Faculty Qualification Standards

STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING ACADEMICALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY QUALIFIED FACULTY STATUS

Academically Qualified (AQ) Faculty Standards –

“In the most recent five year period, the expectations for each academically qualified faculty member are at least three intellectual contributions including:

1. One peer reviewed journal article, or
2. One book or book chapter, or
3. Three papers or abstracts included in the proceedings of a scholarly meeting or
4. Three other discipline-related publications

In addition to the type of items listed above in a-d, papers presented at scholarly meetings are also considered intellectual contributions.”

Adopted by the College of Business faculty on April 21, 2006.

Professionally Qualified (PQ) Faculty Standards –

“Over a five year period to maintain Professionally Qualified Status a faculty member must have evidence of at least three qualified activities.  The following list of qualified activities is merely indicative and not exhaustive:

1.      Publish an article in a peer reviewed journal;
2.      Publish a book or chapter in a book;
3.      Publish a paper in conference proceedings;
4.      Publish other intellectual contributions such as an article in a professional or trade
         journal, technical reports, textbooks and supporting materials, or case study
5.      Papers presented at academic or professional meetings;
6.      Renew existing or obtain new professional certification;
7.      Take additional university coursework in the discipline;
8.      Obtain 4 continuing education units (CEU) or 40 hours of other similarly documented
         evidence of professional seminars/training courses, beyond any hours attributed
         toward professional certification in item #6 above;
9.      Consult with businesses at a sustained level on problem solving or particular projects;
10.    Design instructional materials and curriculum for, or teach in an executive education
         program;
11.    Serve on the board of directors of an organization where the faculty’s professional
         expertise is relevant;
12.    Be personally involved in actively managing a business enterprise (subject to university
         rules)”

Acceptable publications are those listed in the Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities and are in the faculty members’ area of teaching expertise.

Adopted by the College of Business Faculty November 17, 2006.

STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING PARTICIPATING AND SUPPORTING FACULTY STATUS

A key measure of faculty sufficiency (Standard 9) is the extent to which faculty participate in the College beyond teaching and keeping office hours.  Every full-time faculty member is expected to contribute meaningfully to the non-teaching activities of the College of Business.  Faculty who do so are referred to as “Participating” faculty.  AACSB accreditation guidelines calls for participating faculty to deliver at least 75 percent of the College’s teaching; they must deliver at least 60 percent of the teaching in each discipline and program.

A faculty member is deemed to be a “Participating” member during the academic year if the individual performs three of the following during that period:

1. Serves on a college or university committee
2. Advises students on academic and career matters
3. Advises a business student organization and engages in chapter activities
4. Participates in other college activities
5. Attends, participates, and votes in college and program meetings

A “Supporting” faculty member is an individual whose level of involvement in the life of the College is limited to direct teaching duties and keeping office hours.  Supporting faculty members are usually part-time, adjunct, and short-term visiting faculty.   Full-time faculty who do not meet the standards for “Participating” faculty as listed above are categorized as “Supporting” faculty.

Approved by College of Business faculty on September 21, 2007.

INTELLECTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND MISSION APPROPRIATENESS

(AACSB Standard 2)

Introduction

Our mission in the Walker L. Cisler College of Business is to prepare students for successful careers through excellence in teaching, learning and research.  Intellectual contributions are an integral part of this mission.  With programs at the baccalaureate and associate level, a mixture of learning and pedagogical, basic, and applied research supports this mission.  Learning and pedagogical research supports our College’s and University’s primary emphasis on teaching.  Basic research not only expands the intellectual boundaries of our disciplines, but also enhances the educational experience of our students as we share our findings in the classroom.  In a similar manner, results of applied research can also be shared with our students.

The purpose of this memorandum is to serve as a guide for new and returning faculty as to the type, quantity, and quality of intellectual contributions that are consistent with our mission.  Note, however, that tenure and promotion guidelines are beyond the scope of this document; those guidelines are provided in the Master Agreement and our College of Business bylaws.  In particular, this guide:  (1) defines intellectual contributions; (2) identifies appropriate outcomes and prioritizes them; (3) provides expectations regarding quality and quantity; (4) specifies expectations for our individual disciplines; and (5) summarizes our annual survey and reporting procedures.

Intellectual Contributions

Consistent with AACSB standards, contributions should typically (all quotes are from AACSB Standards) “Exist in public written form, and have been subject to scrutiny by academic peers or practitioners prior to publication.”  Moreover, “Peer review is defined as a process of independent review prior to publication of a faculty member’s work by an editorial board/committee widely acknowledged as possessing expertise in the field.  The peer review should be independent; provide for critical but constructive feedback; demonstrate a mastery and expertise of the subject matter; and be undertaken through a transparent process notwithstanding that the individuals involved may be anonymous.”

Examples of intellectual contributions include:  peer reviewed journal articles; research monographs; scholarly books or chapters; textbooks; proceedings of scholarly meetings; papers presented at academic meetings, professional meetings, or faculty research seminars; publications in trade journals; book reviews; published cases with instructional materials; technical reports related to funded research projects; widely used instructional software; publicly available materials describing the design and implementation of new curricula or courses.  Other examples of intellectual contributions are possible.

Types of Intellectual Contributions and Their Priority

Although there can be some overlap, there are essentially three types of intellectual contributions:

• “Learning and pedagogical research contributions influence the teaching-learning activities of the school.  Preparation of new materials for use in courses, creation of teaching aids, and research on pedagogy all qualify as Learning and pedagogical research contributions.

• Contributions to practice (often referred to as applied research) influence professional practice in the faculty member’s field.  Articles in practice-oriented journals, creation and delivery of executive education courses, development of discipline-based practice tools, and published reports on consulting all qualify as Contributions to practice.

• Discipline-based scholarship (often referred to as basic research) contributions add to the theory or knowledge base of the faculty member’s field.  Published research results and theoretical innovation qualify as Discipline-based scholarship contributions.”

All types of intellectual contributions are welcome and encouraged at the Walker L. Cisler College of Business.  Since we have undergraduate programs only, Learning and Pedagogical Research with its emphasis on the teaching-learning process and Discipline-based Scholarship with its emphasis on basic principles seem especially appropriate given our mission of preparing students for successful careers.

Quality and Quantity of Intellectual Contributions

Acceptable outlets for peer reviewed journal articles are those journals that use at least one reviewer listed in the Accounting, Economics and Finance, Management, and Marketing editions of Cabell’s Directory of Publishing Opportunities.  Other discipline related journals are acceptable as long as a faculty member can document that their article has been subject to a peer review process prior to publication.  Acceptable outlets for paper presentations/proceedings include scholarly meetings of a discipline (e.g., Academy of Management, American Accounting Association, Financial Management Association, etc.) as well as academic and/or professional meetings that scrutinize paper submissions through a review process.  Other intellectual contributions must also have been subject to scrutiny by academic peers or practitioners as described previously.  The faculty member should be able to document the existence of such a review process.

Consistent with our standards, academically qualified (see above) faculty members are expected to produce at least three intellectual contributions in the most recent five-year period.  Professionally qualified faculty members are expected to maintain their status as outlined in our policy on professional qualification (see above).

Discipline Expectations

There are five disciplines at the baccalaureate level in the Walker L. Cisler College of Business:  Accounting, Computer Information Systems, Finance, Management (including Entrepreneurship), and Marketing.  It is important that intellectual contributions are spread across these disciplines.  Therefore, at least 50% of the faculty in each discipline should have at least three intellectual contributions in the most recent five-year period.  It is also important that a significant portion of intellectual contributions take the form of peer reviewed journal articles or scholarly books/chapters.  A faculty member granted his/her Ph.D. within the most recent five-year period is deemed as meeting the 50% intellectual contribution criterion.

Annual Survey and Reporting Procedures

In order to obtain a more quantitative measure of our College’s mission and its related intellectual contributions, a survey is taken of the faculty and administrators each fall semester.  The survey covers both the planned effort and the desired effort with respect to teaching, research, and service as well as to intellectual contributions.  The results are presented to the faculty and discussed.  This process provides feedback on our efforts while serving as a reminder to faculty as to our mission and related research activities. 

Near the end of the academic year, each faculty member and administrator is asked to update their individual report on their intellectual contributions for the most recent five-year period ending June 30.  The intellectual contributions are summarized by discipline and overall with respect to:  kind of intellectual contribution (e.g., paper presentation, book/book chapter, peer reviewed journal article, etc.); percentage of faculty having at least three intellectual contributions; percentage of faculty having at least two peer reviewed journal articles/scholarly book/chapters; contributions in each of the areas of learning and pedagogical, basic, and applied research; and actual research outcomes as compared with the surveyed results regarding planned and desired effort.  This report on intellectual contributions is presented at a College of Business meeting during the fall semester and discussed.  Subsequently, the previously described survey is administered as the annual cycle begins again. 

Adopted by College of Business Faculty on November 30, 2007