Faculty Sufficiency Policy

Policy on Classification of Faculty as Participating or Supporting

Background
Within AACSB Standard 5 on Faculty Sufficiency and Deployment, the AACSB distinguishes between ‘participating’ and ‘supporting’ faculty. In general, participating faculty are those who participate in the life of the school beyond direct teaching involvement, while supporting faculty do not. “A school adopts and applies criteria for documenting faculty members as ‘participating’ or ‘supporting’ that are consistent with its mission.” [1]

AACSB guidelines call for participating faculty to deliver at least 75% of the school’s teaching and to deliver at least 60% of the teaching in each discipline, academic program, location, and delivery mode.

Definitions
“A participating faculty member actively and deeply engages in the activities of the school in matters beyond direct teaching responsibilities. Such matters might include policy decisions, advising, research, and service commitments. The faculty member may participate in the governance of the school and be eligible to serve as a member on appropriate committees responsible for academic policymaking and/or other decisions. The individual may participate in a variety of non-class activities such as directing extracurricular activity, providing academic and career advising, and representing the school on institutional committees. Normally, the school considers participating faculty members to be long-term members of the faculty regardless of whether or not their appointments are of a full-time or part-time nature, whether or not their position with the school is considered the faculty member's principal employment, and whether or not the school has tenure policies. The individual may be eligible for, and participate in, faculty development activities and take non-teaching assignments, such as advising, as appropriate to the faculty role the school has defined.” [2]
“A supporting faculty member does not, as a rule, participate in the intellectual or operational life of the school beyond the direct performance of teaching responsibilities. Usually, a supporting faculty member does not have deliberative or involvement rights on faculty issues, membership on faculty committees, or assigned responsibilities beyond direct teaching functions (e.g., classroom and office hours). Normally, a supporting faculty member's appointment is on an ad hoc basis--for one term or one academic year without the expectation of continuation—and is exclusively for teaching responsibilities.” [3]

Criteria
Generally, faculty with tenured and tenure-track appointments are participating faculty because of their professional obligations to teaching, research and service. While not all temporary (lecturer) appointments include responsibilities beyond teaching and office hours, a lecturer will be considered a “participating” faculty member if they are involved in at least two of the following activities beyond classroom instruction and office hours:
1. Regular attendance at department/school, college, and/or university meetings.
2. Participation in a curriculum-related activity, such as curriculum reviews and updates, or gathering and analysis of assessment data.
3. Service on a department/school, college or university committee or task force.
4. Participation in an activity that contributes to the scholarship mission of the college.
5. Participation in activities of a department/school, college or university advisory board.
6. Service as a faculty advisor to a business student organization.
7. Participation in a department/school, college or university student-focused activity such as mandatory advising, internship supervision, or judging of student projects (if interaction with students is included).
8. Preparation and delivery of instruction in non-degree education sponsored by the college, such as the Annual High Tech Tax Institute.


Documentation
AACSB requires completion of Table 15-1, listing all faculty and identifying them as participating or supporting in conjunction with their qualification status. The table uses a metric to determine the ‘teaching productivity’ for each faculty member. The metric must be approved by the AACSB review team. Possible measurements include number of courses taught during the review period, contact hours (number of hours taught) or student credit hours (the unit value of the course multiplied by the number of students in the class). [4]

  • To ensure the availability of the necessary documentation to identify faculty as participating or supporting, the following responsibilities are established:Each lecturer must prepare an annual list indicating the following:

o Membership on department/school, college and university committees.
o Advisement activities.
o Assessment activities.
o Work with student organizations.
o Participation and attendance at department, college and university activities involving interaction with students.
o Other participation activities involving interaction with or support of students, policy matters, educational directions, advising, research, and service commitments.

  • Department chairs/school directors must ensure that lecturers prepare the statement described above. They should also maintain records of attendance at department meetings and membership on department committees.
  • The Associate Dean-Undergraduate (or designee) must maintain records of attendance at college meetings and membership on college committees. An annual summary of faculty serving as advisors to business student clubs must also be prepared.
  • Senate Committee on Committees Representative must prepare an annual record of college faculty serving on university senate committees.

The Associate Dean-Undergraduate (or designee) shall collect the above documentation annually at the end of the spring semester.

1. AACSB, Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation, 4/08/13, p. 24.
2. Supra, p. 23-24.
3. Supra, p. 24.
4. Supra, pp. 44-45.