FAQs: Faculty Resources

If teaching is a regular component of this individual’s responsibilities (ie, if his/her annual evaluations and promotion considerations examine classroom teaching as a key component of performance), we do not define a minimum frequency of course offerings. That said, the accreditation peer-review process relies on transparency and good faith on both sides. We would ask the school or program to be clear about its rationale for identifying this individual as a primary instructional faculty member and then consider that in the context of the school or program.

No. For a faculty member to have a 1.0 FTE in a program, he/she must be dedicated solely to the unit of accreditation. Any time spent outside of the unit of accreditation, such as instruction in a non-accredited undergraduate program, should be subtracted from the 1.0 FTE designation.

To be considered a primary instructional faculty (PIF) member, a person must be 1) employed full-time in the school and 2) have regular responsibility for instruction in the school’s public health degree programs. If a faculty member, even a dean, does not have a regular instructional role, then that individual cannot be counted as a PIF.

Instruction refers to teaching. A PIF must regularly serve as the instructor for public health courses within the unit of accreditation. Faculty whose sole instructional responsibility is advising individual doctoral or research students or whose regular instructional responsibilities lie in non-public health degrees within a school would not meet this definition.