The Department of Political Science will provide and maintain high quality academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Objective
High Quality Curriculum
The department will maintain high quality curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
KPI
Curriculum Committee Review
Curriculum will be reviewed annually by the department's curriculum committee, a committee consisting of 5 members appointed by the department chair. Committee members represent the following areas: international relations, comparative politics, American politics, political theory, and public administration.
The political science courses curriculum will be comparable to regional and public institutions that are SHSU competitive institutions. The basis of comparison will be in terms of hours required for the degree, the types of courses offered, and the objectives of the courses.
Result
Curriculum Committee Review
Compared to our regional competitors, the committee's audit found the following:
Political Theory: The theory requirement in political science is comparable to other institutions in that majors are required to take at least one course in political theory. Our students have the following options to fulfill this requirement: POLS 3377 Political Theory; POLS 3389 American Political Thought; POLS 3380 Introduction to International Relations. Beyond the one required course, the political theory offerings also include a course on Gender and Political Theory (POLS 4377). For the AY 2014-2015, a theory course on Ideologies will be offered as special problems course. The theorists in the department will consider proposing this as a permanent addition to our theory offerings.
American Politics - While the Americanists recommended spliting POLS 4372 (Attitudes and Behavior) into two separate courses, this action did not take place in the AY 2013-2014. The committee requested that this be addressed in the next academic year. The committee also recommends that the course on Political Parties and Interest Groups (POLS 3360) be divided into two separate courses as well given the amount of material as well as to keep up with conventional norms in the discipline.
International Relations and Comparative Politics: The curriculum changes made in AY 2013-2014 (splitting the Conflict and Terrorism course into two offerings) provides students with courses that are on trend with our competition institutions. The committee continues to recommend pursuing a minor, concentration or certificate in international studies in order to be competitive. To achieve this goal, the committee recommends constituting a committee in the AY 2014-2015 to create a proposal document.
Public Administration: The minor in public administration has been approved and kicks off in the fall 2014 semester. This minor emerged out of an assessment in the previous years that there were only 5 universities in the state of Texas that offered an undergraduate degree in public administration.
Action
High Quality Curriculum
The department will continue to review curriculum on an annual basis using the method employed in the previous year. The department will take the following actions:
(1) The department launched its third minor (public administration) in fall of 2014. The total number of minors offered by the departent is three. However, the department has not evaluated the minors since their adoption. The department will not move forward with proposals for a minor in international studies until information is gathered about current minor offerings. The department will collect information about the academic profiles of students enrolled in the minors (e.g., rank, major, etc.) and information about how the minors are being promoted through the department and other relevant SHSU offices. These actions will allow the department to obtain a better understanding of the health of the minors.
(2) The department will discuss the feasibility of splitting POLS 4372 and POLS 3360.
(3) The department will vote on the matter of converting the Political Ideologies course into a permanent course offering.
(4)The department will discuss the option of removing the political theory course requirement from the MA political science core. The discussion will be guided by an analysis of the MA curriculum offered by regional and and public insitutions that are SHSU competitive institutions and will include input from all faculty.
Objective
Faculty Teaching
The Department will provide high quality teaching.
KPI
The Individual Development And Educational Assessment System
Faculty will be evaluated using the data collected through the Individual Development and Educational Assessment system currently used by Sam Houston State University as a tool for evaluating faculty teaching.
In the 2013-2014 academic year, 75% of the political science courses will be scored at or above the national average as identified by the Individual Development and Educational Assessment program. Faculty members who score below or near the national average on the Individual Development and Educational Assessment program for three consecutive semesters will meet with the department chair to discuss and implement an improvement plan that includes mentoring and use of the Sam Houston State University Professional and Academic Center for Excellence (PACE). The expectation is that scores will improve by .5 on the IDEA scoring scale for the 2013-2014 academic year for those who are identified as underperforming.
For online courses, the department set a goal of 70% compared to the national average.
Result
Faculty Teaching
In F13 - S14 80% of face-to-face classes received raw scores at or aboe the national average and 81.5% received adjusted scores at or above the national average. Thus, we exceeded our expectation of 75% of face-to-face courses being score at or above the national average (6.5% ore for raw and 5.5% for adjusted).
In F13 - S14 81.5% of online classes received raw scores at or above the national average and 75.5% received adjusted scores at above the national average. Thus, we exceeded our expectation of 70% of online courses being scored at or above the national average (6.5% more for raw and 5.5% for adjusted).
In S14 one faculty member's scores did fall below the national average for a third semester in a row. However, no action will be taking regarding the faculty member as the faculty member retired effective summer 2014.
Action
Faculty Teaching
The department will continue the faculty evaluation used previously. However, we will take two new actions:
(1) The department currently lacks an explicit process for chair evaluation of faculty teaching. The department will begin discussions to develop a process and will implement the process in F15.
(2) The department will revisit the policy of initiating teaching intervention plans. Although IDEA scores never necessitated the use of an intervention, the policy itself was never fully discussed among all faculty. Thus, the department as a whole will discuss the policy and the question of whether to continue the policy or to adopt a new policy.
Goal
Student Recruitment And Satisfaction
Improve the quantity and quality of graduates student applications.
Objective
Improve Graduate Student Applications
The number of students entering the graduate programs will increase and the average GRE and GPA of incoming students will increase.
KPI
Number Of Applications And Average GRE And GPA
We will compare enrollment figures from fall 2012- spring 2013 and fall 2013 - summer 2014. We will compare the average GRE and GPA of students who entered the program during the AY 2012-2013 period to the average GRE and GPA of students who entered the program during the fall 2013 through the summer 2014 period.
We expect to see a 10% increase in graduate student enrollment overall. We expect that the average GRE and GPA of students will improve or stay consistent. We will ascertain how successful the efforts to develop new prospective student recruitment pools for the MA program have been, specifically our efforts at targeting high school and community college teachers. We anticipate these recruitment efforts will increase the number of applicants beyond the minimum expectation of a 10% increase.
Students admitted under a conditional acceptance plan will go through a more rigorous application process (two writing samples, three letters of recommendation, and an interview with the graduate advisor), thus we expect to see the number of conditional acceptance move to permanent acceptance within one semester.
Result
Graduate Enrollment Performance
For the academic year 2012-2013, POLS Graduate enrollment was:
program: fall/spring/summer
POLS MA: 19/15/10 for a total of 44 POLS MPA: 30/29/21 for a total of 80
For the academic year 2013-2014, POLS Graduate enrollment was:
POLS MA: 17/15/3 for a total of 35 POLS MPA 38/37/24 for a total of 99
Growth in the MA program was -25% Growth in the MPA program was +24%
Overall growth for the POLS graduate program was +8%
Result
Incoming Graduate Student GRE Scores
The recorded scores for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 are combined old-system GRE scores. Thus our comparisons (combined verbal and quantitative) are approximate.
For 2011-2012, the average GRE score was 1064 for an estimated new score of 300 For 2012-2013, the average GRE score was 1102 for an estimated new score of 302 For 2013-2014, the new score average for MA students was 302 For 2013-2014, the new score average for MPA students was 296 For 2013-2014, the overall new score average was 299.
Incoming GRE scores have held essentially steady over the last 3 academic years.
Result
Incoming Graduate Student GPA
For the 2012-2013 academic year, the average incoming graduate student GPA was 3.10.
For the 2013-2014 academic year, the average incoming graduate student GPA was 3.21.
This represented a 4% increase of incoming GPA values.
Action
Improve Graduate Student Applications
The area of concern is the enrollment numbers for the MA program. Part of the problem stemmed from workload. One person directed both the MA in political science and MA in public administration programs. The workload prevented the person from implementing new recruitment drives. Beginning in fall 2014 the graduate programs will have separate directors. The new MA director will begin initiating several of the recruitment drives that were developed but not implemented last year.
Objective
Improve Student Satisfaction
We will improve students' overall satisfaction with the department.
KPI
Improve Student Satisfaction
The department will utilize a part of the standardized IDEA results to measure student satisfaction. A question on the IDEA (Item #42) asks the student the following: "Overall, I rate this course as excellent." The department will utilize this as a proxy to measure excellence. We contend it reflects an overall satisfaction with an integral element of the department - course offerings.
For the AY 2013-2014, we set a mark of 80% satisfaction, an increase of .05 from the goal of 2012-2013. On the 5 point IDEA scale, this equates to 4.00 on the IDEA scale.
Result
Improve Student Satisfaction
The results of student satisfaction, as measured by the average course rating for the department, are found in Part 1 and 2 of the IDEA system found on pages 3 (comparison to the IDEA database) and 4 (comparison to the institution) of the departmental results. The attached file provides these pages for both traditional and online courses.
We set a mark of 80% satisfaction. On the 5 point IDEA scale, this equates to a score of 4.0. For the Fall 2013 courses, the dpeartment averaged 4.2 (raw) and 4.4(adjusted) compared to the 3.9 (raw and adjusted) for the IDEA Database and 4.1(raw) and 4.0 (adjusted) for the institution. For the online courses, the department averaged 4.2 (raw and adjusted) compared to the 3.9 (raw and adjusted) for the IDEA Database and 4.1 (raw) and 4.0 (adjusted) for the institution.
For both the traditional and online courses, the department exceeded the goal of 80%. In addition, the students expressed a satisfaction of the courses at rates higher than both the IDEA database and the institution.
Result
The Individual Development And Educational Assessment (IDEA) System
In F13 – S14 80% of face-to-face classes received raw scores at or above the national average and 81.5% received adjusted scores at or above the national average. Thus, we exceeded our expectation of 75% of face-to-face courses being scored at or above the national average (5% more for raw and 6.5% for adjusted).
In F13 – S14 81.5% of online classes received raw scores at or above the national average and 75.5% received adjusted scores at or above the national average. Thus, we exceeded our expectation of 70% of online courses being scored at or above the national average (6.5% more for raw and 5.5% for adjusted).
In S14 one faculty member's scores did fall below the national average for a third semester in a row. However, no action will be taking regarding the faculty member as the faculty member retired effective summer 2014.
Action
Improve Student Satisfaction
We will continue to use the IDEA form as a means of evaluating student satisfaction. In AY 2014 - 2015 the faculty will develop an additional means of evaluating student statisfaction, specifically an exit survey designed to measure student's overall satisfaction with the program.
Goal
Faculty Development And Performance
The Department of Political Science will hire and maintain high quality research track faculty.
Objective
Research Track Faculty
Research faculty will engage in scholarly activities.
KPI
Number Of Publications
Research faculty's progress will be measured by the number of publications.
Over a rolling 3-calendar year period research track faculty will produce an average of 1 peer reviewed article per year or 1 book during the 3 year period. The calcuation will also include book chapters, substantial book reviews, and grants per year.
The chair will hold monthly meetings with junior-faculty to provide guidance and accountability in regards to research agenda and quarterly meetings with tenured faculty to ensure that faculty members are engaging in research activity.
Result
Number Of Publications
In order to maintain consistency with the annual FES, the analysis utilized the calendar years rather academic years. Thus, the three year period is 2011-2013.
In the political science department, 9 of the 14 tenured or tenure-track (TT) reseach faculty met the criteria of an average of one publication a year or 1 book published during the 3 year period. It should be noted that 4 of the TT faculty have yet to have 3 full years in the rolling total. However, 3 of the 4 have already met the criteria.
During the three year period, 5 of the faculty published 3 of more peer-reviwed journal articles. In addition, there were 4 books published during the time period.
Of the 5 that did not meet the criteria. 4 are tenured. Of these 4, 2 have publications accepted in 2013 that will be published in 2014. The one TT faculty was new to SHSU in the fall of 2013, but already has two publications, with another forthcomg in one of the top two journals in the discipline. In addition, this faculty member has a book forthcoming in 2014. All of the faculty presented at academic conferences during the period under review.
Action
Research Track Faculty
The department was satisfied with the research accomplishment of its research faculty. However, the faculty wishes to begin encouraging teaching faculty (those on a 4:4 teaching load) to begin publishing more. Each year the department will nominate a teaching track faculty for a research sabbatical. The department will nominate its first candidate in the fall of 2014.
Objective
Faculty Service Work
Teaching track faculty will engage in service work designed to promote the department, college, and university.
KPI
Number Of Service Projects Completed Per Year
Teaching track faculty's progress will be measured by the number of service projects completed in a year. Service projects include: membership in college and university committees, participation in department recruitment programs, organizer of major campus events, etc.
We expect our teaching faculty to complete at least 2 service projects per faculty per year. We anticipate to improve on the previous years' results as well as take ownership of specific projects including Family Weekend, Homecoming, and other campus events in 2013-2014. We will also have all faculty members engage in service projects which includes graduate and undergraduate recruitment projects, alumni development projects, and internship development projects.
Result
Number Of Service Projects Completed Per Year
For the AY 2013-2014, the political science department had 3 faculty members on the teaching track (4/4) with one serving as a Clinical Professor.
All three faculty members were successful in meeting the goal of at least two service projects per year:
All provided service to the department (search committees. undergraduate curriculum committee, textbook committee, the Ruck March, Pi Sigma Alpha fund raiser, Family Weekend, Saturday at Sam).
The service projects completed by the teaching faculty at the college level included: the CHSS Advisory Board, Dean's Advisory Committee, American Studies Committee, CHSS Undergraduate Committee.
At the university level, the three faculty members participated in Disciplinary Hearings, member of Let's Talk, Annual Fund Drive, Leadership Committee, SHSU Instiutional Liaison to the World Affairs Council, the Excellence in Teaching Committee, and the CLDF Committee.
Beyond their service accomplishments, members on the teaching track engaged in research activities including: conference presentations (3 of the 3) and article submissions (1 of the 3).
Action
Faculty Service Work
Although the department met its expectations for service work, discussions among faculty indicated concern regarding more focused and consistent service work opportunities. In fall 2014, the department will adopt a five year strategic plan that will include specific service work initiatives that all faculty, tenure track and tenured, can participate in.