Board Policies
Chapter 3 - Educational Policies
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3.32 College Faculty Credentialing

Part 1. Purpose. The purpose of this policy is to assure that qualified individuals perform faculty work in the Minnesota colleges through system-established faculty minimum qualifications. Credential fields will replace assigned fields and license fields upon completion of the conversion process specified in Procedure 3.32.1. Recognizing that full conversion of assigned fields and license fields to credential fields must occur field by field, each assigned field or license field shall remain in effect only until replaced by a corresponding credential field.

Part 2. Definitions.

Subpart A. College faculty or college faculty member. College faculty or college faculty member means individuals teaching credit-based courses and counselors and librarians at system community, technical, and combined community and technical colleges.

Subpart B. College faculty credentialing. College faculty credentialing means the process for evaluating an individual’s education and experience in accordance with system-established minimum qualifications for individuals teaching credit-based courses and for counselors and librarians.

Subpart C. Fields. Fields refers to assigned fields, license fields, and credential fields.

Assigned field. Assigned field means a defined area of knowledge and skill that is specifically related to a program, service, or academic discipline and for which system-established minimum qualifications exist. The assigned field is associated with faculty positions formerly governed by the Minnesota Community College Faculty Association bargaining agreement.
License field. License field means a defined area of knowledge and skill that is specifically related to a program, service, or academic discipline and for which system-established minimum qualifications exist. The license field is associated with faculty positions formerly governed by the United Technical College Educators bargaining agreement.
Credential field. Credential field means a defined area of knowledge and skill that is specifically related to a program, service, or academic discipline, and for which
system-established minimum qualifications are created under this policy and related system procedures.

Subpart D. Minimum qualifications. Minimum qualifications mean system-established minimum requirements used to evaluate the credentials of an individual considered for college faculty work. The minimum qualifications shall include educational requirements and teaching and learning competency requirements; they may also include related occupational experience, state and/or national industry licensure/certification, and other requirements as appropriate for each assigned field, license field, or credential field.

Part 3. Applicability. This policy applies to faculty at community, technical, and combined community and technical colleges and to other individuals assigned to perform faculty work. An individual offered employment as a college faculty member or any individual assigned to perform faculty work shall meet system-established faculty minimum qualifications for the appropriate field except as provided for in Procedure 3.32.1. An individual credentialed under this policy and related procedures shall be deemed to satisfy the licensure requirement pursuant to Minnesota Statutes section 136F.49, as applicable.

Part 4. Transition to Credential Fields. Each assigned field and license field shall be reviewed and converted to a credential field. An existing assigned field and license field with its corresponding minimum qualifications shall be maintained until a credential field is established in its place. New assigned fields and license fields shall not be established.

Part 5. Authority to Credential College Faculty. The chancellor shall develop and implement system procedures to credential college faculty and to assure compliance with this policy.