CHAPARRAL

Mind your MQs and FSAs!

MQs

Minimum qualifications (MQs) are established by the Academic Senate (AB 1725), and may be made more stringent by each local academic senate.  MQs establish the degrees and credits earned from accredited institutions that are required to teach in a program or discipline at a California community college.  Occupational licenses or certificates are required in certain programs.  Moreover, professional licenses may substitute for MQs in selected disciplines such as Accounting and Counseling. Regulations include specific MQ requirements for: Health Services Personnel, non-credit instructors, apprenticeship instructors, DSPS personnel, EOPS personnel, learning assistance and tutoring coordinators, and work experience coordinators. When the Disciplines List (a list of programs and the MQs to teach within them) requires a master’s degree, an appropriate degree beyond the master’s also satisfies the MQs.  MQs for a discipline or a program are the same whether the position is full-time or part-time.  Instructors may be hired for a position when they possess qualifications “different from but equivalent to” those on the Disciplines List.  Equivalency criteria and procedures are agreed upon by the governing board and the local senate.

     MQs fall into two categories:  those requiring a master’s degree (the Master’s List) and those not requiring a master’s degree (the Non Master’s List).  An example of a Master’s List discipline would be:

Anthropology: Master’s in anthropology or archaeology or Bachelor’s in either of the above and Master’s in sociology, biological sciences, forensic sciences, genetics or paleontology or the equivalent.

     In a discipline requiring a Master’s, an equivalency is a Master’s in a related field, not experience only (a high school teacher with twenty years’ experience teaching English but without a Master’s does not have an equivalency and cannot be hired to teach an English class at our college).

The Non Master’s List is generally:

Any bachelor’s degree and two years of experience, or any associate degree and six years of experience.

     An example from our Disciplines List is:

Welding:  Any Bachelor’s or higher and two years of experience in welding and any certificate or license required to do that work or any Associate’s degree and six years of experience in welding and any certificate or license required to do that work or the equivalent.

     Equivalency in a non-Master’s discipline can include years of work experience.  For more details regarding Master’s and non-Master’s equivalencies, Minimum Qualifications, and our Disciplines List, please visit the GCC Academic Senate website at http://www.glendale.edu/senate/.

     Finally, individuals with lifetime community college credentials are not required to meet MQs. They are “grandparented” and may teach in subject areas covered by the credential. For example, I have a lifetime community college credential that lists mathematics, and also lists computers and related technology; therefore, I am “grandparented” to meet the MQs to teach Computer Science courses at GCC.

FSAs

Faculty Service Area (FSA) means “a service or instructional subject area or group of related services or instructional service areas performed by faculty and established by a community college district” (Ed Code, § 87743.1).  They are established based on meeting the MQs for the service area or instructional subject area, and as such are directly related to MQs.  While FSAs are based on MQs, their intent is different. They are intended to be used in the event of a reduction in faculty (RIF) situation, and are usually assigned at the time of hire.  However, at GCC faculty may apply for FSAs each academic year.  MQs affect what contract faculty and part-time faculty can teach, while FSAs affect only contract faculty.  “Each district shall maintain a permanent record for each faculty member employed by the district of each faculty service area for which the faculty member possesses the minimum qualifications for service and in which he or she has established competency pursuant to district competency” (Ed Code § 87743.4). 

     FSAs, while related to MQs, are essentially a collective bargaining issue.  They determine seniority and “bumping rights” among contract faculty if a RIF becomes necessary.  Again, contract

faculty members qualified for an FSA in a discipline means that they meet the MQs for the discipline. By law, FSAs are determined by our Guild in consultation with the GCC Academic Senate. Unlike MQs, FSAs may include a “competency” requirement such as currency in the discipline.  In a nutshell, FSAs are MQs applied to “bumping rights.”

     When you were hired, you were automatically assigned to an FSA (a faculty service area) in your discipline. For example, someone hired to teach history was assigned to that FSA. Some faculty are qualified (or later become qualified) and competent to teach/work in another area; in other words, they could be granted other FSAs at a future time if they apply for them and meet the MQs. Typically, the only time you want to get other FSAs is to secure one or more positions to go to in the event of layoffs. FSAs are only used in the event of lay offs.  Try not to confuse the terms FSA and Equivalency, as they are different concepts. In normal times without RIF situations, instructors who have the minimum qualifications are eligible to teach/work in another area without having an FSA, and could be assigned there for all or part of their load.

     To summarize: in times of RIFs, mind your MQs, and by all means get your FSAs.&

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MQ versus FSA Chart