| The number of full-time faculty members is adequate to support the mission of the institution and to ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs.
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Judgment of Compliance
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Narrative
Sam Houston State University has an adequate number of full-time faculty to support its mission. Furthermore, the University has adequate faculty resources to ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs. The University has sufficient faculty and faculty resources as a whole and within each academic program.
Sam Houston State University has four broad categories of faculty: tenure/tenure-track, interim, temporary, and graduate teaching assistants. All tenure/tenure-track faculty are full-time faculty. Most interim faculty are hired on a full-time nine-month basis. Temporary faculty are hired on a semester-by-semester basis and may be assigned a full-time or part-time instructional load. All graduate teaching assistants are part-time faculty. In Fall 2007, Sam Houston State University employed 941 distinct individuals with instructional responsibilities. Sixty-two percent of these faculty were full-time. Table 1 provides a breakdown of instructional faculty. Comprehensive Standard 3.7.1 provides detailed information describing the qualifications of these faculty.
Table 1. Profile of Fall 2007 Instructional Faculty
| Category | Full-time | Part-time | % of Total Faculty |
| Tenure/tenure-track | 451 | 0 | 47.9 |
| Interim | 57 | 16 | 7.8 |
| Temporary | 77 | 212 | 30.7 |
| Teaching Assistants | 0 | 128 | 13.6 |
| Total | 585 (62.2%) | 356 (37.8%) |
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) utilizes an accountability system to profile the State’s institutions of higher education. The THECB’s University Accountability Measures and Definitions [1] categorizes the accountability measures into five distinct groups: participation, success, excellence, research, and institution efficiency and effectiveness. Within the category of excellence are two measures that relate to tenure/tenure-track faculty: the percentage of lower division semester credit hours taught by tenure/tenure-track faculty and the percent of FTE teaching faculty who are tenure/tenure-track. The percentage reported for Sam Houston State University is similar to the State’s norm on both of these measures. (Tables 2 and 3).
Table 2. Percentage of Lower Division SCHs Taught by Tenure/Tenure-Track Faculty, Fall 2007
| Institution | Percentage |
| Sul Ross State University | 61.90% |
| Stephen F. Austin State University | 57.00% |
| The University of Texas at Brownsville | 55.60% |
| Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi | 55.50% |
| Midwestern State University | 55.00% |
| Texas A&M International University | 53.90% |
| Angelo State University | 53.60% |
| Prairie View A&M University | 50.30% |
| West Texas A&M University | 49.50% |
| Texas A&M University-Kingsville | 49.40% |
| University of Houston-Downtown | 46.00% |
| Lamar University | 45.20% |
| Tarleton State University | 44.00% |
| Sam Houston State University | 44.00% |
| Texas A&M University-Commerce | 43.60% |
| The University of Texas at Austin | 42.50% |
| Texas A&M University | 40.30% |
| The University of Texas at Tyler | 40.10% |
| Statewide Average | 39.30% |
| The University of Texas of the Permian Basin | 39.10% |
| The University of Texas-Pan American | 38.10% |
| Texas State University-San Marcos | 37.30% |
| Texas Tech University | 36.50% |
| University of Houston | 35.90% |
| The University of Texas at El Paso | 35.00% |
| University of North Texas | 35.00% |
| Texas Southern University | 32.70% |
| Texas Woman's University | 27.30% |
| The University of Texas at Arlington | 27.30% |
| The University of Texas at San Antonio | 26.00% |
| Texas A&M University at Galveston | 25.80% |
| The University of Texas at Dallas | 24.60% |
Source: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Accountability System
Table 3. Percentage of FTE Teaching Faculty that are Tenure/Tenure-Track, Fall 2007
| Institution | Percentage |
| Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College | 80.80% |
| University of Houston-Victoria | 77.10% |
| Texas Tech University | 76.90% |
| Texas A&M University | 75.10% |
| Texas A&M University-Texarkana | 73.40% |
| The University of Texas at Austin | 73.10% |
| Texas A&M International University | 70.60% |
| Stephen F. Austin State University | 68.10% |
| The University of Texas at Brownsville | 68.10% |
| University of Houston | 67.40% |
| Sul Ross State University | 67.10% |
| Texas A&M University-Kingsville | 66.00% |
| University of North Texas | 66.00% |
| Statewide Average | 64.90% |
| The University of Texas at El Paso | 62.40% |
| Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi | 62.30% |
| Lamar University | 62.30% |
| Sam Houston State University | 62.20% |
| Midwestern State University | 61.60% |
| University of Houston-Clear Lake | 61.50% |
| Angelo State University | 61.20% |
| The University of Texas at Arlington | 61.00% |
| Texas A&M University-Commerce | 60.40% |
| The University of Texas at Dallas | 58.60% |
| The University of Texas of the Permian Basin | 58.10% |
| The University of Texas at San Antonio | 57.70% |
| West Texas A&M University | 57.20% |
| University of Houston-Downtown | 56.70% |
| The University of Texas-Pan American | 56.60% |
| Tarleton State University | 55.80% |
| Texas State University-San Marcos | 55.10% |
| Texas Southern University | 54.80% |
| Prairie View A&M University | 54.70% |
| Texas Woman's University | 54.60% |
| The University of Texas at Tyler | 53.90% |
| Texas A&M University at Galveston | 44.70% |
Source: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Accountability System
Sam Houston State University has experienced an increases of over 2000 students since 2004. During this time period, the University has directed sufficient funding to increase its faculty at a faster rate than student enrollment increases. The increased flow to faculty resources resulted in a reduction of the institution’s student-to-faculty ratio. As reported in the Fall 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 Twelve-Day Class Reports [2], [3], [4], [5], the institution’s student-to-faculty ratio has dropped from 21.71:1 to 20.67:1, to 19.55:1, to 19.75:1.
Within each academic department, the University has sufficient full-time faculty to support the mission of the institution and to ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs. As illustrated in Table 4, the percentage of full-time equivalent faculty that are tenure/tenure-track in any individual department is at least 42%. As illustrated in Table 1 above, the tenure/tenure-track faculty represent only a portion of the full-time faculty. Thus on both the departmental and institutional level, Sam Houston State University has sufficient full-time faculty and faculty resources. Furthermore the student-to-faculty ratios at the departmental level [6] range from 9.61:1 to 35.77:1. It should be noted that the department with the highest student-to-faculty ratio (Geography and Geology) has one of the highest percentages of FTE teaching faculty that are tenured or tenure-track (88.0%).
Table 4. FTE Tenure/Tenure Track Percentage by Department
Tenure/Tenure-Track |
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| Dept. | Professor | Assoc. Prof. | Asst. Prof | Instructor | Other | TA | Total | % T T |
| CS | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 19 | 42.1% |
| ENG | 10.5 | 7.5 | 6 | 0 | 22 | 7.75 | 53.75 | 44.7% |
| CI | 3.75 | 3 | 7.41 | 0 | 16.92 | 0.5 | 31.58 | 44.8% |
| MCM | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7.5 | 0 | 14.50 | 48.3% |
| KIN | 2.5 | 3 | 5.59 | 0 | 8.39 | 2.25 | 21.73 | 51.0% |
| MUS | 6.25 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 21.64 | 2.5 | 49.39 | 51.1% |
| FCS | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.75 | 0.75 | 9.50 | 52.6% |
| AG | 3 | 6.5 | 4 | 0 | 7.5 | 3.5 | 24.50 | 55.1% |
| DNC/THR | 3.5 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5.75 | 2.5 | 18.75 | 56.0% |
| FL | 3.25 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 7.75 | 0.5 | 20.5 | 59.8% |
| MTH | 9 | 6 | 11 | 0 | 8 | 7.5 | 41.5 | 62.7% |
| LLSP | 4.75 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 10.25 | 0.5 | 29.5 | 63.6% |
| BIO | 5.5 | 5.5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 25 | 64.0% |
| EDL | 6 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 15.08 | 0 | 42.08 | 64.2% |
| CHM | 5.5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2.5 | 13 | 65.4% |
| SOC | 2.5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1.5 | 2.75 | 12.75 | 66.7% |
| PSY | 9.75 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 4.75 | 35.5 | 66.9% |
| CJ | 14.5 | 9.5 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 6.5 | 48.5 | 68.0% |
| HIS | 5.5 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 4.5 | 30 | 68.3% |
| ART | 3 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 5.75 | 0 | 20.75 | 72.3% |
| POL | 4 | 4 | 7.75 | 0 | 3.75 | 1.25 | 20.75 | 75.9% |
| FIN | 6 | 7 | 7.61 | 0 | 6.5 | 0 | 27.11 | 76.0% |
| PHY | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 80.0% |
| MGT | 5 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 4.75 | 0 | 24.75 | 80.8% |
| ACC | 3 | 6 | 4.89 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16.89 | 82.2% |
| LS | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1.25 | 0 | 9.25 | 86.5% |
| GEO/GEL | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1.5 | 0 | 12.5 | 88.0% |
| SCM | 1.5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8.5 | 88.2% |
| ECO | 4 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 89.5% |
| Total | 134.25 | 132 | 181.25 | 2 | 202.73 | 59.5 | 711.73 | 63.2% |
Two of the University’s colleges (Business Administration and Education) and several departments and programs are accredited [7] by discipline specific accrediting agencies. Adequate faculty resources are a requirement for fulfilling the accreditation standards. Achieving and maintaining accreditation from discipline specific accrediting agencies is evidence that faculty resources are adequate in the accredited colleges and programs.
To ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs, Sam Houston State University has a number of policies related to faculty resources. The Academic Instructional Staffing Policy [8] outlines the procedures for assigning and reallocating faculty positions among the various departments of the University. The Faculty Instructional Workload Policy [9] outlines the expectations of normal teaching loads and includes provisions for reductions in those teaching loads for research, service, and other considerations. In addition, the Reassigned Time for Faculty Members Pursuing Research and Artistic Endeavors Policy [10] also helps to clarify the teaching load expectations for faculty. The Instructional Overload Assignment Policy [11] discourages the use of overload assignments but does allow such assignments on a short-term basis in recognition of the need for some flexibility by the departments in scheduling classes.
In addition, the University has a number of policies designed to ensure the quality of the current faculty. The English Language Proficiency for Instructional Personnel Policy [12] requires faculty to be proficient in the English language. The Faculty Evaluation System Policy [13] details the annual review process that evaluates faculty performance. The Faculty Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Policy [14] gives guidance on the University’s expectations of faculty. The Performance Evaluation of Tenured Faculty Policy [15] describes the process for evaluating tenured faculty members. The Faculty Development Leave Policy [16] provides an avenue for faculty to take development leave to perform research or other learning activities to enhance knowledge.
Taken together, the above policies highlight Sam Houston State University’s awareness of, and commitment to provide, the faculty resources necessary to ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs.
Supporting Documentation