Narrative:  

Troy University is in partial compliance with this Comprehensive Standard.

Overall, 44 percent of the discipline course hours taught within each baccalaureate level major are taught by faculty members holding the terminal degree. As illustrated in Table 1, as of fall 2007 a vast majority of the baccalaureate discipline majors were taught by Troy University faculty members who held terminal degrees.

Table 1 (3.5.4)

Baccalaureate discipline

Total discipline course hours taught by faculty

Total discipline course hours taught by faculty with terminal degrees

Percentage of discipline course hours taught by faculty with terminal degrees

Accounting

348

132

38%

Art

253

126

50%

Athletic Training

29

17

59%

Biology

476

215

45%

Chemistry

111

65

59%

Communication Arts

266

111

42%

Computer Science

222

81

36%

Criminal Justice

720

165

23%

Education

352

222

63%

English

996

399

40%

Finance

162

60

37%

Foreign Languages

69

36

52%

General Business

588

312

53%

Geomatics

27

13

48%

History

627

270

43%

Human Services

49

37

76%

Information Systems

114

39

34%

Journalism

100

49

49%

Kinesiology & Health Promotion

233

95

41%

Management

480

219

46%

Marketing

186

99

53%

Mathematics

674

208

31%

Music

279

94

34%

Nursing

96

37

39%

Physical Science

277

130

47%

Political Science

222

126

57%

Psychology

720

357

50%

Rehabilitation

48

23

48%

Risk Management & Insurance

24

21

88%

Social Science

213

135

63%

Social Work

64

24

38%

Sociology

201

114

57%

Total

9,226

4,031

44%

Comments and Corrective Actions

Troy University had one academic program, criminal justice, inadvertently slip below the 25 percent level in the fall of 2007. The University was slow in filling a vacant position for a doctoral level faculty member which adversely impacted the percentage of course hours taught by faculty with terminal degrees. Troy University will fill this position and has authorized the addition of two additional faculty members with terminal degrees to be added to this program to ensure this problem does not recur.

While the corrective actions will mitigate the immediate problem, it is clear form this information that the University has not developed a systematic approach to monitoring compliance in this area. To correct this deficiency in its management system, Troy University will initiate an annual report from the Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness division to the Executive Vice Chancellor/Provost and all members of the Academic Steering Committee each spring that will track total discipline course hours taught by faculty with terminal degrees so that closer attention will be focused on this potential vulnerability.