial productivity as summarized in Table 2.8.k. Table 2.8.k Productivity Data for May 2003-May 2004 |
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