USD employed 402 full-time and 443 part-time instructional faculty during fall semester of 2011 The majority of the full-time faculty—343—were in tenured or tenure-track positions. The remainder were faculty visiting USD or employed in temporary positions.

Of the part-time faculty, 17 were formerly full-time, tenured faculty now employed on phased retirement contracts. Another 73.5 were employed on annual contracts less than full time. The majority—352.5—were hired to teach one or two courses during fall semester and were paid per course. The 443 part-time faculty contracts were equivalent to 160.9 full-time faculty, bringing USD's total instructional FTE faculty to 562.9.