OATdb Archive

2010 - 2011

Arts & Sciences, College Of

Goal
To Further Excellence In Teaching
The College of Arts and Sciences will provide the resources,support, and mechanisms to assist departments a nd faculty in their efforts to improve teaching throughout the college curriculum.

Objective
Recruit Highly Credentialed Faculty
The college will strive to hire faculty who posses the terminal degree from R1 universities.

Indicator
Highly Credentialed Faculty
New faculty hires will posses the terminal degree from R1 institutions

Criterion
Highly Credentialed Faculty
100% of faculty hires will possess the terminal degree from R1 institutions

Finding
Quality Faculty
11 faculty were hired this past year.  All were from R1 universities.  4 are ABD while 7 have the terminal degree.  Thus, 100% are from R1 schools but only 64% have completed the terminal degree.

Action
Quality Faculty
We are hiring faculty with excellent credentials from Research 1 schools, but in order to compete for the best faculty, we are hiring some ABD.  We will follow the faculty through the first year to ensure that they complete the degree.  Periodic visits with the chairs concerning their progress will be held.

Goal
To Promote Excellence In Creative Activities And Research
The College of Arts and Sciences will provide the resources and support to facilitate scientific inquiry and artistic expression among faculty and students in the college.

Objective
Provide Appropriate Faculty Travel Funds
The college will solicit travel requests from faculty members, then request, acquire and allocate appropriate funding for proposed travel.


Indicator
Faculty Travel Funds
The college will solicit travel requests from faculty members, prioritize these requests, and acquire the necessary funds to facilitate the research and developmental goals of the faculty.

Criterion
Faculty Travel Funds
The college will acquire and allocate 50% of the faculty requests for travel.

Finding
Faculty Travel
The departments in COAS requested approximately $308,000 in faculty travel funds, a 2% increase in requests. Total travel allocations were $225,000 for a 73% funding rate.

Action
Faculty Travel
We are seeking funding from Graduate Studies and grants to help fund the travel.  We cannot accurately tie publications to the travel since there is too much time in between travel and publication in most instances.


Goal
To Bring Visibility To Programs In The College
The College of Arts and Sciences will actively publish faculty and student accomplishments through local and national media and increase public exposure to scholarly and artistic events on campus.

Objective
Visibility
The College of Arts and Sciences will publicize research and creative accomplishments of faculty and departments in the Heritage magazine, on the website, and in other publications.

Indicator
Visibility
Publication of research and creative accomplishments in journals, newsletters, and on websites.

Criterion
Visibility
The College of Arts and Sciences will publicize at least 5 accomplishments each semester on the website or in journals.

Finding
Visibility
   The College of Arts and Sciences was featured in The Heritage magazine, and the Heritage had a full article on a science faculty member.  The website has had 15 articles about the sciences and arts faculty accomplishments or student accomplishments.  The area newspapers carried articles on the water treatment project.  E-Science carried an article on digital forensics. Thus, we far exceeded the amount of publicity we hoped to generate.

Action
Visibility
We will focus our efforts on the following areas next year:  The new Fine Arts and Mass Communication College and the new invasive species research.  We will attempt to get funding and publicity for our centers.

Goal
To Provide A Rigorous, Current Curriculum
The College of Arts and Sciences will encourage the development of new programs that reflect discpline specific and societal changes. The College will adhere to a formal, rigorous curriculum review process.

Objective
Accreditation Of Programs
The college will identify all programs that are eligible for accreditation through professional organizations and initiate the accreditation or reaccreditation in each case.

Indicator
Program Accreditation
Programs that are eligible for accreditation from outside agencies will seek or renew accreditation.

Criterion
Program Accreditation
100% of programs eligible for accreditation from outside agencies will seek or renew accreditation.

Finding
Accreditation
All programs are accredited that can be except for Art which is planning for seeking accreditation and music which was on probation.  Music has now been reaccredited in good standing.

Action
Accreditation
The College of Arts and Sciences will work toward submitting the accreditation application for the Department of Art.

Objective
Restructure College Curriculum Process
The college will establish fixed deadlines for submission of materials to the college curriculum committee and review items thoroughly in a timely manner.

Indicator
College Curriculum Calendar
The calendar for the college curriculum process will be modified and strictly enforced.

Criterion
College Curriculum Calendar
A calendar will be published. The calendar will be adhered to and all proposals will be submitted to the University committee in a timely manner.

Indicator
Approval Of Submitted Curriculum Proposals
Curriculum proposals approved by the COAS committee will be approved by the University curriculum committee.

Criterion
Approval Of Submitted Curriculum Proposals
100% of proposals submitted to the University curriculum will be approved.

Finding
Curriculum
The college adhered to the new deadlines and a rigorous review took place before the proposals were sent forward to the University Curriculum Committee.  All of the proposals were accepted.

Action
Curriculum
We will focus our curriculum efforts on a new Digital Forensic Ph.D. program.  The approval process for a Ph.D. program is very rigorous, so this will be a two-year project.

Goal
To Enhance The Quality Of Graduate Programs In The College
The College of Arts and Sciences will provide resources, planning and direction that will assist departments in growing quality graduate programs.

Objective
Provide Adequate Graduate Scholarships
The college will provide an adequate number of $1500 scholarships to assist in the recruitment and retention of high caliber graduate students.

Indicator
Percentage Of Graduate Students On Scholarship
The college will produce a report of scholarship recipients that includes the percentage of full time graduate students who receive scholarships through the COAS office

Criterion
Percentage Of Graduate Students On Scholarship
The college will have 50% of all full time graduate students on scholarship.

Finding
Scholarships
Finding enough funds for scholarships has been very difficult.  We funded approximately 15% of the students through scholarships.  Thus, we are far below the 50% we would like to fund.

Action
Scholarships
We are pursuing other avenues of scholarship funding for our graduate students, including money from graduate studies, outside agencies, and donors.

Objective
Provide Adequate Assistantships For Graduate Students
The college will allocate competitive assistantships in a manner that allows each program to recruit the quality and quantity of graduate students necessary to offer a viable graduate program.

Indicator
Percentage Of Graduate Students On Assistantship
The college will produce a TA report that includes the percentage of full time graduate students who are receiving assistantships in COAS

Criterion
Percentage Of Graduate Students On Assistantships
30% of all full time graduate students will receive assistantships from COAS

Finding
Assistantships
We funded 29% of our full-time graduate students with assistantships. This is very close to our goal.  We added 7 new assistantships this past year.

Action
Assistantships
We are seeking funding for 4 new assistantships for next year through the DELTA Center and Graduate Studies.


Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement We will be following the ABD faculty to confirm they have their degrees within their first year.  Travel funds will be sought through Graduate Studies and travelers encouraged to engage in the publishing process directly after their presentations.  Focus will be on helping the new Fine Arts and Mass Communication college become established and functioning as well as the new invasive species research.  In conjunction with the new college, we will be supporting the accreditation application for the Department of Art.  Curiculum efforts will be directed toward the new Digital Forensic Ph.D. program and its approval process.  Graduate student scholarships are being sought through Graduate Studies and grants.  Finally, we will be seeking additional assistantships through Graduate Studies and DELTA.