DRAFT
 
ACADEMIC PROGRAMS TASK FORCE

 

E X E C U T I V E   S U M M A R Y

 

The Task Force on Academic Programs met in the SETB Conference Room 3rd floor on November 19, 2003 following the convening of the Futures Commission by President Juliet V. Garcia in the Gran Salon of the Student Union. Dr. Jose Martin, Provost/VPAA informed the task force of their charge:

 

To formulate a 2020 vision for our academic programs based on the consideration of the role of UTB/TSC in social and economic development and to identify strategies to facilitate student access and success.

 

Over the course of three meetings the task force discussed a variety of issues from economic development to Centers of Excellence.   The ideas and strategies accumulated from the meetings are listed under their challenge.

 

1. Prepare people for citizenship and leadership

  • Require a community service experience in each degree plan
  • Include leadership/citizen activities as part of the University Experience course (3 hr. mandatory course)
  • Expand the Ambassadors program for students
  • Encourage community projects across all disciplines using the Office of Civic Engagement to facilitate and coordinate the process
  • Establish a leadership academy for students and staff to assist in developing leadership/management skills

 

2. Incorporate service learning to build skills and render community service

  • Establish community service electives in areas that students are interested in with credit given to encourage more students to participate
  • Incorporate long-term research and monitoring (5 yr plans) of the Bahia Grande restoration in projects that include pre-service teachers (undergraduates), outreach programs, and community members
  • Create a Service Award for students and faculty from each college and school and publicize the finalists and semi-finalists

3. Create knowledge with research

  • Acknowledge that research improves teaching. Scientists actively involved in research teach differently and transfer enthusiasm
  • Research creates and improves relationships with other university institutions. These connections are needed: 1) to evaluate our own standards 2) to get inspiration 3) to get involved in programs based on other campuses
  • Form partnerships and collaborations with established research institutions and

            programs

  • Provide research enhancement grants to support faculty who are conducting research

  • DRAFT
     
    Create biomedical research center with focus on minority health
  • Conduct research in aging with a focus on Hispanic cultures
  • Establish center that community members can contact for any research needed and involve undergraduate and graduate students in the research
  • Solicit research leaders from community professionals. Match ideas with

            students who can do the leg work while learning the process

  • Focus on research issues in the valley and develop a population that is

            employable to solve problems in the valley, such as environmental problems

  • Develop research projects for students that not only solve local problems but provide job opportunities
  • Use the research capacities of the Political Science Dept to solve local and regional problems. Involve students in simulation games (how to develop policies…) and actual research projects.

 

4. Improve advising and counseling (peers, faculty & professionals)

  • Select advisors and counselors who are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about UTB/TSC and the lower Rio Grande Valley
  • Improve advising and counseling at all levels, including transition from high school, recruitment from other colleges, and preparation for undergraduate and graduate studies
  • Provide workshops for faculty on advising
  • Establish peer advising/mentoring programs in the major (upper division students advising lower division students) and provide training and leadership experience
  • Establish message boards by discipline moderated by faculty and staff
  • Develop student handbooks by department that include information on graduate school and employment
  • Add advising to the University Experience course

5. Meet continuing education needs of professionals

  • Offer content courses in math and physics to meet the needs of teachers
  • Provide health care professional education to meet the needs of the valley
  • Provide continuing education for other fields such as code enforcement, building

            inspections, and management

  • Provide continuing education for engineers, doctors, CPAs, attorneys, counselors, psychologists, and other professionals
  • Add more and better library resources

 

6. Increase number of graduates with bachelor degrees

  • Break the cycle of math and science phobia so that the students come to the

            university prepared; limiting or eliminating the need for remedial math

  • Provide internships and more financial aid
  • Partner with community businesses and agencies to create opportunities for employment for persons with bachelor degrees
  • Create a Speaker’s Bureau where faculty visit local high schools and give brief presentations to individual classes about their areas of expertise

  • DRAFT
     
    Expand concurrent enrollment opportunities for top high school students to attend classes at UTB/TSC
  • Create an Honors Program to attract and keep top students
  • Recruit students from other universities for summer or semester programs to introduce them to UTB/TSC and the community
  • Recruit students from South and Central America

           

7. Increase the number of grads in health services (allied health, nursing, pre-med)

·        Recruit more nurse educators and incorporate local MD’s and RN’s who may only be working clinically to expand these programs
 
8. Expand Dual Language Certification Program
·        Expand the program to bachelor degrees and develop a certificate program for those who hold professional degrees
·        Open the program to students from other universities to take part for a semester or summer to add this certification to their portfolio
  • Market short-term bilingual skills training
 
9. Partner with industry to create high tech jobs
·        Encourage students and grads into small business development
·        Work with the Brownsville Economic Development Council
·        Recruit companies to use students for summer jobs in their major, i.e. pay 1/2 their salary and offer credit for the job experience
·        Include CAD-CAM technology in courses 
·        Provide practical experience through industry internships
·        Involve faculty and students in joint industry development work and research
·        Allow faculty to take sabbatical leave to work in industry so educators can then adapt the curriculum and teaching approach to the needs of the industry
 
10. Increase literacy in the community
  • Offer more variety of continuing education courses; offer courses in adult literacy, motivation, active learning
  • Expand Kids College; offer more courses and more intensive courses
  • Send UTB/TSC faculty to give presentations in schools (K-12) in fields to excite students and show opportunities to the younger students in collegiate-level thinking
·        Support programs like the “Jason Project”
·        Recruit retired people/professionals to teach young children
·        Provide parent training and education with emphasis on early childhood development and English skills; target low income families
·        Create a center for training daycare and primary grade teachers
·        Work with “Success by Six”
·        Develop a UTB/TSC sponsored grade school on campus
·        Establish one central agency to coordinate programs

  • DRAFT
     
    Develop a media program to stimulate motivation and goal setting in addition to supporting literacy
  • Create a marketing campaign about reading to your children


Recommendations

 

  • Emphasize recruiting of good faculty and pay faculty well
  • Look at ways to grow your own faculty
  • Focus on areas of distinction
  • Develop international programs at graduate level
  • Establish a center for comparative border studies
  • Create a center of business information for domestic and international business opportunities
  • Partner with other institutions for more academic programs, especially with graduate programs
  • Continue to support students who need developmental education
  • Consider creation of UTB/TSC “college” for developmental & workforce students with admissions criteria to UTB/TSC “university”
  • Seek accreditation for all programs that have regional or national accreditation agencies. Require that every school/discipline actively maintain their respective accreditations. Fund and support these continuous improvement efforts
  • Provide well-trained teachers who will produce well-prepared students
  • Partner with Mexico and other countries to show us how to teach math & science
  • Schedule classes creatively to better utilize space
  • Build more residence halls to attract students from outside the area
  • Develop network of homestays where students live in homes of community families when residence hall space isn’t available
  • Phase out competitive sports and use money for wellness, intramural & student services
  • Build morale with academic programs rather than athletics
  • Let students decide whether they want to continue sports. Take a vote.
  • Offer graduate programs that will benefit people in the workforce
  • Encourage the development of programs that integrate teaching, research, and service learning opportunities
  • Offer teaching assistantships and fellowships
  • Encourage students to seek professional licensure by taking state/national exams in their fields
  • Put “elevator talk” on the back of all UTB/TSC business cards
  • Be a school of choice

 

Suggestions from Task Force Members for Future Program Development

                        (* programs that are already in the planning stages)

 

Undergraduate

  • Library Science, Bilingual Library Science

  • DRAFT
     
    Ethnomusicology in Spanish
  • Music History, Technology, & Theory
  • Anthropology
  • Religions
  • Mass Communication*
·        Architecture*
·        Chemical, Electrical, Civil, Mechanical, Marine & Structural Engineering.
  • Naval architecture
  • Welding specialists
  • Historical building restoration program
  • Environmental science*, oceanography, marine science, resource management
  • Non-profit management
  • Hospitality*, tourism
  • International economics

 

Graduate: Masters

  • Border Studies
  • Science Education
  • Marine Biology
  • Engineering Physics*
  • Mathematics, Industrial Mathematics, & Mathematics Education
  • Ornithology
  • Public Health
  • Dual Language Business
  • Bilingual Cognition
  • School Psychology
  • Nurse Practitioner
  • Pathology
  • Speech Pathology*, Speech Therapy

 

Graduate: Doctorate

  • Communication
  • Biology*
  • Physics, Engineering Physics
·        Hispanic Studies
·        Counseling*
·        Education*