3:27 p.m.
Dear COEHD Faculty and Staff,
Hope all of you are well. It's been a busy but exciting start for COEHD this spring
semester and I wanted to bring you up to speed on current and upcoming initiatives at the
college level.
1. COEHD Strategic Planning - Overall, I'm very pleased with our progress to this
point. While I love to see interest in addressing the big questions about who we are and
where we want to go, it is equally satisfying to observe us together in a community,
sharing a space, interacting at levels both professional and personal, especially post
pandemic. I obviously wish for this to continue after strategic planning has culminated -
it's vital to our success as a college and academic community. I'm happy to report
the strategic planning committee is roughly at the point of synthesizing and developing
draft language for statements, goals, and strategies that derived from all the input and
perspectives shared across multiple sessions with internal and external stakeholders (see
attachment). Drafts are in their very early stages, and you should expect to see products
over the next weeks. Be aware we're still capturing input from key stakeholders and
our outreach has been intentional to include individuals who represent the human
development side of our work. Two sessions scheduled on February 7th and the 13th are
devoted primarily to gathering input from our external stakeholders. We're receiving a
lot of interest in these sessions and hoping for a good turnout. Opportunities to interact
with our community partners are seldom so needless to say I'm quite thrilled. Special
thanks to our COEHD strategic planning committee members for their involvement and efforts
at enabling and facilitating the data collection processes. For these meetings, our
committee members lead discussions and gather the information. Important work and I'm
very grateful for their service.
1. Doctoral reimagining - A recent communication from President Eighmy underscored the
need for us to affirm our commitments as a college to elevating our standards and
practices in preparing doctoral students for success. So, what does it all mean for us in
COEHD?? In one sense, it might mean minor or in some cases more substantive changes to our
outlook regarding our obligations and duties as faculty to ensure we are pursuing common
targets and that we have the skills and capacity to mentor our doctoral students for
success in a variety of careers. It may also further signify a need for a deeper
consideration of the expectations from the perspective of the doctoral student. Findings
from a UTSA task force on doctoral enhancement suggested issues with low funding packages
relative to the current market, lack of benefits, high opportunity costs interfering with
doctoral mentoring, and insufficient professional development in general. Some of these we
have begun to address such as the funding package, but more work is needed in formalizing
degree training milestones, critical developmental markers, and other supports that every
single COEHD doctoral student should be entitled to. I have charged Dr. Trepal with
forming a taskforce to formalize our obligations and set in motion a plan of action to
fulfill our commitments to doctoral preparation excellence.
1. University Strategic Planning - in a somewhat parallel process, the university will
soon be launching its process for reviewing the current strategic destinations related to
student success, research, and innovation, which as you know we have employed to frame and
contextualize our own strategic planning work. Soon, information and input will be
requested from you in an online survey regarding your perceptions of how these aims are
faring relative to evolving circumstances at UTSA and nationally. I will be leading the
effort in gathering input for this process at several meetings that will be scheduled late
February into mid-March and into April.
1. 2nd Year Retention and Enrollment Declines - I recently received data showing a
roughly 15% decrease in 2nd year retention of COEHD undergraduate students and 8% decline
in COEHD undergraduate enrollment between Fall 2021 and Fall 2022. The longer trend
reveals a steady decline in enrollments in general. I'm most concerned about retaining
our students in the 2nd year which is why I am assigning a taskforce to examine this
issue. Dr. Trepal has gathered information that suggests possibilities for targeting
interventions more effectively, particularly in courses that seem to be decisive in
students' decisions to remain or leave in the major. This is a complex problem for
sure with no easy solutions. I am most interested in application of best practices in
maximizing career interest, experiential learning early in their coursework, and ensuring
high quality learning experiences. I look forward to what transpires from the work of this
committee. Be bold!
1. Searches - all very promising to this point; excellent candidates. Much appreciation
to faculty on search committees. Updates forthcoming.
1. Promotion and Tenure Announcements - also great news to report; announcement will be
released soon
That's all for now, I hope all of you are in good health and are having a productive
spring so far.
Take care and please reach out to me if you have any questions or thoughts.
Mario
--
Mario Torres, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Education and Human Development
President's Distinguished Professorship
The University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle, Main Building 3.304
San Antonio, TX 78249
Office: 210.458.5200
Fax: 210.458.4487
Mario.Torres2@utsa.edu<mailto:Mario.Torres2@utsa.edu>