Some students are finding the new class schedule frustrating as more “Staff” are listed as professors for the coming fall and spring semesters than named faculty.

Of nearly 5,000 sections listed for the fall 2002 schedule, a little over half do not list the names of faculty members, but instead list “Staff.”

“One of the reasons for such an overwhelming number of unlisted faculty names is that the schedule is produced close to a year ahead of time, which makes it hard to predict who will be teaching,” said David Wagner, dean of faculty affairs.

Wagner said that the university leaves “Staff” spots available for “bringing in skilled people from the community.”

Associate Dean for the College of Business Administration, Richard Guarino said that if a faculty name is not listed in the schedule then most of the time it means that a part time professor will be filling that spot.

Part-time faculty are on yearly terms, making it impossible to list them in the published schedule because the University does not know who will be hired for the coming year, Wagner said.

Sac State is currently advertising for 130 new tenure track faculty, which means that the new full-time faculty that gets hired will take some of the sections listed with “Staff.”

The university?s position is that either way, students receive quality education.

“All teachers, whether full-time or part-time are qualified,” Wagner said.

In he Mathematics and Statics department, however, part time and full time professors may not have the same credentials.

“One difference between a full time and part time faculty member [in the math department] is that all full timers are required to have Ph.D.?s,” said Wallace Etterbeek, department chairman.

Every department has different specific degree requirements that must be met in order to obtain full time faculty status. Some require only a master?s degree.

Sac State student Tomoko Kobayashi said she “would pick full-time faculty over part-time because they have been here longer.”

Even when a faculty name is listed, it is no a certainty that the listed professor will teach the class.

A professor may decide to retire or take sabbatical leave, sick leave, maternity leave or may have an illness that keeps them from teaching.

“Each department chair is in charge of submitting a class schedule that gets put into the main one,” said Elsa Favila, administrative analyst for the academic affairs office.

Guarino said, “It is more difficult to recruit people in this department [business] because of the tremendous competition from other schools and industries offering them higher salaries,” However, departments like intercollegiate athletics and music have almost every section filled with the name of the person that will be instructing.

And while university officials have said that part time faculty adequately serves students educational needs, they admit that a large number of classes in a department with “Professor Staff” may indicate instability.

“Having fewer ?Staff? listed represents a department that is less reliant on part-time faculty and more stable,” Wagner said.

Students seem to know this instinctively.

“If there are two of the same classes next to each other and one lists ?Staff? and the other lists a faculty name, I would choose the one with the name listed,” student Sarah Pesce said.

For the fall of 2001, Sac State had a total of 742 full time faculty, while employing 889 part timers, according to the university?s Office of Institutional Research.

Wagner said that their goal for the past couple of years has been to hire more full-time faculty and include more names in the class schedule.

For students that rely more on choosing their classes by the instructor, Favila had a few suggestions.

“Look online before it is time to enroll or even go into the department and ask an advisor if they could tell you who will be teaching the courses,” she said.

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