Auburn University employs an adequate number of full-time faculty members to support its mission and goals.

The three-part mission of Auburn University is to “improve the lives of the people of Alabama, the nation, and the world through forward-thinking education, life-enhancing research and scholarship, and selfless service." Auburn recognizes that achieving this mission “depends largely upon its ability to attract and retain well-educated, talented, and dedicated faculty members,” most of whom will serve in full-time roles. Thus, the mission is the guiding source to inform all decisions related to faculty hirings, workloads, and promotions.  

Academic Structure

Auburn University has twelve colleges housing both schools and departments within each unit on campus. All these units offer multiple programs, and faculty members are appointed to these units based on program need. This includes programs offered at Auburn’s three off-campus instructional sites as well as distance education programs. Evaluating and assigning faculty workloads is done on a regular basis to maintain quality of all academic programs. Faculty within each unit are led and supervised by a department chair/head. Department chairs/heads report to deans at the college level, who in turn report to the Provost for Academic Affairs. An organizational chart for academic affairs is provided as evidence for this structure.

Faculty Definitions and Responsibilities

At Auburn University, faculty are defined as:

Academically qualified individuals whose obligations include (1) the teaching of students, (2) the discovery of new knowledge through research or other creative work, and (3) the dissemination or application of knowledge through outreach. In addition, all faculty members have an obligation of service to the University.

Full-Time/Part-Time

Auburn employs both full-time and part-time faculty of varying classifications. Full-time faculty are typically 9-month or 12-month contracts and are primarily responsible for:

• Curriculum design, development, and evaluation
• Teaching
• Identification and assessment of appropriate student learning outcomes
• Student advising
• Research and creative activity
• Institutional, community, and professional service

For part-time faculty, Auburn considers a three credit hour semester course equivalent to ten hours of other academic responsibilities. Therefore, a faculty member would need four (4) three credit hour semester courses (40 hours of academic responsibilities) to be considered full-time.

In alignment with Auburn’s three-part mission, faculty workloads are based on programmatic needs and determined by department chairs/heads during annual faculty reviews. Beyond instruction, workload assignments and expectations vary across campus due to the nature of the wide range of disciplines. College deans regularly monitor these workloads in collaboration with department heads/chairs to ensure quality and balance of faculty output. Workloads exceeding 100% are not common and are determined at the college or department level. In these instances, the department or college must complete a form receiving approval from the faculty member, unit head/chair, college dean, and provost. Teaching overload policies vary based on discipline and faculty appointment. A teaching overload policy for the College of Pharmacy is provided as evidence.

Tenured/Tenure-Track

Auburn has two main classifications for faculty – tenured/tenure-track and non-tenured/non-tenure-track. Tenured/tenure-track faculty include the ranks of assistant professor, associate professor, and professor, virtually all of whom serve in full-time appointments. (The 32 part-time tenured faculty members in table 6.1.1. were all retirees who continue to conduct research and teach on a limited basis.) These faculty are either tenured or eligible to receive tenure. Tenured and tenure-track faculty primary duties include teaching, research/creative work, and outreach. The distinguishing factor between tenured/tenure-track faculty and non-tenured/non-tenure track faculty is allocation of workload assignments. Non-tenured/non-tenure track faculty typically are only assigned one aspect related to the three-part mission (instruction, research, outreach), whereas tenured/tenure-track faculty are expected to participate in combinations of these activities. 

Non-Tenured/Non-Tenure Track

Auburn University’s faculty also includes 453 individuals in several non-tenure-track  position types: instructor, lecturer, professor of practice, clinical faculty, research faculty, visiting faculty, and postdoctoral teaching fellow. This faculty classification is not eligible for tenure and generally focuses on one aspect of contribution to the university (instruction, research, outreach).

As shown in Table 6.1-1, below, more than 85% of Auburn’s faculty serve in a full-time capacity and  hence are fully available to support one or more aspects of the university’s mission. (Counter to national trends, slightly more than half of Auburn’s non-tenure-track faculty members also hold full-time appointments.) The predominance of full-time faculty members in Auburn's total faculty supports a finding of compliance with Standard 6.1. A a headcount of faculty by college and rank is included as evidence.

TABLE 6.1.1 – Tenure-Track Status (FT/PT) 2021-2022 

(Source: Auburn University Office of Institutional Research)

Auburn University was classified as a Research One (Very High Research Activity) institution in 2018. The number of full-time faculty at Auburn University compares favorably with full-time faculty headcounts at the 40 SACSCOC doctoral universities classified as “Very High Research Activity” (R1). As of Fall 2020, the most recent year for which comparative data are available in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data center, the average number of full-time instructional faculty at SACSCOC R1 doctoral universities was 1,705, while the number at Auburn that year was 1,425. Because FTE enrollment at these institutions ranges widely—from approximately 8,000 to more than 61,000—it is helpful to examine the number of students per full-time instructional faculty member. In Fall 2020, the mean number of FTE students per full-time instructional faculty member was 20, while at Auburn it was at 20.7, squarely in the middle of the distribution of this ratio for this set of comparable institutions. Broadly, then, the number of full-time faculty members is well within normal range among SACSCOC institutions with missions that include doctoral-level education and research. A table showing these IPEDS data and calculations is included as evidence document.

Adequacy for the Instructional Mission

Course Sections Taught and Credit Hours Produced

While full-time faculty participation is necessary across all areas of the university’s mission, the number  of full-time faculty members must first be adequate to support the quality and integrity of the institution’s instructional programs. At Auburn University, full-time faculty members teach approximately 4/5 of all course sections and generate close to the same proportion of all student credit hours. Fewer than 7% of sections  and credit hours are taught by Graduate Teaching Assistants, who are training for potential teaching careers under the guidance of the full-time faculty members.

Table 6.1-2, below, displays both ways of measuring shares of instruction because “course sections taught”  gives a general picture of the kinds of instructional faculty the university deploys, while “credit hours produced,” being sensitive to enrollment patterns, gives a well-proportioned picture of the kinds of instructional faculty most students encounter.

TABLE 6.1-2 – Course Sections and Credit Hours Taught, Fall 2021,

by Full-Time Faculty Status

As can be seen by comparing Table 6.1-1 with Table 6.1-2, the proportion of instruction provided by full-time faculty members is only a little smaller than the proportion of all faculty members who are on full-time appointments. In other words, at Auburn University, part-time faculty members do not carry  a disproportionate share of instructional responsibility.

Adequacy for Direct Instruction at Auburn University’s Off-Campus Sites

Auburn University currently operates three off-campus instructional sites where it is possible for a student to earn half or more of the credits toward a degree. These include: the satellite campus of the Harrison College of Pharmacy, located at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama; Auburn University’s Rural Studio in Newbern, AL; and the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project at Staton Correctional Facility.

At the Harrison College of Pharmacy’s Mobile, AL campus, students can earn credits toward the Doctor of Pharmacy degree. The principal site of the Harrison College of Pharmacy is located on the main campus, where students can also pursue the Doctor of Pharmacy degree as well as the Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmaceutical Sciences. In practice, instruction for the Doctor of Pharmacy program fully integrates the two sites through simultaneous videoconferencing. In a typical class meeting, instructors may be in Mobile, AL, in Auburn, AL, or in both locations, while students in both locations connect to the same experience in a fully interactive way. This program does not include face-to-face instruction at a single location that is not simultaneously delivered to the other. Because the two sites are fully integrated for instruction, further discussion of full-time faculty associated with the Doctor of Pharmacy degree is presented in response to Standard 6.2.b (Program Faculty). However, it should be noted that the Mobile-based faculty of the Harrison College of Pharmacy is comprised of one full-time Assistant Dean and Associate Department Head, one full-time instructor/curriculum coordinator, and three Assistant and four Associate Clinical Professors.

The second off-campus site at Auburn University's Rural Studio in Newbern, AL, was approved by SACSCOC for delivery of half or more of the credits toward a Master of Science in Architecture/Option in Public Interest Design in 2018. Effective May 15, 2021, this program was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program closure is intended to be temporary until the permanent conditions necessary for its successful re-implementation are guaranteed. From a substantive change viewpoint, we still submitted program closure notification with the possibility of reopening the program within the designated time frame allowed by SACSCOC. Despite the closure of the Master of Science degree, the site still offers limited instruction for undergraduate programs below the 50% threshold. The undergraduate 5th-Year Program is an optional program for up to 12 bachelor of architecture students in their final year at Auburn University. The undergraduate 3rd-Year Program is an optional program for bachelor of architecture students at Auburn University. Cohorts of up to 16 3rd-year students live on campus in Newbern. There are four full-time architecture faculty (three in resident, one commuter) and two part-time faculty (one in resident, one commuter). Instruction for all programs is offered primarily in person on site, with some distance education as well.

Auburn University offers instruction through the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project (APAEP) at the Staton Correctional Facility (Staton) located in Elmore, AL. This site has been approved by SACSCOC for delivery of half or more of the credits toward a Bachelor of Science degree program in Interdisciplinary University Studies. At its beginning in 2004, this site offered non-credit education programming to incarcerated students through its APAEP. In May 2017, Auburn began to offer credits towards the Bachelor of Science degree program, but not enough courses had yet been offered for students to earn 50% or more in applicable credits. no student had yet an opportunity to earn 50% or more in applicable credits. After SACSCOC approval in 2019, implementation to offer a full degree program at Staton Correctional Facility began in Spring of 2020. The program is taught face-to-face with cohorts ranging between 18-22 students. The program requires the completion of 120 credit hours and is housed in the College of Liberal Arts, with partnerships with three colleges. Courses at the Staton site are taught by full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members and instructors, as well as by part-time adjunct faculty and qualified graduate students. Instructors who teach at the site are paid volunteers. While most instructors are Auburn University employees, on occasion the program director recruits qualified instructors on an adjunct basis from other nearby institutions of higher education. Among these adjunct faculty, some hold full-time appointments at their home institutions. Because the Interdisciplinary University Studies degree is not based in a single academic department, instructors at the Staton site will come from the departments responsible for the specific courses being offered, just as on the main campus. Currently, there are ten instructors of record teaching courses at the Staton site, four of which are full-time faculty members, one who is a full-time instructor at another institution hired by Auburn University on a part-time basis, and the remaining five are Auburn University Ph.D. candidates who have already earned a master’s degree in the field of the course they teach at the facility.

Based on this, Auburn University faculty members are primarily responsible for instruction in the Interdisciplinary University Studies program at the Staton site. Reinforcing their instructional work is the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project Advisory Council. Chaired by the APAEP director, this council is composed of 13 members, seven of whom are tenured members of the Auburn University faculty.

Adequacy for Instruction Involving Distance Education

Auburn University primarily serves full-time, residential students who receive instruction in traditional classroom settings. At Auburn University, distance education is not a separate enterprise, distinct from other instructional activities, and the institution does not employ a separate distance education instructional workforce. However, within its mission, the University does deliver courses, program components, or full programs by means of distance education. As with face-to-face instruction, the number of full-time faculty members engaged in distance education activities is adequate to support this expression of the university’s mission and goals.

As summarized in Table 6.1-3, below, the university’s student information system records for Fall 2020 show that 1112 individuals taught or co-taught 2337 course sections by distance education, generating 215,741 student credit hours. About three quarters of distance education instructors were full-time faculty members. They taught almost 80% of all distance education course sections and generated 81% of all distance education student credit-hours. Part-time faculty members do not carry  a disproportionate share of distance education instructional responsibility.

Table 6.1-3: Distance Education Course Sections and Credit Hours Taught, Fall 2020,

by Full-Time Faculty Status 

Adequacy for Instructional Planning and Evaluation: Committees

The number of full-time faculty members at Auburn University is adequate for effective teaching and for effective instructional planning and evaluation, including curriculum development and review and assessment. Given the broad focus of Standard 6.1, the following account will cover involvement of full-time faculty in these activities at the institutional level.

The Auburn University Faculty Handbook establishes the scope and character of faculty involvement in curriculum and academic standards. According to the Handbook, “Faculty are key to the development, review and revision of curriculum and academic standards at Auburn University.” Through the faculty’s “careful maintenance” of these instructional areas, the university “ensures that its programs and policies promote excellence in academic endeavors and provide clear guidance and direction”.

Full-time faculty members exercise robust oversight of curriculum and instruction through standing committees of the university or of the University Senate as well as through other forms of organization.  Each year, faculty members are invited to express interest in serving on one or more of these committees. From these faculty volunteers, the Rules Committee of the University Senate recommends  new committee members either to the University Senate (for that governance body’s standing committees) or to the President (for University committees).

Nine standing committees of the University Senate–all composed principally of full-time faculty members–oversee aspects or levels of the institution’s instructional programs:

• Academic Program Review Committee (12 faculty members, all full-time, including the chairperson): Monitors periodic academic program reviews for departments without access to specialized accreditation; advises Provost when program mergers, eliminations, or restructurings  are proposed
• Academic Standards Committee (9 faculty members, all full-time, including the chairperson): Monitors and advises on university-level policies regarding admission, continuation, and graduation; advises Provost when special standards at the college, department, or program level    are proposed
• Core Curriculum and General Education Committee (18 faculty members, all full-time): Recommends goals for the university’s general education program and monitors student achievement of those goals; may recommend changes in the Core Curriculum
• Curriculum Committee (12 faculty members, all full-time): Recommends approval or disapproval of proposed undergraduate curriculum changes; may review overall undergraduate curriculum patterns and course content outside of the Core Curriculum
• Graduate Council (12 faculty members, all full-time): Serves as the curriculum committee for graduate-level courses and programs; recommends academic regulations and policies for the Graduate School
• Retention Committee (5 faculty members, all full-time): Monitors retention of undergraduate students and recommends appropriate retention initiatives
• Teaching Effectiveness Committee (13 faculty members, all full-time, including the chairperson):    Reviews patterns of teaching assignments; oversees teaching grant-in-aid program; evaluates resources to support teaching and its evaluation; recognizes excellence in teaching
• University Writing Committee (14 faculty members, all full-time, including the Ralph “Shug” Jordan Professor of Writing, who serves as co-chair): Develops common principles and guidelines for incorporating significant writing experiences into every undergraduate major;  interacts with undergraduate program faculty to promote sound writing practices; monitors  assessment data related to the university’s writing initiative

Current rosters of these committees, showing faculty representation, are posted to the website of the  University Senate; that listing and one sample committee roster are provided as evidence documents.

Because the University Senate is the faculty’s principal means of participation in university governance, these committees provide most oversight of instruction by full-time faculty members. Further opportunities are available through certain other university committees. These include the Academic Honesty Committee (15 faculty members, all full-time, including the chairperson) and the Student Academic Grievance Committee (three faculty members, all full-time, including the chairperson, and one faculty alternate).

Adequacy for Instructional Planning and Evaluation: Student Learning Outcomes and Advising

In addition to University Senate Committee participation, Auburn University faculty have other opportunities to ensure academic quality on campus. As part of a campus-wide assessment process, all programs submit regular program assessment reports to the Office of Academic Insight. This report includes identification of student learning outcomes, how each outcome is measured, what the outcome results are, and how to improve based on the collected data for each outcome. This process provides discussion on ways to continuously improve student learning at the program level and whether each program has a sufficient number of faculty to ensure quality instruction. More information detailing program assessment can be found in Standard 8.2b.

Lastly, Auburn University faculty are responsible for advising students in various capacities – namely academic (curriculum progress and degree options) and course-specific (dissertation, thesis, project/research). Auburn University utilizes a decentralized advising model to provide all students with academic advising services, and advising departments exist within 15 areas/colleges on campus. Academic advisors come together through multiple committees to share information, problem solve, and strategize. The director of academic advising, reporting to the Associate Provost for Academic Effectiveness, is charged with coordinating these committees and supporting leadership selected by membership on an annual basis. The director, along with Caucus leadership, organize professional development opportunities as well as a Canvas course housing resources and interpretive guidance for policies. Graduate students are advised within their programs by faculty.

For specific courses, faculty are often primary advisors or mentors. For undergraduate students, this can include senior capstone courses or independent study courses. These courses typically have small cohorts and provide students with an adequate number of full-time faculty in an advisory role. One example is the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction Senior Project Portfolio for the graphic design degree program. At the graduate level, faculty regularly serve on dissertation and thesis committees. Information regarding these committees is published on the Graduate School website, and a comprehensive list of graduate faculty can be found in the AU Bulletin.

Adequacy for the Research Mission

Auburn University includes research within its mission, and almost all full-time faculty have a research expectation built into their performance plans. Hence the institution seeks capacity for research in new  faculty members and seeks evidence of success in research, scholarship, or creative work in evaluating faculty performance for merit raises, promotion, and tenure. A major section of the Faculty Handbook outlines policies and expectations related to faculty research. That section begins with the  following statement: “Research is essential to the continuing vitality of a large-scale institutional program. All of Auburn’s academic colleges, schools, and departments are engaged in research.”

The number of full-time faculty at Auburn is adequate to carry out this aspect of the university’s mission. Only two sources of evidence need be cited: the 2020 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of  Higher Education and the 2020-2021 survey of human resources at US institutions of higher education conducted by the US Department of Education.

• Auburn University's basic Carnegie Classification (2020) is Doctoral Universities: Very High  Research Activity (R1). In this most recent instance of the Carnegie classification, doctoral universities were assigned to categories based on two indices of research  activity, one at the aggregate level and the other at a per-capita level, based on the number of full-time faculty within the assistant, associate, and full professor ranks. Among the more than 3,800 institutions classified in 2020, only 146, including Auburn University, were placed into the Very High Research category; an additional 134 institutions were placed into the High Research category. This classification among the nation's doctoral universities provides clearevidence that Auburn University’s population of full-time faculty is adequate to support significant levels of research activity.

• The number of full-time ranked faculty members at Auburn University compares very favorably with those at  other public research universities. In 2020, the median number of full-time ranked faculty members at the nation’s 280 public R1 and R2 universities was 754, according to data posted at the IPEDS data center of the National Center for Education Statistics (US Department of Education). At Auburn University, the number was 1,169, placing Auburn University’s ranked faculty size 44th among all similar institutions. While not large enough to rank in the top 10% of similar public research universities, Auburn University’s full-time faculty is near the top of the second quartile in this research-intensive group.

Auburn University’s current strategic plan explicitly states the intention to increase the size and research capacity of the full-time faculty over a five-year planning period 2019-2024. It is natural for a research-active institution to seek means and opportunities to conduct even more research and discovery for the public good. Planning to add more faculty and conduct even more research is feasible, however, only because Auburn University starts from a full-time faculty baseline that is among the strongest in the country.

Adequacy for the Public Service Mission

The public service component of Auburn University's mission, expressed most visibly through its programs  of extension and outreach, is also made possible by the employment of full-time faculty members with appropriate expertise and workload assignments. While the character of this work is inherently different from that required for the maintenance and oversight of instructional and research programs, it, too, benefits from the accumulated experience of full-time faculty. In 2020-2021, approximately 263 full-time faculty members had appointments that involved them in a formally budgeted way in Auburn University’s extension activities. Additionally, the Cooperative Extension System itself employed 406 full-time employees.

Looking beyond formally budgeted assignments, Auburn University's full-time faculty are involved in public service and outreach activities to a very considerable extent. Outreach scholarship is explicitly included as a type of evidence suitable for promotion and tenure reviews. Indirect but persuasive evidence that the number of full-time faculty is adequate to this mission component is supplied by the fact that in 2020, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has awarded Auburn University its elective classification for Community Engagement, both for Curricular Engagement and for Outreach and Partnerships.