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SWOT
Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications
May 2009
STRENGTHS: What advantages does ALEC have?
TEACHING
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Research and discovery in theoretical development and application of teaching and learning
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Significant impact on the educational mission of the college
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ALEC graduates 29% of the COALS graduates (2389 out of 8272, OISP FY 07-08)
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University Studies - Leadership Studies
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4 undergraduate and 6 graduate degrees offered
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Collaboration on and off campus.
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TCE faculty teach undergraduate and graduate courses
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TAMU Residence Life (Leadership Living Learning Community)
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TAMU Corps (Leadership Certificate Program)
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TAMU Student Activities (section of ALED 340 for student leaders)
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TAMU Multicultural Services Department (ALED 289 Larke & Elbert)
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National FFA (collaborative academic leadership course)
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Prairie View Partnership
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Angelo State
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Moscow State AgroEngineer
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2+2 Blinn
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Joint EdD (Doc At A Distance)
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Interaction with secondary agri-science teachers and TCE county faculty
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Awards
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Montague Scholars
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Top 25% recognition
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Distinguished Professor
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SLATE Awards
RESEARCH
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Faculty have recognized expertise in social science quantitative and qualitative methodologies
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Faculty have recognized expertise in contextual applications in agricultural communications, evaluation and accountability, leadership education, planned change, planning and needs assessment, research methods, and teaching and learning.
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Partnerships to provide and contribute to responsible leadership, and provide services that address global learner, community, and industry needs:
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USDA Higher Education Challenge Grants
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Neuhaus-Sheppard Awards
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NIH grant - College of Veterinary Medicine
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Hurricane Ike Disaster Case Management Evaluation Project
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USAID/HED – with the University of Namibia
DIVERSITY – 31 faculty (college, research, extension)
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27 white
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19 male
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11 professor rank
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2 Hispanic
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12 female
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7 associate professor rank
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2 Black
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9 assistant professor rank
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2 senior lecturers
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2 assistant lecturers
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Tenured 14
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Tenure Track 5
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Non-Tenure Track 12
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ENGAGEMENT
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Hispanic Leadership Forum
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SLOAN Scholarship
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Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
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Agrileader
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Partner University - UT-SA, UT-Pan American, A&M Kingsville, A&M Corpus Christi
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TAMU Greek Life (development of leadership seminar series)
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1,500 Texas agri-science teachers, 105,000 Texas agri-science students
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700 county faculty and 1,000,000 4-H members
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4 of 5 major professional journals have ALEC editors or board members
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USAID/HED Africa-Us Initiative
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Texas Department of Agriculture, TAMU Congressional Internship Programs
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Texas Education Agency, FFA, 4H
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TAMU: Residential Life, Corps of Cadets, Athletics, Student Activities, Multi-Cultural Service
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Abriendo Puertas
WEAKNESSES: What could ALEC do to improve its effectiveness?
FUNDING
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Create and hire key staff and graduate student positions with Instructional Educational and Enhancement Funds (IEEF).
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Increase external funding opportunities (grants) to fund staff and graduate assistant positions
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Increase scholarship and funding for faculty and graduate students, especially PhD students.
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Enhance Instructional Materials Service (IMS) longevity by adopting an operational paradigm that is visionary, contemporary, and market driven.
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Explore merit and equitable salary ranges by institution, academic discipline or function of position
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Based on exploratory results, provide equity in faculty salaries
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Seek to lead the discipline and institution in faculty salaries.
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Hire appropriate staff for grant management and academic advisors.
FACULTY AND TEACHING
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Increase graduate teaching assistants in relation to Weighted Student Credit Hours (WSCH) production.
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Enhance minority graduation to mirror demographics of Texas (2006 grad data).
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White
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Black
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Hisp
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Asian
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Nat. Am.
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Intnl
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Unkno
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State (2000)
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71%
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11.5%
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32%
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2.7%
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0.6%
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387
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12
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34
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4
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3
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3
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4
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COALS
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1721
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29
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108
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30
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7
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99
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22
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% of COALS
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22.5%
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41%
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31%
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13%
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43%
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3%
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18%
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Create continuity with TCE and COALS to enhance ALED 441 (extension course).
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Establish a 2-year graduate teaching rotation and 5-year course for graduate courses.
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Increase faculty and staff diversity.
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Establish credible standards for undergraduate and graduate student entry into department programs
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eLearning Certificate (suspended)
SERVICE
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Seek service opportunities to recruit underrepresented students.
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Utilize MANRRS
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Collaborate across the University to provide expertise for projects, budgets, evaluation, instructional methodology, etc.
RESEARCH
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Grant management planning
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Increase scholarship of faculty and graduate students, especially Ph.D. students.
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Increase visibility for evaluation projects with other COALS units.
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Establish reputation for expertise in evaluation, instructional methodology, communications, etc.
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Become part of line item in project budgets from other departments, programs, centers, etc.
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Increase collaboration for information education technology components of research grants.
EXTENSION
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Increase e-learning opportunities and training of Texas AgriLife Extension Service faculty through ALEC unit.
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Include IT personnel in ALEC Texas AgriLife Extension Service for administration and updates of TeXas system.
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Increase student workers to support faculty preparation for new Texas AgriLife Extension Service employee training, etc.
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Move Texas AgriLife Extension Service Emergency Management component to more aligned department.
OPPORTUNITIES: What are the opportunities facing ALEC?
TEACHING
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International influence or options at undergraduate/graduate level.
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Certificate programs to enhance graduate degrees.
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Convert appropriate ALEC graduate courses with online formats.
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Promote University Studies-Leadership degree plan and new course ALED 201 to increase undergraduate enrollment to 300 students; currently at 111 after 2 years.
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Stabilize teaching of International Agriculture graduate courses to increase graduate Weighted Student Credit Hours (WSCH).
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Explore academic advising staff as a budget line item.
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New faculty position: International Agricultural Education.
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Pursue funding from former students and friends.
RESEARCH
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Identify departmental research agenda.
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Assist and evaluate COALS departments with learning assessments (via ALEC 625).
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Enhance global leadership research via leadership workgroup.
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Integrate into Iraq project with Borlaug Institute.
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Use the WFSC IGERT approach as a model to develop future ALEC IGERT programs.
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Capitalize on national “AGED” Research Agenda (unveiled May, 2007)— CTE Research Agenda, and Logic Model (2008).
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Utilize students and faculty to investigate client and stakeholder needs and actions.
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Pursue additional grant funding from all sources.
SERVICE
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Continue to support student events, such as “Leadership Forum,” to enhance student development.
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Continue presence and recruiting for ALEC and COALS at State and National FFA Conferences.
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All service activities to be enhanced by underlying research questions.
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Develop AFNR teacher-mentoring program for 1-3 year teachers.
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Develop AFNR summer in-service workshops to provide training within the new TENS.
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Provide leadership camps for high school students.
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Provide hands on camps/training for high school students.
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Formalize community service completed by faculty to enhance research in leadership and service learning.
THREATS: What obstacles does ALEC face?
TEACHING
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Examine program standards/rigor.
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Reversal of ALEC/TAMU mentality that bigger student population is better (only if #3 is met).
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Balance teaching needs of 1,000+ undergraduate students and 150 graduate students with research obligations of faculty.
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Reduce class size (teacher/student ratio) while maintaining large WSCH production.
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Find classrooms with positive teaching/learning environments.
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Make best use of professorial time when GA dollars are scarce.
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Review advisor/student ratios to maximize student and faculty contributions
RESEARCH
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Insufficient IDC when traditional social science research does not allow for large IDC commitment
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COALS lack of understanding of the scholarship of social science research by biological scientists.
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Insufficient assistantship funding to compete with peer institutions. Need to increase funding through grants
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Misunderstanding of TCE evaluation results as research findings Misunderstanding on grant management
SERVICE
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Over commitment by some department faculty members to service
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Reduce service commitment
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Develop a plan to recognize the value of service (recruiting, visibility for ALEC, and support for other units).
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Spread service opportunities throughout ALEC.
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Translating ALEC research findings to other units in TAMU Agriculture (teaching methodologies, service learning, assessment, etc.).
DIVERSITY AND FLEXIBILITY
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Attract faculty who reflect under-represented populations. Recruit students – best and brightest worldwide
OTHER
1. Faculty and staff retention