260C.36  Quality faculty plan.
  1.  The community college administration shall establish a committee consisting of instructors and administrators, equally representative of the arts and sciences faculty and the vocational-technical faculty, which has no more than a simple majority of members of the same gender. The faculty members shall be appointed by the certified employee organization if one exists and if not, by the college administration. The administrators shall be appointed by the college administration. The committee shall develop and maintain a plan for hiring and developing quality faculty that includes all of the following:
  a.  An implementation schedule for the plan.
  b.  Orientation for new faculty.
  c.  Continuing professional development for faculty.
  d.  Procedures for accurate recordkeeping and documentation for plan monitoring.
  e.  Consortium arrangements when appropriate, cost-effective, and mutually beneficial.
  f.  Specific activities that ensure faculty attain and demonstrate instructional competencies and knowledge in their subject or technical areas.
  g.  Procedures for collection and maintenance of records demonstrating that each faculty member has attained or documented progress toward attaining minimal competencies.
  h.  Compliance with the faculty accreditation standards of the higher learning commission, and compliance with faculty standards required under specific programs offered by the community college that are accredited by other accrediting agencies.
  i.  Determination of the faculty that will be included in the plan including but not limited to all instructors, counselors, and media specialists. The plan requirements may be differentiated for each type of employee.
  2.  The committee shall submit the plan to the board of directors, which shall consider the plan and, once approved, submit the plan to the department of education and implement the plan not later than July 1, 2003.
  3.  The administration of the college shall encourage the continued development of faculty potential by doing all of the following:
  a.  Regularly stimulating department chairpersons or heads to meet their responsibilities for the continued development of faculty potential.
  b.  Reducing the instructional loads of first-year instructors whose course preparation and in-service training demand a reduction.
  c.  Stimulating curricular evaluation.
  d.  Encouraging the development of an atmosphere in which the faculty brings a wide range of ideas and experiences to the students, each other, and the community.
  4.  The department of education shall establish the following committees:
  a.  An ad hoc accreditation quality faculty plan protocol committee to advise the department in the development of protocols related to the quality faculty planning process to be used by the accreditation teams during site visits. The committee shall, at a minimum, determine what types of evidence need to be provided, develop interview procedures and visit goals, and propose accreditation protocol revisions.
  b.  An ongoing quality faculty plan professional development committee. The committee shall, at a minimum, do the following:
  (1)  Develop systemic, ongoing, and sustainable statewide professional development opportunities that support institutional development as well as individual development and support of the quality faculty plans. The opportunities may include internet-based systems to share promising practices.
  (2)  Determine future professional development needs.
  (3)  Develop or identify training and assistance relating to the quality faculty plan process and requirements.
  (4)  Assist the department and community colleges in developing professional development consortia.
  (5)  Review and identify best practices in each community college quality faculty plan, including best practices regarding adjunct faculty.
  c.  A community college faculty advisory committee consisting of one member and one alternate from each community college, appointed by the committee established pursuant to subsection 1. The committee membership shall be equally represented by individuals from the liberal arts and sciences faculty and the career and technical faculty. The committee shall, at a minimum, keep faculty informed of higher education issues, facilitate communication between the faculty and the department on an ongoing basis, and serve as an advisory committee to the department and community colleges on faculty issues.
[C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §280A.36]

2002 Acts, ch 1047, §5; 2007 Acts, ch 214, §21, 22; 2008 Acts, ch 1181, §27, 28; 2013 Acts, ch 90, §257; 2014 Acts, ch 1013, §12

Subsection 1, paragraph h amended