The SBE’s revisions in its degree offerings and curriculum were designed to better serve a more focused educational mission. This requires a shift in faculty resources. Although this shift is on-going, because of some faculty departures and additional faculty positions, new hires have already resulted in a better alignment of faculty resources with the needs of a more focused undergraduate curriculum. Nonetheless, gaps remain in finance and MIS (organizational behavior was filled in 1997) which will be filled in the near future [6.4A, page 9].

The current "soft" market for business Ph.D.s is presenting the SBE with a window of opportunity to attract the type of faculty needed to fulfill its plan for reorienting and refocusing the SBE’s educational mission. The School is on schedule for hiring new faculty [6.4A, page 9], and strategic activities number 2 through 7, page 21). To continue effective implementation of the faculty recruiting and retention plan, it is important for the School to solidify its curriculum and provide for strong faculty-development programs. The number of faculty in the fall of 1988 and the fall of 1996 are given in Table 3 below. The increase in faculty is a manifestation of both the SBE’s and the University’s commitment to strengthening the faculty.

TABLE 4. Number of Faculty by Rank and Type of Appointment for Fall 1988 and 1996

Year	Type of Appointment	Number of Faculty by Rank
		Prof.	Assoc.	Asst.	Instructor	Lecturer	Total
1988	Full	3	7	4	3	1	18
	Part-time	0	0	1	1	0	2
1996	Full	8	8	7	1	2	26
	Part-time	0	0	0	1	2	3

The new faculty have been hired at competitive salaries and with temporarily lighter teaching loads, which is further evidence of the commitment by the administration to developing strong faculties. However, these competitive salaries have resulted in salary compression within the SBE. The administration has partly addressed this issue by setting aside some money for market-adjustment raises.

The faculty in the SBE all have appropriate academic qualifications, according to AACSB standards, except for one faculty member in MIS who is professionally qualified, based on AACSB standards. Recent faculty recruits have received their terminal degrees from the following universities: Pennsylvania State University, University of Indiana, University of Colorado, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of North Texas, George Washington University, University of Nebraska, University of Minnesota, Harvard University, and Syracuse University.

The faculty are active in their professions and in service to the University. However, if the School is to meet its educational mission, additions must be made to this already well qualified faculty. In addition to their academic and professional qualifications, many faculty have international experience in business or education, which aids in the diversity of the faculty. However, the School needs to increase diversity in terms of gender and race. Currently, there is one Hispanic, one Asian-American, one Asian national, and no African-Americans on the SBE faculty, and only three faculty are women out of 27 full time faculty. In its ongoing recruitment efforts, the School is making every effort to improve the faculty’s diversity, as called for in the AACSB plan [6.4A, pages 20 and 21].

A threat to professional development is the increased committee loads, including those necessitated by AACSB and NCA. The time required for these committees reduces that which is available for the core faculty responsibilities of teaching and research.

Until recently, faculty were largely left on their own in terms of professional development. That has changed with the implementation of a mentoring process for new faculty and the establishment of a Teaching and Professional Development Committee. These actions will create a support system which will enable all SBE faculty and the School’s administration to gain useful feedback on teaching quality, provice mentoring to junior faculty, fulfill research-support needs, and allow the faculty to plan their professional development.These and ancillary initiatives are spelled in the AACSB plan [6.4A, page 22]. Implementation of the Teaching and Professional Development Committee’s initial recommendation is shown in Attachment 3. Recognition of teaching excellence is given each year at the SBE’s Award Banquet. An award is given to the outstanding teacher in the SBE, as determined by its students; the award is supported by a local bank. Another award is given for innovative teaching, which is determined by a process developed by the Teaching and Professional Development Committee.

Faculty are also encouraged to take sabbatical leaves and are allowed to take leaves of absence, when appropriate, for professional development. Since 1990, seven faculty in the SBE have taken sabbatical leaves, most traveling to foreign countries for teaching or research. There have also been leaves of absence, for example, for a Fulbright scholarship and for work in Saudi Arabia. The School also supports each faculty member’s

research and travel needs with a budget of $1,500 to $2,000 per faculty which is managed by the faculty member, and new faculty get some support for one summer. Typically, a new faculty member receives $4,000 in summer support and $1,500 to $2,000 in computer support which is cost shared (50/50) between the SBE and the University’s Research Office. Other funds are available on a selected basis. The administration intends to work to preserve or improve this funding.

In addition, criteria and processes for tenure and promotion have been formally defined. Untenured faculty are reviewed annually by the Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee to give those faculty feedback on their progress toward tenure. Finally, the Dean provides each faculty member with a written annual review. Because some of these initiatives are all fairly new and in various stages of implementation, it will be important for the SBE to continue to carefully oversee the process.

University Goal 3: Strengthen and Develop Graduate Programs.

Because of the increased focus of the SBE on undergraduate programs, the School currently only has a masters degree program in mineral economics (MSME). The program is small; during 1995/6, there were 7 students. The School plans to continue to monitor this program to ensure that it is consistent with the School’s mission. Because of the relatively low marginal cost of the program and because it does not come under AACSB purview, this review has been given a lower priority than other programmatic issues in the SBE. The MSME faculty are currently conducting this review for discussion and action by the entire faculty during the 1996/7 academic year. For example, a revised MSME degree which looks more broadly at natural resource issues, not simply mineral resources, may better serve student needs and better fit the SBE’s mission [6.4A, page 31].

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