In the charts below, the proportion of teaching done by ranked faculty has increased as the proportion done by other faculty, principally teaching assistants, has decreased. The shift to ranked faculty is even greater than outlined here, of course, because the number of credit hours taught has also increased dramatically. As the chart below indicates, we have simultaneously continued the decade long trend toward increasing sponsored research expenditures. Sponsored research expenditures is the only fully reliable indicator of the research intensity of the faculty as it reflects the actual expenditures of funds secured from outside sources on research. Other important research does not appear here such as art, humanities, and social science or professional school work done without special outside funding, but nationally we all use sponsored research expenditures as the best indicator of research commitment even though it is not complete.
Research enhances the quality of both undergraduate and graduate teaching.