NC State University’s faculty is comprised of both regular faculty and non-regular faculty.  Regular faculty include tenured, tenure-track, and full-time off-track faculty whose primary employer is the university.  99% of the 1,576 regular faculty members hold full-time appointments.  Non-regular faculty include adjunct instructors (part-time off track faculty) and administrators who teach.  97% of the 329 non-regular faculty members teach part time at NC State University.  Part time faculty can be a valuable resource because they often bring current professional experience into the classroom; however, they remain a limited part of the instructional staff.     

In addition to these metrics, students express satisfaction with the faculty on the graduating senior survey.  Table 3-7 indicates that a majority of respondents rate as “good” or “excellent” several factors related to faculty-student involvement, including encouraging faculty-student interaction, providing prompt feedback, caring about their success and welfare, and encouraging active learning.

NC State University maintains an adequate number of regular faculty to carry on the non-classroom responsibilities of the faculty, including advising and research as well as curriculum development and governance.   For example, during the 2001-2002 academic year, 82.4% of the faculty were serving in a regular, full-time tenured or tenure track capacity.  Table 3 demonstrates that while there is variability among the colleges in their use of non-regular faculty, each has an adequate number of full-time regular faculty.

In addition to the instructional faculty, NC State University also maintains an adequate field faculty in support of the extension and engagement mission of the University.  NC State stations Cooperative Extension Service field faculty in all 100 counties in the state plus the Cherokee Reservation.  In comparison with its peers, the NC State University Cooperative Extension Service has the second-largest budget and personnel expenditures of all extension services in the nation, whereas the state of North Carolina is only 11^th in the nation in population.  Our ratio of citizens per field faculty is lower than other states with large extension services.  Only Texas employs more extension agents than North Carolina, whose higher density of extension personnel ensures a density of field faculty that is adequate to meet the needs of the citizens of the state. 

NC State University faculty members maintain an active research program that both support and enhance the institution’s academic programs.  For 2000-2001, total expenditures exceeded $444 million and have increased 6.78% annually over the past four years (NC State University Sponsored Programs and Regulatory Compliance Reports, Table 1.1).  Research awards exceed $168 million and have increased an average of 6.43% each year over the past three years (NC State University Sponsored Programs and Regulatory Compliance Reports, Table 1.3).

Supplementary Information
Definition and calculation of FTE’s and credit hour reports can be found on Institutional Strategy and Analysis’ website.

A number of compliance reports present additional information about the university’s faculty.  For instance, employment policies are overviewed in Comprehensive Standards: Institutional Mission, Governance and Effectiveness #10.  Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #20 discusses faculty qualifications.  Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #21 discusses how the university evaluates its faculty members.  Further, Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #22 overviews the university’s policies on the professional development of its faculty.  The role played by the faculty in university governance is discussed in Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #24.  An overview of faculty responsibility for the university’s academic programs is provided in Comprehensive Standards: Educational Programs #12. 

Information about the university’s financial resources is available in Core Requirements #11 and Resources #2.    

References