Standard Number 3.7.1: The institution employs competent faculty members qualified to accomplish the mission and goals of the institution. When determining acceptable qualifications of its faculty, an institution gives primary consideration to the highest earned degree in the discipline in accordance with the guidelines listed below. The institution also considers competence, effectiveness, and capacity, including, as appropriate, undergraduate and graduate degrees, related work experiences in the field, professional licensure and certifications, honors and awards, continuous documented excellence in teaching, or other demonstrated competencies and achievements that contribute to effective teaching and student learning outcomes. For all cases, the institution is responsible for justifying and documenting the qualifications of its faculty:

(Recommendation 7) For the XXXX faculty member teaching outside his discipline, the Committee recommends that the University provide additional documentation of excellence in teaching, or other demonstrated competencies and achievements that contribute to effective teaching and student learning outcomes.

The Reaffirmation Committee reviewed the credentials of the six faculty members identified by the Off-Site Review Committee as teaching outside of their teaching discipline. Based on the evidence provided by the University, the Reaffirmation Committee concluded that five of the six faculty are appropriately qualified. The University needs to provide further evidence to establish the competence and qualifications of the remaining individual.

Response:

The SACS on-site review team recommended that the University provide additional documentation of teaching excellence, or other competencies and achievements, that contribute to effective teaching and student learning outcomes for the XXXX faculty member teaching outside of XXX discipline. In response to this recommendation, the University terminated

XXXX, the faculty member in question, from the Department of XXXX in the College of XXXX , effective August 1, 2005. Attached is the Personnel Action Form that documents this termination.