Mission

Vision

The School of Educational Studies will be recognized for excellence and service to Oklahoma, the nation and the world.

• Enhance student development and quality of life through high quality programs;
• Leverage resources and faculty load to support research;
• Cultivate academic excellence through a professional atmosphere in which students and faculty learn, develop, promote integrity, and contribute to society; and
• Nurture diversity through a culture of respect, support, and productivity for all members of the SES community.

Core Values

Excellence -We seek excellence in all our endeavors, and we are committed to continuous improvement.

Intellectual Freedom – We believe in ethical and scholarly questioning in an environment that respects the rights of all to freely pursue knowledge.

Integrity – We are committed to the principles of truth and honesty, and we will be equitable, ethical, and professional.

Service – We believe that serving others through outreach is a noble and worthy endeavor.

Diversity – We respect others and value diversity of opinions, freedom of expression, and other ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Stewardship of Resources –We accept the responsibility of the public’s trust, are efficient and effective stewards of our resources and are accountable for our actions.

Collaboration – We believe that collaborative relationships in which all participants have a voice enrich the academic and professional environment.

Critical Reflection – We believe that learning, scholarship, and service rely upon critical reflection.

Social Responsibility – We believe that learning, scholarship, and service should promote social responsibility, as an alternative to apathy.

Democracy – We believe in the benefits of democracy and the roles of learning, scholarship, and service to facilitate democracy.

Ingenuity – We believe in ingenuity to foster originality, creativity, and responsiveness.

Altruism – We believe that altruism enables institutions to build public trust.

Learning – We believe that learning, rather than teaching, is a primary value of educational institutions.

Goals, Critical Success Factors, Objectives, and Strategies

Goal One. Enhance student development and quality of life through high quality programs.

Critical Success Factors:

• state-wide and national recruiting plan
• funding for staff personnel to implement state-wide and national recruiting plan
• increased enrollment of 5% each year by underrepresented groups at undergraduate and graduate levels
• develop promotional materials for Stillwater and Tulsa undergraduate and graduate programs
• initiation of new degree program proposals
• within 5 years, increase the number of tenure-track faculty positions from 31 to 40, including 5 new positions in Tulsa

Objectives:

• Develop plan to enhance program offerings and student recruitment in strategic geographical locations.
• Support recruiting plan with staff resources.
• Develop promotional materials and update web pages for degree programs.

• Develop a state and national recruiting plan for graduate programs that includes particular strategies for recruiting underrepresented groups.

• Collaborate with other Schools in the College of Education to seek cross-college equity for state funding of graduate assistants.
• Develop system for timely awards of graduate assistantships.
• Provide 1 graduate research assistant to each faculty member.

• Support graduate research through graduate assistantships.
• Promote regional conferences for student presentations.
• Establish competitive graduate student travel fund.
• Incorporate Graduate Student Association, Flying Aggies, and other student organizations into planning and priority-setting.

• Develop new degree programs to meet constituent needs and demands of professions.
• Develop collaborative master’s degree in Educational Technology and Social Foundations.
• Add 2 faculty lines in Educational Technology to support degree.

Goal Two. Leverage resources and faculty load to support research.

Critical Success Factors:

• revision of faculty research support program system to allow for multiple award periods each year and for ease of application
• annual combined SES report to facilitate cross-disciplinary research and dialogue
• professional development opportunities:
• Allocation of $2,000 travel funding per faculty member per year
• Start up funds for new faculty members increased from $1000 to $5000
• Offer tuition waiver and full fee waivers for faculty and staff to enroll in 3 credit hours per semester at OSU
• Implement pre-tenure semester course load reduction for untenured faculty
• Establishment of post-tenure professional development opportunities for faculty, including funding for professional development and load adjustment
• Support for faculty development and research from grant overhead
• Reduce overall faculty load to 2:2 to reflect the level of comparable Doctoral Intensive research institutions
• faculty retention:
• Faculty salary parity with Big 12, comparable Doctoral Intensive institutions and/or other peer institutions
• Enable a practice of matching with counter-offers the compensation packages that our faculty receive at other institutions
• Utilize discretionary funds to build faculty culture to create an atmosphere favorable to retention of faculty

Objectives:

• Allocate $2,000 travel funding per faculty member per year from the operational budget.
• Support professional development opportunities.
• Encourage and facilitate eligible faculty to take sabbatical leave for research.
• Charge FRD committee with developing a plan to facilitate faculty to take sabbatical leave.
• Establish post-sabbatical colloquium.
• Establish post-tenure professional development opportunities for faculty, including funding and load adjustment.
• Reduce normal faculty teaching load to 2:2 to reflect the level of comparable Doctoral Intensive research institutions.
• Develop website by research office to facilitate research and collaboration.
• Offer tuition waiver and full fee waivers for faculty and staff to enroll in 3 credit hours per semester at OSU.
• Revise grant policies to allow for a percentage of grant overhead costs to be devoted to faculty development.

• Establish a formal mentoring system that supports new faculty in teaching, research, and service.
• Increase $1000 to $5000 the start-up funds for new faculty members.
• Establish pre-tenure semester course load reduction for untenured faculty.
• Provide documentation and letters from those mentored to become a part of senior faculty’s Annual Appraisal and Development documents.

• Develop SES faculty load plan that acknowledges graduate advising, local and national service, and other related activities.
• Develop a load plan that focuses on individual professional development and growth.

• Protect the research and writing time of faculty, especially those untenured, by limiting service obligations to one committee per year.
• Set aside a day of the week “free” from meeting times.
• Effect committees that strongly contribute to the strategic goals and objectives adopted by the SES faculty.

• Identify comparable Big 12, Doctoral Intensive institutions, or other institutions for setting faculty salary parity goals.
• Implement faculty salary parity plan.
• Enable a practice of matching with counter-offers the compensation packages that our faculty receive at other institutions.

Goal Three. Cultivate academic excellence through a professional atmosphere in which students and faculty learn, develop, promote integrity, and contribute to society.

Critical Success Factors:

• increase by 50% in 5 years the amount of internal research support grants
• increase by 50% in 5 years the amount of externally funded research grants
• increase by 50% in 5 years the proportion of graduate students who present at professional meetings
• increase by 50% in 5 years the number of student publication submissions.
• increase by 10% in 5 years the number of enrolled students
• increase within 5 years the percentage of students who complete degrees
• within 5 years, reduce the undergraduate student-teacher ratio to no more than 25:1
• new student code of conduct within 5 years
• new teaching collaboration load policy
• development of course evaluation tool specifically for distance education
• fair and well-articulated annual faculty appraisal system
• within 2 years, 1 graduate research assistant per faculty member at OSU-Tulsa
• within 2 years, 1 graduate research assistant per faculty member in Stillwater
• staff support to perform marketing for programs in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Stillwater
• new policy on course loads in general consistent with University policy
• course release for newly hired faculty members, 1 course per semester
• predictable class cancellation policies that promote expeditious completion of degree programs and timely faculty teaching assignments
• course load reduction for faculty members who are demonstrating extensive service obligations
• establishment of statistics lab, including support for graduate assistants
• strengthening of internship programs for undergraduates

Objectives:

• Expand availability of distance technology.
• Facilitate collaborative research with faculty at different universities.
• Expand internal financial support for collaborative and individual research.
• Promote and reward multiple primary investigators on grant proposals.
• Promote and reward joint and singular authorship of publications, proposals, and presentations.
• Promote and reward joint teaching.
• Promote and reward joint service.
• Revise ARPT document to reflect equal rewards for collaborative and individual work.
• Establish a research and evaluation center in the College of Education.

• The Student Affairs Committee will obtain information about codes of conduct for students at other institutions and the implementation of such codes.
• If after reviewing the codes of conduct, the Student Affairs Committee deems it appropriate, the committee members will a draft code of conduct for College of Education students and will see that it is reviewed and revised by the faculty members in the College and that the final document is voted on.
• The Faculty Development and Research Committee will obtain information about codes of conduct for faculty at other institutions and the implementation of such codes.
• If after reviewing the codes of conduct, the Faculty Development and Research Committee deems it appropriate, the committee members will draft a code of conduct for College of Education faculty members and will see that it is reviewed and revised by the faculty members in the College and that the final document is voted on.

• Faculty members in a program will make decisions regarding admissions in the program.
• Establish additional faculty lines to support programs in Stillwater.
• Establish additional faculty lines to support programs in Tulsa.
• Replace faculty promptly when positions become vacant.
• Bring programs up to reasonable faculty-student support levels.
• Add to Annual Appraisal and Development form an indication of the number of presentations and publication submissions by faculty members’ advisees.
• Align College of Education enrollment minimums to make them consistent with University policy.
• Faculty will teach courses within their area of expertise.
• Faculty will be given at least one semester’s notice of courses to be taught.
• Faculty will identify what courses they would like to teach.
• Market the graduate programs.
• Hire staff to market programs.
• Participate in Graduate School fairs.
• Reinstate doctoral program in aviation.
• Establish a policy for retention of existing faculty lines.

• Program faculty will design, implement, and assess programs, curriculum, and other educational endeavors.
• Program faculty will request information from administration on current policies (e.g., from Faculty Council, Graduate Council, and Board of Regents, etc) that specify the faculty role and the administrative role in developing curriculum.
• Conduct a faculty development program that includes the Provost, the AAUP representative, the Faculty Council Chair, the Graduate Council Chair, the Dean, and the School Head that clearly outlines the faculty members’ and the administrators’ responsibilities and authority for developing programs, curriculum, and other endeavors and the criteria that are used for evaluation.
• Redesign the College of Education structure to reflect a coherent system of academic departments.
• Involve faculty in decisions regarding the addition of new faculty positions.
• Involve faculty in decisions that regulate allocations of faculty lines in their programs.

• Conduct a faculty development program that includes the Provost, the AAUP representative, the Faculty Council Chair, the Graduate Council Chair, the Dean, and the School Head that clearly communicates the current policy and criteria for evaluating and rewarding faculty performance in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service.
• The SES Faculty Development and Research Committee will revise the ARPT document so that it is consistent with the appropriate policies and timelines and the criteria that are actually used to assess faculty performance.

• Provide evaluation and opportunities for development of skills and expertise of administrative personnel.
• Provide evaluation and opportunities for skill development of support staff.

Goal Four: Nurture diversity through a culture of respect, support, and productivity for all members of the SES community.

Critical Success Factors:

• 2 luncheons per year for professional development for faculty and staff
• $2000 funding per year for professional development luncheon series
• increase by 3 in 5 years the number of faculty from underrepresented groups
• 6 brown-bag sessions per year
• an extended professional development experience for faculty and staff on diversity
• $3000 funding for professional development experience on diversity

Objectives:

• Develop and implement a plan for a democratic faculty and governance structure.
• Communicate with and promote student groups, such as the Flying Aggies and the College of Education Graduate Students Association.
• Establish practices consistent with policies at the School, College, and University levels.

• Promote shared activities in the School.
• Establish poster session for faculty and students to present work.
• Establish brown-bag lunch session for presentations of faculty and students.

• Fund luncheon series on issues of diversity that brings in speakers from across campus to address faculty, staff, and students.
• Provide two-day training experience for faculty and staff on cultural diversity.

• Develop a plan for recruitment for faculty of color for both Stillwater and Tulsa campuses.
• Network through professional associations to develop awareness of SES programs and faculty opportunities.

• Establish collaborative plan with other units for planning, teaching, and evaluating undergraduate diversity course.
• Involve graduate students in course development and teaching undergraduate diversity course.
• Identify additional opportunities for coursework at the graduate and undergraduate levels that addresses diversity within and beyond a United States context.
• Identify additional opportunities for diversity threads in other coursework.