Compliance Status

Louisiana State University and A&M College is in compliance with this principle.

Narrative

Louisiana State University and A&M College (LSU) employs competent faculty members qualified to accomplish the institution’s mission and goals.  A highly qualified faculty is a central tenet of the mission of the university to “employ faculty who are excellent teacher-scholars, nationally competitive in research and creative activities, and who contribute to a world-class knowledge base that is transferable to educational, professional, cultural, and economic enterprises” [1]. LSU takes great pride in its outstanding faculty and their contributions to the quality of LSU’s academics.  LSU has been successful in hiring faculty members who hold terminal degrees in their disciplines, excel as scholars, and provide outstanding instruction at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The effectiveness of LSU’s faculty is reflected in the number of nationally ranked programs and nationally recognized scholars at LSU, as well as the strides made in recruiting, retaining, and graduating LSU students. 

Policies and Processes Pertaining to Faculty Employment

The Bylaws and Regulations of the LSU Board of Supervisors [2], LSU System Permanent Memoranda, and LSU campus Policy Statements prescribe the appointment and employment of faculty. Minimum qualifications for employment, as well as criteria for promotion and tenure within the faculty ranks, are specified in LSU System Permanent Memorandum 23 (PM-23) [3] and in LSU Policy Statements PS 36-T [4] and PS 36-NT [5]. These qualifications are consistent across all documents. A terminal degree in the academic area or appropriate professional experiences is the standard expectation; when the degree or graduate course work criteria have not been met, an exception must be sought from the Office of Academic Affairs. Documentation for appointments of university faculty members is available through the online Office of Human Resource Management database.

To ensure compliance with LSU System and LSU policies, the LSU Office of Human Resource Management reviews personnel actions relating to appointments.  Electronic tracking is provided through the Human Resource System (HRS), which enables all required authorities to approve each step of the employment process through a sequential routing process. This progression guarantees approvals occur in a hierarchical order (department, college, campus, system), and all approvers have a retrospective view of the process as it occurred prior to their consideration. HRS allows the approvers access to all written documentation related to individual positions and candidates for positions, and enables historical confirmation that all policies and procedures were followed. As part of this review, the Office of Human Resource Management verifies that appropriate documentation has been collected, demonstrating that the candidate’s credentials meet university standards.  The executive vice chancellor and provost has communicated the accepted documentation through memoranda to campus leadership [6]. 

Highly Qualified Faculty

The expectation of full-time instructional faculty is that they hold a terminal degree in their disciplines. Numerous faculty members have earned career awards in their disciplines, have been recognized by prestigious organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and have been awarded major federal grants from organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. The university, in a cooperative endeavor with the LSU Foundation and with matching funds from the Louisiana Board of Regents, has established 65 endowed chairs and 413 endowed professorships that assist the recruitment and retention of nationally and internationally recognized scholars, artists, and educators.  LSU currently has 20 active Boyd Professors, the LSU System’s highest rank awarded to faculty members whose scholarly or creative contribution has reached the pinnacle of their discipline as determined by consensus of an international peer-review committee. In addition, 30 faculty members have been awarded Alumni Professorships by their campus-wide peers in recognition of excellence in instruction.

Faculty Credential Audit

In summer 2012, a review of the personnel files located in the central Office of Human Resource Management was conducted to ensure that credentials of primary instructors of record were appropriately documented. Instructor of Record/Primary Instructor is defined as the LSU employee who teaches a course and has the authority to assign grades, develop course content, and determine the instructional delivery.  Depending on the appointment date of the faculty member, the review included both paper-based and electronic personnel files. 

Documentations of faculty credentials were uploaded to HRS on all primary faculty instructors of record for ease of reporting and access.  Depending on the year of hire, different types of documentation were available in personnel files. The preferred documentation was an official transcript from the terminal (or highest) degree-granting institution. In the instances where this documentation was not included in the faculty member’s personnel file, records were requested from the hiring colleges and departments.  All remaining faculty who did not have documentation were asked to complete a form to allow LSU to request original transcripts from the degree-granting institution. Acceptable alternative documentation was a copy of the diploma awarded for the highest degree, with letter of degree verification from the National Student Clearinghouse, if necessary, to determine the discipline. Moving forward, at the direction of the executive vice chancellor and provost in 2012, an official transcript from the highest degree-granting institution is required for all new faculty appointments [6].

Qualifications of Instructors-of-Record

The instructors-of-record have appropriate credentials to teach their assigned courses at LSU. The supplementary USB flash drive contains the SACSCOC template with information on all instructional faculty who were primary instructors-of-record, their assigned courses, and their qualifications to teach those courses in fall 2012, winter 2012 intersession and spring 2013.

Methodology for Judging Qualifications

The methodology used to validate course instructors’ qualifications included a four-step process.

1. The first four digits of the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code from an instructor’s highest degree were matched with CIP codes for the courses taught. In most cases, the highest degree was a PhD, which is considered the terminal degree. Some disciplines recognize master’s-level degrees as a terminal degree [7]. When those matched and the degree was deemed terminal in the discipline, no further justification was required.
2. For those remaining instructors whose highest degrees were in closely related fields of the discipline or with CIP codes that are considered equivalent, as determined at the department level, crosswalks (CIP code equivalency tables) were created to match CIP codes for these instructors and their courses. When these were compatible, no further justification was required.
3. For those instructors who did not fit the previous two criteria, the next step was to establish whether this person had 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline or closely related discipline. Instructors at this level are only permitted to teach undergraduate-only courses. If the instructor was a graduate student, a faculty supervisor was also identified.
4. For all remaining course instructors whose credentials were not acceptable using the first three steps, justifications were written for each instructor. Acceptable justifications needed to relate to the topic of the course and included specific work experience; appropriate licensure, certificates, and/or specialized training; documentation of published research; and honors and awards.

As directed in a series of memos [6][8][9] from the executive vice chancellor and provost, documentation of credentials is maintained for all LSU faculty members.  After a university representative has viewed the original documentation, the information is stored electronically in the university online human resource system.

Faculty Teaching Graduate Courses

Faculty who teach graduate and post-baccalaureate courses must meet additional requirements and must also remain current and active in their research disciplines according to the university’s standards for graduate faculty [10]. The most appropriate criterion is a terminal degree in the discipline (or closely related discipline) of the course. Regular monitoring and on-going review of these appointments ensures the qualifications of faculty and their commitment to advanced instruction in graduate courses. Faculty who do not have ordinary, standing terms as graduate faculty members may petition for permission to teach graduate-level and post-baccalaureate courses and/or to serve on graduate student advisory committees as noted on the Codification of Graduate Council Policies [10] under Administrative Approval to Teach Graduate Courses. These requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the dean of the Graduate School. The basis for approval is noted for each case and recorded in the Graduate Faculty database; vitae and justifications are kept on file in the Graduate School.

Graduate Assistant Primary Instructors of Record

Graduate students who hold teaching assistantships and serve as primary instructors or instructors of record for undergraduate courses must have completed a minimum of 18 hours of graduate credit in their teaching discipline prior to their appointment as noted in LSU Policy Statement 21 (PS-21): Graduate Assistantships, Instruction [11], and Policy Statement 85 (PS-85): Preparation of Teaching Assistants [12]. International students holding graduate teaching assistantships whose native language is not English must also demonstrate English proficiency before they are allowed to teach (Policy Statement 81) [13]. As noted in PS-21, teaching assistants receive direct supervision by a faculty member experienced in the teaching discipline, participate in regular in-service training, and undergo planned and periodic evaluations.

Organization of Rosters of Instructors-of-Record

Instructor-of-record rosters in the associated USB flash drive have been organized in a manner that allows readers to match faculty qualifications with the courses taught. The roster is organized in alphabetical order by college, department, sub-department when appropriate, and by faculty member. For each department, a link is provided to access the page(s) in the general catalog where course descriptions can be viewed.  The current roster includes the following information for all instructors (full-time, part-time, graduate teaching assistants) and courses taught during fall 2012, winter 2012 intersession, and spring 2013:

1. Column one provides the full name of the instructor along with his/her employment status (full-time or part-time; graduate students are considered part-time).
2. Column two provides a list of the courses taught by the instructor by semester. Included is the course rubric, course number, abbreviated course title, number of credits, and whether it is undergraduate or graduate.
3. Column three provides the academic credentials for each instructor. The highest degree is listed first with the title and specific discipline of the degree, along with the institution from which it was granted. When necessary, specific graduate course work is documented, including the institution at which it was taken, the course rubric and number, and the number of credits. Total number of graduate credits provided is totaled at the bottom of the field.
4. Column four provides additional justification when academic credentials did not meet the qualification criteria. This column also provides the faculty supervisor if the instructor is a graduate student.