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Minnesota West Policies

Chapter 3:  Educational

3.32 Faculty Credentialing

 

All College Faculty teaching credit-based courses and counselors and librarians will meet the College Faculty Credentialing requirements as established by Minnesota State Board Policy 3.32 and Procedure 3.32.1.  The Office of the Chancellor shall complete the credentialing process for unlimited faculty positions.  At Minnesota West Community and Technical College the Office of Vice President of Instruction in consultation with the Human Resource Office will manage the credentialing process for temporary-full time (TFT) faculty, temporary part-time (TPT) faculty, adjunct faculty, and external instructors including high school teachers teaching PSEO concurrent enrollment courses and Customized Training faculty teaching credit courses.

TFT Faculty shall meet the system-established minimum qualifications for the credential field aligned with the position assigned, with the exception of the teaching and learning requirement referenced in Part 5, Subpart B of Procedure 3.32.1.

TPT, Adjunct, and External Instructors, including high school teachers teaching PSEO concurrent enrollment courses shall meet the system-established minimum qualifications except as allowed under the exception conditions outlined in the procedures section of this policy.


The minimum educational requirement for career, technical and professional credential fields shall be based on established industry standards and accepted higher education standards.  In accordance with Minnesota State Board Procedure 3.32.1:


Program Academic Award
Faculty Educational Requirement


1. Associate of Arts or Science (AA/AS) degree                          1. Master’s Degree (transfer degree)

2. Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree or diploma            2. Assoc. Degree (AA, AS, AAS);
Baccalaureate degree preferred

3. Certificate                                                                         3. Two years of related education
and training culminating in a
diploma or an Assoc. Degree

4. Certificate or Diploma/career-laddered program structure         4. Academic Credential at a level
that accommodates all academic
awards offered in the specific
program area throughout the
system.

5.  Counselors and Librarians                                                      5. A Master’s Degree in-field


The occupational experience requirement for career, technical, and professional credential fields shall be two full-time years (or equivalent) of verified related paid work experience in the specific credential field; more than two full-time years (or equivalent) may be required for a particular field.  In order to assure recent occupational experience in the field, one year of this work experience shall be within the five years immediately preceding the date of application for the credential field.  The recency requirement shall be waived if the individual has two years of successful full-time (or equivalent) post-secondary teaching experience in the credential field within the past five years.


State and/or national industry licensure/certification requirement required or considered essential for practice in the industry directly related to the credential field shall be incorporated into the minimum qualifications (Examples:  RN License for Practical Nursing; Post Board certification for Law Enforcement.)


Program Accreditation Requirement - Standards for faculty credentials established by state or national program accreditation bodies may be incorporated into the minimum qualifications.


Purpose:
The purpose of this policy, as stated in Minnesota State Board Policy 3.32, is to “assure that qualified individuals perform faculty work in the Minnesota colleges through system-established faculty minimum qualifications...”


Definitions:


Credential Field:
Credential Field means a defined area of knowledge and skill that is specifically related to a program, service or academic discipline, and for which system-established minimum qualifications are created under Minnesota State Board Policy 3.32.


Minimum Qualifications:
Minimum qualifications mean system-established minimum requirements used to evaluate the credentials of an individual considered for college faculty work.  The minimum qualifications shall include educational requirements and teaching and learning competency requirements; they may also include related occupational experience, state and/or national industry licensure/certification, and other requirements as appropriate for each credential field.


College Faculty Credentialing:
College Faculty Credentialing means the process for evaluating an individual’s education and experience in accordance with system-established minimum qualifications for individuals teaching credit-based courses and for counselors and librarians.


Subpart A. College faculty or college faculty member. College faculty or college faculty member means individuals teaching credit-based courses and counselors and librarians at system community, technical, and combined community and technical colleges. This definition includes unlimited faculty and other college faculty as specified below.


Unlimited college faculty. Unlimited college faculty means individuals employed by a college in unlimited full-time or part-time positions as defined in the Employment Contract between the Board and the Minnesota State College Faculty.


Other college faculty. Other college faculty means individuals defined as temporary or adjunct faculty, or external instructors as follows:

a. Temporary faculty. Temporary faculty means individuals assigned full-time or part-time to teach credit-based courses or to work as counselors or librarians on a temporary basis as defined in the Employment Contract between the Board and the Minnesota State College Faculty.

b. Adjunct faculty. Adjunct faculty means individuals assigned to teach credit-based courses totaling fewer than five (5) credits in a term or to perform an equivalent amount of non-teaching work as defined in the Employment Contract between the Board and the Minnesota State College Faculty.

c. External instructors. For purposes of this procedure, external instructors means individuals not holding faculty positions as defined in the Employment Contract between the Board and the Minnesota State College Faculty who are assigned to teach college credit-based courses, (e.g., high school teachers, administrators, and other college employees).


Procedures:


UFT, UPT, TFT, TPT, shall complete an on-line credentialing application to be reviewed by the Human Resources Department.  The application process will require submission of an official college transcript(s), employment verifications of related occupational experience, state and/or national industry licensure/certification, and any other requirements outlined in the system-established minimum qualifications.


Adjunct and External Instructors assigned to teach credit-based college courses and for faculty assigned to perform work as counselors and librarians shall submit appropriate credentialing documentation to the appropriate Dean and which will be maintain by the Human Resources Office.


Faculty will receive official notification of the credentialing decision. As noted in the policy section above, TFT faculty must meet system-established minimum qualifications, without exception.  The college may assign a TPT, Adjunct or External Instructor, without meeting system-established minimum qualifications, ONLY if one of the following exception conditions applies:


Emergency staffing situations:


*Illness, accident, or death of a faculty member during the term, resulting in the faculty member
being unable to finish teaching the course;
*A failed search for a faculty position, if the position has been advertised at least twice;
*Resignation of a faculty member immediately prior to the start of a term;
*Addition of course sections immediately prior to the start of a term; or
*Immediate deployment in the armed services
(An individual may be hired for no more than two consecutive semesters under this exception.)


Pending Credentials:
Individuals who are close to meeting the minimum qualifications may be hired for no more than two consecutive semesters under this exception.


Special Expertise:
An individual with special expertise may be hired to teach specialized courses. There is no time limit on this exception.


Renowned qualifications:
An individual who has achieved exceptional status or recognition may
be hired to teach appropriate courses in the field of recognition. There is no time limit on this exception.


Emerging Fields
:  An exception may be made where the program area is so new that the educational preparation requirements and the occupational experience requirements are not yet clearly defined.  This exception shall terminate when the system minimum qualifications are established.


Temporary part-time, Adjunct faculty, and external instructors who performed work during academic years 2004-2005 and/or 2005/2006 and currently do not meet the system established minimum qualifications or do not meet one of the exception conditions may be offered available semester by semester faculty assignments during academic years 2006-2007 and/or 2007/2008.  After June 20, 2008, to be eligible for available faculty work, temporary part-time, adjunct, and external instructors shall meet system established minimum qualifications or meet one of the exceptions.


Faculty appointments under the exception conditions will be requested by the appropriate Dean, reviewed by the Vice President of Instruction, and forwarded to the President or designee for final approval prior to an offer of employment being made.


Documentation of “exception” appointments and the applicable time limits will be maintained and monitored by the Human Resources Office.


Responsibilities & Dissemination:

The Vice President of Instruction and the Director of Human Resources will be responsible for distribution and implementation of this policy.

Revision:  June 3, 2015 Associate "in" changed to Associate "of".
Revision:  July 25, 2017 Minnesota State