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Graduate Faculty and Related Resources
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Essential to graduate education are the recruitment and retention of a faculty that excels in scholarship, teaching, and research. To provide an acceptable level of instruction for the graduate student, faculty whose responsibilities include a major commitment to graduate education are involved in keeping pace with, and advancing the frontiers of, knowledge.
Successful graduate programs demand a substantial institutional commitment of resources for faculty, space, equipment, laboratories, library and information resources.
Portland State University allocates resources for graduate programs in the regular budget and personnel processes of the institution. Additions to faculty in support of graduate programs, for example, have been based on additional enrollments provided by such programs, as well as other criteria in support of institutional initiatives. Graduate programs find alternative support from grants and external funding, which are a growing resource supported institutionally by the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects.
Every new graduate program application contains an assessment of required resources, including instructional capacity, facilities, and library holdings needed to successfully deliver the program. Proposal reviews through the Graduate Council, the Faculty Senate, and OUS are designed to assure the adequacy of those estimates and resource commitments. Portland State manages institutional resources according to the needs of individual graduate (and undergraduate) programs, but the level of resources follows a common formula: increments accrue to program units, typically departments, which have the broad responsibility to support a series of programs.
Many graduate programs rely heavily on research activities based on laboratory or fieldwork. In many cases, such funded faculty research and scholarship composes a primary part of student thesis and dissertation work. Many departments, as well as individual faculty members, maintain research laboratories equipped with essential instrumentation or other specialized facilities.
Specialized facilities and equipment contribute to student research capacity in graduate programs, and also provide a competitive edge in external research funding. In addition, instructional laboratories at the graduate level require state-of-the-art instrumentation to integrate into coursework. Students are expected to be familiar with such instrumentation as they move into their professional careers.
Institutional investment has concentrated upon research space and equipment that will support additional external funding and promote graduate education. However, like many campuses, Portland State faces the issue of aging facilities, both in terms of laboratory space and instrumentation. Regular repair, upgrading, and replacement of equipment are ongoing problems that suffer from insufficient funding. Recently, Portland State has been successful in establishing new or renovated laboratories with new instrumentation. Some examples include the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, housing electron microscopy equipment shared across two colleges and multiple departments; the Keck Genomics Facility, housed in the Biology Department; and the Integrated Circuits Design and Test Laboratory, housed in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Library and information services support graduate programs, with the following principal characteristics:
- Portland State’s Millar Library holds 1.3 million volumes and has approximately 10,000 current journal subscriptions, including many subscriptions to electronic resources (see Standard 5).
- To supplement the local collection, the Millar Library participates in the Orbis-Cascade Alliance.
- Millar Library maintains an excellent interlibrary loan service.
- Library staffing provides every discipline and every academic program an assigned subject specialist.
- The Library’s teaching program is becoming increasingly incorporated into graduate and undergraduate curricula.
- A coordinator of graduate student services develops programs and services beneficial to graduate students.
Providing opportunities for faculty development is a priority at Portland State. Enriching and enhancing faculty skills in teaching, research, advising, and administration are considered essential to the continued excellence of the University. Regular departmental seminars and lectures enrich the intellectual environment, provide analyses of current topics, encourage scholarship, develop instructional skills, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration. A regular lecture series and similar events on campus, organized by departments or affiliated organizations, are publicized to faculty through the weekly e-newsletter Currently. In addition, many national and international conferences are scheduled annually on or near campus and are open to faculty participation. Such events are expected to grow in importance with the new development of Portland State conference facilities on-campus at University Place.
In response to the rapid pace of change at Portland State, faculty development and training opportunities have been expanded and institutionalized, as represented in the following examples.
Grants for faculty development in research and scholarship are supported by several funds and awards. The University Administration provides grants to enable new faculty members to begin their scholarship activities and to assist experienced faculty members to develop new research ideas.
Tenured faculty of academic rank are eligible for sabbatical leave after six years of continuous full-time service, for the purpose of research, advanced study, travel for the observation and study of conditions affecting the applicant’s field, or related scholarly or professional activities.
In addition to the faculty development programs discussed above(as required by Article 19 of the AAUP contract), space and facilities available to faculty are also governed by the AAUP Collective Bargaining Agreement. Working Conditions (Article 24) are monitored annually. Minimal office components include office furniture, telephone with voice mail, and a personal computer with e-mail and internet access.
Faculty vitae are reviewed by the department chair and the dean when a faculty member is appointed. National searches are conducted for virtually all tenure-related faculty recruitment and extensive interviews and research presentations are a part of each search committee process. Various processes are used to ensure selection of highly qualified fixed-term and adjunct faculty. For example, a tenured or tenure-track faculty member often serves as a course coordinator for a graduate course, and reviews the academic and professional credentials and teaching effectiveness of fixed-term and adjunct faculty teaching the course.
Teaching effectiveness is assured at the departmental level through course evaluation processes, annual reviews of non-tenured faculty, and periodic peer reviews of tenured faculty. Fixed-term faculty are reviewed annually by a team of one tenure-related faculty member and one fixed-term faculty member to assess contributions in teaching, research, and service. An annual performance review is written similar to the annual evaluation of tenure-track faculty. Adjunct faculty members are typically reviewed by the chair or program director on a term or annual basis.
Tenure-related Faculty
It is important to note that Portland State does not designate a separate graduate faculty. Many full-time faculty members teach primarily in graduate programs, including tenure-related, fixed-term, and adjunct faculty. In Fall 2003, 64% of graduate courses were taught by tenure or tenure-related faculty. Graduate programs preparing students as scholars and researchers appropriately have a higher proportion of courses taught by tenure-related faculty. A number of other programs emphasize preparation for a profession, and include a larger share of experienced professionals from the community.
To be hired in a tenured line, faculty members are required to hold the doctorate or appropriate terminal degree in their discipline, or to complete their degree within a specified period of time. In Fall 2003, nearly 80% of instructional faculty with appointments of .50 FTE or more held doctoral degrees.
The Portland State program review process monitors faculty achievements as they relate to graduate education. Faculty accomplishments are summarized in the accompanying table:
Fixed-term Faculty
Portland State engages a large number of research faculty members in research and teaching activities. Although these individuals may not be appointed to tenure-related positions, or may not be fully funded by institutional sources, they are a vital component in graduate education.
Fixed-term faculty are consistently productive and competitive in attaining external funding within their chosen disciplines. Competitive success ensures their position, and validates the status of their knowledge and skills among colleagues. In addition to multiple year contracts and support from the University, fixed-term faculty may also acquire specialized state support, as in a recent example involving the Engineering and Technology Industry Council.
Fixed-term faculty are credentialed with both PhD’s and master’s degrees with extensive applied experience. More than 35 faculty members currently at Portland State are supported by external funding and are in this category of research faculty. Non-tenured research faculty significantly augment the graduate education capacity of the University. Portland State employs the option for research faculty to create openings for qualified faculty beyond the limits of the state funding that supports tenure-related positions. Current examples illustrate the point:
- Twelve research faculty members joined the Regional Research Institute for Human Services within the Graduate School of Social Work, including nationally recognized investigators in the area of disability studies.
- Ten tenure-track faculty members moved from the Oregon Health & Sciences University’s Oregon Graduate Institute to the Portland State Department of Computer Science, along with 20 PhD students and an annual research budget of $2 million.
- In previous years, significant numbers of research faculty have joined other departments, including Biology, and Mechanical Engineering.
Adjunct Faculty
Portland State also takes advantage of the multiple skills of professionals living and working in the metropolitan region. A large number of persons in the area possess remarkable skills and the requisite educational credentials to be welcomed as members of the faculty, though their professional work outside the University, including work at other institutions of higher education, precludes a full-time commitment. Portland State is fortunate to add such individuals to its roster of educators available for graduate instruction.
Adjunct faculty with PhD qualifications are preferred, but departments are often looking for unique professional experience relevant to the specific graduate curriculum. In graduate programs, adjunct faculty provide a special combination of advanced education and current real-world experience. The majority of Portland State graduate students are in professional schools, and it is not surprising that these schools access and appreciate the contributions of active professionals for instructional depth. Following are a few notable areas where adjunct faculty contribute to the programs:
Adequate staffing
Departments, schools, colleges, and the Office of Academic Affairs all work to ensure sufficient numbers and diversity in faculty in order to provide effective graduate teaching, advising, and scholarly and/or creative activity. Faculty are also expected to participate in curriculum development, policy development, evaluation, and institutional planning and development.
A graduate program needs a critical mass of expertise to prosper. The smallest graduate programs are supported by at least four faculty members. In those instances, additional faculty members in allied disciplines frequently fill in through joint appointments or other mechanisms.
Portland State’s two longest-standing doctoral programs, Environmental Sciences and Resources (ESR) and System Science (SYSC), are both interdisciplinary. Students specialize in one field, but are exposed to faculty from a variety of disciplines. The larger professional graduate units – Social Work, Education, and the Hatfield School of Government – have a complement of 22 to 43 tenure- related faculty.
Many Portland State graduate programs draw upon additional expertise available at other institutions of higher education. This may take place through seminars and visiting faculty arrangements, or increasingly, involves the joint design and delivery of educational programming with other institutions. Several examples illustrate the range of such activities:
- Oregon State University
- In the sciences, Portland State and Oregon State University collaborate in several NSF funded Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) programs, including one that blends disciplines of Engineering, Oceanography, Microbiology, Chemistry, Geology and Agriculture into the study of subsurface biological phenomena.
- Universities of Montana and Colorado
- Portland State has joined with universities in Montana and Colorado to develop the Center for Teaching and Learning in the West, which brings the varied expertise of scientists, mathematicians, and educators to address current challenges in understanding and improving student learning and achievement in science and mathematics from middle school through college an effort to elevate the teaching of science.
- Oregon Masters of Public Health Program
- The Oregon Masters of Public Health (OMPH) is offered jointly by Portland State, Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University. The program utilizes faculty and courses from all three institutions to create an MPH program that US News & World Report ranks second in the nation for MPH programs outside of schools of public health, tied with programs at Northwestern University, Medical College of Wisconsin, and the University of Rochester. The OMPH provides a role model for inter-institutional collaboration, while maintaining institutional integrity with respect to governance, faculty autonomy, and the student experience.
- Waseda University, Japan
- The Executive Leadership Institute in the Hatfield School of Government, with partners in Japan, is providing professional development training to Japanese municipal officers on campus in Portland and at Waseda University in Tokyo.
Off-campus credit programs are offered only with the review, approval, and participation of the sponsoring academic unit and full-time faculty members committed to graduate education. The following examples illustrate the point.
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