The College will increase the variety of Academic Programs
Objective
Secure Permission To Offer A Ph.D. Program In School Psychology
Obtain approval to offer a Ph.D. in School Psychology.
KPI
Securing Permission To Offer A Ph.D. In School Psychology
In order to begin a new degree program, departments must first receive preliminary approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. This step has been accomplished, but multiple additional steps must be completed before a new PhD can be approved and launched. These steps include the following: (1) Draft a formal proposal to offer a new doctoral degree in School Psychology. This review process must ensure that jobs will be available for graduates, that the curriculum will be appropriate, and that the faculty will be qualified. The Department of Psychology will complete a proposal for a Ph.D. in School Psychology. (2) Secure reaccreditation for the current graduate program in School Psychology. (3) Expand enrollments in the current program. (4) Hire qualified faculty capable of delivering the new program.
Result
PhD In School Psychology Approval
During this academic year the Department of Psychology has focused on the preliminary work that must be accomplished before a formal proposal can be submitted to the coordinating board. For example, the department has submitted materials for the reaccreditation review and has expanded graduate enrollments in the MA School Psychology program. Current funding levels do not allow the hiring of new faculty at this time.
Action
PhD In School Psychology
Given the high bar set by the state for establishing new PhD programs, efforts to expand the size and the credentials of the MA program must continue before a proposal can be submitted to the coordinating board. During the next academic year the Department of Psychology will complete its reaccreditation review and expand its graduate enrollments in School Psychology. The hiring of additional faculty in the discipline is not possible at this time.
Objective
Create An MA In Digital Media
Obtain approval to offer an MA in Digital Media.
KPI
Obtain Approval For An MA In Digital Media
In order to begin a new degree program, departments must first receive preliminary approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which the department has already received. Next, the department must complete a proposal for a new master's degree in Digital Media. The Department of Mass Communications will complete a proposal for a MA in Digital Media. This review process ensures that jobs will be available for graduates, that the curriculum will be appropriate, and that the faculty will be qualified.
Result
Department Of Mass Communications Moved Into New College
The Department of Mass Communications has been moved into the newly created college of Fine Arts and Mass Communication.
Action
Mass Communication Moved Into College Of Fine Arts And Mass Communication
Because the department has been placed in the College of Fine Arts and Mass Communication, the decision to implement this program will rest with the new college.
Objective
Approval For An American Studies Minor
The college will launch a minor in American Studies.
KPI
American Studies Minor
The college will develop the necessary curriculum to offer a minor in American Studies.
Result
Launching American Studies Minor
Faculty within the departments involved with the interdisciplinary American Studies Minor created the gateway courses for this minor. The College Curriculum Committee reviewed and approved these course additions.
Action
Courses Created For American Studies Minor
The course additions will be submitted to the University Curriculum Committee for review in Fall 12012.
Goal
Increase The Quality Of Academic Programs
The College will increase the quality of academic programs by increasing the quality of students and instruction.
Objective
Strategic Planning
Each department in the college will engaged in a strategic planning process.
KPI
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is essential for the development of departments. Each department must meet and develop a five-year strategic plan that will discuss such items as program development, curriculum review, recruitment and retention, etc. The plans will be submitted to the Dean for review, and then departments will be asked to revise the plans. Five departments are still revising the plans and will submit them this year.
Result
Strategic Planning
During AY12 strategic plans were received by all departments in the college. These plans were reviewed by the dean and used in creating the priority requests of the college that were submitted to Academic Affairs for funding consideration. This was a new process this year and was initiated late, with little involvement from the faculty. For the future, the process will begin earlier and involve extensive faculty discussions.
Action
Strategic Planning
CHSS utilized the departmental strategic plans in establishing a set of priority goals that were submitted to Academic Affairs in Spring 2012. Pending funding approval, implementation of these priority items will begin during AY13. In the future, the process of budgetary planning will begin earlier and involve extensive faculty discussions.
Objective
Improve Graduate Student Credentials
Increase the quality of credentials of incoming graduate students.
KPI
Increase GRE And GPA Scores Of Incoming Graduate Students
Increase GRE and GPA scores of incoming graduate students in departments with underachieving admissions criteria. During this academic year, average GRE and GPA scores of incoming graduate students in the departments of COM, SOC and FOL will increase by 2%.
Result
Assessing GRE And GPA Scores
Owing to technical difficulties related to the transition from the Legacy to Banner system, the College requested the Office of Institutional Research to tabulate GRE and GPA scores for graduate students who entered SHSU during AY2011 and AY2012. Although the lower than anticipated number of recorded student admissions in some departments casts suspicion on the completeness of the analysis, according to the collected data for AY2011 and AY2012 the average GRE scores of entering students increased by 4.4% (from 993 to 1036) for Communication Studies (COM) students and 30.2% (from 630 to 820) for Foreign Language (FOL) students, and decreased by 12.1% (from 1060 to 931) for Sociology (SOC) students. Meanwhile, the mean GPA among entering students in these departments changed, respectively by +2.7% (from 3.36 to 3.45), -9.2% (from 3.53 to 3.21), and -1.7% (from 3.19 to 3.14). Thus, the goal of 2% increases in mean GRE and GPA among entering students was exceeded by COM, but not reached by SOC and FOL. In addition, during AY2012 the matrix used by the College to monitor entrance expectations (300 x GPA + GRE) exceeded our 2000 point standard for English (ENG), COM, History (HIS), Political Science (POL) and Psychology (PSY) but remained below these expectations for SOC and FOL. In AY12 for the first time in recent years, Family Consumer Science (FCS) also fell slightly below this standard.
Action
GPA And GRE Score Assessments
An analysis of the credentials of our entering graduate students indicates that the college generally has been successful at growing the size of its graduate programs without reducing the quality of its incoming students. On the positive side, during AY2012 COM joined the list of departments (ENG, HIS, POL, PSY) with mean entering student matrix scores above the 2000 point College standard. However, mean scores in SOC, FOL and FCS failed to reach these expectations. Given the rapid growth of enrollments in SOC, during AY2013 special attention will be given to improving the entrance credentials of students in this department. The College will allow some flexibility in admission standards for the recently established graduate program in Spanish, and for FCS, a department facing increasing coordinating board pressures to increase the size of its graduate program. During AY2013, the College will assess the entrance credentials of students within each program in order to balance graduate growth and quality of incoming students.
Goal
Increase Research And Scholarly Activity
Increase publications and extramurally funded research in the College.
Objective
Increase Student Research
Increase the number of undergraduate and graduate students involved in research, scholarship, and creative activities.
KPI
Number Of Students Presenting And Publishing
As research and scholarly activity increases with faculty, the college would like to see more students involved in the research process. The process of creating knowledge is essential to each discipline, and exposing students to this process provides quality instruction. The College will collect data concerning the number of peer-reviewed presentations and publications by undergraduate students and by graduate students and compare this to last year's data. The College will increase by 2% the number of undergraduate student and graduate students who are involved in research that result in publication or presentation at professional conferences.
Result
Assessing Student Research
In 2010 (note here and below that student and faculty research data is collected on a calendar year, not an academic year basis), 62 undergraduate students presented and 13 published, making a total of 75 undergraduate research activities. In 2011, 68 undergraduate students presented and 13 published, making a total of 81 undergraduate research activities. This level of undergraduate scholarly productivity represents an 8% increase over last year’s productivity level, and an 80% increase over the level of undergraduate scholarship of two years ago.
In 2010, 66 graduate students presented and 23 published, making a total of 89 graduate research activities, while in 2011, 72 graduate students presented and 47 published, making a total of 119 graduate research activities. This level of graduate scholarly productivity represents a 34% increase in graduate productivity levels above 2010 figures.
Weaknesses that emerged were in the departments of FOL and FCS.
Action
Increasing Student Research
Attention will be given to FOL and FCS, the only departments in 2011 with low levels of reported student research, to increase levels of undergraduate and graduate student research involvement.
Objective
Increase Per Capita Peer-Reviewed Publications
The faculty in the College will increase the per capita number of peer-reviewed publications.
KPI
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Universities must produce new knowledge and understanding. The college will collect data on the number of peer-reviewed publications and compare this with the previous year. Because these are peer-reviewed publications, the quality of the research also is measured. The college will increase the per capita number of peer-reviewed publications by 2%.
Result
Assessing Faculty Publications
During 2011 CHSS averaged .80 journal articles per faculty, a 25% increase over the .64 per capita articles published in 2010. In 2011, per capita books also were up from about 5% to 7%, while per capita book chapters dropped modestly from about 18% to 17%. The overall faculty publication measure exceeded the college's 2% goal.
Since CHSS began monitoring faculty publication levels in 2005, per capita journal publications have increased by 90%, and per capita books and monographs by 100%; meanwhile, per capital book chapters have dropped by 7%. During these six years, the overall research score, which also includes grant activity and conference presentations, has increased by 35%.
Action
Faculty Research
The college will encourage increases in faculty publication levels by assessing faculty scholarly productivity and by providing linkage between peer-reviewed publication levels and faculty merit raises, promotion and tenure decisions and departmental budgets. To further promote faculty scholarship, research awards will be presented to outstanding faculty researchers at a Fall meeting of the college faculty and staff.
Objective
Increase Per Capita Conference Presentations
The faculty in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences will increase the per capita number of professional conference presentations given.
KPI
Number Of Conference Presentations
Universities must not only produce new knowledge, but they must also disseminate this knowledge. Conference presentations are one method of disseminating knowledge. The college will collect data on the number of presentations at professional, peer-reviewed conferences and compare this with the previous year. Because these are peer-reviewed presentations, the quality of the research is also measured. The College will increase by 2% the number of per capita professional conference presentations by faculty in the college.
Result
Assessing Conference Presentations
In 2010, with 320 presentations delivered by 120 faculty members, the college averaged 2.58 presentations per faculty; in 2011, 109 faculty delivered 295 conference presentations, thus averaging 2.71 presentations per faculty. This per capita productivity represents a 5% increase over 2010 levels, thus exceeding our 2% goal. Since CHSS began monitoring per capita faculty conference presentations in AY2005, the per capita mean of scholarly presentations has increased by 63%.
Action
Increasing Conference Presentations
The College will encourage faculty presentations at scholarly meetings, supply funds to support faculty travel to these meetings, and link faculty merit raises, promotion and tenure decisions, and departmental budgets to the number of faculty presentations at scholarly meetings. Bi-weekly college colloquiums and a Spring research conference also will be held to encourage and recognize faculty scholarship.
Objective
Increase Extramural Funding
Increase the number of competitive grants submitted and funded in the College.
KPI
Increase Grants Submitted And Funded
One measure of the productivity of faculty is the number of outside grants funded. Outside funding shows that the research of the faculty is of high quality. The amount of funding varies by the discipline as do the funding opportunities. The College will collect data on the number and amounts of outside funding received by our faculty, as well as the number of grants submitted. These numbers will be compared to last year's numbers. The College will increase by 2% the per capita number of grants externally submitted and the percentage of submitted external grants that are funded. Measurements of per capita grant activity and grant success rates also will be analyzed.
Result
Increasing Grant Activity
In 2010 (note that grant data, like research data, is collected on a calendar year, not an academic year basis), 120 CHSS faculty members submitted 39 grants, 20 of which were funded. The per capita submission rate for this year was 0.33 while the success rate among submissions was 51%. In comparison, in 2011, 31 grants were submitted by 109 college faculty and 18 were funded, making a per capita submission rate of .28 and a success rate of 58%. On a per capita basis, college submission rates did not increase at the desired 2% rate, although the success rate of submitted grants did increase by 14%.
Action
Increasing Grant Activity
In response to lower external grant success rates in 2010 than in 2009, during 2011 the College added a new goal of improving the quality of submissions in order to increase the percentage of funded grants. Although this new goal was achieved, the former goal of increasing the rate of grant submissions by 2% per year was not achieved. During AY13, greater attention needs to be given to increasing the quantity as well as improving the quality of external grant submissions.
Goal
Improve Faculty Quality And Morale
Improve faculty evaluation procedures, faculty orientations, and number of full-time faculty to improve faculty quality and morale.
Objective
Improve New Faculty Orientation And Workshops
Improve new faculty workshops and orientation sessions.
KPI
New Faculty Orientation
First year CHSS Faculty will attend a University New Faculty Investment orientation presented by the Professional and Academic Center for Excellence (PACE) Center. Evaluations received by participants at the New Faculty Investment will rate the helpfulness of each presentation and be able to list at least one thing learned from each presentation.
Result
New Faculty Investment
Seven CHSS faculty attended the New Faculty Investment and rated the presentations.
The attached table provides a summary of the results of the evaluations.
Two sessions, the Information Technology (IT) presentation and the Second Years panel, fell significantly below the 80% Helpfulness expectation.
Action
New Faculty Orientation
The IT presentation was rated more helpful this year (78%) over last year (33%). When comments were shared with the presenter, he indicated that he would work to bring that percentage higher. For a second year, the Second Years panel was rated dismally low. This segment of the orientation will be deleted unless we can create another delivery system that is more effective.
Objective
Salary Equity Allocations
The Dean's Office will ensure salary equity for faculty. Ensuring gender and racial equity, as well as equity for those who have served the university for a long time is essential to maintaining faculty morale.
KPI
Salary Equity Allocations
The Dean's Office will identify faculty whose salaries are not on a par to national salaries for faculty who are productive. The Dean's Office will then allocate raise money to correct salary inequities identified by the salary equity study.
Result
Assessing Salary Equity
Although FES data was collected and reviewed during AY12, because funding did not allow for any pay increases other than promotion increments for promoted faculty, no merit or market adjustments were possible during AY12.
Action
Salary Equity Adjustments
When funding allows, the former policy that provides for salary equity adjustments based on a comparison of faculty productivity against national faculty income data will be reestablished. Meanwhile, departmental chairs will collect data on salary equity during the FES process and make recommendations for adjustments.
Goal
Increase Enrollments
Encrease graduate and undergraduate enrollments in the College.
Objective
Increase The Number Of Graduate Students
Increase the enrollment of graduate students in the programs in the College.
KPI
Increase Enrollments In Graduate Programs
Increase enrollments in graduate programs by 10%.
Result
Increasing Graduate Enrollments
During AY11, 581 CHSS graduate students produced 4051 SCH of graduate credit, while in AY12, 761 students produced 5116 SCH of graduate credit. These numbers represent a 31% increase in total students and a 26% increase in total SCH. Every department except FCS showed an increase in SCH production, although ENG and COM also suffered a modest drop in total students enrolled.
Action
Growing The Graduate Program
CHSS graduate programs are growing at rapid rates. In several departments, it will not be possible to continue this rate of expansion without the hiring of new graduate faculty. As a consequence, the dean submitted to Academic Affairs a request for additional graduate faculty lines in departments with high enrollment potential. If this priority item is funded, national searches for new faculty will be implemented in AY13. To promote growth in FCS (a department considered an underperforming department by state standards), a proposal to develop an online delivery of graduate courses was submitted to and approved by the coordinating board in AY12 and will be implemented in AY13.
Objective
Increase Undergraduate Enrollments
Increase undergraduate majors in programs of college by 2%
KPI
Increasing Undergraduate Majors
Increase undergraduate majors in programs of college by 2%
Result
Assessing Number Of Undergraduate Majors
In Fall 2010 there were 2450 undergraduate majors in the college. In comparison, in Fall 2011 there were 2268majors. This 7% decrease is misleading because during 2011 the Department of Mass Communications was included in the college. Owing to the shift from Legacy to Banner information management systems, it is not possible to analyze the archived data from 2011. As a result, we are not able to determine growth or loss for this academic cycle. In Fall 2011, the number of majors in each department was as follows: COM 140; ENG 315; FCS 283; HIS 345; PHL 22; POL 186; PSY 768; SOC 140 and SPA 65. These benchmark figures will be used to determine growth of majors in future years.
Action
Undergraduate Majors By Department
In future years COGNOS reports will collect undergraduate majors' data in order to assess growth rates for each department in the college. This data will be considered in determining budgetary priorities for the college.
Goal
Increase Development And Alumni Activities
Increase activities aimed at alumni and contributors to the College.
Objective
Active Relationship Between The College And The Alumni
The College will work with the Alumni Board to develop activities to involve the alumni with the college.
KPI
Fundraising
A "Next Steps Campaign" to raise funds for student scholarships and faculty/student enrichment activities will be conducted. Pledges and gifts from both faculty and staff and alumni and friends will be requested and tabulated. The campaign will be considered successful if $100,000 is raised.
Result
Next Steps Campaign
The "Next Steps Campaign" was planned and implemented. By April 2012, gifts received from Faculty & Staff totaled about $26,000 while gifts from Alumni & Friends totaled about $61,000. Pledges for an additional $50,000 in future gifts also were received.
KPI
Distinguished Alumni
Distinguished alumni and faculty will be selected by the alumni board and the college to be honored at a Wall of Honor event. Success will be indicated by the induction of four new inductees each year combined with a well-attended induction ceremony.
Result
Wall Of Honor Event
Two distinguished alumni and two distinguished faculty were selected to be honored for their outstanding contributions to the SHSU community. A Wall of Honor event, which included an award ceremony for the honorees, an unveiling of the Wall of Honor, and a dinner reception, took place on March 23, 2012. Difficulty was experienced getting alumni to send in nominations of exceptional individuals. In the future we will form a subcommittee of the Alumni Advisory Board to facilitate publicity and communications with alumni to increase the number and quality of nominee.
Action
Alumni Relations Activities
During AY13 the Alumni Board and the college will hold a 3rd Annual Wall of Honor event that will honor another class of distinguished alums and faculty. Because the ballroom in the LSC was not available for the dinner reception in AY12, next year the date for this event will be determined early in order to find an on-campus venue for the dinner reception. The Next Steps Campaign to collect student scholarship and program enrichment funds will enter into the second year phase of this fundraising initiative. Meetings with the Alumni Board will be scheduled regularly. To further encourage alumni/college relations, representatives from the board will be invited to participate in the CHSS Honors Convocations that take place before the December and May college graduations.