[VPAAEtal] Work load and compensation

[Academic Affairs]

Dear A&M-Commerce faculty:

Yesterday Alicia Currin, our CFO, and I were guests at the Faculty Senate meeting.  For discussion was the broad issue of faculty workload and compensation, a host of issues that those present quite rightly explained have been before this institution for many years.
There was a widespread sense that "the Administration" neither understands nor is interested in correcting what most perceive as a number of inequitable, even unreasonable, actions by administrators and expectations of faculty.

I first heard of these problems shortly after arriving on campus when I attended  my first meeting of UEC.   Then-Dean of Business John Humphreys forcefully and aggressively announced that the biggest issue facing the academic program was a radical shortage of faculty, a problem directly related to the administrative decision to increase the student body without increasing the faculty.

After looking into the matter, I discovered that Dr. Humphreys was indeed correct.  I immediately began work on a plan to add significant faculty lines by restructuring the funding for athletics, increasing the athletic fee and thereby freeing a significant portion of tuition income for new faculty lines.
These efforts culminated in a vote by the student body to indeed increase significantly the athletic fee, and together with restructuring and cost-savings implemented by Provost Humphreys, we began this year with searches for 21 new faculty members.

But the larger questions need serious attention.  I know from experience that improvement in workload and compensation is very possible, and requires carefully planned strategies maintained over several years.   Accordingly, I have instructed Provost Humphreys to appoint a special faculty Task Force, headed by Dr. William Kurasina, to examine these matters and to draft a multi-year proposal addressing workload, faculty compensation, and equity adjustments.

I hope that before the end of this academic year, that Task Force will be well into identifying desirable goals, benchmarks, and strategies.

I am grateful to your representatives on the Senate for the honest exchange of yesterday.  We reviewed many of the reasons for the present state of affairs, including admitted missteps of the past.  My deep desire now, which I am sure you share, is to move forward with a plan for the future, realizable and reasonable, the product of careful and transparent inquiry.

And I welcome, of course, your thoughts on any of these matters.   Gratefully,    Ray

Ray M. Keck III, PhD
President
Texas A&M University-Commerce
P.O. Box 3011
Commerce, TX 75429

903-886-5011
Ray.keck at tamuc.edu<mailto:Ray.keck at tamuc.edu>


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