(a) Faculty Organization.
  (1) The faculty shall be organized with written policies and procedures and/or bylaws to guide the faculty and program's activities, including processes for enforcement of written student policies.
  (2) The faculty shall meet regularly and function in such a manner that all members participate in planning, implementing, and evaluating the nursing program. Such participation includes but is not limited to: the initiation and/or change in program policies, personnel policies, curriculum, utilization of affiliating agencies, and program evaluation.
    (A) Committees necessary to carry out the functions of the program shall be established with duties and membership of each committee clearly defined in writing.
    (B) Minutes of faculty organization and meetings shall document the reasons for actions and the decisions of the faculty and shall be available for reference.
    (C) Part-time faculty may participate in all aspects of the program. Clear lines of communication of program policies, objectives, and evaluation criteria shall be included in the policies for part-time faculty.
(b) There shall be a Nursing Faculty Handbook that contains written policies for nursing faculty that are in keeping with accepted educational standards and are consistent with the policies of the governing entity. Nursing policies that differ from those of the governing entity shall be consistent with nursing unit mission and goals (philosophy and outcome).
  (1) Written policies concerning workload for the director or coordinator shall allow for sufficient time for administrative responsibilities consistent with §214.6 of this chapter (relating to Administration and Organization). Written policies for nursing faculty workload shall allow sufficient time for faculty to accomplish those activities related to the teaching-learning process.
  (2) Personnel policies shall include position descriptions for all members of the nursing program (including the director/coordinator) outlining the qualifications and responsibilities directly related to the nursing program.
  (3) Written policies for nursing faculty shall also include: terms of employment, plans for faculty orientation to the institution and to the nursing program, resources and opportunities for faculty development and evaluation of faculty, and Nursing Peer Review, as described in §217.19 (relating to Incident-Based Nursing Peer Review and Whistleblower Protections) and §217.20 (relating to Safe Harbor Nursing Peer Review and Whistleblower Protections) of this title.
  (4) Orientation of new nursing faculty members shall be initiated at the onset of employment.
  (5) A plan for nursing faculty development shall be offered to encourage and assist faculty members to meet the nursing program's needs as well as individual faculty members' professional development needs.
  (6) A variety of means shall be used to evaluate faculty performance such as self, student, peer, and administrative evaluation.
(c) A vocational nursing education program shall employ sufficient faculty members with educational preparation and expertise necessary to enable the students to meet the program goals. The number of faculty members shall be determined by such factors as:
  (1) The number and level of students enrolled;
  (2) The curriculum plan;
  (3) Activities and responsibilities required of faculty;
  (4) The number and geographic locations of affiliating agencies and clinical practice settings; and
  (5) The level of care and acuity of clients.
(d) Faculty Qualifications.
  (1) Documentation of faculty qualifications shall be included in the official files of the program.
  (2) Each nurse faculty member shall:
    (A) Hold a current license or privilege to practice nursing in the State of Texas;
    (B) Have been actively employed in nursing for the past three (3) years or have advanced preparation in nursing, nursing education, and/or nursing administration;
    (C) Have had three (3) years varied nursing experiences since graduation; and
    (D) Show evidence of teaching abilities and maintaining current knowledge, clinical expertise, and safety in the subject areas of teaching responsibility.
(e) Faculty Waivers.
  (1) In fully approved programs, if an individual to be appointed as a faculty member does not meet the requirements for faculty as specified in subsection (c) of this section, the director or coordinator is permitted to waive the Board's requirements without Board approval, if the program and prospective faculty member meet the following criteria and after notification to the Board of the intent to waive the Board's faculty requirements for a temporary time period not to exceed one (1) year;
  (2) Minimum program criteria:
    (A) program's NCLEX-PN® examination pass rate for the preceding examination year was 80% or above; and
    (B) total number of faculty waivers at program shall not exceed 10% of the total number of nursing faculty.
  (3) Minimum criteria for prospective faculty member:
    (A) hold a current license or privilege to practice as a vocational or registered nurse in the State of Texas;
    (B) has been actively employed in nursing for at least two (2) years of the last three (3) years;
    (C) if not actively employed in nursing during the past three (3) years, the prospective faculty's advanced preparation in nursing, nursing education, and nursing administration shall be considered; and
    (D) prior relevant nursing employment.
  (4) A waiver is valid for up to one (1) year.
  (5) If an extension of the waiver is needed, the director or coordinator shall petition Board Staff for an extension of the original waiver.
(f) Military faculty. Federal laws and regulations regarding licensure of military nursing personnel shall apply to Texas based military faculty members functioning within vocational nursing education programs.
(g) Non-nursing faculty are exempt from meeting the faculty qualifications of this chapter as long as the teaching assignments do not include nursing content or clinical nursing courses.
(h) All nursing faculty, as well as non-nursing faculty, who teach non-clinical nursing courses that are part of the nursing curriculum, e.g., biological, physical, social, behavioral and nursing sciences, including, body structure and function, microbiology, pharmacology, nutrition, signs of emotional health, and human growth and development, shall have sufficient educational preparation verified by the program director/coordinator as appropriate to these areas of teaching responsibility.
(i) Non-nursing faculty assigned to teach didactic nursing content shall be required to co-teach with nursing faculty in order to meet nursing course objectives.
(j) Teaching assignments shall be commensurate with the faculty member's education and experience in nursing.
(k) Faculty Responsibilities:
  (1) supervising students in clinical learning experiences;
  (2) supervising all initial nursing procedures performed by the student in the clinical area and ascertaining that the student is competent before allowing the student to perform an actual nursing procedure independently;
  (3) developing, implementing, and evaluating curriculum; and
  (4) participating in the development, implementation, and enforcement of standards/policies for admission, progression, probation, and dismissal of students, and participation in academic guidance and counseling.
(l) Teaching activities shall be coordinated among full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and clinical preceptors.
(m) There shall be a minimum of one (1) full-time nursing instructor for the program.
(n) A director/coordinator without major teaching or clinical responsibilities shall not be considered a full-time instructor for purposes of meeting the Board's requirements related to having a sufficient number of nursing faculty for a vocational nursing education program.

Source Note: The provisions of this §214.7 adopted to be effective February 13, 2005, 30 TexReg 545; amended to be effective January 9, 2007, 32 TexReg 91; amended to be effective October 19, 2008, 33 TexReg 8501; amended to be effective December 27, 2010, 35 TexReg 11662; amended to be effective October 21, 2012, 37 TexReg 8294; amended to be effective August 9, 2018, 43 TexReg 5072; amended to be effective November 30, 2023, 48 TexReg 6906