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. (Faculty)

RATIONALE FOR COMPLIANCE JUDGMENT

Nashville State Technical Community College (NSCC) has an adequate number of qualified full-time faculty members to support its mission and effectively deliver instruction.  The college is very intentional about the priority of its instructional mission.  During both the 2004 and 2005 fiscal years, NSCC led the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) system in the percentage of operating expenses spent on instruction.  In 2005 54% of NSCC’s operating expenses were in Instruction, compared to 44% for all TBR community colleges.  The fact that 72% of the NSCC budget was spent on salaries and benefits, compared to 65% for all community colleges, makes it apparent that these instructional expendituress are mostly in faculty salaries.

The college uses multiple ways of determining the adequacy of the number of full-time faculty members.  First of all, program coordinators and instructional deans make judgments when preparing course schedules.  When developing the schedule, they consider the availability of qualified faculty and the number of different preparations, as well as student demand for the course.  The College also uses Kansas Study data, which enables comparison of full-time/adjunct percentages and of student/faculty ratios by discipline area for Nashville State and for a national sample of approximately 70 community colleges.  The 2005 Kansas Study report (2003-04 data) show, for example, that the NSCC percent of adjunct faculty was below the national average in 50% of program areas [1] and that the student/faculty ratio was below the national average [2] in 84% of discipline areas.  

Since becoming a comprehensive community college in fall 2002, Nashville State has experienced a major shift in enrollment.  The College is committed to maintaining its strong career and technical programs, while enrollment in Career courses has declined by 23.5% and enrollment in Arts & Sciences has grown by 34.5%.  One result of this shift is that faculty staffing and enrollment are not properly aligned.  The Kansas Study data from 2004-05 document this shift [3] by showing changing percentages of adjunct faculty, with high adjunct rates in many Arts and Sciences areas.  Further complicating this has been a shift within career programs from highly technical areas such as Computer Networking to less technical programs such as Social Services.  The College has, however, maintained a relatively small class size during this period [4].  The College is addressing this problem, but it will be a gradual process.  In fall 2005, Nashville State hired 35 new/replacement full-time faculty members.  Sixty-three percent of these faculty positions were in Arts and Sciences [5].  Eighteen faculty members were hired in fall 2006, with all new positions allocated to Arts and Sciences areas.  The College uses Kansas Study data to help identify areas, such as Psychology and History, which will receive highest priority for future full-time faculty positions. 

TBR policies define full-time faculty member [6] and identify four types of full-time faculty appointments at TBR community colleges [7]. Temporary faculty can be hired without a search for a maximum of three years in extenuating circumstances.   All types of appointments except temporary contracts carry academic rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor.  All four types of appointments provide full benefits and the same teaching load of 30 semester hours per academic year or the equivalent.  All part-time faculty members at NSCC are considered adjunct faculty members, hired for a one-semester contract. There are no permanent part-time faculty members.

Faculty members complete a Teaching Load Summary [8] each semester to document the 15 teaching load credits (TLC) or equivalent, as required by TBR policy. Summaries are filed in the offices of the instructional deans and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  All full-time faculty members are also required to schedule a minimum of 30 hours per week.  Faculty teaching online courses may schedule some of these hours off campus, as provided by campus policy [9]. 

Effective fall 2006, NSCC employed 142 full-time faculty members, 55% of whom were tenured [10].