The unique character of NCSU as a major land-grant, research university enhances the richness of the academic experience for students and provides a special opportunity and responsibility to the faculty. Specifically, the University affords the opportunity to become closely associated with the problems of the state of North Carolina and the responsibility to do things that will benefit the people. Adding the dimension of service to the typical challenge of balancing research and teaching is a challenge that the NCSU faculty take seriously.
State-funded salaries for faculty are allocated to the University under two budgets: the academic budget and the agricultural-programs budget. The agricultural-programs budget is partially supported through federal-formula funds through the Cooperative States Research Service and Federal Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Funded under the agricultural-programs budget are faculty research and extension positions in the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Forest Resources, and Veterinary Medicine. Faculty in these positions conduct programs under the auspices of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service (formerly known as the N.C. Agricultural Experiment Station) and the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (formerly known as the Cooperative Agricultural Extension Service). The directors of these two services report to the dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and serve as associate deans. Although some of the faculty funded by the agricultural-programs budget are classified as 100 percent research (meaning paid entirely through North Carolina Agricultural Research Service) or as 100 percent extension (meaning paid entirely through North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service), many of the faculty appointed in these areas also have academic appointments, with an appropriate split in salary between the academic and agricultural-programs budgets.
The faculty appointments specifically designated as research or extension do not reflect all of the research and extension activity of the faculty, but only the state-funded and directed research and extension programs in agriculture and life sciences and related areas. Indeed, research and public service are considered to be the responsibility and opportunity of all faculty to varying degrees and at various phases in individual careers. Every college and school has a formal administrative structure (e.g., Industrial Extension, Textiles Extension, Humanities Extension) to provide administrative support for extension activities of its faculty. Furthermore, faculty seek external sources of funding for research and public service.
In the state of North Carolina, University-paid individuals appointed to the faculty are designated as EPA employees, meaning that they are state employees who are exempt from the provisions of the state personnel act. (Members of the staffsecretaries, technicians, etc.are subject to the act and are referred to as SPA employees.) Not all EPA employees of the University are automatically members of the faculty. Also included are members of the professional staff and nonacademic administration positions. EPA employees in these latter categories who have appropriate academic preparation along with teaching, research, or extension responsibilities are eligible to apply for admission to the general faculty. That admission is determined by a review of credentials by the University Government Committee. Membership on the general faculty conveys full faculty voting rights.
Also included in the faculty are employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of the Interior, who are resident in University facilities and conduct research programs under cooperative agreements between the University and the appropriate federal agencies. These faculty are accorded academic rank or other title commensurate with their credentials through the same process by which appointment and tenure decisions are made for the University-paid faculty. They may participate fully in the life of the University in the same fashion as may University-paid faculty.
NCSU also counts among its faculty a number of adjunct faculty. Adjunct faculty are usually not paid by the University, but they participate in some fashion with the programs of the University. Typically, NCSU's adjunct faculty are members of faculties of other universities, or they are scientists and other professionals from business and industry who have credentials befitting faculty appointment. Decisions on such appointments are initiated by department heads, and appointments, confirmed by the dean and provost, are specific to departments. Such appointments are subject to annual renewal.
Another segment of the NCSU community who perform some faculty duties are graduate students. They are considered in this section of the self-study in the context of their involvement in the delivery of the formal academic program of the University as well as through their involvement in graduate education and research. Graduate teaching assistants are supported out of the academic budget, while graduate research assistants are supported by the research budget (NCARS) or individual grants and contracts.
College appointments Graduate assistants
College Teaching Research Extension Administration Total USDA/DI GTA GRA
Agriculture and Life Sciences 112.66 197.67 141.07 14.67 466.07 43.00 34.96 189.79
Design 46.08 1.43 -- 4.49 52.00 -- 0.25 --
Education and Psychology 101.28 1.18 0.40 8.00 110.86 -- 24.04 12.24
Engineering 196.06 46.46 -- 19.97 262.49 -- 93.00 202.47
Forest Resources 31.25 23.03 8.00 4.40 66.68 4.00 3.00 41.39
Humanities and Social Sciences 340.02 2.43 0.67 16.92 360.04 -- 39.12 3.50
Management 83.89 0.20 -- 4.53 88.62 -- 16.02 1.00
Physical and Mathematical Sciences 178.65 31.11 -- 8.89 218.65 -- 71.46 67.14
Textiles 23.94 17.29 -- 6.52 47.75 -- -- 46.45
Veterinary Medicine 85.10 14.20 0.10 0.00 99.40 -- -- 27.08
Administration 9.38 3.13 -- 11.99 24.50 -- 3.00 3.68
Total 1,208.31 338.13 150.24 100.38 1,797.06 47.00 284.85 594.74
Data derived from the personnel files
Regardless of formal responsibility, the entire NCSU faculty is involved in the delivery of the educational program of the institution. For example, although a faculty member may be appointed to a 100 percent research position or responsibility, the same faculty member will typically give guest lectures, serve on graduate student advisory committees, advise undergraduates, and serve on department, college, and university committees and councils. Moreover, the active research and extension programs of the faculty provide numerous professional work experience opportunities for students at all levels.
Appointment to the faculty in any capacity brings a unique responsibility that is beyond the concept of employment. Faculty are not simply contract professionals hired to do a specific, directed, limited task, but are the agents who shape and conduct the mission of the University. Tenure is granted, ultimately, as a reflection of the long-term responsibility of the faculty in the shaping of mission and the conduct of the University in the fulfillment of its mission. If the University is to be responsive to the changing needs of society, faculty must regularly and routinely measure and assess their productivity and direction in light of the mission of the University, doing so in concert with the administration and in recognition of the authority of the UNC Board of Governors and the NCSU Board of Trustees as the ultimate representatives of the people of North Carolina. This self-study brings to light the activities of the faculty in this connection as well as offers recommendations for enhancements of our means for self-assessment.
The following tables give an overview of the size, functional distribution, and diversity of the faculty based on the most recent data available. To reflect overall faculty strength, table 8.1 gives numbers of faculty in terms of full-time equivalents (FTE). Table 8.2 breaks down the faculty according to gender and race. Table 8.3 gives actual headcount irrespective of appointment or responsibilities.
In addition to gender and race, other indicators of the diversity and vitality of a faculty are average ages and duration of appointment. Data on such attributes of the NCSU faculty reflect a vital faculty with 40 percent under the age of 40, and 58 percent having been appointed for fewer than ten years. In fall 1992, 14 percent of the faculty were newly appointed.
This chapter defines and describes the NCSU faculty in terms of their selection, preparation, responsibilities, opportunities, and accomplishments [4.4.1]. It also addresses specific issues that hold special challenge with regard to the continued evolution of NCSU: the compatibility of the rewards system with faculty responsibilities relative to mission, equity in racial and gender representation, morale, governance, professional development, compensation issues, and workload distribution.
The chapter reports faculty perceptions of the University and the role of the faculty based on the NCSU Self-Study Survey of Faculty conducted in fall 1992. Where survey results are specifically reported and discussed, the specific questions in the instrument are cited. The chapter also reports pertinent data from responses to the 1993 NCSU Self-Study Department Heads' Questionnaire, a survey conducted to gain a comprehensive view of the policies and procedures employed at the departmental level. As a follow-up to the department heads questionnaire, the self-study faculty committee conducted a targeted poll of its members (who were a disciplinary cross-section of the faculty), and the self-study steering committee surveyed all administrators from department heads up to the level of chancellor. Pertinent results from those surveys are also included.
The complexity of appointments and funding sources as well as changing definitions over time of the various categories makes obtaining entirely consistent data impossible, but all data in this chapter were provided by the Office of University Planning and Analysis, which is responsible for their accuracy.
Professor Associate professor Assistant professor Other
College Ethnicity Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Total
------- --------- ------------- ----------------- ------------------- ------------- -----
Agriculture and Life Sciences Nonwhite 5 0 6 4 2 2 1 0 20
White 253 7 85 23 46 22 11 4 451
Design Nonwhite 0 0 2 1 4 1 0 0 8
White 17 2 12 7 2 2 6 8 56
Education and Psychology Nonwhite 1 0 4 0 3 5 0 2 15
White 24 4 24 14 7 15 10 13 111
Engineering Nonwhite 17 0 7 0 13 1 2 0 40
White 99 2 55 3 36 2 32 9 238
Forest Resources Nonwhite 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 4
White 33 2 20 2 5 1 3 1 67
Humanities and Social Sciences Nonwhite 4 1 4 7 3 2 8 8 37
White 51 16 55 22 39 30 69 94 376
Management Nonwhite 0 0 2 0 2 1 1 1 7
White 23 2 10 2 9 6 36 13 101
Physical & Mathematical Sciences Nonwhite 15 1 9 0 8 2 1 1 37
White 93 3 41 7 25 5 10 5 189
Textiles Nonwhite 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 7
White 20 0 14 1 7 1 0 2 45
Veterinary Medicine Nonwhite 2 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 7
White 25 1 28 12 15 8 3 1 93
Administration Nonwhite 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 7
White 4 0 0 1 4 0 4 5 18
Total Nonwhite 53 2 36 15 38 17 15 13 189
White 642 39 344 94 195 92 184 155 1745
Total -- 695 41 380 109 233 109 199 168 1934
