OATdb Archive - Sam Houston State University

OATdb Archive

2013 - 2014

Criminal Justice And Criminology, Department Of

Goal

Sustained Effective Teaching

Sustained effective teaching

Objective

The Department Will Continue To Engage In Effective Teaching

The department will continue to engage in effective teaching

KPI

IDEA Evaluations

The Department Of Criminal Justice And Criminology Will Continue To Effectively Teach At Both The Undergraduate And Graduate Levels. The average score on the IDEA evaluations will be above the university mean for undergraduate and graduate courses.

Result

Department Above University Mean Score

During the 2013-2014 academic year, the average class size in CJC was 44 students. IDEA evaluations were administered to all sections with an average reported response rate of 80% (Fall 2013) and 77% (Spring 2014). Across all sections, the average IDEA evaluation raw score was 4.4, somewhat higher than the institutional average of 4.2.

Action

Increased Attention To Pedagogy

Faculty are emailed all announcements for teaching workshops and seminars available on campus that aim to convey effective teaching practices. New faculty are directly encouraged by the Chair to register for a minimum of three teaching workshops (August workshop and two Blackboard sessions) per year to further refine their skill sets. Adjunct instructors were forwarded teaching tips on a biweekly to monthly basis with suggestions of new techniques to incorporate in their classes. The value of effective teaching is emphasized to faculty by the Chair through electronic dissemination of individual teaching scores of all faculty (instructor names removed). Faculty who demonstrated much lower than average teaching scores met individually with the Chair in the month following return of IDEA scores to discuss their classes and possible avenues for remediation. The Chair also met with several faculty during the academic year to discuss classroom management issues that were detracting from teaching effectiveness; in some cases dedicating several hours to a limited number of situations.

Goal

Increase Research Productivity And Impact

Increase Research Productivity and Impact

Objective

Increase Research Productivity And Impact

The department will continue to increase research productivity and impact within the field of criminal justice and criminology.

KPI

Higher Number Of High Impact Journal Publications And Increase Publications Overall

The faculty within the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology will increase the number and impact of publications from last year. The faculty will produce a higher number of publications overall from last year.

Result

Faculty Produce Above Average

In the 2013-2014 academic year the Department of CJC had 27 graduate faculty members who produced 129 peer-reviewed publications, which is an average of 4.78 publications per faculty member. Of these publications, 101 publications were in high impact journal publications. According to the Association of Doctoral Criminology and Criminal Justice Program’s 2013 report (access at http://www.adpccj.com/documents/2013survey.pdf), our current ratio is above the average 2.10 peer reviewed articles per faculty members within the field of Criminal Justice and Criminology program peers.

Action

Method Of Comparison Changed

The publication of peer reviewed research by faculty members is communicated to faculty members throughout the academic year. This serves to recognize faculty member achievements as well as provide continued encouragement to others. Given that the number of faculty members can fluctuate from year to year, it was recognized that our method of comparison should emanate from the annual ADCCJP report rather than examine the raw number of publications between years.

Goal

Sustained Faculty And Administrative Development

Sustained faculty and administrative development

Objective

Competitive Faculty Will Increase

The department will continue to develop and grow by hiring competitive faculty and administrators.

KPI

Additional Competitive Faculty

The Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology will hire one or two new competitive faculty members.

Result

Additional Competitive Faculty

After a national search for new faculty, the Department successfully hired two new assistant professors from top rated Criminology and Criminal Justice programs. Dr. Melinda Tasca completed her Ph.D. at Arizona State University. She has a solid publication record of peer reviewed research in criminal justice and criminology with interests in corrections, gender and crime, as well as social diversity issues. Dr. Brittany Hayes completed her Ph.D. at City University of New York – John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Dr. Hayes also has significant research experience and publication record in the area of Interpersonal Violence. See attached vita. Hiring two strong researchers with existing teaching experience will contribute to the Department’s strategic plan, specifically goals 1, 2, 3, and 5.

KPI

Department Chair Will Be Hired.

The Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology will hire a competitive Chair for the Department.

Result

Chair Hired

After a national search for a Department Chair, Dr. Gaylene Armstrong (a current faculty member) was hired for the position. See attached vita. Dr. Armstrong previously served the College as the Graduate Director, and Director of Research for the Correctional Management Institute of Texas.

Action

Chair Of Department Moves Forward

With the chair now in place and the confirmation of three separate departments within the College of Criminal Justice, the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department looks forward to an increased cohesiveness and purpose.

Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement On average, teaching performance was found to be slightly above institutional average. The potential for less effective teaching tends to lie with instructors who are not fully engaged with proximal peers (i.e., adjunct instructors), or those instructors who are relatively junior (i.e., new faculty members). Specific attention was given to those two groups of instructors to dissemination additional knowledge and learning opportunities. A number of positive mentoring relationships have formed between senior and junior faculty to allow for teaching related discussions. Junior faculty and some adjunct instructors also convened with the Chair on numerous occasions during the course of the academic year to discuss students and classroom management, indicating multiple sources of support exist internally. A number of faculty also regularly engage in teaching workshops on campus indicating utilization of sustained support for effective teaching external to the Department. We will continue to closely monitor teaching evaluations and disseminate knowledge while encouraging discussion of effective teaching practices.

Plan for continuous improvement The Department of CJC will continue to seek a high level of productivity in peer-reviewed journals with an emphasis on high impact peer reviewed journals. An associated underlying goal for producing high quality research is to increase the recognition of our program and university. Accordingly, efforts to disseminate faculty productivity both internally and with external constituents must be addressed. We recognize that it is insufficient to produce such high quality work. Thus, our focus in the upcoming year will be to maintain an above average rate of faculty productivity in comparison to peer CCJ programs but also to increase the “Impact” of these research efforts.

Our continued success in hiring productive, sought after faculty members indirectly demonstrates that our national reputation is growing. These top scholars hired in our Department also received other opportunities and offers for faculty positions, yet they chose to join our faculty. The needs of our program due to increasing enrollments and program expansion, as well as turnover of faculty members, will likely include hiring of an additional faculty member or members in the upcoming hiring cycle. Successful searches in prior years enhance our Department’s national reputation and serve to bolster the likelihood of continued successful faculty and administrator searches in the future.