UCF’s Faculty Qualifications Database

 
UCF has designed a faculty qualifications database to collect and archive information about all faculty members who serve as instructors of record since Fall 2004. For each instructor of record, data on faculty degrees and courses are pulled from the PeopleSoft Human Resources (HR) database and the Reporting Data Service (RDS) database into an Access database. Within the Access database environment, the colleges input additional information that is not currently available in other university databases.
 
The figure below shows a portion of a record in the Faculty Qualifications Database for an individual faculty member.
 
 
The data from this database are used to generate the four-column faculty roster described below.
 

Explanation of the Roster Format

The qualifications of all of UCF's instructional faculty members are documented in two Faculty Rosters (Fall 2004 and Spring 2005) that accompany this certification of compliance. Each roster includes all those who taught courses for credit as instructors of record that semester.

For each semester, the faculty roster is organized by college To create a roster for viewing, first select a college

 
 
and then select an academic department for the given semester.
 
 

In most cases, academic departments correspond to actual administrative units, but in some cases, departments are defined to represent particular functional or discipline areas that are otherwise combined in other administrative units.

The roster for each department is preceded by a description of the programs offered in the department.

 
 
This is followed by a list of terminal and related degrees for the disciplines in the department, and the basis for faculty qualifications for different degree levels.
 
 

Each faculty member, regardless of contract type, who taught during the semester, is included in the roster. In order to verify qualifications for all faculty members, official transcripts of the highest degree earned in the teaching discipline and all other supporting documentation have been reviewed and are maintained in each of the deans’ offices. Faculty members who teach in multiple departments will appear in each department's roster with the courses taught in the associated department.

The first column provides the faculty member’s name and status, full-time, part-time, or Graduate Teaching Associate. It also provides an indicator of individuals for whom corrective action has been taken as a result of the ongoing audit and review processes.

 
 
The second column provides a listing of the courses that the faculty member taught within the given department. If a faculty member taught multiple sections of the same course, the course only appears once on the roster. Comments are appended to selected courses to provide additional information about the course and/or to provide a linkage between the qualifications and the specific course.
 
 
The third column shows the degrees that the faculty member was awarded, the discipline of the degree, the year of the degree, and the awarding institution name. The letters HR indicate that this is the degree that is recorded in UCF’s official data base and the letters CR indicate that a correction is required (data error or additional degree) that has not yet been corrected in the official database but has been verified against transcripts on file. Comments are included in column three if further clarification of the concentration is required. The number of graduate hours taken in the teaching discipline is also displayed. Column four lists the other qualifications for selected faculty.
 
 

In all cases, the transcripts and supporting documentation are housed in the faculty member’s college office.

In the case of Graduate Teaching Associates, additional information on the supervisor, SPEAK test results, evaluation, and training is provided in column two. The SPEAK test is required for all Graduate Teaching Associates whose native language is other than English and who did not graduate from a U.S. institution. Also, if the Graduate Teaching Associate has not yet completed a master’s degree or the degree is in a different field, the specific courses constituting at least 18 graduate hours in the discipline are detailed in column three.

 
 

UCF’s Ongoing Review Process

These rosters received a blind review by a committee of senior faculty members and administrators to ensure that UCF standards for qualifications were met. In some cases corrective actions were required and have been taken. This database will be maintained and regular audits of faculty qualifications have been institutionalized into normal business practices. This regular audit process coupled with the collection of qualification information in the AA-20a form for new hires ensures that all faculty members have the proper qualifications.

UCF is committed to the continued compliance on faculty qualifications. During the past two years, the university has developed processes and databases to ensure that all instructors of record have appropriate teaching qualifications. This process will continue with further discussion and implementation of improved policies and processes that will ensure ongoing compliance.