School of Health Professions
College of Health and Human Sciences
Georgia State University
Action Plan
Prepared December 1, 2009
Introduction
In February 2009, the Program Review: External Reviewer Report on the School of Health Professions (SHP) was issued and presented summary findings that were largely complimentary and supportive of the School’s nationally recognized academic programs in Nutrition, Physical Therapy and Respiratory Therapy. The external reviewers commented specifically on the quality of our students, strong enrollments, unique respiratory therapy and nutrition graduate programs, a physical therapy program that was structured to meet the future needs of its graduates, the appropriate use of emerging technologies with students, faculty scholarship, and faculty involvement in service activities internal and external to the university.
The external reviewers also found that the school faced specific challenges that should be met to satisfy existing weaknesses. These challenges included insufficient staff to satisfy growing enrollments and the increased administrative demands for more sponsored research activity; a requirement for more full-time faculty to offset the excessive use of part-time faculty and to satisfy programmatic requirements in, particularly, physical therapy; and a more robust SHP infrastructure to help faculty in pre-award submission and post-award management processes. The external reviewers also made specific mention of a critical need for more dedicated research and teaching space and instructional laboratories.
The School of Health Professions (SHP) is committed to achieving goals related to curricular excellence, research productivity, and service enhancement both internal and external to the university. What follows in this report is a delineation and explanation of the SHP’s Action Plan to address the challenges reported by the external reviewers. The report is structured in three parts to include instruction, research and service.
Action Plan
Following the recommendations from the School’s self-study, the Dean’s overview report, the External Review Team report, and the CAP report, the SHP requests consideration of the following action plan:
Instruction
Faculty workload – Each division is distinct, mandating that financial and structural resources be strategically placed. Since the self-study report, SHP has generated over 8,000 credit hours in fall 2009 alone and is the largest credit hour producer in the College of Health and Human Sciences. Resources are needed to address faculty teaching responsibilities.
Physical Therapy
The 2006 APR action plan for the Division of Physical Therapy (PT) recommended the hiring of three additional faculty positions. Since this 2006 report, 2 of the 3 recommended faculty positions have been funded and hired. The third position is needed immediately to lessen the dependence on part-time instructors (PTIs), which was stated by the most recent External Review report to be a major weakness. University workload policy suggests a teaching load of 3/2 for tenure-track and 4/4 for nontenure-track (NTT) faculty. Given this teaching load and the faculty/student ratio guidelines of the Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) of 12.6 students per faculty for classroom teaching of clinical skills, the current faculty size and student enrollment fails to satisfy this recommended faculty/ student ratio for the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program. There are currently eleven (11) faculty positions in the Division of Physical Therapy, of which four are NTT faculty, for 120 students. Two full-time members of the faculty are not Physical Therapists (they are exercise scientists) and are, therefore, not considered core PT faculty members by the CAPTE. The Division Head and the Academic Coordinator or Clinical Placement (ACCP) positions are members of the PT faculty but are not considered core faculty members due to programmatic requirements. DPT students take up to 21 credit hours per semester which translates to almost 30 hours in the classroom/lab per week. So as to satisfy programmatic requirements, the teaching load for the core NTT faculty is 4/4 and 3/2 for core TT faculty. In addition to their teaching loads, these faculty members, along with PTIs, participate in all lab sections that are associated with the lecture course (n=6 per semester) to assure that CAPTE programmatic standards are met. Most recently, 12 PTIs were used during the Fall 2009 semester. Without these PTIs, the clinical laboratory courses would be understaffed with ratios at times approaching 20:1. This teaching combination of lecture and lab places an excessively heavy burden on PT faculty, underlying the need for more core faculty members. These core-faculty positions are needed to maintain compliance with accreditation standards and to lessen the dependence of PTIs. As noted in the APR report to CAP, the heavy reliance of PTIs in Physical Therapy does not contribute to the advancement of research and limits the mentoring resources for graduate students. To address this need and to achieve our goals, we request the following:
· Hire one NTT clinical assistant/associate professor now (2006 approved action plan)
· Hire one NTT clinical assistant/associate professor in FY11
· Hire one TT assistant/associate /professor in FY 11
· Hire one NTT clinical assistant/associate professor in FY 12
· Hire one TT assistant/associate /professor in FY 12
· Hire one TT assistant/associate /professor in FY 13
Nutrition
The Division of Nutrition is also excessively dependent on PTIs for non-core courses such as NUTR 3100 - Nutrition and Health. At least seven sections of NUTR 3100 are taught each semester (including summer) with the majority of these sections being taught by PTIs. Nutrition courses that are required for nursing majors (NUTR 3200/3300) are also taught by PTIs. An additional NTT faculty member is requested to coordinate and teach NUTR 3100-3300 courses. A goal for the Division of Nutrition is to develop graduate courses which can be sequenced into specializations (i.e. life span, chronic disease) and begin to form a cluster of faculty who able to expertly teach on these subjects but also procure externally funded research. These additional faculty members will address the issue noted in the APR report of diversity and timing of courses.
· Hire one NTT clinical assistant/associate professor in FY11
· Hire one TT assistant/associate professor in FY12
Respiratory Therapy
The Division of Respiratory Therapy envisions an add-on sleep technology certificate program to meet the emergent demand for respiratory therapists in the growing field of Polysomnography. Current RT faculty are at maximum capacity with full teaching loads and an expanding graduate program which has grown from one student in 2005 to 22 students in 2009. One additional tenure-track faculty position is requested to improve graduate thesis advisement and to develop a Polysomnography certificate program.
· Hire one TT assistant/associate professor in FY12
Research
It is noted that the School should develop a mission statement that emphasizes faculty scholarship. However, the lack of sufficient research space for current faculty and for recruitment of future faculty does not promote a culture of discovery. Research space is critical for all divisions. The School of Health Professions requests that the space that is allocated currently in Kell Hall be retained so that after renovations, additional research capacity is realized.
· Funds to renovate approx. 2,500 square foot of Kell Hall in FY 11
As the School has grown, we have out-grown the staff allocated for faculty and student support. The School set a goal to increase the amount of external funding to $1,000,000 and $100,000 for internal funding in 3 years. The School requests a part-time grants manager now and once the goal of $1,000,000 in external funding is realized a re-evaluation of this position to full-time is desired. SHP has many small and intermediate sized grants that do not permit or justify the use of a certified grants manager as part of the award. The additional staff allocation will relieve faculty of administrative responsibilities that can be more efficiently managed by appropriately trained staff personnel.
· Part-time grants manager in FY 11 or 12 when threshold is met
Service
Development and implementation of a faculty practice is consistent with the missions of GSU which will enhance research, teaching and service. A faculty practice can generate income for the School via revenues from insurance and private payment. This revenue will in turn, support faculty research agendas through seed money for new projects, faculty mentoring support, GRA/GLA/GTA support , support student learning and clinical skills acquisition, and serve as an outreach to the community. In agreement with the APR committee, SHP requests funds to explore and develop a detailed business plan in consultation with the Robinson COB which will confirm adequate resources needed for faculty and administrative costs. From this investigation, space, reimbursement streams, and consideration for approval from the Board of Regents will be outlined.
· Funds for a detailed business plan which will result in a faculty proposal for consideration by the BOR in FY 12
Budget:
From previously approved 2006 PT Action Plan / 63,000 + 27.24% fringe / $80,161
Operational budget to support new faculty / $3,000
FY 2010 Total / $83,161
FY 2011 New Funding / One nontenure-track Clinical Assistant or Associate Professor in Physical Therapy / 63,000 + 27.24% fringe / $80,161
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
One tenure-track Assistant/ Associate/ Professor in Physical Therapy / 66,000 + 27.24% fringe / $83,978
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
One nontenure-track Clinical Assistant or Associate Professor in Nutrition / 65,000 + 27.24% fringe / $82,706
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
Renovation of approx. 2,500 square feet in Kell Hall@~$150 sq ft / $375,000
Part-time Grants Manager II / 25,000 + 27.24% fringe / $31,810
FY 2011 Total / $662,655
FY 2012 / One nontenure-track Clinical Assistant or Associate Professor in Physical Therapy / 65,000 + 27.24% fringe / $82,706
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
One tenure-track Assistant/ Associate/ Professor in Physical Therapy / 67,000 + 27.24%fringe / $85,251
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
One tenure-track Assistant / Associate / Professor in Nutrition / 68,000 + 27.24% fringe / $86,523
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
One tenure-track Assistant / Associate / Professor in Respiratory Therapy / 65,000 + 27.24% fringe / $82,706
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
Consultation with Robinson COB and release time for investigation of faculty practice / $100,000
FY 2012 Total / $449,186
FY 2013 / One tenure-track Assistant/ Associate/ Professor in Physical Therapy / 69,000 + 27.24% fringe / $87,796
Operational budget for new faculty / $3,000
FY 2013 Total / $90,796
Total Request / $1,285,798
SHP Action Plan, Page 1