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Intellectual Contributions

Standard 10 of the Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation revised January 31, 2008 AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business states:
The faculty has, and maintains, intellectual qualifications and current expertise to accomplish the mission and to assure that this occurs, the school has a clearly defined process to evaluate individual faculty member’s contributions to the school’s mission.

Faculty of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) are expected, as part of their responsibilities to the College and to the wider community, to make intellectual contributions to their respective fields through applied, theoretical and pedagogical research.  Such activities and contributions should continue throughout the careers of faculty members and should demonstrate steady growth in one’s scholarly discipline. 

Consistent with AACSB guidelines, the School of Business and Economics has created operational definitions for Academically Qualified and Professionally Qualified faculty.  The criteria for meeting and maintaining the qualifications for each category are detailed below; however, each department may set higher standards than those established as SBE policy.  Whether faculty members are Academically or Professionally Qualified will be determined as part of their annual evaluation by their department chair.  Determination of being Academically or Professionally Qualified is only one component of the overall faculty member’s annual evaluation, and is distinct from the processes for third-year review and review for promotion and tenure.

Being Academically Qualified requires the SBE faculty member (1) to have a qualifying degree to initially earn academically qualified status, as well as (2) to conduct ongoing scholarly activities to maintain this status as follows. An Academically Qualified SBE faculty member must have one of the following qualifying degrees to demonstrate intellectual capital development:

• Fully Qualified Doctoral Degree in both a business field and in the area of primary teaching responsibilities (AACSB category 1).
• Qualified Doctoral Degree EITHER in a business field but not in the area of primary teaching responsibilities (AACSB category 2) OR outside of business but in an area of academic preparation that incorporates the primary teaching responsibilities (AACSB category 3).
• Topically Qualified Degree outside of business and not in the area of primary teaching responsibilities, but engaged in development activities directly supporting the teaching field (AACSB category 4)
• Graduate degree in law to teach business law and legal environment of business (AACSB category 1)
• Specialized Taxation Degree or combination of graduate degree in law and accounting focused on taxation (AACSB category 5)
• BD in degree type above (AACSB category 6b) or a faculty member may have a specialized master’s degree in a business-related field and have sufficient prior research activity in their primary teaching field.

To maintain their Academically Qualified status, SBE faculty must engage in ongoing scholarly activities as indicated over the 5 year AACSB review period and on a yearly basis.  Each tenured or tenure track faculty member is expected to produce at least one intellectual contribution from the following list each year to maintain minimum AACSB Academically Qualified status.   (A more comprehensive list may be found in the SBE Faculty Manual)

• Peer Reviewed Journal Publications
• Scholarly Books/Book Chapters
• Peer Reviewed Presentations
• Non-Peer Reviewed Publications and Presentations
• Research and Grants
• Other research and scholarly activity

Of the intellectual contributions during the 5 year period, at least two publications must be in a peer reviewed journal publication or scholarly book/book chapter. 

Being Professionally Qualified requires SBE faculty to have (1) one of the following qualifying degrees and (2) relevant professional experience to initially earn Professionally Qualified status, as well as (3) ongoing professional activities to maintain this status as follows.

A Professionally Qualified SBE faculty member must have one of the following qualifying degrees to demonstrate intellectual capital development.

• Master’s Degree in a field related to the area of primary teaching responsibilities.
• Doctoral Degree or equivalent (i.e., Executive Doctorate in Management) in a field related to the area of primary teaching responsibilities.

A Professionally Qualified SBE faculty member must have relevant professional experience at the time of hire as follows:

• Experience is relevant to the faculty member’s primary teaching responsibility, AND
• Experience is of duration and level of responsibility commensurate with the faculty member’s primary teaching responsibility, AND
• Either the faculty member’s experience is current at the time of hire OR the faculty member has been retired from a relevant professional position for no more than 5 years.
• The holding of a current nationally recognized professional certification as a CPA , CMA or CFA is deemed as evidence of professional qualification for the related teaching duties

To maintain their Professionally Qualified status, SBE faculty must engage in one of the following professional or scholarly activities every year.

• Creating and delivering an executive education seminar.
• Maintaining an active consulting practice with evidence of major, multiple clients.                             
• Owning and/or operating a profitable/successful business that is a major portion of one’s annual income.
• Obtaining new or maintaining a professional certification appropriate to teaching responsibilities.
• Authoring a report from sponsored research that is widely disseminated.
• Serving on the Board of Directors for a major not-for-profit or for-profit organization.
• Serving on the Board of Directors for a major industry/trade association.
• Attending an academic or professional conference in the area of the faculty member’s primary teaching responsibility.

Senior Instructors are expected to be either Academically or Professionally Qualified at the time of hire and maintain either their Academically or Professionally Qualified status following the criteria from the list of ongoing scholarly or ongoing professional activities noted above.
Table 10-1 is a summary of faculty qualification, intellectual contributions and professional responsibilities by discipline during the prior five years.