University Assessment Committee? - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Dec 13, 2004

University Assessment Committee?

Date: Dec 13, 2004

My question is this: why is Sarah Morgan, an assistant professor who has been at USM less than 2 years, the chair of the Compliance Leadership team? I mean, she's a fine person (I've worked with her before), but wouldn't you think they'd want someone with more SACS experience or just general USM experience at the helm? Is this a dumb question?

Date: Dec 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ram
"I just found this site on the USM website: Office of Institutional Effectiveness Scroll down a ways and you find a link to the Univeristy Assessment Committee and its current members. There is also a link to the committee's constitution. (A committee with a constitution? Okay, but that's not my point.) Has anybody ever heard of this committee, or did it just magically appear? Shouldn't the make up of the committee at least roughly correspond to the constitution that is mentioned in the same paragraph? Shouldn't the constitution at least reflect the make up of the University as it has been reorganized, instead of listing long defunct divisions such as the College of Liberal Arts? (see Sec. 2.1.2) Has the committee been meeting monthly as required in section 4.1.1? Does the committee advise the office of the Provost, per Section 1.1.2, or the office of the President, per the Assessment web page? You'll not want to miss the link to the "Strategery Plan" A pale shadow of Myron Henry's efforts."

Obviously they are building an assessment plan as they go.It is like a collage -- so we have the old plan grafted in from the previous administration biut a new membership that does not reflect that plan. Boy -- I had looked at this page but entirely missed this link. Good work!

And yes . . . the strategic . . . err . . . goals . . . . are pretty pathetic as something I want to hang my passions on . . . .

Date: Dec 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"My question is this: why is Sarah Morgan, an assistant professor who has been at USM less than 2 years, the chair of the Compliance Leadership team? I mean, she's a fine person (I've worked with her before), but wouldn't you think they'd want someone with more SACS experience or just general USM experience at the helm? Is this a dumb question? "

No --

note that she is also on the executive team. I asked some friends about this yesterday and we could not figure it out. I don't know why she is on the executive team -- unless I have missed some title she holds, she is the only one on that team who is not pretty much a full time administrator serving directly under the President. So I don't think it is silly to ask that question.

By the way -- a few well chosen questions would be nice during Wednesday's Senate meeting -- prep up. We need to know more about how this thing is supposed to work and whether we are realyl going to have a significant role or are we just in it fro the show of "shared goverance."

Date: Dec 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ram
"I just found this site on the USM website: Office of Institutional Effectiveness Scroll down a ways and you find a link to the Univeristy Assessment Committee and its current members. There is also a link to the committee's constitution. (A committee with a constitution? Okay, but that's not my point.) Has anybody ever heard of this committee, or did it just magically appear? Shouldn't the make up of the committee at least roughly correspond to the constitution that is mentioned in the same paragraph? Shouldn't the constitution at least reflect the make up of the University as it has been reorganized, instead of listing long defunct divisions such as the College of Liberal Arts? (see Sec. 2.1.2) Has the committee been meeting monthly as required in section 4.1.1? Does the committee advise the office of the Provost, per Section 1.1.2, or the office of the President, per the Assessment web page? You'll not want to miss the link to the "Strategery Plan" A pale shadow of Myron Henry's efforts."

My word! I don't see how all of that can be done in ten or eleven months.

Date: Dec 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Tick Tock
"My word! I don't see how all of that can be done in ten or eleven months."

Don't look at it as only ten months. Look at it as 7,200 hours. Put 100 people on the job & you're up to 720,000 person-hours. You can do it easily with that much labor. Of course, nobody will get to sleep...

BTW, there is a hidden incentive to get active in the SACS process: the 2006 annual meeting will be in Miami. Nice place to go for a few days before coming back for the office parties & Christmas break

Date: Dec 13, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Invictus
" Don't look at it as only ten months. Look at it as 7,200 hours. Put 100 people on the job & you're up to 720,000 person-hours. You can do it easily with that much labor. Of course, nobody will get to sleep ......"

Then I don't see how it can be done properly in ten months.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stephen judd
" No -- note that she is also on the executive team. I asked some friends about this yesterday and we could not figure it out. I don't know why she is on the executive team -- unless I have missed some title she holds, she is the only one on that team who is not pretty much a full time administrator serving directly under the President. So I don't think it is silly to ask that question. By the way -- a few well chosen questions would be nice during Wednesday's Senate meeting -- prep up. We need to know more about how this thing is supposed to work and whether we are realyl going to have a significant role or are we just in it fro the show of "shared goverance." "

I know that she came directly to USM from industry (General Electric), and that she received her PhD from USM. She has no other university experience beyond her 2 years at USM. Check out her bio here.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"I know that she came directly to USM from industry (General Electric), and that she received her PhD from USM. She has no other university experience beyond her 2 years at USM. Check out her bio here."

Also, don't forget that she is married to Les Goff of Noetics fame (remember the family tree that I posted a while back??). He is listed in the USM directory as being part of the "Chemical Engineering" department with the title "Director of Innovation." Didn't know USM had a Chemical Engineering department.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"I know that she came directly to USM from industry (General Electric), and that she received her PhD from USM . . . Check out her bio here."

I see that she is an Assistant Professor and that her terminal degree is from USM. I was not aware that USM doctorates were eligible for tenure-track appointments. Has that policy been changed, or is that policy enforced only in some instances, or is she not on a tenure-track appointment?

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ram
Has anybody ever heard of this committee, or did it just magically appear? Has the committee been meeting monthly as required in section 4.1.1?

This committee was just formed--within the last week. Hasn't met yet.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Puzzled in D'Lo
"I see that she is an Assistant Professor and that her terminal degree is from USM. I was not aware that USM doctorates were eligible for tenure-track appointments. Has that policy been changed, or is that policy enforced only in some instances, or is she not on a tenure-track appointment? "

I'll return ti my question:

why is she on the executive team? As far as I can tell she is the only one on the team who is not appointed by the President. But she Is in polmer science. Why does poly get its own representative here?

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Puzzled in D'Lo
"I see that she is an Assistant Professor and that her terminal degree is from USM. I was not aware that USM doctorates were eligible for tenure-track appointments. Has that policy been changed, or is that policy enforced only in some instances, or is she not on a tenure-track appointment? "

Many of these issues have been aired on this board before, but I realize there are many newcomers to the board seeking real information rather than the Mader Ministry of Truth spin. I have been at USM for 7 years - I noticed tenure-track hires of folks with USM PhDs from the beginning but they have definitely picked up speed since Thames took office. My theory: Thames is a local boy with 2 of his 3 degrees from USM and he tends to trust fellow locals (or at least Mississippians, though the Kentucky mafia was a major exception). It is never a good sign to have many PhDs employed at the university where they earned their PhD - it detracts from the global perspective rerquired of any "world-class" institution, and it gives the appearance - though, of course, not necessarily the reality - of nepotism, cronyism, and so forth.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Angeline
"Many of these issues have been aired on this board before, but I realize there are many newcomers to the board seeking real information rather than the Mader Ministry of Truth spin. I have been at USM for 7 years - I noticed tenure-track hires of folks with USM PhDs from the beginning but they have definitely picked up speed since Thames took office. My theory: Thames is a local boy with 2 of his 3 degrees from USM and he tends to trust fellow locals (or at least Mississippians, though the Kentucky mafia was a major exception). It is never a good sign to have many PhDs employed at the university where they earned their PhD - it detracts from the global perspective rerquired of any "world-class" institution, and it gives the appearance - though, of course, not necessarily the reality - of nepotism, cronyism, and so forth."

All the peculiarities are just a step or two away from...well, you can most likely guess...

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Magnolia
"This committee was just formed--within the last week. Hasn't met yet."

Was it formed prior to the probation news? Were the committee members informed at that time?

Date: Dec 14, 2004

there was a previous planning and assessment committee that brad bond formed about 2-3 years ago. it included a broad cross-section of the university--people from the academic and non-academic side of the house. It was huge and maybe proved unwieldy. Myron Henry was on it, Ty Black from Business, the then head of the physical plant, etc. The co-chairs were Joan Exline and Jean Louis Dassier (i'm sure i've butchered the spelling of his name). It was supposed to get departments geared up to do planning and assessment. At one point you could even see departments' plans and assessment data on a website. you may sill be able to. Don't know what happened to it, but there's obviously a new one.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: ram
" You'll not want to miss the link to the "Strategery Plan"... ."

The more I look at these Goals, the more skepticism I feel. Won't SACS expect much more than this drivel?

My undergraduate degree was in education (long ago and far away). Some folks say nothing is taught in education courses, but I distinctly recall a major emphasis -- not to say absolute requirement -- that goals and objectives be quantifiable and measurable. Granted, the first two "goals," as promulgated, do include numbers: the holy 20,000 and $100,000,000. But there's nothing else but those "glowing generalities" my ed profs warned me about 30+ years ago.

I would have guessed that maybe times have changed. I sure enough hated trying to couch everything in measurable terms, but then I found this site: 101 Things

I found it because I was curious about what a Six Sigma Master Black Belt was. I had never heard of that until I read Dr. Sarah Morgan's on-line background. I hope she can whip these goals into better shape.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Angeline
"I have been at USM for 7 years - I noticed tenure-track hires of folks with USM PhDs from the beginning but they have definitely picked up speed since Thames took office."

When I first came to USM the street talk was that there was a time when one or another accrediting body was not keen on the emormous amount of faculty inbreeding that existed at USM at the time (many USM Ph.D. on the faculty); and it was then that Aubrey Lucas put a stop to that practice. That policy does not appear to be enforced as it was in the past.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"there was a previous planning and assessment committee that brad bond formed about 2-3 years ago. it included a broad cross-section of the university--people from the academic and non-academic side of the house. It was huge and maybe proved unwieldy. Myron Henry was on it, Ty Black from Business, the then head of the physical plant, etc. The co-chairs were Joan Exline and Jean Louis Dassier (i'm sure i've butchered the spelling of his name). It was supposed to get departments geared up to do planning and assessment. At one point you could even see departments' plans and assessment data on a website. you may sill be able to. Don't know what happened to it, but there's obviously a new one."

Dassier, who has a background in program evaluation, left USM, disgusted, in 2003.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Tick Tock
"Then I don't see how it can be done properly in ten months."

Properly? I don't think the USM admin. (SFT and the Lame Gang) know what that word means!

Date: Dec 14, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: IMWTK
" Was it formed prior to the probation news? Were the committee members informed at that time?"

Some committee members have not been informed.

Date: Dec 14, 2004

Some committee members have not been informed. this is true. I find myself on a committee that I didn't know I was on. Actually, I think they just listed me on the wrong website. I am (or perhaps I only thought I was) on another committee for Academic Council. I believe this is true for Jeff Evans who is the chair elect of Academic Council. I have been contacted by someone else listed on that committee and that individual was never informed.

This just seems like crisis mode or something.

But I suppose I could be wrong!