Faculty Credentialing

​​All College Faculty teaching credit-based courses, counselors and librarians will meet the College Faculty Credentialing requirements as established by Minnesota State Board Policy 3.32 and Procedure 3.32.1 and Higher Learning Commission Assumed Practice B.2.a. The Minnesota State system office shall complete the credentialing process for unlimited faculty positions. The Saint Paul College Human Resources Department, in consultation with the Academic Affairs Department, will manage the credentialing process for temporary full-time (TFT) faculty, temporary part-time (TPT) faculty, adjunct faculty, and external instructors including high school teachers teaching Post Secondary Enrollment Options concurrent enrollment courses.​

​Reference: Minnesota State 3.32

Purpose: Academic credentials and relevant work experience of faculty at Saint Paul College, among many other factors, indicate the quality of course work and the effectiveness of pedagogical methods. The purpose of this procedure, as stated in Minnesota State Board Policy 3.32, is to “assure that qualified individuals perform faculty work in the Minnesota colleges through system-established faculty minimum qualifications…”

Definitions:
Credential Field: Credential Field means a defined area of knowledge and skill that is specifically related to a program, service or academic discipline, and for which system-established minimum qualifications are created under Minnesota State Board Policy 3.32.

Minimum Qualifications: Minimum qualifications mean system-established minimum requirements used to evaluate the credentials of an individual considered for college faculty work. The minimum qualifications shall include educational requirements and teaching and learning competency requirements; they may also include related occupational experience, state and/or national industry licensure/certification, and other requirements as appropriate for each credential field.

College Faculty Credentialing: College Faculty Credentialing means the process for evaluating an individual’s education and experience in accordance with system-established minimum qualifications for individuals teaching credit-based courses and for counselors and librarians.

Temporary Faculty: Individuals assigned full-time or part-time to teach credit-based courses or to work as counselors or librarians on a temporary basis as defined in the Minnesota State College Faculty (MSCF) collective bargaining agreement.

Adjunct Faculty: Individuals assigned to teach credit-based courses totaling fewer than five (5) credits in a term for to perform an equivalent amount of non-teaching work as defined in the MSCF collective barganing agreement.

External Instructors: Individuals not holding faculty positions as defined in the MSCF collective bargaining agreement who are assigned to teach college credit-based courses (e.g. high school teachers teaching PSEO concurrent enrollment courses, administrators, and other college employees).

Program Academic Award ​and Faculty Educational Requirement

​Program Academic Award

​Associate in Arts or Science (AA/AS/AFA) degree

​Educational Requirement



​Masters Degree (transfer degree)

​Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree or diploma
Certificate

​Associates Degree (AA, AS, AAS) Baccalaureate Degree preferred
Two years of related education and training culminating in a diploma or an Associates degree

​Certificate or Diploma/career-laddered program
structure​
​Academic credential at a level that 
accommodates all academic awards 
offered in the specific program area 
throughout the system.

​Counselors and Librarians

​Masters Degree in-field

The occupational experience requirement for career, technical, and professional credential 
fields shall be two full-time years (or equivalent) of verified related paid work experience in the 
specific credential field; more than two full-time years (or equivalent) may be required for a 
particular field. In order to assure recent occupational experience in the field, one year of this 
work experience shall be within the five years immediately preceding the date of application for 
the credential field. The recency requirement shall be waived if the individual has two years of 
successful full-time (or equivalent) post-secondary teaching experience in the credential field 
within the past five years.
State and/or national industry licensure/certification requirement required or considered 
essential for practice in the industry directly related to the credential field shall be incorporated 
into the minimum qualifications (Examples: RN License for Practical Nursing; Master 
Electrician’s License for Construction Electrician).
Program Accreditation Requirement – Standards for faculty credentials established by state or 
national program accreditation bodies may be incorporated into the minimum qualifications.
IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES
TFT, TPT, Adjunct and External Instructors shall complete an on-line credentialing application to 
be reviewed by the Dean in consultation with the Human Resources Department. The application 
process will require submission to the Human Resources Office of an official college transcript(s), 
employment verifications of related occupational experience, state and/or national industry 
licensure/certification, and any other requirements outlined in the system-established minimum 
qualifications which can be found on the Minnesota State College Faculty Credentialing website, 
http://www.cfc.Minnesota State.edu/index.html​.


The Human Resources Department shall maintain appropriate credentialing documentation on 
TFT, TPT, Adjunct, and External Instructors assigned to teach credit-based college courses and for 
faculty assigned to perform work as counselors and librarians.


​Faculty will receive official notification of the credentialing decision. As noted in the policy 
section above, TFT faculty must meet system-established minimum qualifications, without 
exception. The college may assign a TPT, Adjunct or External Instructor, without meeting 
system-established minimum qualifications, ONLY if one of the following exception conditions 
applies:

Emergency staffing situations:
*Illness, accident, or death of a faculty member during the term, resulting in the faculty 
member being unable to finish teaching the course;
*A failed search for a faculty position;
*Resignation of a faculty member immediately prior to the start of a term;
*Addition of course sections immediately prior to the start of a term; or
*Immediate deployment in the armed services
(An individual may be hired for no more than two consecutive semesters under this exception.)

Pending Credentials: Individuals who are close to meeting the minimum qualifications may be 
hired for no more than two consecutive semesters under this exception.

Special Expertise: An individual with special expertise may be hired to teach specialized 
courses. There is no time limit on this exception.

Renowned qualifications: An individual who has achieved exceptional status or recognition may
be hired to teach appropriate courses in the field of recognition. There is no time limit on this exception.

Emerging Fields: An exception may be made where the program area is so new that the 
educational preparation requirements and the occupational experience requirements are not yet 
clearly defined. This exception shall terminate when the system minimum qualifications are 
established.


Faculty appointments under the exception conditions will be requested by the Vice President of 
Academic Affairs or Dean and reviewed by the Chief Human Resources Officer for final approval 
prior to an offer of employment being made.


Documentation of “exception” appointments and the applicable time limits will be maintained and 
monitored by the Human Resources Department.