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- be brief and refer to information provided on the CV. At a glance of the justification and CV, the SACSCOC evaluator should be able to determine that the professor is qualified.
- explain why the professor is qualified to teach the course when the training is in a different area and/or the degree level does not match what is expected.
- highlight professional experience, academic research (doctoral thesis title perhaps), and/or prior teaching at the higher education level specific to the qualification.
- specifically address the relationships between the qualifications and the content of the course (i.e., the course's learning objectives).
Sample Justification -- Explaining Degree Level with Professional Experience
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“Professor Qualified is a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter with more than 25 years' experience as a criminal and investigative reporter for the The Baltimore Sun, The Daily News, and The New York Times. Since 1998, Qualified has worked at the Sun covering federal courts cases. She was lead writer for the Virginia Tech shooting coverage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Her reporting has covered all varieties of courtroom experience, from traffic court to federal terrorism to capital murder. These professional experiences, taken together, provide expertise that is directly related to the course learning objectives on the intersection of crime and media/reporting.”
The program should submit a current CV as documentation to support the qualifications described in the justification.
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"Dr. John Doe is the author of Imagining Race and Class in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction (Press, 2005) and is editor of “More Essays on Race in America” (Press, 2008). Doe's thesis for his doctoral degree in English and American literature (University of Virginia, 2003) was entitled "Protrayals of Race Experience in the Works of Early Nineteenth-Century Writers. The expertise he has established via this work pertains to the course learning objectives around race in American history."
The program could also send a longer version including teaching experience:
"Dr. John Doe is the author of Imagining Race and Class in Nineteenth-Century American Fiction (Press, 2005), and is editor of “More Essays on Race in America” (Press, 2008). Doe's thesis for his doctoral degree in English and American literature (University of Virginia, 2003) was entitled "Protrayals of Race Experience in the Works of Early Nineteenth-Century Writers." Before joining George Mason University, Doe taught english and history courses on race in America at Virginia Commonwealth University and Radford University. The expertise he has established via these prior experiences pertains to the course learning objectives around race in American history."
The program should submit a current CV as documentation to support the qualifications described in the justification.
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