1. (a) There shall be written personnel policies for nursing faculty that are in keeping with accepted educational standards and are consistent with those of the governing institution. Policies which differ from those of the governing institution shall be consistent with nursing unit mission and goals (philosophy and outcomes).

   1. (1) Policies concerning workload for faculty and the dean or director shall be in writing.
   2. (2) Sufficient time shall be provided faculty to accomplish those activities related to the teaching-learning process.
   3. (3) Teaching activities shall be coordinated among full-time, part-time faculty, clinical preceptors and clinical teaching assistants.

2. (b) A professional nursing education program shall employ sufficient faculty members with graduate preparation and expertise necessary to enable the students to meet the program goals. The number of faculty members shall be determined by such factors as:

   1. (1) The number and level of students enrolled;
   2. (2) The curriculum plan;
   3. (3) Activities and responsibilities required of faculty;
   4. (4) The number and geographic locations of affiliating agencies and clinical practice settings; and
   5. (5) The level of care and acuity of clients.

3. (c) Faculty Qualifications and Responsibilities.

   1. (1) Documentation of faculty qualifications shall be included in the official files of the programs. Each nurse faculty member shall:

      1. (A) Hold a current license or privilege to practice as a registered nurse in the State of Texas;
      2. (B) Show evidence of teaching abilities and maintaining current knowledge, clinical expertise, and safety in subject area of teaching responsibility;
      3. (C) Hold a master's degree or doctorate degree, preferably in nursing.

      4. (D) A nurse faculty member holding a master's degree or doctorate degree in a discipline other than nursing shall hold a bachelor's degree in nursing from an approved or accredited baccalaureate program in nursing; and

         1. (i) if teaching in a diploma or associate degree nursing program, shall have at least six semester hours of graduate level content in nursing appropriate to assigned teaching responsibilities, or
         2. (ii) if teaching in a baccalaureate level program, shall have at least 12 semester hours of graduate-level content in nursing appropriate to assigned teaching responsibilities.

      5. (E) In fully approved programs, if an individual to be appointed as faculty member does not meet the requirements for faculty as specified in this subsection, the dean or director is permitted to waive the Board's requirements, if the program and prospective faculty member meet the following criteria and after notification to the Board of the intent to waive the Board's faculty requirements for a temporary time period not to exceed one year:

         1. (i) minimum program criteria:

            1. (I) program's NCLEX-RN Examination pass rate for the preceding exam year was 80% or above;
            2. (II) total number of faculty waivers at program shall not exceed 10% of the total number of nursing faculty; and

         2. (ii) minimum criteria for prospective faculty member:

            1. (I) holds a current license or privilege to practice as a registered nurse in the State of Texas;
            2. (II) has at least two years in the last four years of nursing practice experience in the anticipated subject area of teaching responsibility;

            3. (III) has earned a bachelor's degree in nursing or completed, as part of a nursing education program culminating in a master's or doctorate degree in nursing, the course work equivalent to the course work required for a bachelor's degree in nursing; and either

               (-a-) is currently enrolled in a master's nursing education program and has earned a minimum of 50% of the required credits toward the master's degree in nursing, excluding thesis or professional paper; or

               (-b-) holds a master's degree in another field and has a documented plan to complete, within a designated time frame, the required number of graduate level nursing credits appropriate to the anticipated subject area of teaching responsibility, 6 graduate level nursing credits to teach in a diploma or associate degree nursing education program or 12 graduate level nursing credits to teach in a baccalaureate degree or entry-level master's degree in nursing education program.

         3. (iii) when the program does not meet the minimum program criteria or the prospective faculty member does not meet the minimum criteria for a faculty member:

            1. (I) a petition for a waiver shall be submitted to the Board and be reviewed by the members of the Education Liaison Committee (ELC) for recommendation regarding approval and referred to the full Board for ratification; or
            2. (II) a petition for an emergency waiver may be submitted to the Board staff for approval when a vacancy occurs because a faculty member fails to report as planned, i.e., sudden illness or death of a faculty member, or there is an unexpected resignation, or qualified applicants/prospective faculty are not available.
         4. (iv) a waiver is valid for up to one year.
         5. (v) the director or coordinator shall submit a sworn (notarized) notification of waiver to the Board.
         6. (vi) if an extension of the waiver is needed, the director or coordinator shall petition the Board for an extension of the original waiver.
      6. (F) In baccalaureate programs, an increasing number of faculty members should hold doctoral degrees appropriate to their responsibilities.
   2. (2) All nursing faculty, as well as non-nursing faculty, who teach theory nursing courses, e.g., pathophysiology, pharmacology, research, management and statistics, shall have graduate level educational preparation verified by the program dean or director as appropriate to these areas of responsibility.
   3. (3) Non-nursing faculty assigned to teach didactic nursing courses shall be required to co-teach with nursing faculty in order to meet nursing course objectives.
4. (d) Teaching assignments shall be commensurate with the faculty member's education and experience in nursing.
5. (e) The faculty shall be organized with written policies and procedures and/or bylaws to guide the faculty and program's activities.

6. (f) The faculty shall meet regularly and function in such a manner that all members participate in planning, implementing and evaluating the nursing program. Such participation includes, but is not limited to the initiation and/or change of academic policies, personnel policies, curriculum, utilization of affiliating agencies, and program evaluation.

   1. (1) Committees necessary to carry out the functions of the program shall be established with duties and membership of each committee clearly defined in writing.
   2. (2) Minutes of faculty organization and committee meetings shall document the reasons for actions and the decisions of the faculty and shall be available for reference.

7. (g) There shall be written plans for faculty orientation, development, and evaluation.

   1. (1) Orientation of new faculty members shall be initiated at the onset of employment.
   2. (2) A program of faculty development shall be offered to encourage and assist faculty members to meet the nursing program's needs as well as individual faculty member's professional development needs.
   3. (3) A variety of means shall be used to evaluate faculty performance such as self, student, peer and administrative evaluation.

Source Note:The provisions of this §215.7 adopted to be effective January 9, 2005, 29 TexReg 12190; amended to be effective August 11, 2005, 30 TexReg 4480; amended to be effective January 9, 2007, 32 TexReg 92.