Faculty Qualifications and Record-Keeping

Responsible Office or Committee: Academic Affairs

Effective February 2023; revised September 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that high-quality instruction is delivered at UIndy by demonstrating that faculty possess appropriate qualifications for coursework taught at every level. 

Scope

This policy applies to faculty and staff. 

Policy Statement

The University of Indianapolis shall hire qualified regular and adjunct faculty; and approve the faculty who teach in dual credit, contractual, and consortial programs. The faculty are expected to support the mission of the University and actively contribute to the continuous improvement of its programs and services for students. The University requires faculty to possess the requisite qualifications needed to ensure the quality of instruction. 

  1. Faculty should hold a degree higher than the level at which they are teaching. For example, when teaching for a bachelor’s degree, a faculty member should hold a master’s degree.
  2. Faculty should have 18 graduate credit hours in the field in which they teach if their degree differs from their teaching assignment(s).
  3. If approved, “Equivalent experience” may substitute for a higher degree at the undergraduate and graduate levels. However, it is not possible to use “equivalent experience” to qualify a faculty member for general education courses.
  4. Instructors teaching in graduate programs should hold the terminal degree determined by the discipline and have a record of research, scholarship, or achievement appropriate for the graduate program.
  5. Instructors teaching at the doctoral level should have a record of recognized scholarship, creative endeavor, or achievement in practice commensurate with doctoral expectations.

Procedures

The hiring of faculty members is managed by Academic Affairs with support from the Office of Human Resources. Position postings should be submitted to Human Resources by Academic Affairs and should specify the required qualifications. Chairs and deans shall verify qualifications before hiring. Human Resources will file official transcripts for the highest degree attained and a curriculum vitae for all faculty hires.  Faculty with international degrees shall have their credentials evaluated by an external service as determined by Human Resources. Background checks are required by Human Resources before an offer of employment can be finalized. Upon hiring, chairs and deans will submit information on faculty qualifications to Academic Affairs, where a list of faculty qualifications will be maintained.  

In some cases, equivalent experience in the field is commensurate with formal educational preparation at the prescribed level and may be used to document that the faculty is qualified. The value of using equivalent experience to determine faculty qualifications depends upon the relevance of the experience to the degree level and the specific content of the course(s) for which the faculty member is responsible.

Each academic school or college has an internal review process for approving equivalent experience, which has been vetted by the Provost’s Council and by the Vice President and Provost. Approvals of faculty using equivalent experience and approvals of faculty for graduate teaching are the result of unit reviews following established criteria and shall be communicated to Academic Affairs.

When there is a question about qualifications, a dean may request further review by an ad hoc Subcommittee on Faculty Qualifications, composed of a subset of members from the Provost’s Council. This ad hoc committee shall consist of the dean requesting the review of equivalent experience and two additional Provost’s Council members. The process should involve a review of individual unit recommendations. The subcommittee recommends whether the faculty member in question is qualified based on equivalent experience.  If the dean disagrees with the recommendation, the Executive Vice President and Provost will make the final determination. 

Exceptions to the Policy: In the event of a staffing emergency or exigent need, an exception may be made to the faculty qualifications policy for a limited time. Any exception must be approved by the Executive Vice President and Provost.

Related Information

The Higher Learning Commission Board of Trustees adopted a change in policy, effective November 2023, revising the faculty qualifications provision in HLC’s Assumed Practices. The new policy emphasizes that an institution must establish and maintain processes for determining that instructors are qualified. 

Read the HLC publication: Determining Qualified Faculty Through HLC’s Criteria for Accreditation and Assumed Practices.

Policy History

February 2023 - Original publication

September 2024 - Revised 
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