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Showing posts from April, 2021

New BOR appointees announced today

Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Caroline Baker Hurley and reappointed Mary Evans Sias, Ph.D. to the Texas Southern University Board of Regents for terms set to expire on February 1, 2027. Caroline Baker Hurley   of Houston served as a state district judge for over 21 years in Harris County, and continues to sit by assignment as a Senior Retired State District Judge. Prior to the bench, she was a partner of McFall, Sherwood & Sheehy. She is currently in charge of a MDL, and an arbitrator and a mediator with a certificate from the AA White Dispute Resolution Center. In addition, she has taught several courses as an adjunct professor in Trial Advocacy at the University of Houston Law Center. She is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law and has been elected to membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates, and is a representative from the Houston Chapter to the ABOTA National Board. She has served as chair of the Ethics Committee for the Harris County Civil District Jud

No Student Evaluations in SOPA since Spring 2019?

We can't confirm and don't know about the other schools at TSU, but students don't matter or at least their evaluations do not appear to matter for the School of Public Affairs (SOPA) administrators.   Since Spring 2019, there has reportedly not been a single student course evaluation at SOPA .   2 years without student evaluations creates numerous problems for evaluation, testing even budgeting: 1) Necessary for Tenure and Promotion portfolios 2) Necessary for Post-Tenure Review portfolios 3) Necessary for Faculty Excellence Awards portfolios, especially the prestigious McCleary Teaching Award 4) Necessary for Faculty Yearly State-Mandated Evaluations  5) Necessary for considerations of budgeting for allocating finances 6) Necessary for ACTUALLY CARING WHAT OUR STUDENTS THINK ABOUT OUR COURSES AND/OR PROFESSORS.  Are we no longer a TEACHING university?  Again.....will the real Dean of SOPA please stand up? https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2021/01/will-real-dean-of-s

Provost denial of Faculty Excellence Awards?

Recall that last year in Spring 2020, even though the Faculty Excellence Awards committees finalized winners for the awards, mysteriously the Awards never happened .  There has NEVER been a satisfactory explanation for what happened to the 2020 awards nor has there ever been a university-wide email regarding this explanation for the awards.   Even though the rumors are that due to the pandemic the awards were postponed/cancelled, it made no sense as there were fundraisers, conferences, Zoom meetings and other online events.  So why would the Faculty Excellence Awards NOT be moved online?   Now it appears that in the 2021 Faculty Awards there has been very new and very "interesting" language inserted into the 2021 criteria- Will the Provost deliberately veto and deny certain faculty awards if he personally dislikes a certain professor?   2020- Selection Process Based upon materials presented in the nomination portfolio, the Faculty Awards Committee

SURPRISE!- Another Board of Regents meeting

A Special Called Meeting.....But the BOR just had a meeting on March 27.....Is the Presidential search coming to an the end?  According to the agenda however-  "The Board of Regents will discuss Texas Southern University’s Vision, Mission, Values, and Short, Mid and Long Term Objectives."   This sounds like a very long meeting tomorrow!   https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/2066?meeting=463346 And there's another meeting scheduled for April 15, 2021!