Office of the Dean
College of Liberal and Applied Arts
Department Chair Minutes
November 4, 2013
The meeting began at 2:30pm in room 273D of the Ferguson Building. People in attendance included the following:
Dr. Kwame Antwi-Boasiako (Government)
Dr. Freddie Avant (Social Work)
Dr. Mark Barringer (History)
Dr. Linda Bond (College Council)
Ms. Dixie Groll (Dean’s Office)
Marc Guidry (Associate Dean)
Dr. John Hendricks (Media Communication)
Dr. Scott Hutchens (Psychology)
Dr. Mike Martin (Multidisciplinary Programs)
LTC David Miller (Military Science)
Dr. Brian Murphy (Dean)
Dr. Mark Sanders (English)
Dr. Robert Szafran (Social & Cultural Analysis)
Dr. Jeana Paul-Urena (Languages, Cultures, & Communication)
Dean Brian Murphy introduced Dr. Bob Szafran who provided a final report on the new core curriculum that was approved by
the Board of Regents. According to Dr. Szafran, the next step is approval of the university’s proposal by the Texas Higher
Education Coordinating Board. Dr. Mark Sanders followed with an update on the assessment of the core curriculum. Dr.
Sanders noted that the Provost recently assigned responsibility for assessing two communication objectives to each course
in the core curriculum.
Dean Murphy informed the chairs that the college’s assessment committee should complete its review of unit assessment
plans shortly. Once this input is received, a discussion on revising unit assessment plans would finalize them for
implementation during Spring Semester.
Dean Murphy reported on the college’s recruitment and retention plan that was submitted to the Provost. The next meeting of
the chairs would consider how to implement the various recommendations. He further reminded the chairs that departmental
plans are due on November 4.
Dean Murphy alerted the chairs that the university’s post-tenure policy would likely be modified in the near future to
accommodate state law. The current post-tenure process subjects a tenured faculty member to an annual review while state
law requires only a periodic review. Dean Murphy asked the chairs to solicit feedback from faculty on how the current posttenure policy could be revised to align with legal standards. The university’s tenure policy, Dean Murphy pointed out, is also
scheduled for revision. This means that departmental tenure policies would have to be adjusted to comply with any
modifications at the university level. With this in mind, Dean Murphy called attention to two issues that have recently caused
concern. First, how are multiple-authored articles counted toward fulfilling departmental scholarship expectations for tenure?
And second, must articles be discipline-specific to fulfill departmental scholarship expectations for tenure? These matters are
departmentally decided but are probably worth a conversation.
Dean Murphy provided a synopsis of the discussions taking place in the college’s ad hoc advising committee. He next
apprised the chairs about the hiring of a university-wide space coordinator. This individual is responsible for the usage of all
academic rooms, class as well as office. It is likely that the majority of classrooms on campus will eventually fall under the
authority of the Provost’s Office.
Associate Dean Marc Guidry explained the University Connection Series conducted by Lone Star College-Montgomery (LSCM). It involves pairing a course at LSC-M with a comparable course at a four-year institution to encourage students to
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Office of the Dean
College of Liberal and Applied Arts
continue their education through the bachelor level. The Departments of Psychology and Social & Cultural Analysis will
explore the logistics of implementing this initiative as early as the upcoming spring semester.
Dean Murphy indicated that departments would, in all likelihood, be required to develop policy and procedure manuals similar
to what the college was asked to compose last summer. The Provost recommended that academic departments evaluate
their existing performance on several recurring problem areas (receipts, property management, proper training for the duties
personnel perform, and a policy/procedure manual). The manual should be composed so that duties assigned to
departments could be executed in the absence of the person responsible.
Dean Murphy concluded the meeting by reviewing the upcoming deadlines for tenure, promotion, and pre-tenure.
The meeting adjourned at 4:04.
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