For an instructor to teach a course, they must meet minimum requirements for either or both:

• A masters degree or graduate credits in the field of the course (for an undergraduate course, at least 18 graduate credit hours)
• Significant professional experience in that field (minimum amount of experience must be established by the department and validated.)

Why?

IUPUI as an institution is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It has a set of “assumed practices” which must be met by all institutions.  

One of these "assumed practices" concerns faculty qualifications:

Teaching and Learning: Quality, Resources, and Support

1. Faculty Roles and Qualifications
    
   • Qualified faculty members are identified primarily by credentials, but other factors, including but not limited to equivalent experience, may be considered by the institution in determining whether a faculty member is qualified. Instructors (excluding for this requirement teaching assistants enrolled in a graduate program and supervised by faculty) possess an academic degree relevant to what they are teaching and at least one level above the level at which they teach, except in programs for terminal degrees or when equivalent experience is established. In terminal degree programs, faculty members possess the same level of degree. When faculty members are employed based on equivalent experience, the institution defines a minimum threshold of experience and an evaluation process that is used in the appointment process. Faculty teaching general education courses, or other non-occupational courses, hold a master’s degree or higher in the discipline or subfield. If a faculty member holds a master’s degree or higher in a discipline or subfield other than that in which he or she is teaching, that faculty member should have completed a minimum of 18 graduate credit hours in the discipline or subfield in which they teach.
   • Instructors teaching in graduate programs should hold the terminal degree determined by the discipline and have a record of research, scholarship or achievement appropriate for the graduate program.
   • Instructors teaching at the doctoral level have a record of recognized scholarship, creative endeavor, or achievement in practice commensurate with doctoral expectations.

*There are several fields in which the terminal degree for practice differs from a terminal degree for a tenure-track academic. Some examples of graduate programs with differing degree expectations are (but are not limited to):

Reviewed and Revised: 7/27/2021