Faculty Qualifications
Faculty Types
UWRF faculty include:
- Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty: Primarily responsible for teaching, with additional expectations for research and service.
- Instructional Academic Staff (IAS/Adjuncts), Dual Credit Instructors, Temporary Faculty and Graduate Assistants: Primarily focused on teaching and generally do not have the same research and service requirements as tenure-track faculty.
Faculty Qualification Requirements: The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) requires institutions to ensure faculty are qualified to teach their assigned courses. In most cases, faculty must:
- Hold a degree in a relevant field.
- Possess a degree at least one level higher than the courses they teach.
- At UWRF, this generally means a master's degree is required to teach undergraduate courses.
Graduate Faculty: Graduate faculty typically hold a terminal degree (such as a Ph.D.) and are qualified to:
- Teach graduate-level courses.
- Advise graduate students.
- Supervise student projects.
- Chair graduate committees.
- Lead graduate programs.
Tested Experience Exception: In limited circumstances, a program may hire an instructor without a master's degree based on tested experience. Tested experience may include:
- Extensive professional experience.
- Research or scholarship.
- Recognized achievements in the field.
- Other discipline-specific qualifications.
Note: Prior teaching experience alone does not qualify as tested experience.
- Qualified Faculty (Updated 2025)
- Faculty Qualification Review Form
Faculty Qualifications Process
1. Review Program Criteria
Each program establishes criteria for qualified faculty, including any tested experience requirements.
- View current criteria.
- Proposed updates must be approved by the program/department, dean and AVC office.
2. Review Faculty Records
A master faculty qualifications spreadsheet is maintained for current and former faculty and includes:
- Highest degree earned
- Program affiliation
- Online teaching certification
- Teaching limitations (if any)
- Graduate faculty status
Corrections can be submitted at any time using the Faculty Qualification Review Form and sending to the dean and AVC office.
3. Submit Forms for New Hires
Complete a Faculty Qualification Review Form for all new faculty/instructor hires.
4. Request Graduate Faculty Status
Faculty seeking graduate faculty status must also complete a Faculty Qualification Review Form.
The criteria adopted by each program to determine faculty qualifications can be viewed below.
| Program | Undergraduate Criteria | Graduate Criteria |
| Accounting | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Agricultural Business | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Agricultural Education | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Agricultural Studies | NA-MD | NA-MD |
| Animal Science | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Applied Computing- Collaborative | Undergraduate | NS |
| Art | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Art Education | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| BFA Fine Arts | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Biology | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Biomedical and Health Science | Undergraduate | NS |
| Biotechnology | Undergraduate | NS |
| Business Administration | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| CGER | NA-MD | NA |
| Chemistry | Undergraduate | NS |
| Clinical Exercise Physiology | NA-MD | Graduate |
| Communication Science and Disorders | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Communication Studies | Undergraduate | NS |
| Computer Science and Information Systems | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Conservation | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Counseling | NA-MD | Graduate |
| Criminology | Undergraduate | NS |
| Crop and Soil Science | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Cybersecurity | NS | Graduate |
| Dairy Science | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Data Science | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Early Childhood Education | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| ECCP/DACP | NA-MD | NA |
| Economics | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Education | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Elementary Education | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Engineering | Undergraduate | NS |
| Engineering Technology | Undergraduate | NS |
| English | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Environmental Engineering | Undergraduate | NS |
| Environmental Science | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Experience Scotland | Undergraduate | NA |
| Experience China | Undergraduate | NA |
| Experience Puebla | Undergraduate | NA |
| Finance | Undergraduate | NS |
| Food Science and Technology | Undergraduate | NS |
| Geography | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Geology | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Health and Human Performance | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Health and Wellness Management- Collaborative | Graduate | |
| Healthcare Analytics | NA | |
| History | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Honors Program | Undergraduate | NA-MD |
| Horticulture | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Integrated Studies | NA | |
| International Studies | Undergraduate | NS |
| Journalism | Undergraduate | NS |
| Management | Undergraduate | NS |
| Marketing | Undergraduate | NS |
| Marketing Communications | Undergraduate | NS |
| Mathematics | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| MBA | NA-MD | Graduate |
| Military Science | Undergraduate | NS |
| Modern Languages: Chinese | Undergraduate | NS |
| Modern Languages: French | Undergraduate | NS |
| Modern Languages: German | Undergraduate | NS |
| Modern Languages: Japanese | Undergraduate | NS |
| Modern Languages: Ojibwe | Undergraduate | NS |
| Modern Languages: Spanish | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Montessori Teacher Education | NA-MD | Graduate- MSE |
| Montessori Ed.D. | NA-MD | Graduate- Ed.D. |
| Music | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Music Education | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Neuroscience | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Physics | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Political Science | Undergraduate | NS |
| Psychology | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Reading | NA-MD | Graduate |
| School Psychology EDS | NA-MD | Graduate |
| School Psychology MSE | NA-MD | Graduate |
| School Supervision and Instructional Leadership | NA-MD | Graduate |
| Secondary Education MSE Mathematics | NA-MD | Graduate |
| Secondary Education MSE STEMTeach | NA-MD | Graduate |
| Social Studies Broad Field | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Social Work | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Sociology | Undergraduate | NS |
| Stage and Screen Arts | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Special Education | NA | |
| Strength and Conditioning | NA-MD | Graduate |
| Sustainable Management | Undergraduate | NA-MD |
| Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| Women's and Gender Studies | Undergraduate | NA-MD |
Key/References
- CBE Handbook (e.g. is a necessary reference for some criteria in the College of Business and Economics)
- NA = Not Applicable (e.g. the graduate program does not have an undergraduate equivalent)
- NA-MD = This is a multi-disciplinary program wherein faculty are qualified in their home disciplines.
- NS = Not Submitting (e.g. the undergraduate program does not have a graduate program and is not defining criteria for its faculty to serve as graduate faculty)
