Credentialing

Faculty Credentialing

In line with its ongoing commitment to academic excellence, Florida Gulf Coast University employs qualified faculty, substantiating their credentials for every educational degree program with adequate documentation. Faculty credential parameters are detailed in FGCU Policy 2.016, SACSCOC Standard 6.2a, and the Faculty Credentialing Manual. 

Rationale for Administration of Faculty Credentialing

In compliance with SACSCOC Standard 6.2a: For each of its educational degree programs, the institution justifies and documents the qualifications of its faculty members. (Faculty qualifications)

Faculty Qualifications

General Education and Baccalaureate courses, the faculty must possess a doctorate or master's degree in the teaching discipline or a master's degree with a focus in the teaching discipline, including a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline.

Graduate and Post-Baccalaureate courses, the faculty should have an earned doctorate or terminal degree in the teaching discipline or a related field that would still allow for credentialing.

Graduate Teaching Assistants should hold a master's degree in the teaching discipline or 18 graduate semester hours in the same, be under the direct supervision of an experienced faculty member, receive regular in-service training, and undergo scheduled and periodic evaluations.

If a prospective faculty member can’t be credentialed through their educational degree and/or related coursework, credentialing may occur through a Letter of Justification (LOJ). An LOJ details experience that may qualify someone to teach based on their professional experience or details their educational experience/coursework in a specific discipline or field. It is used as supplemental documentation to qualify a person to teach a specific course or courses and is an exception, not the rule. Professional experience that is described on the LOJ must be from the last 5 (five) years. FGCU teaching experience is not applicable in relation to professional experience and as a result cannot be used as a justification.  The LOJ is valid for 5 (five) years following the date it was approved.

Faculty Credentialing Process & Procedure

• Planning and Institutional Performance (PIP) is responsible for course-by-course credentialing for each faculty member who is assigned to teach
• Credentialing prospective faculty/adjuncts takes place following first round interviews, prior to being invited for on-campus interviews
• The college/school hiring official or designee provides PIP with the credentialing spreadsheet which includes the following information:
  • • • • • • • Applicant’s Name, Advertised Position, Course-by-course list of anticipated courses the selected faculty/adjunct will teach, and the course level (Undergraduate or Graduate)
              • The college/school sends the credentialing spreadsheet, all unofficial graduate transcripts and CVs to facultycredential@fgcu.edu prior to scheduling on-campus interviews
              • PIP will provide confirmation of credentialing  status and college/school can then move forward in their hiring process 

Please note, all faculty/adjuncts that are assigned to teach graduate level courses must go through the graduate faculty process and be on the approved graduate faculty list provided from Graduate Studies. 

Effective 8/1/2023, a new cross-department folder titled, “Credentialed_Faculty” was created. This document will allow colleges/schools/departments/designees (CSDD) to view a list of instructor names and the courses they are credentialed to teach. CSDD can view the document at any time to determine if an instructor name shows on the list for a specific course. Faculty names only need to be listed once to be approved to teach a course. This list is updated approximately twice a week. This is a read only document. You will be able to search for items such as name or UIN by using the ‘find’ feature in Excel (Ctrl F). Below is the path to find the folder:

• CrossDept (R:), Credentialed_Faculty
• This document is a “review” only document, meaning you may need to use Ctrl F to search by a person’s name.

When ready to add instructor names to CRNs, please always review the Credentialed_Faculty folder/document first to determine:

1. If the faculty name and specific course appear on the list, please send an email to academicscheduling@fgcu.edu to have the name added to any CRN(s).
• If a course is offered as a repeatable course that allows the title to change such as a special topics course, please be sure the instructor is listed for that specific title prior to sending a request to the Academic Scheduling office to add a faculty name to a CRN.
2. If the faculty name and specific course do not appear on the list, please send an email (using the template below) to facultycredential@fgcu.edu. If the college/school/department/designee has more than a single request, please add additional rows to the request template and send all of your credentialing requests in one completed table. This will help to minimize duplicate emails and multiple requests.  

• The faculty credentialing office will email you once they have reviewed the request, usually within 1-3 days.
• Once the FC office lets you know the person is approved to teach the specific course, you can then reach out to the AS scheduling office at academicscheduling@fgcu.edu, sharing the confirmation from FC, with your request to add the instructor to the CRN(s).

Credentialing Review Request Template-Please enter in correct fields for each of the following: Term, Instructor, CRN, Course, Course Section/CRN Title, UIN

Request to Review Faculty Courses for Credentialing Template

Faculty Credentialing Documentation

Each College/School is responsible for collecting and maintaining updated documentation pertaining to the course(s) being taught. Planning & Institutional Performance (PIP) needs to be continually updated with new documentation based on the following guidelines:

• Updated CV’s should be collected during each Fall term and provided to Planning & Institutional Performance 
• Each CV must include the following:
  • Faculty/adjunct education history to include all completed graduate coursework or degrees
    • This should also include any current licenses or certifications
  • Current appointment at FGCU
  • Courses taught as well as scholarly and service activities should all be updated and included to reflect the most up to date information
• When a degree is conferred, faculty/adjunct is responsible for requesting that the official transcript to be sent directly from the institution to PIP
• If a faculty/adjunct has a name change or additional names used, please contact PIP to ensure that their faculty file is updated

Transcript, CV, Licensure/Certificate Delivery

• Graduate Transcripts-Official graduate transcripts must be sent directly from the awarding institution.
• International Transcripts—If transcript is from an institution outside of the U.S., FGCU requests official international transcripts to be sent directly from the awarding institution.
  • In addition, international transcripts must be evaluated through an approved evaluator. Evaluations must be sent directly from an approved evaluator. Approved transcript evaluators can be found at https://www.naces.org/members.

Physical transcripts/evaluations are accepted and considered official when received in the original institution sealed envelope, bearing the awarding institution crest/stamp(s).

Physical transcripts should be mailed to:

Florida Gulf Coast University c/o Faculty Credentials – Planning & Institutional Performance; (Attn: Alexis Arnow)

10501 FGCU Blvd S

Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565. 

• Electronic transcripts/evaluations are accepted and considered official when received directly from the awarding institution. Electronic transcripts should be sent to: facultycredential@fgcu.edu 
• Send relevant CV's, licenses & certificates to facultycredential@fgcu.edu 

Resources

• Faculty Credentialing Process PowerPoint (Updated Summer 2023)
• Faculty Pre-Credentialing Spreadsheet Request Excel Spreadsheet
• *NEW* Faculty Credentialing Manual (Updated March 2024)
• Letter of Justification (LOJ) Template
• LOJ Sample
• NACES Website for international credential evaluations
• FGCU Policy 2.016: Administration of Faculty Credentials
• SACSCOC 6.2a Faculty Credentials

Contact Us

• For all faculty credentialing inquiries, please email facultycredential@fgcu.edu
• Alexis Arnow, 239-590-7669 or aarnow@fgcu.edu