Core Requirement 2.8
The
number of full-time faculty members is adequate to support the mission of the
institution and to assure the quality and integrity of its academic
programs. (Faculty)
Non-Compliance
T.
A. Lawson State Community College employs full-time instructors who teach
65-70% of the classes taught at both campuses.
The college documented the numbers of full-time and part-time faculty
and the number of credit hours and percentage of credit hours taught by each
group for fall 2007 and spring, summer, and fall of 2008. However, documentation did not fully
demonstrate that the current numbers are “adequate.” For example, the Compliance Certification did
not provide full-time faculty distribution or ratios across the two campuses
and at the off-site correctional facility.
Response:
Lawson
State Community College has an adequate number of full-time faculty to support
the mission of the College and to ensure the quality and integrity of its
academic programs. The number of
full-time faculty increased significantly from Fall 2007 (n=86) to Fall 2008
(n=96). The College has made
considerable efforts to ensure that the number of full-time faculty is adequate
to meet the curriculum offerings and to maintain quality and integrity in its
academic programs. Equally important, the number of full-time faculty members
employed by the college grew from 86 to 96 in a short period to keep pace with
the growing trends in enrollment.
The
chart below shows the number of faculty members based on status – full-time and
part-time; the credit hours produced by
each group; and the percentage of
classes taught by full-time faculty. Each faculty member is assigned an
instructional load of 15-16 semester credit hours according to Alabama State Board of Education Policy 608.01. Full-time faculty in the Career Technical
Division can maintain a course load of no more than 30 hours per week, while an
adjunct faculties’ course load is no more than 19 hours per week, per
semester. Those course loads for
full-time and part-time faculty are sufficient to maintain the integrity of
these college programs. In assessing the
ratios below, the majority (n=70%) of credit hours taught at the college are
taught by full-time faculty members.
Table A: Faculty and
Credit Hour Production Chart
|
Semester/Year |
Full-time faculty |
Part-time faculty |
Credit hours taught by full-time faculty |
Credit hours taught by part-time faculty |
% credit hours taught by full-time faculty |
% credit hours taught by part-time faculty |
|
Fall 2008 |
96 |
125 |
25,776 |
10,821 |
70 |
30 |
|
Summer 2008 |
74 |
75 |
10,732 |
3,959 |
73 |
27 |
|
Spring 2008 |
86 |
121 |
20,953 |
10,252 |
67 |
33 |
|
Fall 2007 |
86 |
125 |
22,044 |
11,733 |
65 |
35 |
The chart below (Table
B) provides
full-time faculty ratios across the College’s two campuses and the off-site
correctional facility. On the Birmingham Campus, there are 58 full-time faculty members
with a teaching ratio of 5:1 instructional section per faculty. On the Bessemer Campus, there are 38
full-time faculty, yielding a 4:1 ratio instructional sections per
instructor. The correctional site has a
low credit hour production with 10 full-time faculty members yielding a low
instructional load per faculty member (3:1 ratio)..
Table B: Faculty and Instructional
Sections by Location
|
CAMPUS |
NUMBER
of FACULTY |
NUMBER
OF SECTIONS |
RATIO
OF SECTIONS TO FACULTY |
CREDIT
HOUR GENERATION |
RATIO
OF CREDIT HOURS TO FACULTY |
|
Birmingham-Campus |
120 |
521 |
4:1 |
20195 |
168:1 |
|
Full-time |
58 |
325 |
5:1 |
13719 |
285:1 |
|
Part-time |
62 |
196 |
3:1 |
6476 |
89:1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bessemer-Campus |
91 |
224 |
3:1 |
15113 |
166:1 |
|
Full-time |
38 |
140 |
4:1 |
10568 |
278:1 |
|
Part-time |
53 |
84 |
2:1 |
4545 |
85:1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Corrections-Instructional Site |
10 |
34 |
3:1 |
1289 |
129:1 |
|
Full-time |
10 |
34 |
3:1 |
1289 |
129:1 |
|
Part-time |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Totals |
221 |
779 |
3:1 |
36597 |
166:1 |
Class Sizes and
Specialized Enrollment Limits
Lawson
State Community College limits class size (equal to or less than 35 )for
traditional and distance learning classes and clinical settings, hires
qualified faculty, and monitors the instructional loads of faculty
as established by State Board Policy 608.01. Additionally,
the College requires same courses to use common course student learner outcomes
and formats; yet allows the instructor
to use sound pedagogy and educational practices to disseminate the
knowledge and skills associated with the student learner outcomes in support of
the College’s mission.
The
average class sizes at Lawson State Community College range from eight students
in clinical settings, to thirty-five students in college transfer courses. The College complies with all specialized
accrediting bodies, as well as safety standards in laboratories, by not
superseding class size limits in specialized classes; these include clinical
courses for health profession classes and dental assisting programs. Class sizes, when created at Lawson State,
are created with a cap limit for available seats. Once all seats have been enrolled in during
pre-registration, the AS400 internal scheduling software automatically closes
the course and no more students can enroll unless approved by the Department
Chair of that division and the Academic Dean.
If enrollment demands are higher than anticipated for a specific course,
then a new course is added to the system.
Syllabi Protections
Another
way that Lawson State Community College protects the integrity and quality of
education is through the standardization of its textbooks and Student Learning
Outcomes per course. Syllabi and course
objectives outline specific minimums per course, regardless of instructor (Sample Syllabi). Full-time faculty (within each
academic department) as well as Department Chairs establish and review these standards
via a syllabus review. In 2007, the
Academic Affairs office issued a mandated syllabus review and restructure to
include outlined Student Learning Outcomes per course and the following
template was issued to all academic departments for syllabus alignment and
uniformity (Syllabus Template).
Faculty Qualifications
Full-time
faculty must meet the minimum qualifications outlined by the State Board (Policy 605.02). Faculty
salary is determined from Schedule D as outline by the State Board (Policy 606.01). Part-time
faculty must meet minimum qualifications.
They are employed on a per course and per semester basis.
Lawson State Community College employs
competent faculty members qualified to accomplish the mission and goals of the
institution. All College Transfer full-time and part-time faculty members who
teach Associate Degree courses that are designed for transfer towards a
baccalaureate degree have either a Master’s or Doctoral degree in the teaching
discipline or a Master’s degree with a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours in
the teaching discipline as governed by State Board Policy 605.02. Faculty members who teach developmental courses (below
college level) hold at least a Bachelor’s degree in the teaching discipline or
within a related field. Career Technical faculty members have either Associates
degree in their discipline, appropriate certifications and a minimum of three
years of work experience in the related teaching field or a professional
license (2008-2009
Faculty Roster).
Lawson State adheres to State Board Policy 602.02 guidelines as it relates to the hiring practices and
procedures governing faculty appointments.
Job announcements and position descriptions detail the required qualifications
of all faculty and outline minimum qualifications (Sample
Job Announcement). The Vice President for Instructional Services
is responsible for recommending (to the President) a committee for each
announced position. Committee structures
include faculty representatives from the department and others, an
administrative representative from the department and a Human Resources
representative. During the preliminary
stage of candidate selection, the credentials of all applicants are reviewed
and assessed against the minimum qualifications for the position, including a
review of transcripts and work experience. Following the screening and
interviewing process, Committee recommendations are sent to the President for
final approval and appointment as outlined in State Board Policy 602.01.
The College ensures (through the use of its
Faculty Credentials Packet and adjunct hiring process) that adjunct faculty
meet the same academic credential requirements as full-time faculty do;
however, the department chair will identify potential candidates, conduct
interviews, evaluate transcripts, verify related work experience and make the
recommendation for employment to the appropriate administrators (Associate
Deans, Deans, and Vice President for Instructional Services) (Faculty
Credentials Packet Template). The Credential Packet outlines a specific
step-by-step process that administrators must follow and includes a background
check authorization, listing of education qualifications, attachment of
unofficial transcripts and/or current certifications (for preliminary review),
and includes an eligibility test (Completed
Faculty Credentials Packets). If approved tentatively, an official request
for transcripts is provided to the instructor (Transcript
Request Notification Letter). Once
transcripts are received in Human Resources, Department Chairs are provided
copies of official transcripts for review and final clearance of credentials.
Once officially cleared, the credentials packet is signed by the Department
Chair and submitted (for approval) to the Dean (academic or career technical)
and the Vice President for Instructional Services. Final approval and appointment is reserved
for the President.
In cases where a faculty member is hired
without the appropriate degree, the employee must complete a portfolio
documenting extensive work and/or talent in the teaching field. The
portfolio is evaluated by a qualified professional in the teaching field and is
then sent to the Vice President for Instructional Services for validation and
submission to the Human Resources Office for credential verification and
placement in the personnel file. The instructor is certified to teach as
a qualified and properly credentialed instructor in accordance to accreditation
requirements. All personnel files are housed in the Human
Resources Office.
Student
Satisfaction
Additionally, in an effort to ensure that the College has
adequate faculty and the quality of its academic programs by obtaining student
feedback through the Graduate Survey.
The College surveys its graduates, annually, to ascertain how satisfied
they are with the instruction and services provided to them over their tenure
at the college. The Graduate Survey
extracted results below for the past three years (2006, 2007, and 2008) that
students are satisfied with the quality of the academic programs and with the
resources provided through supporting instructional units such as the
Library/Learning Resources Center and Department of Developmental Education. Also, academic success was encouraged and
promoted (97%, n=230) by the College (Graduate Survey Results).
Documentation:
|
Documentation |
Location |
|
2008 Policies
& Procedures Manual, State Board Policy 608.01 |
|
|
Sample Syllabi |
|
|
Syllabus Template |
|
|
2008 Policies
& Procedures Manual, State Board Policy 605.02 |
|
|
2008 Policies
& Procedures Manual, State Board Policy 606.01 |
|
|
Faculty and
Staff Roster |
|
|
2008 Policies
& Procedures Manual, State Board Policy 602.02 |
|
|
Sample
Job Announcement |
|
|
2008 Policies
& Procedures Manual, State Board Policy 602.01 |
2008 Policies and Procedures
Manual, State Board Policy 602.01 |
|
Faculty
Credentials Packet, Template |
|
|
Completed
Faculty Credentials Packets |
|
|
Transcript
Request Notification Letter |
|
|
Graduates Survey (Extraction) |