Requirement Number 2.8: The number of full-time faculty members is adequate to support the mission of the institution. The institution has adequate faculty resources to ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs. In addition, upon application for candidacy, an applicant institution demonstrates that it meets the comprehensive standard for faculty qualifications.

Full Compliance

The number of full-time faculty members is adequate to support Georgia Southern’s mission, and the institution has adequate faculty resources to ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs. The number of full-time faculty has remained relatively constant though slight decreases were experienced in past years of budget difficulties at the national and state level. The faculty-student ratio for Fall 2003 was 1:19. Fall Semester, 1998, Georgia Southern had 633 full-time faculty for 11,855 students (FTE); the number of full-time faculty rose in 1999 to 642 (for 13,231 FTE) and remained constant at 642 in 2000 (with 12,981 FTE). The following two years showed a slight decrease in the number of full-time faculty, falling to 626 in 2001 (with 13,056 FTE) and then to 612 in 2002 (13,738 FTE). For Fall 2003, the number of full-time faculty rose to 642 (with 14,289 FTE). (2003-2004 Fact Book, p. 34)

During that same time period, from 1998 to 2003, the percentage of fall credit hours taught by full-time faculty decreased slightly in most of the colleges within the University, falling from 97.5% to 93.1% in Business Administration, from 91.4% to 88.9% in Education, from 94.1% to 93.4% in Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and from 96.0% to 92.0% in Science and Technology. In the College of Health and Human Sciences, however, the percentage of fall credit hours taught by full-time faculty rose slightly from 84.1% to 87.0% (Percent Fall Credit Hrs FT Fac 97-03.xls). Even so, the percentage of credit hours taught by full-time faculty is one of the highest in the University System, and the incidence of staffing by part-time faculty is relatively low. (See USG FT Faculty, PT Instructors, and Others, p. 7.)