Faculty Credentialing
Step 1 – Potential Instructor formally applies to Palm Beach State
All potential instructors should formally apply to the college to ensure eligibility to work in the United States and submit copies of their transcript through the online application system, Workday.
Step 2 – Prepare the Faculty Roster
For Credit, College Preparatory and CCP Faculty –
All faculty who teaches Credit, College Preparatory and CCP courses must have a Dean submit to the Deans’ Council a completed online Faculty Credential Request, listing relevant degrees, coursework, certifications, licenses, and verified work experience (if applicable based on credentialing criteria). The Dean should carefully review the candidate’s credentials to ensure strict compliance with the credentialing guidelines prior to sending the faculty roster for a full Deans’ Council and VPAA review and approval. When reviewing graduate transcripts which include both semester and quarter hours, each graduate course in the discipline should be listed on the online Faculty Credential Request with the appropriate placement of graduate semester hours in the credit hour column, using the conversion formula below. For individuals whose graduate transcript shows all quarter hours, there is a minimum of 27 graduate quarter hours is required for credentialing. Conversion of all credit hours should be made to semester hours when both types of credit have been taken. The online system will automatically compute these formulas on the form.
Formulae:
|
1 quarter hour |
= |
.667 semester hour |
| 1 semester hour |
= |
1.5 quarter hours |
Example: An individual possesses a Master’s degree in the discipline with 15 graduate semester hours in the discipline, and a second transcript from another accredited institution with 5 quarter semester hours:
| 5 quarter semester hours x .667 |
= |
3.335 equated semester hours |
| 15 semester hours+3.335 |
= |
18.335 semester hours |
Additional Notes:
- Undergraduate classes taken as an undergraduate cannot count towards graduate hours in the discipline.
- Courses taken that are described as eligible for counting towards a Bachelor’s degree or graduate degree may be counted if the course is taken after admission into graduate school and if it is counted towards the graduate degree in the appropriate discipline.
For CCE and other noncredit Faculty
All faculty who teach CCE and other noncredit courses (avocational and lifelong learning) must have the appropriate Dean/Associate Dean and/or Program Director approve the completed online Faculty Credential Request, which must include information on degrees and any relevant certifications, experience and/or licensures. This online request is submitted directly to Academic Services without a Deans’ Council review.
Step 3 – VPAA and Academic Deans’ Review
An Academic Dean will submit the faculty credential for review through the Online Faculty Credentialing Database (OFCD) Web page, which can be accessed at the following link:
www.palmbeachstate.edu/academicservices/information-and-reference/faculty-credentialing-tools.aspx
A unanimous “approve” vote must be recorded; if the “approve” vote is not unanimous, the credential must be reviewed during a regularly scheduled Academic Deans’ meeting. All applicants with foreign credentials (defined as awarded in a country other than the United States of America or one of its territories) must be evaluated by one of the Palm Beach State College approved foreign transcript evaluation and translation services on the following Web page:
www.palmbeachstate.edu/academicservices/information-and-reference/faculty-credentialing-tools.aspx
The VPAA Has Final Approval of Credit/Prep/CCP Faculty Rosters.
All faculty must meet the stated credentials in this manual. In exceptional cases, faculty not meeting the stated criteria may be considered for appointment using the following guidelines:
Exceptions to stated faculty credentials occur in two cases:
- The faculty member has outstanding professional experience and demonstrated contributions to the teaching discipline, which may be presented in lieu of formal academic preparation.
- The faculty member has training in a closely related discipline and the competencies needed to teach the course objectives were covered in the related disciplines.
In these cases, the Dean and/or Associate Dean must provide documentation as to how the faculty member’s experience and/or education allows him/her to teach the objectives in the course, using the Justification and Exception form, located in the forms section of the manual and online at: www.palmbeachstate.edu/Academic-Affairs/Justification-&-Documentation-Exception-to-the-Credentialing-Criteria-Requirements-form.
This information must also be copied into the online faculty roster through the OFCD.
Step 4 – Loading Faculty Credentials on the PantherNet System
After the credential has been approved by the VPAA and the Academic Deans’ for Credit/Preparatory/CCP, or by a Dean or Associate Dean/Program Director for CCE/avocational, a copy of the credential request will be automatically sent to the Academic Services office along with the online voting results. The faculty member will then be loaded onto the PantherNet system by Academic Services (provided that the person has been loaded as an applicant/employee by Human Resources).
Step 5 – Official Transcripts sent to Human Resources
The faculty member is responsible for ensuring that official transcripts are sent to Human Resources. If the Human Resources office has not received the adjunct’s official transcript in the initial term in which they are teaching, they cannot continue to teach in subsequent terms at Palm Beach State until such time the official transcript is received. This is College policy and must be followed.
Enacted July 2004 in Section G from existing policy; reviewed July 2010, July 2019