Imperative 1
The process of Vision 2020 produced hundreds
of ideas supporting our goal of national prominence. Almost
all of these suggestions have merit, and most earn acknowledgment
in the body of this report. They can best be thought of in
relation to twelve inviolate ideas, or imperatives.
1
Elevate Our Faculty and Their Teaching, Research, and Scholarship
The world today is
knowledge-based and constantly changing. In such a world,
the quality research university is “a creator, organizer,
preserver, transmitter, and applier of knowledge.” The foundation
of these functions is an excellent faculty in adequate numbers.
We need to increase substantially the size of our faculty
(perhaps by half), and we must attract and retain many more
top scholars, teachers, and researchers. We will have to review
and strengthen hiring and tenure policies, enhance compensation,
focus our scholarship, and transform our administrative culture.
We cannot achieve our goal without a nationally recognized
faculty with a passion for teaching and an academic environment
that values and rewards innovation, great ideas, and the search
for the truth.
P
R E C E P T: A C H I E V E T H E H I G H
E S T Q U A L I T Y FA C U LT Y A N D FA
C U LT Y L I F E
The evolution
of the highest quality of student life requires a commitment
to high-quality faculty and faculty life. Intense dedication
to teaching, research, and service on the part of faculty
will be matched by the university’s commitment to provide
a supportive, encouraging environment. The dimensions of this
environment are manifold. They include access to the best
intellectual resources to help faculty achieve the best results;
contemporary work environments supported by electronic computing
and information availability; evaluation and annual review
processes that promote increased desire for performance and
commitment to excellence; sensitive leadership and responsiveness
to the needs of individual faculty members; a fair compensation
system and means to reward excellence consistent with peer
institutions; and participation in the governance of the institution.
No single indicator of excellence in faculty life can be taken
in isolation. The aim is to provide an environment that supports
the highest creative and intellectual work to benefit students,
the institution, and the faculty—in short, to create an encompassing
community of scholars.
If Texas A&M University is to
become one of the top ten public universities by the year
2020, it is imperative that this university have an outstanding
faculty and an environment that promotes academic excellence.
It is also imperative that Texas A&M University make the
academic quality of the institution known to the world.
T
A S K F O R C E I D E A
-
Improve
the faculty-student ratio to facilitate the interaction
of faculty and students to create a better academic experience.
Attain a faculty-student ratio equal to the median of
the best public universities.
-
Classroom
teaching and the teaching of graduate students must be of
the highest quality and play a central role at Texas A&M
University. Provide the resources and facilities that
will allow faculty to lead the way in developing the highest
quality learning environment in the classroom and laboratory.
-
Attract
and keep outstanding faculty members. This will require
compensation and benefits packages that positively affect
the desirability of the institution and endowments for “careerdevelopment”
chairs, “superstar” chairs and “exceptional-promise” chairs.
Start-up funds for research and scholarly activities should
be developed to allow for attractive offers. Laboratories
and teaching facilities should be available, efficient,
and of high caliber. Intense searches for every faculty
position should be the norm. Recruiting processes should
be focused on excellence. An excellent sabbatical program
is also required. Job opportunities for spouses, given the
dual-career nature of today’s families, must be enhanced
on and off of the campus. Lose no faculty to other institutions
for reasons that do not involve sound professional decision-making.
P R E C E
P T: E X P E C T A N D S U P P O RT R
E S E A R C H A N D
S C H O L A R S H I P O F T H E H I G H
E S T C A L I B E R 
Scholarship is the foundation of
quality in teaching, researching, and service. Our goal for
2020 is to produce scholarship that breeds excellence and
is uncompromising in its commitment to understanding. This
is the highest form of truth-seeking and the reason for hiring
the best faculty and recruiting the best students. The cornerstone
of the academic enterprise is traditional, basic research.
The act of discovery is different from, although complementary
to, the teaching of new ideas or the sharing of thoughts and
concepts with the larger community. Additionally, while universities
value all forms of creative activity, the act of discovering
new basic knowledge—truth about relationships of matter, people,
and organizations—has always been at the center of the academic
enterprise and will be at the center of Texas A&M University.
It is understood that the best basic research leads to the
best applied research.
Research,
as the creation of knowledge in the broadest sense, encompasses
all forms of scholarship from creation of works of art and
literature through evaluation and reorganization of knowledge
to investigations into the preservation, transmission, and
application of knowledge. Research is an essential function
of the human race and it is through individual intellects
that this creation occurs. Thus, a primary function of the
university is to create an environment in which individuals,
on behalf of society, may be engaged in these knowledge-based
activities.
T
A S K F O R C E I D E A
-
S elect and
develop priority research and scholarly programs acknowledged
to be important  and
compelling on a national and global level through faculty-driven
strategic planning. Create an environment where Nobel
Prize - and Pulitzer Prize - quality work is being done,
with achievement of such awards as evidence of the environment.
-
Emphasize research
as an essential component of every student’s learning and
every faculty member’s responsibility. All undergraduate
majors have a required research component—research across
the curriculum.
-
Position Texas
A&M University to become a major source of research faculty
for the next generation by attracting outstanding research
personnel at all levels: senior faculty, junior faculty,
postdoctoral associates, and students. This will require
endowed chairs, fellowships and quality laboratory facilities.
While recognizing that not all doctoral graduates seek
academic careers, place 75 percent of those who do at top-tier
national institutions.
-
Coordinate
research administration in order to unify the planning and
implementation of the university’s research program and
to effectively deploy Texas A&M University faculty and physical
resources. Achieve top-five standing in research expenditures
as measured by the National Science Foundation and top-ten
standing in federally funded research.
-
Expand our
research activities by hiring the best scholars in their
fields. Quadruple the number of faculty who are members
of the National Academy of Science, the National Academy
of Engineering, or fellows in academic and professional
societies. F Build on the existing endowed-faculty program.
Have endowed positions equal to the best public universities
in America.
P R E C E P T: E N C O U R
A G E A N D F A C I L I TAT E
I N T E R D I S C I P L I N A R Y S C H O L A R S H
I P
In any view to the future, it is
absolutely certain that the challenges of solving complex
problems will require interdisciplinary work—teams of scholars
from various disciplines as well as partnerships between scholars
and researchers from business and industry. In the immediate
future, issues requiring strong interdisciplinary participation
are life sciences, telecommunications, public policy, education,
and diversity. What is less clear is what the key challenges
will be 20 years from now. Whatever those challenges may be,
it is critical that the university foster an adaptive culture,
that embraces and encourages interdisciplinary work and eschews
structural boundaries and bureaucratic legacy.
Encourage
faculty teamwork and collaboration to identify emerging
cross-disciplinary fields and to compete successfully for
large grants.
T
A S K F O R C E I D E A
G
O A L S :
-
Create
and refine structures and mechanisms that encourage and
support interdisciplinary work. Have 25 percent of faculty
members involved in scholarly work and teaching that crosses
disciplinary lines.
-
Revise
tenure, promotion, and annual-review processes to recognize
multi-disciplinary and team work. Value teamwork and
independent activity in all tenure, promotion, and annual
review processes.
| T
H E U N I V E R S I T Y
’ S F
U T U R E I S A B O U T
R E S P O N D I N G T O A C H A N G
I N G G L O B A L
R E A L I T Y:
The College
of Geosciences is dedicated to excellence as we strive
to understand the physical, biological, and human systems
of our planet and the ways in which they interact. We
investigate the forces that shape the past, present,
and future of the solid earth, the oceans, the atmosphere,
the biosphere, and human cultures and society. We work
with society to develop, sustain, and enhance our planet’s
resources as responsible stewards of the environment.
We address the needs of the people of Texas, the nation,
and the world by rising to the challenges posed by a
changing global environment.
The
College of Geosciences Vision for 2020
|
«
Previous Page | Next Page
»
|
|
