Credentialing

Faculty Credentialing

In line with its ongoing commitment to academic excellence, Florida Gulf Coast University employs qualified faculty, substantiating their credentials for every educational degree program with adequate documentation. Faculty credential parameters are detailed in FGCU Policy 2.016, SACSCOC Standard 6.2a, and the Faculty Credentialing Manual. 

Rationale for Administration of Faculty Credentialing

In compliance with SACSCOC Standard 6.2a: For each of its educational degree programs, the institution justifies and documents the qualifications of its faculty members. (Faculty qualifications)

Faculty Qualifications

General Education and Baccalaureate courses, the faculty must possess a doctorate or master's degree in the teaching discipline or a master's degree with a focus in the teaching discipline, including a minimum of 18 graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline.

Graduate and Post-Baccalaureate courses, the faculty should have an earned doctorate or terminal degree in the teaching discipline or a related field that would still allow for credentialing.

Graduate Teaching Assistants should hold a master's degree in the teaching discipline or 18 graduate semester hours in the same, be under the direct supervision of an experienced faculty member, receive regular in-service training, and undergo scheduled and periodic evaluations.

If a prospective faculty member can’t be credentialed through their educational degree and/or related coursework, credentialing may occur through a Letter of Justification (LOJ). An LOJ details experience that may qualify someone to teach based on their professional experience or details their educational experience/coursework in a specific discipline or field. It is used as supplemental documentation to qualify a person to teach a specific course or courses and is an exception, not the rule. Professional experience that is described on the LOJ must be from the last 5 (five) years. FGCU teaching experience is not applicable in relation to professional experience and as a result cannot be used as a justification.  The LOJ is valid for 5 (five) years following the date it was approved unless otherwise indicated based on discipline specific graduate coursework. 

Faculty Credentialing Process & Procedure

Planning and Institutional Performance (PIP) is responsible for course-by-course credentialing for each faculty member who is assigned to teach.

Credentialing prospective faculty/adjuncts takes place following first round interviews, prior to being invited for on-campus interviews.

During the final interview process, and prior to the respective final candidates getting scheduled for their final interviews, the college representative completes the Workday process and sends Planning & Institutional Performance (PIP) their request for credentialing on the candidate. During the application process, the respective candidates will have uploaded their CV as well as their unofficial graduate transcripts.  

PIP verifies the candidate’s qualifications & notifies college/school through Workday. Once there has been an approval in Workday in the “Credentialing” stage of the process, the finalist can be scheduled for their final interview. In some cases, to approve the candidate to move forward, we also request a Letter of Justification (LOJ) if needed.

Please note, all faculty/adjuncts that are assigned to teach graduate level courses must go through the graduate faculty process and be on the approved graduate faculty list provided from Graduate Studies. 

Effective 8/1/2023, a new cross-department folder titled, “Credentialed_Faculty” was created. This document will allow colleges/schools/departments/designees (CSDD) to view a list of instructor names and the courses they are credentialed to teach. CSDD can view the document at any time to determine if an instructor name shows on the list for a specific course. Faculty names only need to be listed once to be approved to teach a course. This list is updated approximately twice a week. This is a read only document. You will be able to search for items such as name or UIN by using the ‘find’ feature in Excel (Ctrl F). Below is the path to find the folder:

• CrossDept (R:), Credentialed_Faculty
• This document is a “review” only document, meaning you may need to use Ctrl F to search by a person’s name.

When ready to add instructor names to CRNs, please always review the Credentialed_Faculty folder/document first to determine:

1. If the faculty name and specific course appear on the list, please send an email to academicscheduling@fgcu.edu to have the name added to any CRN(s).
• If a course is offered as a repeatable course that allows the title to change such as a special topics course, please be sure the instructor is listed for that specific title prior to sending a request to the Academic Scheduling office to add a faculty name to a CRN.
2. If the faculty name and specific course do not appear on the list, please send an email (using the template below) to facultycredential@fgcu.edu. If the college/school/department/designee has more than a single request, please add additional rows to the request template and send all of your credentialing requests in one completed table. This will help to minimize duplicate emails and multiple requests.  
   • Once the faculty credentialing office lets you know the person is approved to teach the specific course, you can then reach out to the AS scheduling office at academicscheduling@fgcu.edu, sharing the confirmation from FC, with your request to add the instructor to the CRN(s).
• The faculty credentialing office will email you once they have reviewed the request, usually within 1-3 days.

Faculty Credentialing Documentation

Each College/School is responsible for collecting and maintaining updated documentation pertaining to the course(s) being taught. Planning & Institutional Performance (PIP) needs to be continually updated with new documentation based on the following guidelines:

• Updated CV’s should be collected during each Fall term and provided to Planning & Institutional Performance 
• Each CV must include the following:
  • Faculty/adjunct education history to include all completed graduate coursework or degrees
    • This should also include any current licenses or certifications
  • Current (or upcoming) teaching appointment at Florida Gulf Coast University
    
    • College/School in which position will be held
• When a degree is conferred, faculty/adjunct is responsible for requesting that the official transcript to be sent directly from the institution to PIP
• If a faculty/adjunct has a name change or additional names used, please contact PIP to ensure that their faculty file is updated

Transcript, CV, Licensure/Certificate Delivery

Once a candidate has been chosen by the college/school, the following language is used in the candidate offer.

• Graduate Transcripts-Official graduate transcripts must be sent directly from the awarding institution.
• International Transcripts—If transcript is from an institution outside of the U.S., FGCU requests official international transcripts to be sent directly from the awarding institution.
  • Please note, if transcript is from an institution outside of the U.S., FGCU requests official international transcripts to be sent directly from the awarding institution. In addition, international transcripts must be evaluated through an approved evaluator. Evaluations must be sent directly from an approved evaluator. Approved transcript evaluators can be found at https://www.naces.org/members.

Physical transcripts/evaluations are accepted and considered official when received in the original institution sealed envelope, bearing the awarding institution crest/stamp(s).

Physical transcripts should be mailed to:

Florida Gulf Coast University c/o Faculty Credentials – Planning & Institutional Performance; (Attn: Alexis Arnow)

10501 FGCU Blvd S

Fort Myers, FL 33965-6565. 

• Electronic transcripts/evaluations are accepted and considered official when received directly from the awarding institution. Electronic transcripts should be sent to: facultycredential@fgcu.edu 
• Send relevant CV's, licenses & certificates to facultycredential@fgcu.edu 

Resources

• Faculty Credentialing Process PowerPoint (Updated Summer 2023)
• *NEW* Faculty Credentialing Manual (Updated Summer 2025)
• Letter of Justification (LOJ) Template (Updated Summer 2025)
• Letter of Justification Example with Courses
• Letter of Justification Example with Professional Experience
• *NEW* Letter of Justification PowerPoint (Updated Spring 2025)
• NACES Website for international credential evaluations
• FGCU Policy 2.016: Administration of Faculty Credentials
• SACSCOC 6.2a Faculty Credentials

Contact Us

• For all faculty credentialing inquiries, please email facultycredential@fgcu.edu
• Alexis Arnow, 239-590-7669 or aarnow@fgcu.edu