Sam Houston State University (SHSU) has an adequate number of full-time faculty to support its mission to "offer accessible, quality higher education" through "innovative and flexible degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels focused on career readiness, personal and professional development, and service." [1]. Furthermore, the University has a sufficient number of full-time faculty to support the University’s strategic priorities:
SHSU has three broad categories of instructional personnel: tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure track positions. Tenured and tenure-track faculty titles include: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Regents' Professor, and Distinguished Professor. Non-tenure track/term faculty include: Lecturer-Pool, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Clinical Lecturer, Senior Clinical Lecturer, Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor, Clinical Professor, Lecturer of Practice, Senior Lecturer of Practice, Assistant Professor of Practice, Associate Professor of Practice, Professor of Practice, Assistant Research Professor, Associate Research Professor, Research Professor, Visiting Assistant Professor, Visiting Associate Professor, Visiting Professor, Visiting Scholar, Scholar-in-Residence, Writer-in-Residence, Artist-in-Residence, and Postdoctoral Fellow [3].
All tenured and tenure-track faculty are full-time faculty and meet the traditional expectations of providing teaching, research, and service contributions to the University, which are instrumental in ensuring curriculum and program quality, integrity, and review [4]. Tenured and tenure-track faculty are joined by non-tenure track faculty, many of whom are full-time faculty who contribute to curriculum and program quality, integrity, and review [5]. Many non-tenure track faculty, who are hired on either a 9-month, 12-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 [5].
Included as non-tenure track 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 engaged not only in teaching, but also in 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 [6].
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 services to students, colleagues, programs, department/schools, colleges, and the University, as well as, administrative and committee service; and service beyond SHSU to the profession, locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. Such services and activities include, but are not limited to, advising, mentoring, student organization sponsorship, curriculum development and oversight, committee service, professional development, and community collaboration and outreach [7] [5].
To ensure the quality and integrity of its academic programs, SHSU has a number of policies related to faculty resources. The Faculty Workload Policy [8] outlines the expectations for normal teaching loads, recognizes that faculty members' interests, strengths, and skills vary, provides flexibility to assign workloads that meet the University's needs, and includes provisions for reductions in those teaching loads for research, service, and other considerations. The policy defines a full-time faculty workload as "Full-time faculty workload equates to 12 workload credit[s] each fall, spring, and long summer semester. Summer employment may be available to faculty with nine-month contracts. Faculty workload may include a combination of teaching or librarianship, conducting scholarly/creative activities, and performing service or administrative duties" [8].
In addition, 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 Evaluation System of Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty [7] and the Hiring, Evaluation, Promotion, and Merit for Non-Tenure Track Faculty policies [5] give guidance regarding the University's expectations of faculty, provide an orderly, comprehensive approach for the evaluation of all faculty members at SHSU, and recognize three categories for purposes of evaluation: teaching effectiveness, scholarly and/or creative accomplishments, and service. The Performance Evaluation of Tenured Faculty Policy [10] describes the process for evaluating tenured faculty members. 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 SHSU Faculty Handbook provides additional guidance regarding the institution's expectations as to the role of the faculty, as well as links and reference to the above-described policies [12]. Taken together, these 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 2023-2024 academic year SHSU employed 1,232 distinct individuals with instructional responsibilities. Just under 70% 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 these instructional faculty by category.
Table 1. Profile of Instructional Faculty, Academic Year 2023-2024
| Category | Full-time Headcount | Part-time Headcount | Total (%) |
| Tenured | 361 | 0 | 361 (29.30%) |
| Tenure-track | 207 | 0 | 207 (16.80%) |
| Non-Tenure Track | 290 | 374 | 664 (53.90%) |
| Total (%) | 858 (69.64%) | 374 (30.4%) | 1,232 |
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 to profile Texas’s institutions of higher education. Within the accountability system is a measure that relates to tenure/tenure-track faculty: FTE Faculty Who are Tenure/Tenure-Track. According to the most recent data available (2022), the percentage reported for SHSU exceeds the State’s average 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 [13]. Furthermore, as a point of comparison, SHSU also exceeds the average for the Doctoral Group (SHSU 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, FY2022
| Institution | Percent of FTE Faculty who are tenured/tenure-track |
|---|---|
| Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College | 80.8% |
| University of Houston-Clear Lake | 75.3% |
| University of Houston-Victoria | 71.3% |
| Texas A&M University - Kingsville | 69.2% |
| Sul Ross State University | 69.0% |
| Texas A&M University-Central Texas | 68.8% |
| The University of Texas at Austin | 64.7% |
| Midwestern State University | 64.4% |
| Texas Tech University | 63.6% |
| Texas A&M University | 63.2% |
| Stephen F. Austin State University | 61.4% |
| Texas A&M University-Texarkana | 59.5% |
| Lamar University | 58.9% |
| University of Houston | 58.2% |
| Angelo State University | 57.7% |
| Texas Southern University | 56.8% |
| The University of Texas Permian Basin | 56.3% |
| Sam Houston State University | 56.0% |
| Statewide | 53.9% |
| The University of Texas at San Antonio | 53.8% |
| Prairie View A&M University | 53.6% |
| Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi | 53.5% |
| Texas A&M University-Commerce | 52.4% |
| Doctoral* | 50.4% |
| (TSUS) Texas State University System** | 49.9% |
| University of Houston-Downtown | 48.9% |
| Tarleton State University | 47.7% |
| West Texas A&M University | 46.4% |
| The University of Texas at Dallas | 45.5% |
| The University of Texas at Tyler | 44.2% |
| University of North Texas | 44.1% |
| Texas Woman's University | 44.1% |
| The University of Texas at El Paso | 43.4% |
| The University of Texas at Arlington | 42.4% |
| Texas State University | 41.0% |
| Texas A&M University at Galveston | 39.8% |
| The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | 39.5% |
| Texas A&M International University | 38.9% |
| Texas A&M University-San Antonio | 38.6% |
| University of North Texas at Dallas | 34.0% |
| Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College | 80.8% |
| University of Houston-Clear Lake | 75.3% |
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, Texas Woman’s University, and The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
**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 253,972 in the fall of 2018 to 260,002 in the fall of 2023, an increase of 2.37% [14]. During this same time period, SHSU’s full-time faculty equivalents increased from 893.11 to 963.11, an increase of 9.2%, and its student-to-faculty ratio decreased from 21:1 to 20:1 [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.