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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Dear A&M-Commerce faculty:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I hope that before the end of this academic year, that Task Force will be well into identifying desirable goals, benchmarks, and strategies.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">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.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">And I welcome, of course, your thoughts on any of these matters. Gratefully, Ray<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD">Ray M. Keck III, PhD<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD">President<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD">Texas A&M University-Commerce<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD">P.O. Box 3011<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD">Commerce, TX 75429<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD">903-886-5011<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD"><a href="mailto:Ray.keck@tamuc.edu">Ray.keck@tamuc.edu</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-fareast-language:ES-TRAD"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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