SACS Compliance Certification Report (PDF) - South Florida State ...

SFCC Administrative Procedure 5226 ensures that adjunct faculty do not teach more than threecollege credit sections or 30 contact hours (certificate programs) per term, but should the need arise,exceptions can be made. Generally, adjunct faculty are employed when student demand for classesexceeds supply of full-time faculty. In fact, as department chairs and program managers count up thenumber of adjuncts needed to fulfill demand, an argument can be made to create another full-timefaculty position. On occasion, an adjunct faculty fulfills the need for special expertise in an area ofinstruction and enriches the students' learning opportunities.Adequate Faculty NumbersThe number of full-time faculty is favorable when compared to the percentage of full-time and parttimefaculty in the United States. Findings from the 2010 National Community College Benchmark Project(NCCBP) report document that the number of full-time faculty at SFCC is very favorable when comparedto other participating institutions. The following chart reflects data for SFCC faculty teaching collegetransfer, technical training, and college prep coursework as reported to the NCCBP.Fall2008FulltimeParttimeTotal CreditFacultyTotal %Student Credit Hours TaughtNCCBPRanking52 13,155 74.74% 91%55 4,446 25.26% 8%NCCBPMedian53.51%(N=256)53.51%(N= 256)Total %Credit Sections TaughtNCCBPRanking266 66% 84%137 34% 16%NCCBPMedian51.16%(N= 253)48.84%(N= 253)The ratio of students to faculty is low compared with the national median: 15 to one (15:1) versus 18to one (18:1). The ratio is calculated from data provided to the Integrated Postsecondary EducationData Service (IPEDS), a national report which compares educational institutions in areas defined asbenchmarks.Different programs at SFCC have different class sizes indicated by maximum enrollments, and within theArts and Sciences Division, different courses have different maximum enrollments. For instance, ENC1101 Freshman English I has a maximum enrollment of 24 students because of the writing-intensivenature of the course, and all of the science labs are restricted to 24 students to comply with fire safetycodes. Lecture classes can sometimes have as many as 48 students, as in the case of General Biology Ior General Chemistry I. Within the Division of Applied Science and Technology, many classes can have21 students, unless the class has an instructional aide; in that case, the maximum enrollment can go to30. These enrollments indicate that students get personalized time with the instructor, in support of thecollege's mission of "providing a learning-centered environment through quality programs, training, andservices."The percentage of full-time faculty at SFCC is high, typically 70% vs. 30% adjunct faculty. Summary datafor all SFCC campuses reflects this ratio consistently over the past five years. While many institutionsthrive employing a high percentage of adjunct instructors, SFCC is located in a rural area where the poolof qualified adjunct instructors is quite small. The preponderance of courses in the Associate in Artsdegree and occupational programs, including general education courses, are taught by full-time facultyas reflected in the following summary data for the 2009-10 academic year.LocationDeSoto CampusType of InstructionAssociate in ArtsDegreeDevelopmental2009-2010 Academic YearNumber & Percent ofNumber & Percent of Number & Percent ofStudent Credit HoursStudent Credit Hours Student Credit HoursTaught by AdjunctTaught by Full-time Taught by AdjunctFaculty in GeneralFacultyFacultyEducation CoursesNumber % Number % Number %South Florida Community College Page 29 / 2022,111 54 1,819 46 1,251 41- 0 395 100 - 0