Nurturing a Quality Faculty and Staff

Trend Two:  The world of academia is constantly changing and will place a premium on those institutions that are responsive to the needs of recruiting and developing a quality faculty and staff.      

For today’s academic the world seems like a crush of challenges on time and resources.  Everything has changed, is changing, and will continue to change: students, faculty, research methodologies, the processes of teaching and learning, and technologies. Most faculty members did not perceive they would be constantly challenged by waves of adapting to rapid change in their classroom let alone face a new breed of student, “the Millennial.”  Today’s student also brings a plethora of social issues to the university that faculty and staff  may not be prepared to face.  As the academic world swirls seemingly out of control, institutions have to be aggressive to support and nurture their most important resources: the faculty and staff.

Strategies

Recruit and retain faculty and staff of high quality and support them with developmental opportunities needed to continue their professional growth throughout their career at Slippery Rock University.

SRU Goal:  Establish standards for faculty recruitment within the colleges and develop supportive methods that help attract the most highly qualified applicants.  The University standard will be that a minimum of 90% percent of faculty will hold a terminal degree.

ACTION      Hire fulltime tenure-track faculty with terminal degrees

BASELINE   84.49% of all tenure and tenure-track faculty as reported in 2003
                 for Fall 2002 data 

UPDATE     87.80% (2007)

UPDATE     89.80% (2008)

UPDATE     91.14% (2009)

UPDATE     91.74% (2010)

SRU Goal:  Refine and strengthen existing academic degree programs and other learning experiences that contribute to the quality and diversity of an engaged academic community.

ACTION     New Accreditations earned this year:  School of Physical Therapy
                Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) received accreditation. Re-
                Accreditation preparation for the self-study for Middle States
                Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).  Maintain accreditations 
                for 2009:  Middle State Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE),
                American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), National League for
                Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC), Commission on
                Accreditation of Allied Health Education (CAAHEP), Commission on
                Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), National
                Recreation and Park Association (NRPA/AALR), Institute for Safety
                and Health Management (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and
                Related Educational Programs (CACREP), Accreditation Board for
                Engineering and Technology (ABET), Council on Social Work
                Education (CSWE), National Association of Schools of Art & Design
                (NASAD), National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD), National
                Association of Schools of Music (NASM), National Association of
                Schools of Theatre (NAST), Accreditation Association for Ambulatory
                Health Care (AAAHC) The School of Business withdrew from the
                AACSB accreditation process and re-joined the ACBSP accreditation
                agency and entered the accreditation process with an expected
                completion date of November 2011. The Computer Science
                department is seeking accreditation for the IT program as part of the
                fall 2010 ABET accreditation visit to renew accreditation for the
                Computer Science and Information Systems programs. The Student
                Counseling Center has been approved for an accreditation field visit
                by the International Association of Counseling Services (IACS).
                (2009) 

SRU Goal:  Expand the library, technology, and research resources available to faculty to provide opportune ways to engage in creative pedagogy, research and scholarly work.

ACTION     Enhance the quality of academic instruction by directing additional
                resources toward increasing library acquisitions and services (AA)

BASELINE   $194,536 of performance funding allocations to expand library
                 acquisitions. (2005-2006) 

UPDATE     $247,897 of performance funding allocation to expand library
                acquisitions; allocated $272,577 in 2006-2007); Library received 25%
                of the $991,588 allocated to the performance funding initiative line. 
                Future plans are to renovate Bailey Library to provide the latest
                technology to students. (2007-2008)

UPDATE    $228,297 of performance funding allocation to expand library 
                acquisitions, a decrease of $19,600 over 2007-2008.  Library
                received 25% of the $913,189 allocated to the performance funding
                initiative line.  The renovation and expansion of Bailey Library has
                been included in the Facilities Master Plan and the Capital Budget
                and is scheduled to begin after the new student union is finished and 
                occupied and the library tenants move to the old student union.
                (2008-2009) 

UPDATE    $205,463 of performance funding allocation to expand library 
                acquisitions, a decrease of 10 percent from 2008-2009.  Although the
                Library is no longer required to receive a portion of the performance
                funding allocation, the university has continued to designate a portion
                of the performance funding allocation to Library operations.
                (2009-2010)

UPDATE    $205,467 of performance funding allocation to support library
                acquisitions and the development of a Technology Learning Center
                (TLC) within the library.  (2010-2011)