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MIDDLE STATES ACCREDITATION SELF-STUDY
REPORT OF SUBCOMMITTEE ON FACULTY
Statement of Charge
The subcommittee on Faculty had the basic charge to assess the educational goals for the
University as they relate to teaching, resource allocation, and development, and to identify the
professional contributions of the faculty and staff.
Assessments/Analysis
Full-Time To Part-Time Faculty Ratio
In fall 2000, 67 percent of the full-time equivalent faculty employed by Robert Morris University
were full-time faculty (115 full-time faculty and 57 full-time equivalent part-time faculty), as cited in
the Robert Morris College Application for University Status report. While the full-time faculty are
engaged in a variety of academic functions, they primarily teach. In fall 2001, there were 127 fulltime faculty, including administrators with faculty status, who taught 1,161 credit hours (53 percent).
Part-time faculty taught 1,021 credits hours (47 percent).
Fifty-seven percent of the sections for the undergraduate day program were taught by fulltime faculty during the Fall 2000 Term. Fifty-eight percent of the sections for the undergraduate
Saturday/evening adult program were taught by full-time faculty. Seventy percent of the graduate
sections, excluding doctoral sections, were taught by full-time faculty. All doctoral classes are taught
by full-time faculty.
Faculty Preparation, Development, and Service
The faculty in all departments of the institution are appropriately prepared and remain current
in their disciplines. However, dilemmas arise about where faculty should focus their service efforts
given increased departmental and school-wide committee demands.
Faculty are appropriately credentialed, committed to scholarship, and sensitive to the
strengths and needs of students. Of the 127 full-time faculty members, 90 have doctorates and 37
have master’s degrees.
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Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the University has a merit system for all faculty
in the bargaining unit. The bargaining unit excludes administrators such as department heads and
deans who hold faculty status. The merit system has been in place since the 1990 contract.
Merit Awards in Teaching
The percentage of faculty receiving merit or highest merit for teaching has remained
remarkably consistent within a range of 93 percent-99 percent from 1994 to 2000; the three years
beginning with 1998 have been 99 percent, 99 percent, and 98 percent, respectively. All bargainingunit faculty are evaluated for merit in teaching.
Merit Awards in Scholarship
Faculty have strong qualitative incentives to pursue scholarship such as professional standing,
institutional accreditation, and personal achievement, and they have strong quantitative incentives
such as merit pay and course release time for research. Since 1990 more faculty have become eligible
for merit shares in scholarship while the amounts negotiated for them declined. In the 1993-1994
merit in scholarship was worth $418 per share and highest merit was worth $836. In the 1999-2000,
merit was $261 per share and highest merit, $522.
Since 1994, the percentage of faculty receiving merit or highest merit for scholarly and
creative activities has ranged from 39 percent to 53 percent; in the three years since 1998, 47 percent,
53 percent, and 48 percent of eligible faculty have received some level of merit for scholarship.
Approximately 50 percent of the bargaining-unit faculty apply for merit for their scholarly and
creative activities. (In this category, unlike that of Teaching and Service, faculty may elect not to
participate.) In a teaching-oriented institution, the increase of participation from 39 percent to nearly
50 percent from 1994-2000 reflects a significant change in the institution’s culture.
Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (Article XIV, Section D, p. 32) the University
may from time to time grant sabbatical leave to employees for study, travel, research, publication, or
other activities that will result in increased individual performance or produce academically or
socially useful results.
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Merit Awards in Service
Merit awards for service to the University and the community are small, ranging from $126
to $178 from 1994-2000.
Full-Time Faculty Teaching Loads
Full-time faculty members are normally required to teach 24 credit hours or their equivalent
per academic year (Collective Bargaining Agreement, 1999-2003, p. 39). For purposes of this
provision, the following equivalencies apply:
One (1) undergraduate level three (3) credit course = (3) credit hours;
One (1) master’s level three (3) credit course = (3) credit hours; and
One (1) doctoral level three (3) credit course = six (6) credit hours.
Each faculty member receives a course release for every two master’s courses taught.
Teaching one doctorate course is equivalent to teaching two undergraduate courses. Faculty members
are responsible for up to six course preparations per year.
Orientation for New Faculty Members
The University provides an orientation program before the fall semester for new faculty
members (full-time and part-time). In Fall 2001, new faculty members attended a series of
orientation meetings in the first eight weeks of the academic year. Topics discussed include the
mission of the University, academic governance, goal setting, review of student affairs, and general
logistics issues. Also, members of the human resources department meet with new faculty to explain
policies and benefits.
Faculty Role in Program Development
The faculty are significantly involved in devising and developing the institution’s academic,
professional, research, and service programs within the framework of its educational mission and
goals. For example, there is a Professional Development Committee that offers workshops for the
faculty on a variety of topics. Also, there are graduate and undergraduate curriculum committees that
review the programs and syllabi. The Graduate Curriculum Committee and Undergraduate
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Curriculum Committee are recognized by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, 1999-2003 (pp. 56,
61). The Graduate Curriculum Committee comprises three full-time faculty members from each
school offering graduate programs. Each school elects three full-time faculty members from among
the graduate faculty of the school. The Graduate Curriculum Committee makes recommendations to
the University on matters related to graduate programs such as standards for degrees, grading
policies, admission criteria, class size, degree requirements, and applicants for the graduate faculty.
The Undergraduate Curriculum Committee considers and advises the University about curriculum
matters like course and program proposals. A formal procedure is in place for reviewing proposals
for new programs and courses. Both school and departmental planning committees are active.
Teaching as the Faculty’s Primary Responsibility
The institution and the faculty accept teaching as the primary responsibility of faculty. In the
Collective Bargaining Agreement, 50 percent of the merit pool is set aside for merit in teaching. A
faculty member must first earn merit in teaching before becoming eligible for merit in Service or
Scholarly Activity.
Support of Faculty Scholarship and Development Through Release Time and Funding
The agreement between the University and the RMC Federation of Teachers provides for a 3credit teaching load release per term for faculty to conduct research and scholarly writing and
Sabbatical Leave for faculty activities that “will result in increased individual performance or produce
academically or socially useful results.” A review of sabbatical and course reduction information
reveals that of the 18 requests for sabbatical leave since 1995, 12 or 67 percent have been granted. Of
the 15 requests for course load reductions since the Spring 2000 semester, 13 or 87 percent have been
granted
Robert Morris University supports faculty research and development by providing merit pay
for scholarship, especially publishing and presenting at national academic conferences; teaching load
reductions for research; travel funding for scholarly purposes, especially for conferences; tuition loan
programs for completing doctoral studies; sabbaticals for study and scholarly writing. The University
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also encourages faculty-student collaboration in applied undergraduate and graduate research
projects. The University also supports the Faculty Development Committee, which analyzes faculty
development needs and recommends methods of meeting them. The Communications Skills Program
sponsors faculty development workshops to demonstrate strategies for adapting current research into
pedagogy. The Division of Adult and Continuing Education sponsors faculty development workshops
for technological applications of software and teaching online courses using andragogical principles.
Each full-time faculty member is allotted a travel budget of approximately $840 per year for
participation in professional conferences and workshops. In practice, because not all faculty travel,
productive faculty receive more.
The University may grant up to three one-year educational leaves to faculty members who are
pursuing doctoral studies.
Monitoring Program Change and Conditions of Employment
The University has an effective system for monitoring changes in program requirements;
needs of faculty for adequate and equitable procedures for conditions of employment; employment
and tenure status, workload and compensation, and support services for faculty; and their
participation in governance, Also, the University has an effective system for implementing changes in
these areas.
School deans and the faculty, through the Undergraduate and Graduate Curriculum
Committees, monitor program changes and requirements (see “Faculty Role in Program
Development” above). In addition, the Communications Skills Program Faculty Evaluation and
Implementation Committee (FEIC) for CSP Courses I-V and especially Communications Skills
Evaluation and Courses VI-IX Curriculum Committee effectively monitoring changes in the CSP
program requirements.
School Deans and the RMU Federation of Teachers monitor employment concerns and needs
informally and formally. The terms and conditions of salaries, work, employment, benefits, and job
security are governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, 1999-2003. Employment concerns
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and needs are effectively voiced and monitored through the processes of the Collective Bargaining
Agreement.
Faculty Diversity
The University recognizes the importance of having a diverse faculty deliver the curriculum.
Therefore, the University continues to expand faculty diversity. Past efforts to recruit minority
faculty have included advertising positions in minority-focused periodicals and offering recruiting
incentives that allowed each academic department who recruited a minority faculty member to have
an extra full-time position. The academic deans have been asked to revise recruiting plans to include
specific activities for recruiting minority faculty. In recent years the University has successfully
recruited several new minority faculty in the School of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science and
the School of Communications and Information Systems.
Criteria for the Appointment, Supervision, and Review of Part-Time Faculty
The criteria for the appointment, supervision, and review of part-time faculty are comparable
to those for full-time faculty. All faculty are recruited, hired, supervised and reviewed by department
heads with the oversight of their deans. Part-time faculty must have at least a Master’s Degree and
relevant experience. They are evaluated each term by class observations and through nationally
normed student questionnaires. Many part-timers are mentored by veteran faculty members. For
example, part-timers who teach communications-intensive courses meet with the faculty who have
created the course plans to help maintain the standards of the Communications Skills Program. The
Faculty Evaluation and Implementation Committee (FEIC) for CSP Courses I-V is a support group of
all faculty who teach CO I-V. The FEIC engages in self-assessment faculty work, provides mentors
and peer support, and offers workshops in teaching and evaluation methods. The department of
management full-time faculty, as another example of mentoring, trains part-timers who teach the
senior level Management Simulation course to use the simulation program.
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Process for Nonrenewals of Full-Time Faculty
The Collective Bargaining Agreement provides that a full-time faculty member hired after
May 10, 1999, may not appeal nonrenewal of his or her teaching appointment up through the fifth
year of employment unless the faculty member has received tenure, or its equivalent, at another
institution of higher education. Then the period is reduced to three years.
In the sixth year of employment, a faculty member may appeal nonrenewal of his or her
teaching appointment in writing to a committee of the appropriate dean, the assistant vice president
for administration and human resources, and the president of the Federation or their designees. The
Committee shall issue its decision in writing.
Thereafter, an employee is guaranteed reappointment unless he has: (1) failed to effectively
perform the responsibilities of the position; or (2) failed to achieve the level of growth consistent with
the growth of the discipline. Such failure to reappoint may be appealed through the grievance
procedure.
At the time of hire, the University has the right to establish a maximum of up to six years
during which time a faculty member must achieve a specific level of academic achievement. A
failure to reappoint a faculty member who does not attain the specific level of academic achievement
within the prescribed time frame shall not be subject to appeal. Since 1992 only three faculty
members have not been reappointed for failure to complete their doctoral studies.
Approaches to Teaching and Activities to Enhance Teaching.
RMU continues to use innovative and teaching practices based on sound theoretical
principles and attuned to the needs of our students. Faculty are trained in appropriate theories and
practices and are offered formal and informal workshops to help them adapt their courses to new
pedagogies designed to help students grow in the knowledge, skills, and literacy that their discourse
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communities demand. Notable approaches to teaching that are used and activities available to
enhance teaching include the following:
Writing Across the Business Disciplines (WABD): Since its inception in 1984 through a generous
grant from the Buhl Foundation, RMU has supported the Writing Across the Business Disciplines
(WABD), first, in conjunction with Buhl and later assuming full financial as well as academic and
administrative responsibility for the program. From 1995 to 2000 WABD was an independent
department of the University with its own director and budget. In 2000 it was merged with the
Communications Skills Program, which is based on WABD course design principles. WABD is an
extensive writing-to-learn Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program that operates through
targeted, already-existing courses. WABD teaches faculty to use a structural approach to WAC in
order to bring the best theory and practice into already existing targeted courses. More than 50
faculty have been trained in this structural writing-to-learn approach; more than 50 courses have been
created that brings course goals together with material to be covered into language-to-learn activities
that offer students a chance to better learn course subject. More than 10,000 students have been
beneficiaries of this practice.
WABD has been so successful at integrating language-to-learn activities into faculty course
plans that the program captured a Department of Education FIPSE grant to teach our structural
approach to Writing Across the Curriculum to six other schools across the United States: Babson
College, Bryant College, Golden Gate University, Kent State University Regional Campuses,
Mercyhurst College, and Southeastern University.
Communications Skills Program (CSP): Since 1995 RMU has implemented an audiencefocused, nine-course, 27-hour Communications Skills Program (CSP). The CSP allows students
extensive integrated practice in reading, writing, listening, and presenting, using appropriate
technological support. The first five courses, taught by department of communications or CSP
faculty, are sequenced according to level of sophistication in understanding audience. The last four
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communication-intensive courses of the program, CSP VI-IX, are taught in the subject-areas
departments in already existing, but re-designed courses. (See Curriculum Chapter.)
In 1998 RMU won a Certificate of Excellence from the Hesburgh Foundation for a “faculty
development program that enhances undergraduate teaching and student learning”.
On-line Classes: Another example of University's efforts to provide a varied and flexible
approach to teaching and learning is through on-line classes. RMU offers a number of seminars in
pedagogy and technology that enhance faculty ability to effectively participate in our distancelearning program (See ACE Division, Curriculum Report).
Pre-MBA courses also went online in the spring. The University has sponsored a series of
workshops to prepare faculty who volunteer for Pre-MBA courses. (See On-line Courses Policy and
see Curriculum Chapter.)
Learning Communities: The University is experimenting with a "learning communities"
approach to some first-year courses. This pilot project is commissioned by The Committee for
Student Success, a committee that includes administrators, staff, and faculty (17 members), and aims
to 1) improve student satisfaction; 2) ensure the likelihood of student success and; 3) retain more
students.
The pilot program entails developing, implementing, and evaluating a 9-week Freshman
Seminar course linked by content and shared assignments to CO120 Communication Skills I and
CI212 Computing and Software Essentials. The Freshman Seminar assists students in learning how
to 1) set and attain realistic educational and career goals; 2) take advantage of campus resources,
services and opportunities; 3) develop effective time management and study skills; 4) develop
strategies to become socially responsible, serve the community, and develop professionally; and 5)
interact with people of different cultures. (See exhibit titled "Learning Communities Pilot Project")
Language-to-learn in Mathematics: The Mathematics Department is using innovative
teaching practices, including language-to-learn activities, to reach students enrolled in QS099, a
remedial algebra course. These students have a history of problems with mathematics. A department
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faculty member wrote a booklet entitled “How to Study and Learn Mathematics” that helps students
understand the locus of control is with them. Students are given specific instructions on what they
should do to pass QS099 and asked to write a paper called “Math and Me” describing their history
with mathematics and how they intended to incorporate at least one idea from the pamphlet into their
studying for QS099. Students in the QS099 that used the language-to-learn strategies fared better than
those in a section that did not, according to faculty analysis of test results that showed a significant
decline in the number of N (No Pass) grades in the section that used the new methods. Participants’
attendance is better, their assignment completion rate is higher, and their subsequent exam grades
continue to be better. Addison Wesley has awarded the faculty member who implemented the new
methods a small grant to class test some new software and a textbook in QS099.
Some Mathematics faculty are also experimenting and expanding voluntary free review
sessions. Participation has grown in a year from a handful of students to more than 50 students.
In the University’s new Engineering Program, faculty schedule regular help sessions for
students. Help sessions are held once per day, and twice on Friday, and are open to any engineering
student. In a session, students typically work in teams of about four per group. Following data
collection students have about a week to do data analysis and submit written laboratory reports.
The Information Systems Department is combining hands-on experience with computers and
cognitive content in courses leading to the ability to take A+, Network+, and Microsoft Certified
Professional exams.
Collaborative Learning through Cohort Groups: The University’s doctoral program, leading
to a Doctor of Science in Information Systems and Communications degree, merges an
interdisciplinary education with practical, professional experience. This approach to collaborative
learning is distinctive in a number of respects: It is designed for completion within three years;
students matriculate within cohort groups; students participate in campus residencies with their cohort
groups; students work closely with “field mentors” as well as their doctoral committees; and
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coursework is offered in an executive education format to provide convenience and flexibility. (See
Brochure for Prospective Students)
Projection/Recommendations
1. For the 2001-2002 school year, Robert Morris University hired 17 full-time faculty. Although
these hires improve the full-time/part-time ratio, the subcommittee recommends a target goal
of 75 percent full-time faculty.
2. To assure continuity of quality education University-wide, RMU should explore both formal
and informal modes for integrating new faculty, both part- and full-time, into RMU traditions
of excellence in teaching. Currently, the University is holding a series of breakfast meetings
for new faculty to familiarize them with the major initiatives and programs of the University.
In addition, these modes may include mentoring by more experienced colleagues and
increased opportunities to share teaching techniques among faculty.
3. The faculty union and the administration should establish a closer relationship by having
more frequent meetings between union representatives and administration.
4. RMU should increase monetary incentives for scholarship, teaching, and service.
5. RMU should increase the scope and funding of the Professional Development Committee to
facilitate and support interdisciplinary activities such as the development of interdisciplinary
funding proposals, and it should offer forums for faculty members to present and discuss their
research, intellectual enthusiasms and concerns, and teaching techniques.
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Robert Morris University
Tables on Faculty Diversity
Full-Time Faculty Spring 2002 Staff - Totals
Total full-time faculty by gender and race/ethnicity
Administrators with faculty status
Men*
Nonresident Alien
Black, Non-Hispanic
American Indian/Alaska Native
Asian/Pacific Islander
Hispanic
White, non-Hispanic
Race/ethnicity unknown
Women*
Men*
1
1
25
19
Women*
1
2
1
65
6
6
Totals
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26
21
Grand Total: 122 full-time faculty including administrators with faculty status
*including librarians with faculty status
Part-Time Faculty Fall 2001
Total part-time faculty by gender and race/ethnicity
Faculty
(instruction,
research,
public service)
Nonresident Alien
Black, Non-Hispanic
American Indian/Alaska
Native
Asian/Pacific Islander
Hispanic
White, non-Hispanic
Race/ethnicity unknown
Totals
Grand Total:
Faculty
(instruction,
research,
public service)
1
2
3
1
90
4
70
10
98
83
181 part-time faculty
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IV.
Exhibits
a. Collective Bargaining Agreement, 1999-2003
b. Application for University Status Report
c. On-line Course Policy
d. Learning Communities Pilot Project
e. Doctoral Program Brochure for Prospective Students
f.
Institutional Support of Research and Faculty Development: A Supplement to the
Application for University Status
g. Mission/Vision statements
h. Merit Shares Scholarly Activity and Service, 1993-2000
i.
Promotions in Faculty Rank
j.
Number of Faculty, by Category, who received Merit in 1991-2000
k. Sabbatical/Leave/Course Reduction Information