Standard 5 ~ Faculty

5a. Qualified faculty

The list of faculty who are professional faculty in the Center for Education, adjunct faculty, clinical supervision faculty, and faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences, who teach required education courses can be viewed at this link.

1. Table 11 in the Institutional Report identifies the qualifications of full and part-time faculty.

2. What do the data regarding faculty qualifications tell the unit about the qualifications of its faculty? Full-time faculty assigned to the Center for Education have obtained terminal degrees in their field of expertise. Full time faculty assigned to the Center for Education hold certificates and have professional experiences appropriate to their teaching assignments. They are actively engaged in scholarship and other forms of professional development, publishing in established journals and presenting papers to scholarly and professional audiences at regional, national and international organizations. These faculty also have received honors and awards; they have competed for and obtained grants and fellowships from within Widener University and from state, national and private foundations.

Part-time faculty who are full-time faculty at Widener University, but teach part-time in the Center for Education, have obtained terminal degrees in disciplines that comprise the academic majors of candidates seeking initial certification in Biology, Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, Physics, English, Mathematics and Social Studies. They are also actively and systematically engaged in the publication of books,chapters, articles and abstracts in established journals; they maintain contact with their disciplines by presenting their scholarship to established organizations in their respective fields of study.

Adjunct faculty assigned to teach methods courses and courses in specialist certification programs (Reading Specialist and Instructional Technology Facilitator), and in advanced programs (Building Principal, and District Level Supervisor and Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent) have advanced degrees, and/or they have certificates in their assigned areas of teaching. They also have appropriate professional experiences in PK-12 schools. In many instances these faculty also publish and present professional papers to their peers in local, state and national organizations.

3. What expertise qualifies faculty members without terminal degrees for their assignments? Those faculty members who do not have terminal degrees in a particular assigned discipline must hold the minimum of a Master's degree in their assigned area of teaching. They may not teach doctoral level courses (700 or higher) and they may not teach in doctoral degree programs.These faculty must have earned the appropriate certificates or licenses for their assigned teaching duties, and they must have been employed as teachers, specialists or administrators in the area of their teaching assignment in PK-12 schools.

4. How does the unit ensure that school faculty members are licensed in the areas they teach or are supervising? Both full-time and part-time faculty must produce official evidence of degrees and certificates. When positions are approved and advertised for full-time tenure track positions, criteria for consideration include evidence of a terminal degree and certificates and licenses that are relevant to an assignment. When full-time faculty are employed by Widener University, they must submit official transcripts that record the terminal degree to Human Resources and to the Center for Education. They must submit official evidence of relevant certification to the Center for Education.

Part-time faculty must submit a curriculum vitae documenting years of experience in PK-12 settings. They must also submit official transcripts that document degrees earned, and official evidence of certification when appropriate.

5. What contemporary professional experiences in school settings does higher education clinical faculty have? All of Widener’s certificate programs have a heavy emphasis on field experience. In initial certification, all students begin from their first class with a field experience. The Widener full-time faculty work regularly with students in the basic education classrooms and with building personnel to arrange these programs responding to district and building needs, as well as designing educational experiences. In this way, all faculty in the professional core are regularly in basic education settings. Additionally, faculty members work with the Widener Partnership Charter School and the Widener Child Development Center and Laboratory School, as well as in local districts where they pilot new curriculum, field experiences, and parent programs. All professional core faculty have a background in basic education. Widener part-time faculty and field supervisors are primarily drawn from current school personnel. This, along with Widener’s full time faculty, who have long histories of basic education experience, provide for both recency and continuity. New programs are being developed to integrate sabbatical programs with basic education service to keep full time faculty current in basic education practice, and one member of the Center for Education faculty, Dr. Nadine McHenry, has been granted a sabbatical aimed at research related to teacher work samples.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education, also requires that any faculty member in the professional core for PK-4 and 4-8 certificates have a combination of experience, service, and scholarship to qualify for these course. These requirements are soon to be extended to other programs.

(The following link provides supplemental information about full and part-time faculty.)
Link to Curriculum Vitae of Faculty

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