Texas A&M University-Kingsville

Mission

The mission of Texas A&M University-Kingsville is to develop well-rounded leaders and critical thinkers who can solve problems in an increasingly complex, dynamic and global society. Located in South Texas, the university is a teaching, research and service organization that provides access to higher education in an ethnically and culturally diverse region of the nation. A&M-Kingsville offers an extensive array of baccalaureate and master’s degrees, and selected doctoral and professional degrees in an academically challenging, learner-centered and caring environment where all employees contribute to student success.

Priorities and Goals

  • Create a learner-centered environment
  • Meet the unique challenges of the South Texas region
  • Provide access and affordable educational opportunities
  • Enhance support for students to attain their educational goals
  • Enhance opportunities for student leadership development
  • Provide innovative broad-based undergraduate programs of superior quality
  • Provide innovative broad-based undergraduate programs that enable students to achieve their educational goals and be competitive in the workplace
  • Offer graduate programs that provide advanced degree training, meeting the needs for a professional work force
  • Strengthen research opportunities for students
  • Strengthen the quality of education programs to meet the educational needs of the State of Texas
  • Maintain the capability of the library to fulfill its teaching, research and public service functions
  • Provide equipment, facilities and their infrastructure, and computer technology
  • Plan for program growth and enhancement
    • Support research, scholarship and creative activities
    • Increase the level of university and external funding
    • Provide equipment, facilities, and information research, scholarship, and creative activities
    • Provide public service activities for South Texas
    • Support continuing education programs for the South Texas community
    • Provide multicultural enrichment opportunities for South Texas
  • Enhance opportunities for faculty and staff development
  • Develop funding sources for a faculty sabbatical program
  • Support faculty and staff development programs
  • Provide access to assessment planning and development training opportunities
    • Foster a spirit of community and collegiality among faculty, staff and students
    • Build mutual respect, cooperation and trust within the university community
    • Build diversity among the faculty, staff, and students
    • Promote communication across the university
    • Promote interdisciplinary cooperation and collaborative activities
    • Promote and develop regional, national, and international collaborations
    • Strengthen community relationships, particularly with school districts in our region
    • Support regional and national collaborations for programs across the university
    • Broaden and strengthen the international dimensions of the university

Commentary on Top Priorities

Student Focus

The primary focus is on our students. We are committed to providing outstanding higher education opportunities for our students and to assisting them in attaining excellent undergraduate, professional or graduate educations.

  • Create a learner-centered environment
  • Provide innovative broad-based undergraduate programs of superior quality
  • Support research, scholarship and creative activities

One of the principal efforts undertaken in FY 2003-2004 to support a learner-centered environment is establishment of a fully functioning Center for Teaching Excellence. The Center has provided faculty with an outstanding array of programming from brown-bag lunches with discussion of best practices, to development of a modest but excellent collection of resources for faculty review, to bringing in external experts to help faculty identify and adapt a model focused on learning and students. The work of the Center has already begun to change views of faculty work from “teaching is the focus of our efforts” to “learning is the focus of our efforts.”

As we bring additional services online and upgrade support for students (e.g., University College, supplemental instruction and improved tutoring services; improvements in developmental education; increasing students’ civic, professional and research engagement through our Quality Enhancement Plan), we expect to see students flourish at A&M-Kingsville. The Office of Institutional Research and the newly hired executive director of institutional planning and assessment will play key roles in tracking our students, reporting results of our initiatives, and working with faculty and staff to use the results to guide further improvement.

A&M-Kingsville offers more than 50 bachelor’s degrees across five colleges: Agriculture and Human Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, and Engineering. Very soon, we expect to open an additional professional school and offer degrees in pharmacy. Students at the System Center–San Antonio may choose to pursue three baccalaureate degrees in business, five in arts and sciences, and two in education. All undergraduate programs in business, education, and engineering are accredited by the appropriate professional or specialized accrediting agencies, as are several in human sciences and among the arts and sciences programs. This level of specialized accreditation speaks strongly to the quality of the programs.

Students at A&M-Kingsville are actively encouraged to engage in scholarly and creative activities as undergraduates. Many instances of outstanding undergraduate work could be cited, and are available in the System Accountability Data pages. Some of the more notable are:

  • the Jazz Band’s fine musicianship, which won them recognition as Downbeat magazine’s best college big band;
  • the patent received for an improved production process for acetaminophen by a faculty mentor and his students; or
  • first, second and third places won for research by A&M-Kingsville undergraduates at the Southern Section of the Society for Animal Science

Our intention is to encourage more students to engage in such activities through our Quality Enhancement Plan, which focuses on student engagement in the disciplines through active learning in civic, research or professional arenas.

Service

We are committed to excellence and prominence in service through research, scholarly and creative activities, and collaborative work with our external stakeholders.

  • Support research, scholarship and creative activities
  • Provide public service activities for South Texas
  • Enhance opportunities for faculty and staff development
  • Promote and develop regional, national and international collaborations

Faculty and staff at A&M-Kingsville are also actively engaged in scholarly work related to their fields. The university supports these activities through a University Grant fund of $100,000 per year to be given in small amounts to serve as seed money for those seeking external funding for research. Support continues after grants are won; the university returns 50 percent of indirect cost reimbursement to the colleges for use in supporting other research, scholarly or creative efforts on the part of faculty and staff.

A&M-Kingsville faculty and researchers are well known for their citrus and horticultural research, work with wildlife and ranch management, research in environmental issues specific to South Texas and northern Mexico, and archival preservation of historical documents and artifacts specific to the region. About $10 million, an increase of 42 percent over FY 2000-2001, from extra-institutional sources was used in FY 2003-2004 for research conducted by A&M-Kingsville faculty.

A&M-Kingsville partnered with 15 other colleges and universities during FY 2003-2004, including Texas A&M University (College Station) and the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey. During this same period, the university worked with public schools throughout South Texas; eight government agencies, including NASA and the Oak Ridge Laboratory; as well as a number of business or professional organizations.

These research, scholarly, civic and partnership activities frequently lead to positive contributions to life in South Texas. However, equally important are the university’s cultural and entertainment contributions. Theatre, musical performances, art galleries and museums, and Division II athletics supported by A&M-Kingsville add to the quality of life in South Texas.

Learning and Working Environment

We are committed to creating a learning and working environment that supports professional and personal development and enhances the lives of all members of the university community.

  • Support research, scholarship and creative activities
  • Enhance opportunities for faculty and staff development
  • Foster a spirit of community and collegiality among faculty, staff and students

As noted above, all members of the university community—from groundsperson to president—are encouraged to be involved in research, scholarship and creative work, whether as producer of such work or as participant in its outcomes. Faculty and staff are encouraged, even required, to engage in annual professional development activities as part of their employee evaluation processes. Seminars and workshops for faculty, staff and students are held on campus virtually every week and advertised to the entire university community. Membership in professional organizations is welcomed and participation in meetings and training sponsored by those organizations is encouraged and supported by the university. Professional development of faculty and staff is considered vital to maintaining an up-to-date workforce and current curricula.

Social and work interactions among the approximately 1,000 employees of A&M-Kingsville tend to form a sense of community and support collegiality. There is obvious pride in the university, its work, and the accomplishments of faculty, staff and students. As the university grows larger and becomes more research-oriented with each passing year, one of the challenges for the university will be to continue to find ways to bring its faculty, staff and students together to share a common university experience. One of the projects planned for 2004-2005 is to conduct simultaneous surveys of faculty, staff and students to gain information about shared and divergent perceptions of the university and its academic, cultural and social environments. Results of this project should serve as a guide for improvements in collegiality and sense of a belonging among members of the university community.

The planning, budgeting, implementation of plans, and assessment and use of results for continuous improvement are centered around this basic array of commitments and goals, with the aim of accomplishing excellence in each of them. The examples provided here are little more than a glimpse of the work toward them, the results of that work and the pride we take in making A&M-Kingsville and those who work or study here the best we can.

Commentary on Other Topics

Enrollment

A&M-Kingsville is working toward developing and maintaining optimal enrollment levels for the university, its colleges and programs, and at each of its sites. “Optimal” in this case means growth to a number of students necessary for critical mass and satisfactory levels of diversity, while controlling enrollment to levels at which the university can provide the highest levels of quality in services, programming and facilities.

Enrollment at A&M-Kingsville continues to grow. As indicated by the tables in the enrollment module of the data section, total enrollment has increased by 20 percent in the period 2000-2004. While the greatest increase in the number of students was at the undergraduate level (n=613, 13 percent), the most remarkable area of growth is in graduate education. The number of students enrolled as master’s degree-seeking students grew from 1,033 to 1,503, or by 45 percent. Even more notable, the number of doctoral students more than doubled, from 93 to 194, a 109 percent increase.

While the university may fall slightly short of its “Closing the Gaps” overall enrollment target for fall 2005, it has already nearly doubled the target for number of Hispanic students and nearly met the target for number of African-American students enrolled. The university is accomplishing its mission of “access to higher education in an ethnically and culturally diverse region of the nation” and will maintain and strengthen its efforts to achieve an optimal undergraduate and graduate enrollment. Increasing enrollment of well-qualified students will remain a priority.

Affordability

A&M-Kingsville remains affordable—and, thus, financially accessible—to virtually every student who might wish to attend. While total tuition and fees have risen over recent years as state support has declined, the total cost of tuition and fees to undergraduate students for a year’s courses is a very modest $4,086. Although South Texas is known for having pockets of extreme poverty, the university can make financial aid packages for all qualifying students. Financial aid has increased as the cost has increased and meets very substantial portions of the expense of attending the university. The affordability data details the levels of scholarships and grants, work-study employment, and loan funding available.

One area of concern is students’ reliance, and subsequent default rate, on student loans. No one wishes to see students graduate from college with substantial outstanding indebtedness if it can be avoided. Students who leave college without completing a degree and who have student loans face an even greater challenge. The university plans to attempt reduction in usage of student loans and of the loan default rates via a two-pronged attack that involves:

  • counseling with students about the advantages and drawbacks of using student loans, the responsibilities in accepting loans, and the problems that loan default will bring to them; and
  • increased efforts to assist students in completing their degrees and find employment.

Graduation and Retention Rates

Graduation rates for first-time, full-time in college (ft/FTIC) baccalaureate students in full-time attendance at A&M-Kingsville continue to be lower than desired, although there are indications that this rate has risen markedly with the 1997 ft/FTIC cohort and appears likely to continue to rise with each entering cohort. The total number of baccalaureate degrees awarded has increased by 15 percent between FY 2000 and FY 2004. (See graduation rates in data module.)

The number of ft/FTIC students in each fall cohort has been remarkably stable over this same period, indicating that students transferring into A&M-Kingsville and graduate enrollment growth account for much of the university’s total enrollment growth. More than 50 percent of community college students who transfer to A&M-Kingsville graduate. Students seeking master’s degrees tend to graduate at about the 40 percent level, and A&M-Kingsville’s doctoral students have demonstrated a steady climb in graduation rates to about 50 percent in recent cohorts. The total number of doctoral students graduating annually increased by 210 percent between FY 2000 and FY 2004. For FY 2003-2004, the total number of doctorates awarded exceeded the total number of doctorates awarded by all of the other public universities in the South Texas Region (as defined by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s “Closing the Gaps” initiative) combined.

A key to increasing the number of graduates is successfully retaining students to graduation. Retention rates for undergraduate students, like their graduation rates, are lower than desired at A&M-Kingsville. (See the graduation rates data module. Please note that those figures reflect the retention rates of only ft/FTIC fall entering cohorts of freshmen, exclude in-transfer students, and are not necessarily reflective of the entire student body.)

The university has instituted a number of initiatives to increase student success—not only academic, but also social and personal integration with the university community—in recent years. These include such student support services as:

  • tutoring and supplemental instruction;
  • changes in counseling and advising practices;
  • supporting student access to a more diverse range of developmental education services;
  • learning communities;
  • integration of student activities with academic intended outcomes;
  • establishment of the Center for Teaching Excellence and extended professional development activities aimed at improved teaching/learning outcomes as a result of improved instruction; and
  • an ongoing institutional research program investigating issues associated with retention and graduation.

These programs are recently implemented and results will be summarized in future accountability reports.

Annual fluctuations in retention or graduation rates are not, in the short run, good indicators of success for these efforts. However, as results are tracked over time with several cohorts of students, the university expects to be able to refine the retention and success strategies with students and to see steady long-term increases in retention and graduation rates.

Success of Developmental Education Students

The percentage of ft/FTIC undergraduate entering cohorts at A&M-Kingsville required to take developmental education declined from 58 percent to 47 percent—a substantial decrease—from fall 2000 to fall 2004. The university has established special academic and support services programming through University College to help these students be successful. It may be noteworthy that the six-year graduation rates for students who entered the university in developmental education exceeds that of their overall entering cohorts (both developmental and nondevelopmental students) by 8 to 12 percent. While this is encouraging, new initiatives to improve outcomes for developmental students were implemented in FY 2004-2005 and will be assessed and summarized in the next accountability report.

Diversity

The A&M-Kingsville student body is diverse and generally representative of the population of South Texas at the undergraduate level. It remains diverse at the master’s and doctoral levels, although Hispanic students are generally underrepresented and international students are generally overrepresented, relative to the population of South Texas.

Faculty members are diverse, although the proportion of Hispanic faculty does not approach the demographics of the region. The staff appears to be diverse and generally representative of the region. See the student, faculty and staff profiles in Part IV of the full report for details.

Academic Excellence Efforts

A&M-Kingsville maintains its commitment to quality education for undergraduates, even as it further develops graduate education at the master’s and doctoral levels, by keeping class sizes manageable and using highly qualified instructors in undergraduate classes. Ninety-four percent of teaching faculty have doctorates or other terminal degrees in their field of instruction. Sixty-four percent of FTE teaching faculty are tenured or tenure-track and over half of all credit hours are taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty. The overall faculty-to-student ratio stood at about 1:17 in FY 2003-2004. The average number of students in lower-division classes averaged 25 in FY 2003-2004 and the median class size for lower-division classes was 23. Few students are at risk of being “lost” in very large classes, as less than 3 percent of all undergraduate classes have more than 50 students. These figures reflect the institution’s longstanding commitment to student success through close interaction with the highest-quality faculty.

Some of the results of this commitment may be seen in student outcome measures such as the following:

  • In FY 2003-2004, 87 percent of A&M-Kingsville education students passed their licensure examination.
  • Sixty-four percent of all graduates from A&M-Kingsville were either employed or attending graduate or professional school in Texas at about one year following graduation. This should not be taken to imply that 36 percent were not employed or continuing their educations; many of these students had moved out-of-state for work or graduate school and couldn’t be tracked and reported here.

Please also see listings and discussion in the collaboration and outreach and excellence data modules. These contain additional examples of excellence in academic matters and students’ learning outcomes at A&M-Kingsville.

The university was found to be in compliance with SACS Principles of Accreditation for Core Requirement 3.3.1 (“identifies expected outcomes for its educational programs . . . assesses whether it achieves those outcomes, and provides evidence of improvement based on analysis of those results”) as part of its reaffirmation of accreditation process.

A&M-Kingsville’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP)—under development in FY 2003-2004—is focused on improving undergraduates’ learning outcomes and success through increased civic, research or professional engagement in courses in their major-area disciplines. Review of the literature of higher education suggests that more-engaged students are more likely to be academically successful. Results of administrations of the National Study of Student Engagement also identified areas in which A&M-Kingsville’s students were not as engaged as their peers or students nationally. The QEP is designed to elicit faculty solutions that increase student engagement. It also provides development opportunities for faculty that support their abilities to increase student engagement. The university is committed to the QEP and expects to see meaningful increases in the quality and quantity of academic excellence as a result. The QEP will begin full implementation in fall 2005 and will be summarized in the FY 2005-2006 accountability report.

Research

Emphasis on research wears several guises at A&M-Kingsville. As noted above, one venue for engagement is course-based research engagement projects for undergraduates. The lists of projects and activities in the collaboration and outreach and excellence modules in Part IV of the report include a number of other research projects that involve students, both undergraduate and graduate. For the student who wishes to engage in research mentored by faculty or professional researchers, there are many opportunities at A&M-Kingsville.

All faculty members who are tenured or are tenure-track must conduct meaningful research—or scholarly or creative works in those disciplines where those are the appropriate products of scholarly efforts—and the promotion and tenure process requires documentation of those efforts. As noted previously, nearly 25 percent of all faculty members are engaged in externally funded research or other scholarly projects. In addition, a total of $100,000 (institutionally funded) in the University Grant fund is available annually for seed money for faculty research. These grants were overseen by the Research Council. A number of instances of collaborative research projects are noted in the collaboration and outreach data module, and some faculty have received prestigious recognition for their research agenda (see the excellence module listings.) and, along with others, were featured in the university’s research magazine, Discovery, published in FY 2004-2005. Work on this magazine began in FY 2003-2004.

In addition, A&M-Kingsville maintains research centers and institutes, some of which have national and international reputations, well beyond what might be expected of a medium-sized regional university. Research expenditures for FY 2003-2004 totaled more than $10 million.

Taken together, A&M-Kingsville has earned regional, state and, in some instances, national and international recognition for the quality and extent of research, creative and scholarly work.

Fund Raising

The university reported $6,442,142 in gifts, grants and donations for FY 2003-2004.  Special emphasis areas that have a strong support base of donors and a history of generous giving include the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, the President’s Circle, the Javelina Alumni Association and the Athletic Program. A capital campaign is in the planning stages and will be initiated in FY 2006.

Fiscal Stability

A&M University-Kingsville completely satisfied the SACS Principles for Accreditation Core Requirement 2.1.1 and in Principles 3.10.1 and subsequent in terms of the soundness of its financial base, demonstration of fiscal stability, and control of financial and physical resources during FY 2003-2004 in its most recent reaffirmation of accreditation review in April 2005.

Operational Efficiencies

The efficiencies module in Part IV of the report details the university’s issues in this area. The university lags the state goals for space utilization and shows a surplus of space. The module also indicates that accumulated deferred maintenance has more than doubled in the period 2000–2004. There are both positive and negative aspects to the reported information. The Kingsville campus appears to have capacity to accommodate more students than are currently enrolled, which suggests that it is an institution with capacity to accommodate planned enrollment growth. However, many of the buildings on the Kingsville campus are old and were designed for a pre-technology approach to college instruction. These buildings need extensive renovation to accommodate both current instructional technology and larger class sections. Funding is not available to make needed renovations; in fact, even maintenance has been deferred due to inadequate funding. The problem is circular: more money is required to provide the physical facilities and infrastructure needed to provide excellent university educations for more students at A&M-Kingsville and more students are needed to help generate and justify the additional money. This is and will continue to be one of the university’s major challenges.

Examination and review of programs, to both increase the efficiency and effectiveness of those that are continued and to identify those that should be phased out, was ongoing in FY 2003-2004. Instances of this work are cited in the excellence module listing. This work will continue in future years.

Commentary on Other Institutional Priorities

A&M-Kingsville has a culture of accountability to the people of the State of Texas and to all who supported the Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy. The people of Texas have already invested many millions of dollars in the construction of the College of Pharmacy building and in the required planning and program development. Hundreds of Texans have pinned their hopes of earning a degree in pharmacy on their admission to the A&M-Kingsville College of Pharmacy. Yet, the College of Pharmacy is not currently funded at a level sufficient to enroll the students and begin teaching courses. To waste this investment in the College of Pharmacy would be an unaccountable loss for the state and people of Texas. Opening a fully functioning College of Pharmacy will remain a priority for A&M-Kingsville.