SECTION 6.5: EXTERNALLY FUNDED GRANTS AND CONTRACTS

Summary of Recommendations

1. The University must take appropriate action to ensure that the 1999-2001 Graduate Catalogue, as well as all other future catalogues, brochures and advertisements, accurately describes the relationship of the institution with the Commission as required in Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation (28, 35).

2. The appropriate University committee must periodically review and update the University mission statement (59, 63).

3. The University must undertake a study to determine the feasibility of creating a common database under the direction of the OIR and to consider the resources required to create such a database. The OIR should have the informational resources necessary to provide appropriate advice and assistance to organizational units in the design and administration of assessment instruments. A centralized database would allow the OIR to provide ready data analysis and reports in assisting organizational units, faculty, and staff with planning and decision-making processes. It should be noted that the recently hired director of the OIR has made the creation of a common database a priority and has emphasized that the OIR serve as a resource for the creation of measurement instruments (106-107, 113).

4. The number of hours in residence required for graduation from Sam Houston State University should be raised to a figure at least equaling 25% of total credit hours (169, 221).

5. The Dance Program must hire at least one full-time faculty member to teach in its graduate program (435, 537).

6. To correct deficiencies identified by its annual self-evaluation, the Newton Gresham Library must improve its holdings of journals, computer software, and audio-visual and 3-D materials (578, 619).

7. The University must make more space available to the Newton Gresham Library (593, 619).

8. The Newton Gresham Library must take measures to increase the numbers of professional library staff (605, 619).

9. At least one computer literacy class should be incorporated as a required course into the University’s General Education Requirements for the Baccalaureate Core. Of more long-range importance would be a comprehensive "information literacy" course that includes basic computer, e-mail, Internet, library, research, and related skills (681, 685).

10. The role and mission statement of the Department of Athletics must be modified to include explicit reference to the emotional well-being of student-athletes (764, 779).

11. The Sam Houston State University Lettermen’s Association is arguably a support group for the Department of Athletics. The Committee recommends that, as such, the Association be required to submit to an independent audit of its books and records. Such an independent audit is not currently being performed. Alternatively, the Association should establish an "agency account" with the University that would put the entity under the controls and procedures of the University as it relates to their bookkeeping activities. The Committee recommends that by December of 1998 the Director of Athletics and/or the Vice President for Student Services meet with the appropriate executive members of the Association to express the Committee’s concern regarding accountability. These meetings should also determine the best course of action that will bring the organization into compliance with the oversight requirements of the NCAA (769-70, 779).

12. Sam Houston State University must establish comprehensive written policies and procedures for fund raising and publish them in a widely available document such as Administrative Policies and Procedures so that all University units can become familiar with them and follow them (838, 843).

1. While the reporting of institutional effectiveness status has recently been modified with the units reporting to the deans, it is suggested that the deans annually furnish the Planning and Budget Committee with a report on the institutional effectiveness status for units in their colleges. This suggestion is designed to promote coordination between strategic planning, budgeting, and assessment (95, 113).

2. The Institutional Effectiveness Committee consists of a cross-section of University faculty, with a wide variety of academic expertise, who serve as a resource to the individual units and as a liaison between the units and the OIR. It is suggested that the Committee be restructured to consist of faculty members with assessment expertise. The members should serve as a resource to help units develop and modify assessment processes tailored to their needs (95-96, 114).

3. The Internal Auditor should verify the status of each unit’s institutional effectiveness program (96, 114).

4. A system should be developed to allow units to share insights and information about their institutional effectiveness processes (96, 114).

5. While the reporting of institutional effectiveness status has recently been modified so that units report to the deans/directors overseeing the individual units, the Committee suggests that the deans/directors annually furnish the Planning and Budget Committee with a report on the institutional effectiveness status for units that report to him or her (103, 114).

6. Training on assessment procedures should be provided to support unit personnel (103, 114).

7. Collection of data on job placement of graduates should be systematized and centralized (103, 114).

8. Information about the importance and value of institutional effectiveness should be included in the orientation session for new SHSU employees (103, 115).

9. The University should consider the implications of assigning the OIR greater responsibility for assisting organizational units in data analysis, report creation, and data warehousing. Currently the OIR often does not routinely receive copies of reports of research conducted by organizational units, which may be of interest to other organizational units (107, 115).

10. The University should clearly define institutional effectiveness as a component of the strategic planning process (107, 115).

11. Administrative responsibility should be incorporated into the institutional effectiveness process (107, 115).

12. The University should consider making institutional effectiveness an explicit part of the internal audit process (107, 115).

13. The University should consider reallocating resources to enable the OIR to take the lead role in assisting the institutional effectiveness process with consulting on assessment issues, serving as a centralized source of information to organizational units, and storing institutional effectiveness reports (107-108, 115).

14. The Office of Institutional Research should produce an annual updated report on "Admissions Standards & Student Performance" (161, 221).

15. While the institution does comply with SACS criteria by providing regular evaluation of its admissions policies, this regularity is accidental rather than systematic. A faculty committee, perhaps the existing committee on admissions appeals, should be charged with regularly and systematically reviewing and evaluating admissions policies (161, 221).

16. While it may be demonstrated that graduates of the University receive adequate basic computer skills through coursework and other means, it would be desirable to consider means by which this component of the academic program might be strengthened (170, 221).

17. Procedural steps should be implemented to ensure closer adherence in the academic departments to the policies governing the evaluation of teaching (196, 222).

18. The University should implement structures for the more comprehensive and meaningful evaluation of teaching, specifically ensuring that teaching evaluations are used to improve the quality of instruction (196, 222).

19. While current practices regarding syllabi generally satisfy the requirements of the Criteria, the University should encourage faculty (and, as necessary, offer developmental training) to construct syllabi which more thoroughly and meaningfully introduce students to the goals, requirements, content, and evaluation methods of each course (196, 222).

20. Most of the research funding is granted to faculty. SHSU should consider directing more funds for student research (241, 303).

21. The University should make a concerted effort to increase the level of funding for graduate fellowships and assistantships to attract quality graduate students (241, 303).

22. General admission policies for graduate students should be consolidated into one area in the graduate catalogue (250, 303).

23. Since letters of recommendation are used to assess the preparedness of the applicant for graduate school, degree programs should request letters from qualified individuals which attest to the individual’s ability to work in the department or program (250, 303).

24. More degree programs should consider arranging personal interviews with applicants when possible (250, 303).

25. The graduate catalogue should specify that the degree-granting college or university be a recognized institution at the time the applicant’s coursework was completed (250, 304).

26. Accreditation of institutions from which transfer work is requested should be verified. The guide published by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers should be used to evaluate transfer credit (250, 304).

27. The Graduate Council should consider establishing a written policy on credit for portfolio-based experiential learning in accord with the most recent SACS regulations and guidelines and publish it in the graduate catalogue (250, 304).

28. The graduate catalogue should state clearly the length of time a student may remain as a Conditional Graduate Student (250, 304).

29. The Graduate Council and individual programs should establish and implement a systematic method of evaluating graduate admission standards. Within this general framework, emphasis needs to be placed on adequate representation by the faculty involved in the program (251, 304).

30. The Graduate Council and each individual graduate program should establish and implement a systematic method of evaluating graduate admission standards (251, 304).

31. In order to help both students and faculty understand completion requirements better, the definitions and descriptions of these requirements across the disciplines should be made uniform in the graduate catalogue (255, 304-305).

32. All departments should review graduate curricula annually (275, 305).

33. Programs which evaluate students through capstone courses should clearly label those courses as such in the graduate catalogue (275, 305).

34. Each graduate program should institute an effective and systematic way to track former students in order to judge adequately the effectiveness of graduate instruction (284, 305).

35. SHSU should develop a plan for the periodic review of orientation and advisement programs (287, 305).

36. For the Puebla summer abroad program, adequate classroom space should be provided in an area more distant from the public areas of the hotel in which the participants stayed (362, 365).

37. For the Puebla summer abroad program, more computers and Internet connections should be supplied (362, 365).

38. The University should study the option for earlier approval of position allowances to begin advertising of vacancies (405, 537).

39. The University should evaluate the feasibility of establishing a pool of travel funds to use for bringing a larger number of prospective candidates to campus, and also of creating a teleconferencing facility to improve the candidate phone interview process (405, 537).

40. The University should determine whether establishing a Texas Business Travel Account (BTA) will result in state travel discounts and preserve limited travel funds when the institution invites out-of-state faculty candidates for on-campus interviews (405, 537).

41. Even though at least 25% of the discipline course hours in the Journalism Program are taught by faculty members holding the terminal degree in that discipline or other appropriate credentials, when vacancies occur in the future the department should make every effort to recruit and employ faculty members with terminal degrees in journalism (435, 537-38).

42. The Office of Graduate Studies should investigate the possibility of offering research assistantships for graduate students in the doctoral programs (436, 538).

43. Full-time faculty for each department should participate in the budget/planning processes for staffing courses to ensure that the need to use part-time faculty is anticipated but properly limited (447, 538).

44. At the departmental level, the concerns of the faculty could be addressed with better communication about the issues of selection and hiring of part-time faculty (447, 538).

45. Program administrators should develop strategies to keep all faculty apprised of procedures relating to the employment of part-time faculty (447, 538).

46. Even though the salaries of assistant instructors at Sam Houston State University stand at the mid-point in comparison to those of assistant instructors at sister institutions, the salary increase recommended by the Faculty Senate would be beneficial in attracting graduate students (458, 538).

47. Because noncompetitive faculty salaries in some programs are increasingly affecting the University’s ability to attract quality faculty to those departments, faculty salaries should be increased. Unless salary levels are reassessed, salaries could affect the quality of instruction and research in the newly added doctoral programs in Educational Leadership and Forensic Psychology (469, 538-39).

48. The reasons for the disparity in faculty salaries by gender in each rank should be evaluated (469, 539).

49. Academic department chairs/coordinators should develop a format for holding discussions with their faculty as early in the school year as practical regarding specific interpretations and implementations of policies and procedures relating to academic freedom and professional security (481-82, 539).

50. The University should assure that the plans for faculty development leaves, as recommended by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, are adequately funded and implemented (497, 539).

51. The Office of University Advancement should specifically target the area of travel funding and initiate a campaign to increase the amount of local travel funds available to support faculty participation in professional growth activities (497-98, 539).

52. The University should develop sections in the Academic Policy Manual and The Faculty Handbook which specifically treat faculty growth and development. These sections would directly address the faculty member’s individual responsibilities for initiating professional growth activities, would define the nature of the activities that would be considered for the purposes of tenure and promotion, and would delineate University programs and support for these activities (498, 539-40).

53. The Faculty Senate should continue its efforts to inform the general faculty of its contributions toward the formulation of academic policy (504, 540).

54. The administration should conduct a thorough study of ways to balance the increasing emphasis on the research component of faculty responsibilities with the current expectations of faculty in the areas of instruction, advisement, and public service (510, 540).

55. Where inadequate performance criteria exist, departments should develop thorough descriptive criteria in order to increase faculty satisfaction with evaluation processes; all members of the department should be involved in the development of these criteria (516, 540).

56. Chairs and deans should provide descriptive information as to how the FES process improves the educational programs; this information should be incorporated into the evaluation process (516, 540).

57. In light of the response to Item 34 of the faculty survey, the best use of student evaluations should be reevaluated (516, 540).

58. Departmental bibliographers and liaisons should survey the faculty to determine the nature of their dissatisfaction with the Newton Gresham Library’s journals holdings (578, 619).

59. The Newton Gresham Library staff should explore in greater depth the degree of satisfaction with the library’s hours of operations (593, 619).

60. The library staff should survey users to determine how satisfied they are with the availability of computer workstations (593, 619).

61. Acknowledging that the technology involved in distance learning is rapidly expanding, the University should regularly evaluate its information resources services for distance learners (609, 620).

62. The Biological Sciences and Chemistry Departments, as well as the Technology Department, should receive updated laboratory equipment (654, 657).

63. A copier, VCR, and television should be supplied to the Department of Military Science (654, 657).

64. Further access to the University’s computing benefits could be provided to students through additional data-line outlets in dormitories and academic buildings (681, 685).

65. To assure that off-campus students enjoy student development services, the University should consider providing some services at The University Center in The Woodlands (700, 749).

66. To accomplish the Athletics Department’s goals better, consideration should be given to hiring additional staff (706, 749).

67. A campus master plan should be developed with emphasis on expanding space where needed and consolidating activities for greater efficiency and ease of use by students (706, 749).

68. The University should provide Financial Aid Office staff opportunities to attend programs on "customer relations"; current professional programs, which focus on learning compliance with legal technicalities, should be continued (732, 749).

69. The University should consider adding new facilities or expanding existing ones to accommodate the growth of recreational programs and activities; such additions or expansions would include:

(1) a larger swimming pool, since the existing swimming pool is not adequate for full use;

(2) a University golf course that would give students an incentive and opportunity to participate in campus activities instead of leaving town on weekends to find other means of athletic participation;

(3) more departmental storage space and more professional offices to satisfy the demands of the increasing number of facility users;

(4) an additional weight room facility, since the existing one cannot comfortably accommodate popular demand;

(5) additional multi-purpose rooms to supplement the single existing one; and

(6) an off-campus facility which could be used for outdoor recreational pursuits, retreats, and workshops. (739-40, 749-50).

70. Rules and Regulations, The Texas State University System should be revised to include more extensive written protection for the administration from undue external political pressure (798, 815).

71. Rules and Regulations, The Texas State University System should be revised to clarify the Board’s role in promulgating policy and the administration’s role in implementing policy (798, 815).

72. The University could review existing variations in roles and procedures for advisory committees’ functions across the University and develop guidelines for advisory committees (800, 815).

73. Because advisory boards are an effective means of involving alumni in the University, the University should encourage the establishment of advisory boards at whatever level input from alumni is beneficial (800, 815).

74. A system should be established to review periodically the job descriptions of upper-level administration to ensure that they are appropriate and accurate (808, 815).

75. Sam Houston State University should place greater emphasis on fund raising, especially by tapping additional resources to increase private support for the institution (828, 843).

76. The University should develop a system which would provide input from alumni to University decision-makers on ongoing programs and curricula as well as the institution’s overall mission (834, 843).

77. The University should maintain and encourage the newly begun incorporation of fund-raising information in the strategic planning process and act to ensure the regular evaluation of fund raising (838, 843).

78. Nonprofit foundations utilized by a number of universities have the freedom to accept a variety of gifts and to invest and use them in ways not available to Sam Houston State University as a state institution. The University should consider establishing a separate, nonprofit University foundation as a vehicle to enhance fund-raising efforts for University programs and scholarships (839, 844).

79. Questionnaire responses indicated that a significant portion of the department chairs and directors feel that neither they nor their faculties have enough input into the budget planning process. Within the last year, a new budgeting and strategic planning process has been implemented which should address the concerns identified in the questionnaire. The 1998-99 academic year is the first during which the new process will have been fully in effect. The Budget Committee and the Strategic Planning Committee should pay close attention to ensuring that the new process extends fully to the department level (863, 897).

80. Every effort should be made to communicate budget changes in a timely fashion to all affected parties (866, 897).

81. Sam Houston State University should be subject to a periodic review or audit (perhaps annually) that results in the issuing of a standard review report or of an independent audit report. When included in the Texas statewide audited financial report, SHSU becomes immaterial, and state auditors do not even visit the campus. It would be reassuring to have periodic, independent scrutiny of the University’s financial statements (874, 897-98).

82. The University should carefully evaluate the operation of the Bearkitten Academy to determine its continuation and budgetary support (885, 898).

83. The University should continue to monitor the operation of the Twirling-Cheerleading Summer Camps to ensure their continued fiscal solvency (885, 898).

84. The University should conduct an assessment of space needs by unit to determine if it would be better served by a reallocation of space (915, 939).

85. More space should be made available to the Library (915, 939).

86. Because recreation and student activities serve important needs for students and improve retention rates, the University should examine the adequacy of student recreational and activity space (915, 939).

87. Because of the overlapping of duties and activities of the Office of Contracts, Grants, and Business Services and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), discussions about combining the two offices should be continued in order to improve assistance to faculty members in the preparation of grants and to assure better the protection of faculty members in carrying out the grants. Control over funds and the disbursement of funds will continue to be carried out by the Accounting Office (959, 965).