Division of Academic Affairs Executive Vice President and Provost
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DIVISION OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST J. Randall O’Brien The purpose of the Division of Academic Affairs is to provide a quality educational program for all the students of Baylor University. This is accomplished directly through the services of 755 full-time teaching faculty members, 409 full-time staff members, 50 department/division chairs, 49 directors of institutes/ centers/special programs, 28 professional librarians, 21 associate/assistant deans, and 12 academic deans. The day-to- day execution of the educational mission of Baylor University could not be achieved without the able and faithful work of these individuals. ACADEMIC INITIATIVES: Policy and Procedure Review with Suggested Revisions: Over time, inconsistencies and inaccuracies have crept into our university faculty policies. This has been a source of complaint from faculty, and certainly potential difficulties. Accordingly, the Provost’s Office is working, in consultation with Faculty Senate, various academic units and the Office of General Counsel, to edit and bring into harmony the following policies: Carr P. Collins Outstanding Professor: Dr. Michael F. Korpi, Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Telecommunication Division of the Department of Communications Studies, was voted by the senior students as the 2006 Carr P. Collins Outstanding Professor. Required to deliver a special lecture on a subject of his or her choice during the spring semester, Korpi delivered his presentation on May 8. The recipient was recognized at spring commencement and received a cash award of $10,000. Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award: Dr. Kevin Pinney, Professor of Chemistry was selected by a faculty committee as this year’s recipient of the Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year. On an annual basis a faculty member who makes a superlative contribution to the learning environment at Baylor by exemplary teaching, research, and service receives this $20,000 award. Dr. Pinney will present a public lecture during the fall semester. Master Teacher Designation: Baylor awarded the master teacher distinction, Baylor’s highest faculty honor, to the following faculty members during the fall performances of Pigskin Revue: Dr. D. Thomas Hanks, Jr., Professor of English, and Dr. Gerald R. Powell, The Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence at Baylor Law School. 1 PERSONNEL: Effective May 1, the Office of the executive Vice President and Provost was restructured. At that time the titles of the Vice Provosts were adjusted to reflect more precisely their areas of responsibility: Naymond H. Keathley, Senior Vice Provost; James Bennighof, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Policy; Elizabeth Davis, Vice Provost for Financial and Academic Administration; Larry Lyon, Vice Provost for Institutional Effectiveness; and Truell Hyde, Vice Provost for Research. Debi Talley joined Carol McCullough and Donna Stewart to complete the support staff. She works directly with Vice Provosts Davis, Bennighof, and Keathley. 2 SENIOR VICE PROVOST Naymond H. Keathley In the reorganization of the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost, nine institutes and centers which answered to the Provost but which were independent of each other and not directly related to any of the colleges and schools were placed under one umbrella to be supervised by the Senior Vice Provost. These units include the Center for Christian Ethics, the Center for International Education, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Center for Ministry Effectiveness and Educational Leadership, the Center for Religious Inquiry across the Disciplines, the Institute for Faith and Learning, the Institute of Oral History, Baylor University Press, and the Mayborn Museum Complex. The directors of the units will now meet together five times each year (twice each semester and once in the summer) to relate to each other, to communicate about the activities of each unit, and to share mutual concerns. The first meeting was held May 23. In addition to assisting the Provost as needs arise, the Senior Vice Provost has also been charged: • To supervise the support staff in the Provost’s Office (meetings are now held bi- weekly); • To study and recommend new initiatives for increasing summer enrollments (one “think tank” session with selected faculty has been held and a Summer Enrollment Task Force is being formed); • To assist with or conduct as needed administrative interviews with prospective faculty (five interviews were conducted in May); • To work with Elizabeth Davis in Faculty Development (planning is underway for the New Faculty Orientation and the New Faculty Mentoring Program); • To work with Elizabeth Davis in scheduling and planning the fall meeting of the Big 12 Provosts Meeting which Baylor will host (meeting has been coordinated with Larry Lyon who will host the Big 12 Graduate Deans at the same time, November 5-6); • To have conferences with students, faculty, and staff about particular complaints or issues. 3 VICE PROVOST FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND POLICY James Bennighof The following responsibilities have been carried out during the 2005-06 school year by the office of the Vice Provost for Academic Administration, recently retitled Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Policy: Regularly assigned: • Worked with academic units throughout the university on curriculum development: Represented Provost’s office in development and approval process for new and revised degrees, majors, minors, and concentrations, examining programs with regard to internal coherence and consistency and coordination with existing programs. Newly approved programs processed by the VPAA have included -- College of Arts and Sciences: B.A. major in Medical Humanities; -- School of Education: Dance minor; -- Graduate School and Hankamer School of Business: Joint Master of Health Administration and Master of Business Administration Approved curriculum action forms that initiated, terminated, or (most often) revised individual courses (approximately 325 June-May). • Monitored tenure-track review process, communicating with deans to assure that they conduct annual reviews for tenure-track faculty at appropriate times and helping to manage cases in which special circumstances apply. • Supervised production of 2006-07 Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs, monitored production of Seminary and Social Work Catalogs, and refined process of importing information from Banner system to catalogs. • Monitored accreditation process for programs within Baylor, centralizing data for multi-year cycles for all accreditation processes. • Supervised selection process for the third annual $20,000 Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year Award (received by Kevin Pinney). • Supervised selection process for the $10,000 Collins Outstanding Professor Award (received by Michael Korpi). • Participated in Provost interviews of prospective faculty. • Monitored distance learning courses taught by other institutions in Texas. 4 • Supervised Director of Baylor University Press during a year of continued growth and consolidation (additional details provided in separate report). • Supervised Director of the Mayborn Natural Science & Cultural History Museum Complex (additional details provided in separate report). • Supervised Director of Oral History Institute (additional details provided in separate report). • Participated with Provost’s office in policy development and responses to faculty concerns. • Monitored submission of faculty workload reports to Office of Information Management and Testing Services. • Represented Provost’s office on Student-Athlete Task Force. • Represented Provost’s office in Crisis Management efforts, both in responding to Hurricane Rita and in developing long-range Crisis Management plan. • Coordinated faculty who organized Baylor’s Constitution Day presentation in September. • Monitored and assisted with the process of resolving student overload problems during the 2005 summer sessions. • Represented Provost’s office in some regards with respect to international programs—assisted in visit and discussions with St. Andrews University regarding the establishment of a Baylor study abroad program there; continued communication with United Board for Christian Higher Education about Baylor’s hosting of their Fellows. • Traveled on student recruiting trip to Oklahoma in January. • Represented Provost’s office at conference of the Greater Western Library Alliance, exploring issues of changing technology and dissemination of research. • Participated on committee charged with revising the Honor Code for the University. • Maintained contact with some activities related to the fine arts at the University. • Maintained association with home unit, the School of Music, teaching one class in the fall and several individual students in the spring, participating in departmental matters, and continuing personal creative and professional efforts. 5 Temporary or occasional responsibilities: • With Tiffany Hogue, Assistant Provost, continued process of reviewing all faculty personnel policies and working with the administration, Faculty Senate, and other applicable parties to (1) ensure that policies reflect current practice; (2) make policies clear and consistent with one another; (3) reach approval for policy revisions that were already underway; (4) make urgently-needed policy revisions; and (5) keep a record of additional policy issues so that they could be addressed after the initial process was completed. • Represented