Narrative:  

Troy University is in partial compliance with this Comprehensive Standard.

Overall, 44 percent of the discipline course hours taught within each baccalaureate level major are taught by faculty members holding the terminal degree. As illustrated in Table 1, as of fall 2007 a vast majority of the baccalaureate discipline majors were taught by Troy University faculty members who held terminal degrees.

Comments and Corrective Actions

Troy University had one academic program, criminal justice, inadvertently slip below the 25 percent level in the fall of 2007. The University was slow in filling a vacant position for a doctoral level faculty member which adversely impacted the percentage of course hours taught by faculty with terminal degrees. Troy University will fill this position and has authorized the addition of two additional faculty members with terminal degrees to be added to this program to ensure this problem does not recur.

While the corrective actions will mitigate the immediate problem, it is clear form this information that the University has not developed a systematic approach to monitoring compliance in this area. To correct this deficiency in its management system, Troy University will initiate an annual report from the Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness division to the Executive Vice Chancellor/Provost and all members of the Academic Steering Committee each spring that will track total discipline course hours taught by faculty with terminal degrees so that closer attention will be focused on this potential vulnerability.