SACS Reaffirmation
| Objective | Assessment Of Success | |
| Qualitative assessments of how well our graduate programs have successfully transitioned graduate students to Ph.D programs or the workforce will be solicited through questionnaires distrubuted in our annual newsletter. Associated Goals: Goal 1--Student Excellence |
| Indicator | Alumni Survey This questionnaire will be included, for the first time, in the fall 2007 Department of Biological Sciences newsletter. |
| Criteria | Alumni Survey Any deficiencies in our curriculum or graduate student preparation noted by at least three or more respondents in a given year will be evaluated by the Department''s Graduate Committee. |
| Finding | Alumni Survey No findings yet. |
| Action | Alumni Survey Actions will be deferred pending responses to first use of our questionnaire. |
| Objective | Instruction | |
| Provide rigorous instruction in our graduate courses allowing students to develop competence in their area of specialization. Associated Goals: Goal 1--Student Excellence |
| Indicator | Course Offerings Increase the number of graduate courses offered each semester. |
| Criteria | Course Offerings Encourage new tenure-track faculty to submit curriculum requests for courses in their area of specialty. |
| Finding | Course Offerings In the past year, 2 of 3 new tenure track faculty have developed a total of 3 new graduate courses. These courses were initially offered as special topics and curriculum requests for 2 of those courses have now passed the departmental curriculum review. |
| Indicator | Mastery Of Knowledge All graduate students will demonstrate mastery of graduate course content through a graduate comprehensive exam. |
| Criteria | Success at Oral Exam Ninety percent of graduate students should pass their oral exam on their first attempt |
| Indicator | Primary Literature Component Include a primary literature component in all graduate syllabi |
| Criteria | Primary Literature Component All graduate course syllabi should have a current literature component. |
| Finding | Primary Literature Component A survey of all graduate course offerings in the academic year 2006-2007 had a primary literature component in the syllabus. |
| Action | Instruction In progress. |
| Objective | Scientific Literacy And Critical Thinking Skills | |
| Build scientific literacy, enhance critical thinking and communication skills by involving graduate students in the scientific process from proposal development through publication in peer review journals. Associated Goals: Goal 1--Student Excellence |
| Indicator | Research Engagement And Academic Progress Graduate students should taken an active role in their own adacemic progress and should actively engage in research early in their graduate program. |
| Criteria | Annual Meeting Graduate students should meet regularly with their academic advisor and at least annually with their thesis advisory committee to discuss academic and research progress. |
| Finding | Annual Meeting Students and advisors work together, following the annual meeting of the student''s thesis advisory committee, to complete the Departmental Annual Progress Report which is filed with the Departmental Graduate Committee. |
| Criteria | Completion of Research Prospectus Graduate students must have a competed research prospectus filed with the graduate committee by the end of their second semester. |
| Finding | Completion of Research Prospectus Students turn in a research prospectus, accompanied by the appropirate signed form to the Departmental Graduate Committee by the end of their second semester. |
| Criteria | Formation of Advisory Committee Graduate students must have formed their thesis advisory committee by the end of their first semester. |
| Finding | Formation of Advisory Committee Students turn in to the Departmental Graduate Committee a completed/signed thesis advisory committee form by the end of their first semester. |
| Criteria | Orientation All incoming graduate students will attend an orientation session early in their first semester. In this meeting they will be given the Department of Biological Sciences Graduate Student Handbook. This document contains all departmental policies, forms and deadlines pertaining to the graduate program |
| Finding | Orientation All incoming students are required to sign a form indicating that they have received the Department of Biological Sciences Graduate Student Handbook and that they will conform to all policies and complete all forms by the specified deadlines. |
| Criteria | Selection of Research Advisor Graduate students seeking the MS degree will select a faculty research advisor by the end of their first semester after entering the graduate program. |
| Finding | Selection of Research Advisor Students turn in to the Departmental Graduate Committee a signed advisor form by the end of their first semester. |
| Indicator | Student Scientific Presentations Support graduate students presenting their research result at scientific venues. |
| Criteria | Number of Presentations One half of the department''s graduate students should annually present research results at state, regional, national, or international conferences. |
| Indicator | Student Scientific Publications Graduate students will submit their research findings from their MS thesis for review and publication in a peer reviewed journal prior to, or soon after, graduating and leaving the graduate program. |
| Criteria | Mentor Guidance Graduate advisors routinely meet with and mentor their graduate students to ensure that they are progressing toward communication of their research findings through presentation and publication. |
| Action | Research Engagement and Academic Progress Students not completing requirements above risk losing their teaching assistantship and/or being removed from the program. Remind students (and their advisors) that they signed an agreement upon entering the program to adhere to all deadlines. |
| Objective | External Funding For Research | |
| Build support for our research programs through increases external funding. Associated Goals: Goal 2--Faculty Excellence |
| Indicator | External Funding For Research All faculty are expected to seek external funding. |
| Criteria | External Grant Expectations Each faculty member should, in any given year, have one or more projects supported by external funding or should submit a grant to seek such support. |
| Finding | Research Funding Approximately 75% of Biology faculty currently have research projects funded through external sources. A consensus among our faculty is that increased levels of external funding would be facilitated by continued growth in, and professional development of, the staff in the Office of Research and Special Programs and in the Office of Contracts and Grants |
| Action | External Funding Support the efforts of the Offices of Research and Special Programs and the Office of Contracts and Grants to hire additional staff and enhance their professional development. Continue to encourage all faculty to seek external funding. |
| Objective | Faculty Research Activity | |
| Encourage a more active research program and increase research excellence Associated Goals: Goal 2--Faculty Excellence |
| Indicator | Faculty Time For Research Enhance strategies/mechanisms that provide additional time for research. Time is the one resource in shortest supply among the faculty; a reduction in teaching loads would contribute significantly to increased publication rates and successful applications to external funding agencies. |
| Criteria | FTE parity Achieve parity regarding FTE credit for laboratories. |
| Finding | FTE parity A particularly difficult constraint for science faculty at SHSU is that lab courses carry half the credit, per contact hour, of lecture courses. For science faculty at comparable institutions in other states, labs carry fulll credit. Such discrepancies put science faculty at SHSU at a competitive disadvantage. |
| Indicator | Peer-reviewed Publications Maintain and increase the number of peer-reviewed publications produced annually by faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences |
| Criteria | Publication Rate Meet or exceed the national average publication rate for Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUI''s) |
| Finding | Publication Rate Publication rates at PUI''s are approximately 0.5-0.6 peer-reviewed publications per faculty member per year. The publication rate in the Department of Biological Sciences is over one publication per faculty member per year. |
| Indicator | Scholarly Products All faculty are expected to produce scholarly products. |
| Criteria | Faculty Scholarly Products All faculty will produce scholarly products. |
| Finding | Faculty Scholarly Products All tenured and tenure-track faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences are actively engaged in producing scholarly products in their subdisciplines |
| Action | FTE parity Identify and implement creative mechanisms for reducing teaching loads without reducing teaching efficacy. |
| Action | Faculty Publication Rate No action needed. |
| Action | Faculty Scholarly Products No action needed |
| Objective | Visibility Of Research Programs | |
| Increase the visibility and national reputation of our research programs. Associated Goals: Goal 2--Faculty Excellence |
| Indicator | Presentation Of Research Results Encourage and support all faculty members to present their research results at local, regional, and national/international professional meetings. |
| Criteria | Funding for Conference Travel Provide sufficient funds to support every faculty member to present their research at a minimum of one regional and one national/international conference per year. |
| Finding | Travel Budgets Travel budgets are currently insufficient to meet this objective. |
| Indicator | Support Mechanisms For Professional Service Enhance support mechanisms for faculty who have been asked to provide external scholarly service, including, but not limited to, serving as editors and associate editors of peer-reviewed scientific journals. |
| Criteria | Policies for supporting professional service Establish policies and incentives for such service: e.g., providing a one course reduction per semester for serving as editor for a national peer-reviewed journal. |
| Finding | Policies for supporting professional service Without meaningful reductions in load, faculty have declined invitations to serve as editors or as officers in their professional societies. While understandable, mechanisms must be sought to permit these individuals to serve their organizations; SHSU students benefit by the experiences brought back into the lab and classroom by these faculty, and the university benefits by increased exposure of our programs. |
| Action | Policies for supporting professional service Continue to lobby the College and the University for meaningful incentives for faculty to serve as editors, officers, and in other professional capacities that enhance the University but require significant investment by said faculty member. |
| Action | Travel Budgets Continue to lobby the College and the University for larger allocations to professional travel. Seek creative sources of funding to permit such travel. |