2013 - 2014

Sociology, Department Of

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Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

The Chair monitored and met with each faculty member to discuss their teaching, research, and service performance during the 2013-2014 cycle. We added several new indicators for teaching, research and service based on the objectives we included in the 2013-2014 cycle. Regarding teaching, we included the IDEA score as an indicator, in addition to the Chair’s teaching evaluation. Because of the increase in non-tenure track faculty teaching in the department, it is important to document their teaching performance to design necessary pedagogical interventions. Therefore, we also included the non-tenure track faculty in the teaching performance evaluation. Regarding research, we itemized the Chair’s evaluation used in the 2012-2013 cycle to include research publications, presentations, and grant activities to enhance the robustness of the assessment protocol. To enhance student learning and skill development outside of the classroom, we also included undergraduate and graduate students’ scholarly research activities in the 2013-2014 cycle. Regarding service, we added faculty leadership roles in the profession as an additional indicator to promote SHSU’s reputation at the regional, national, and international levels. The components of the 2012-2013 Plan for Continuous Improvement were implemented during the 2013-2014 cycle.   

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Plan for continuous improvement

During the 2013-2014 cycle the assessment results reveal that we met the desired performance indicators in research, teaching, and service. Our plans for continuous improvement in the 2014-2015 cycle include: (1) Regarding teaching we will raise the desired performance level of the IDEA student teaching evaluation rating for each tenure and non-tenure track faculty members from 3.8 to 4.0. For the Chair’s teaching evaluation indicator, the Chair will conduct an item by item analysis of the Chair’s rubric criteria scores to identify pedagogical weaknesses for each faculty member and improve pedagogical proficiency. To accomplish this objective, we will suggest and provide support for various interventions, including travel support for teaching conferences, online tutorials, American Sociological Association teaching support documents, and/or peer evaluation interventions from the PACE Center.  (2) Regarding research we will increase the desired results from 70% to 90% of tenured and tenure-track faculty publishing at least one peer-reviewed journal article, or equivalent (as determined by the Equivalence Chart in the Department of Sociology’s Promotion and Tenure Manual). This change in indicator is based on the Sociology Department’s Promotion and Tenure Manual, which indicates that tenured and tenure-track should average at least one peer-reviewed journal article or equivalent to satisfy tenure and post-tenure review requirements. In line with increased emphasis regarding intramural and extramural grant funding by the University, College, and Department, and given that we achieved our desired indicator for faculty grant activity during the 2013-2014 cycle, we will raise the desired performance indicator from 50% to 60%. To facilitate the desired indicator of increased grant activity, we will develop a departmental summer research support initiative. Regarding students scholarly research activities, the department will continue to provide support in the form of mentorship for research activities and travel support to present their research at professional conferences. (3) Regarding service the results for the 2013-2014 cycle indicate that the Sociology faculty members are very active in service at the department, college, university, professional association, and community levels. We will continue to support faculty to maintain their high level of service commitment.

In the 2013-2014 cycle we included a new goal, curriculum enhancement, to provide students quality teaching through development and advancement of curriculum. We developed and implemented new graduate and undergraduate courses and instructional delivery methods. We enhanced course schedule flexibility for undergraduate students by offering the core courses on both a Tuesday/Thursday and Monday/Wednesday schedule. We will continue to engage curriculum enhancement based on students’ expressed needs. Regarding the graduate program, the department has introduced a new track (thesis track) starting in fall 2014. We will develop the assessment tools to evaluate student’s learning outcomes regarding this track. The Department and Graduate Committee will conduct a survey to (1) assess students’ needs, their level of preparation for graduate studies, and (2) to develop a strategic plan to improve students’ learning, student retention, and matriculation.   

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