Sam Houston State University (SHSU) has an adequate number of full-time faculty to support its mission to provide “high quality education, scholarship, and service to qualified students for the benefit of regional, state, national and international constituencies” [1]. Furthermore, the University has a sufficient number of full-time faculty to support the University’s strategies to accomplish the following:
SHSU has three broad categories of instructional personnel: tenured, tenure-track, and term positions. All tenured and tenure-track faculty are full-time faculty and meet the traditional expectation of providing teaching, research, and service contributions to the University, which are instrumental in ensuring curriculum and program quality, integrity, and review [2] [3] [4]. Tenured and tenure-track faculty are joined by term faculty, many of whom are full-time faculty who contribute to curriculum and program quality, integrity, and review. Many term faculty, who are hired on either a 9-month or semester basis as either full- or part-time faculty, assume support responsibilities beyond instructional assignments to include curriculum development, textbook selection, faculty governance, and other appropriate organizational interests such as academic advising, student mentoring, and committee assignments [3]. Also included as term faculty are early retirees and clinical faculty. Early retirees, formerly tenured faculty members, have elected to teach on a part-time basis as they transition into retirement. They possess all attributes associated with successful tenured faculty members. Clinical faculty are practitioners in their chosen fields and are generally full-time faculty who are not only engaged in teaching, but also clinical scheduling, clinical training, supervision evaluation, and program development. Additionally, instructional staffing is supported by graduate teaching assistants, all of whom are supervised by full-time instructional personnel and have in-service training to support their teaching efforts [5].
In the higher education tradition of valuing shared governance, faculty members at SHSU are expected to support the mission and goals of the University by offering a quality educational environment; contributing to the creation of new knowledge; and providing essential services to the students, academic administrative units, the colleges, the University, and the academy. Services and activities include, but are not limited to, advising, mentoring, student organization sponsorship, curriculum oversight, committee service, professional development, faculty governance, community outreach, and peer review [6].
To ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs, SHSU has a number of policies related to faculty resources. The Academic Instructional Staffing Policy [4] outlines the procedures for assigning and reallocating faculty positions among the various departments in the University. The Faculty Instructional Workload Policy [7] outlines the expectations for normal teaching loads and includes provisions for reductions in those teaching loads for research, service, and other considerations. In addition, the Reassigned Time for Faculty Members Pursuing Research and Artistic Endeavors Policy [8] also helps clarify the teaching work-load expectations for faculty. The Instructional Overload Assignment Policy [9] discourages the use of overload assignments but does allow such assignments on a short-term basis in recognition of the need for some flexibility by department chairs in scheduling classes.
The Faculty Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion Policy [2] gives guidance regarding the University’s expectations of faculty. The Performance Evaluation of Tenured Faculty Policy [10] describes the process for evaluating tenured faculty members. The Faculty Evaluation System Policy [6] provides an orderly, comprehensive approach for the evaluation of all faculty members at SHSU and recognizes three categories for purposes of evaluation: teaching effectiveness, scholarly and/or creative accomplishments, and service. The Faculty Development Leave Policy [11] provides an avenue for faculty to take development leave to perform research or other learning activities to enhance knowledge. The Faculty Handbook provides additional guidance regarding the institution’s expectations as to the role of the faculty [12]. Taken together, the above policies highlight SHSU’s awareness of, and commitment to, providing an adequate number of full-time faculty to support the mission and goals of the institution.
In the 2018 academic year SHSU employed 1,097 distinct individuals with instructional responsibilities. Just under 72% of these faculty were full-time, providing a sufficient number of full-time faculty to support the mission and goals of the institution. Table 1 provides a breakdown of instructional faculty by category.
Table 1. Profile of Instructional Faculty, Academic Year 2018
| Category | Full-time Headcount* | Part-time Headcount* | % of Total Faculty as a Headcount |
| Tenured | 350 | 0 | 31.9 |
| Tenure-track | 213 | 0 | 19.4 |
| Term | 223 | 311 | 48.7 |
| Total | 786 (71.6%) | 311 (28.4%) |
* As data reflect headcount, the contribution of a full-time faculty member toward educational instruction and institutional support exceeds that of a single part-time faculty member.
Although there is no uniform standard in the academy that signifies a sufficient number of full-time faculty, SHSU regularly compares itself to statewide norms. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) utilizes an accountability system [13] to profile Texas’s institutions of higher education. The THECB provides measures in the following categories: (a) educated population, (b) completion, (c) marketable skills, (d) student debt, and (e) sector-specific/other. Within the category of “sector-specific/other” is a measure that relates to tenure/tenure-track faculty: the percentage of FTE teaching faculty who are tenure/tenure-track. According to the most recent data available (2017), the percentage reported for SHSU is similar to the State’s institutional norms for the percentage of full-time equivalent teaching faculty who are tenured/tenure-track, providing additional evidence that SHSU has sufficient full-time faculty to ensure curriculum and program quality, integrity, and review. Furthermore, as a point of comparison, SHSU exceeds the average for the Doctoral Group (peers as determined by the THECB) and exceeds the average for the Texas State University System (TSUS) in which SHSU resides. See Table 2 for an overview of the percentages.
Table 2. Percentage of FTE Teaching Faculty that are Tenure/Tenure-Track, FY2017
| Institution | Percent of FTFE who are tenured/tenure-track |
|---|---|
| Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College | 78.1 |
| Texas Tech University | 71.8 |
| Texas A&M University | 70.8 |
| Texas A&M University - Texarkana | 70.2 |
| Midwestern State University | 69.8 |
| The University of Texas at Austin | 69.3 |
| University of Houston - Clear Lake | 67.9 |
| Stephen F. Austin State University | 66.1 |
| Texas A&M University - Central Texas | 65.7 |
| Texas A&M University - Kingsville | 64.3 |
| University of Houston - Victoria | 62.9 |
| Sul Ross State University | 62.0 |
| Angelo State University | 61.7 |
| The University of Texas at Tyler | 61.3 |
| University of Houston | 59.4 |
| Statewide | 58.9 |
| Lamar University | 58.3 |
| The University of Texas at Brownsville | 58.3 |
| The University of Texas at El Paso | 58.2 |
| Sam Houston State University | 57.9 |
| The University of Texas at San Antonio | 57.0 |
| The University of Texas - Pan American | 56.2 |
| University of North Texas | 56.0 |
| Texas A&M University - Commerce | 55.8 |
| Texas A&M International University | 54.3 |
| Doctoral* | 53.6 |
| Texas Southern University | 52.6 |
| TSUS** | 52.3 |
| Texas A&M University - San Antonio | 52.2 |
| The University of Texas at Dallas | 52.1 |
| The University of Texas of the Permian Basin | 51.6 |
| Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi | 51.3 |
| UNT Dallas College of Law | 50.0 |
| Tarleton State University | 49.8 |
| Texas Woman’s University | 49.3 |
| The University of Texas at Arlington | 48.7 |
| Texas A&M University at Galveston | 48.2 |
| University of Houston - Downtown | 47.7 |
| Prairie View A&M University | 46.9 |
| Texas State University | 44.4 |
| West Texas A&M University | 43.5 |
| University of North Texas at Dallas | 38.0 |
Note: Data from the THECB Accountability System
*THECB grouping of public universities with similar characteristics on number of PhD programs, PhD graduates per year and annual research expenditures. The universities in this group are Sam Houston State University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas Southern University, and Texas Woman’s University.
**Texas State University System (the system in which SHSU resides, along with Texas State University, Lamar University, and Sul Ross University).
SHSU’s semester credit hour production increased from 229,673 in academic year 2014 to 248,902 in the fall of 2017, an increase of 8.37% [14]. During this same time period, SHSU’s full-time faculty equivalents increased from 811.37 to 914.26, an increase of 12.68%, and its student-to-faculty ratio decreased from 24 to 1 to 21 to 1 [15]. During this time period, the University directed sufficient funding to maintain a sufficient number of full-time faculty and reduce its student-to-faculty ratio. The increased flow to faculty resources is illustrative of the institution’s commitment to maintain a sufficient number of full-time faculty to support the mission and goals of the institution.