The University of South Carolina is committed to recruiting, retaining, and promoting an outstanding faculty who demonstrate excellence in teaching, research, service, and outreach. In accordance with policy ACAF 1.20 Credential Verification for Instructors of Record [pdf], the Office of the Provost must approve any instructor and course exceptions. Submitting an exception request to the Provost Office does not guarantee approval.
Exception Request Forms
The Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics (OIRAA) is charged with receiving exception requests and facilitating communication between units and the Office of the Provost. There are two types of exception requests - Instructor and Course.
Instructor Exception Requests
Graduate Teaching Assistant Teaching a Graduate/Mixed Level Course
In rare circumstances, a graduate teaching assistant can be approved to teach a graduate or other post-baccalaureate course. In addition to verifying the standard credentials for a graduate teaching assistant, the academic unit must affirm that the graduate teaching assistant cannot take the course for their own program of study and will not have any students in their doctoral program cohort in the course. The Office of the Provost must approve any graduate teaching assistant as instructor of record for any graduate or other post-baccalaureate course, including all mixed-level courses.
As a reminder, the standard academic credentials include: (1) 18 or more graduate semester hours in the teaching discipline as evidenced by coursework on a transcript; 2) direct supervision by a faculty member who is qualified to teach in the discipline; 3) regular in-service training, which may be in the form of a course taken simultaneously or prior to teaching; 4) planned and periodic evaluations by a faculty member in the discipline or providing alternate credentials.
Alternate Credentialing Below Absolute Minimum
For undergraduate courses, the instructor of record must have at minimum a baccalaureate degree in addition to alternative credentials. For graduate and post-baccalaureate courses, including all mixed-level courses, the instructor of record must have, at minimum, 18 hours of relevant graduate course work in addition to alternative credentials. Exceptions for credentials below these absolute minimum academic standards require approval from the Office of the Provost.
Course Exception Requests
Course(s) with Non-Standard Requirements
Programs can identify non-standard academic credentials for specific courses, e.g., minimum professional experience in lieu of graduate coursework for certain experiential courses. Non-standard credentials must be proposed by the program faculty and approved by the academic dean and Office of the Provost.