Creating a thread so we can post questions, happenings, suggestions, discussions, of topics on the "academic" side of the University. I had a few topics of discussion that have come to mind recently that don't really need their own thread, but thought they might be interesting none the less.

For clarification, I think anything SFA related but not sports specific could fit under here, as you'll see with my first post. Feel free to add content as you see fit.

So my brother in law goes to OU. He's into woodworking and found out that they have an on campus woodworking lab, which is supposed to be pretty awesome.

http://www.ou.edu/innovationhub/resources/fab-lab

Also has a number of different types of machines/capabilities in addition to the woodworking lab. As Lumberjacks, I feel like we really need an on-campus woodworking lab. Maybe we can combine it with a makerspace in our next round of building renos.

Glad to see this thread. I really think SFA has considerable upside to build out its academic offering in the sciences , particularly engineering. I hope it becomes a top priority to offer a full Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering degrees. The sooner we offer those degrees the sooner we will see a consistent rise in enrollment.

BigJack85 said:

---

Glad to see this thread. I really think SFA has considerable upside to build out its academic offering in the sciences , particularly engineering. I hope it becomes a top priority to offer a full Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering degrees. The sooner we offer those degrees the sooner we will see a consistent rise in enrollment.

---

Yep, we didn't really have a catch-all thread for educational topics that weren't big enough for a thread of their own, so I wanted to create one.

I definitely agree with you on the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. Supposing we built those degrees out, I think we should create a construction management degree that straddles the Engineer/Business colleges. I think that'd be an excellent fit for growth.

UT Tyler Salaries:
https://tylerpaper.com/news/local/a-look-at-the-top-salaries-at-the-university-of/article_8df17e24-c0f1-11e8-a50c-7f3a16f060c9.html

And some top SFA Salaries:
http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Documents/Publications/Other/Admin_Acc/2018/753_SFA.pdf

And just because: Dottavio makes 342k per year at Tarleton.

I spent some time looking into salaries back in the early 2000's. Suffice it to say that schools with large engineering programs tend to have the best paid professors. Those skills are in the highest demand and in turn fetch the best salaries.

Some faculty members have pointed to SFA's low salaries.... when I looked at it I found that the average professor was reasonably well paid when you considered the discipline they taught in, the low cost of living in Nacogdoches and the benefit of teaching at a university that is not completely research focused.

Agree on the construction management degree. There is high demand for that type of education

BigJack85 said:

---

I spent some time looking into salaries back in the early 2000's. Suffice it to say that schools with large engineering programs tend to have the best paid professors. Those skills are in the highest demand and in turn fetch the best salaries.

Some faculty members have pointed to SFA's low salaries.... when I looked at it I found that the average professor was reasonably well paid when you considered the discipline they taught in, the low cost of living in Nacogdoches and the benefit of teaching at a university that is not completely research focused.

---

Glad to hear that salaries are pretty reasonable. I know that my Finance professors were probably better than what UT offered. I know we had more access, the UT guys in my grad program were blown away by the MAST investment roundtable being open to undergrads.

Speaking of not being research focused, I like what Georgia State is doing with their focus on undergrads. IMO, that's the model we should follow. Let's be the best "teaching" college in the entire state.

The salaries for professors at SFA are abominable. As a grad student, I served/worked on a couple search committees. One was for dean of liberal arts. I collected all the data of the applicants, which were not that many. 4-6 ...they would come in and say "you want me to run a whole college on that salary: and quickly get outta Nac.

Another, I was on the committee for a Dept head of Human Services, which oversees tons of programs with licensure, masters & doc program. We couldn't find any. We would do telephone interviews and they would laugh in our face when told the salary bc it is not on par with other colleges our size. They did an interim fir 2 years and then finally found someone.

In my job, I am making more than if I went to be a prof. I would have to work, tenure, and hope to get promoted to a head in my field to make what i am now. It's madness.

I will say that there are several depts that are research based. It is not just a teaching college. My program was research-practitioner model. Lots of research coming out if the building (some published journal articles from yours truly included). A lot of the sciences do research as well.

I also was helped write some proposals and research to get a doc program at SFA. It took the prof and dept about 8 years to get it going. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has to approve the program. But first, the college and then the president. There are TONS of steps, research, applications, etc to do to even see if the program will be greenlighted from the start to the finish.

Personally, I think there will be a few new ones with the new building; however, it may be a while before we see it. I think the bew building will expand programs already in place. Once the student pop in those degree areas increase, we will probably see some new programs.

Pilotgirl said:

---

The salaries for professors at SFA are abominable. As a grad student, I served/worked on a couple search committees. One was for dean of liberal arts. I collected all the data of the applicants, which were not that many. 4-6 ...they would come in and say "you want me to run a whole college on that salary: and quickly get outta Nac.

Another, I was on the committee for a Dept head of Human Services, which oversees tons of programs with licensure, masters & doc program. We couldn't find any. We would do telephone interviews and they would laugh in our face when told the salary bc it is not on par with other colleges our size. They did an interim fir 2 years and then finally found someone.

In my job, I am making more than if I went to be a prof. I would have to work, tenure, and hope to get promoted to a head in my field to make what i am now. It's madness.

I will say that there are several depts that are research based. It is not just a teaching college. My program was research-practitioner model. Lots of research coming out if the building (some published journal articles from yours truly included). A lot of the sciences do research as well.

---

Wow. Thanks for the insight. That kind of speaks to another question I've had, which is whether or not SFA should join an existing University system, like UT, Tech, or A&M.

Pilotgirl said:

---

I also was helped write some proposals and research to get a doc program at SFA. It took the prof and dept about 8 years to get it going. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has to approve the program. But first, the college and then the president. There are TONS of steps, research, applications, etc to do to even see if the program will be greenlighted from the start to the finish.

Personally, I think there will be a few new ones with the new building; however, it may be a while before we see it. I think the bew building will expand programs already in place. Once the student pop in those degree areas increase, we will probably see some new programs.

---

Would you say that 8-10 years is pretty typical for new programs to get launched?

No. This one was a one man crusade for the longest & then got people, SFA leadership on board. I would say if its all hands on deck & with new SFA prez, we should see some new majors..if thats a priority....by about 3 to 4 years from now.

Pilotgirl said:

---

No. This one was a one man crusade for the longest & then got people, SFA leadership on board. I would say if its all hands on deck & with new SFA prez, we should see some new majors..if thats a priority....by about 3 to 4 years from now.

---

Thanks for the insight!

cboothe09 said:

---

With the rich oil history in east Texas, I'm sure they could come up with a degree in Geophysical Engineering or Pertoleum Engineering. Maybe even partner with Kilgore College as a feeder possibly for that...

---

I like it. At the very least, a sponsored geology department and an energy business minor.

Here's a cool look at what Georgia State is doing with data & predictive analytics.

https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/07/19/georgia-state-improves-student-outcomes-data

Public and Private University Presidential pay. https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/executive-compensation#id=table_public_2017

I thought I read were Baker was making $340,000? Looks to be a little below his peers but certainly a solid package given the size of the university and the growth of the university under his tenure......

BigJack85 said:

---

I thought I read were Baker was making $340,000? Looks to be a little below his peers but certainly a solid package given the size of the university and the growth of the university under his tenure......

---

I believe that's around where he's at. But house and car are included in that figure, so there might be some discrepancy.

Endowments in Texas. ACU mentioned. Had no idea they had a $450 million endowment.

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-12-24/texas-endowment-at-31-billion-passes-yale-with-help-from-oil?__twitter_impression=true

I was on the alumni marketing advisory committee back in 2013/2014. I believe the SFA endowment (which is divided into 3 components) was about $82 million. I hope. Hope the university is successful in raising a large chunk of the $100 million goal.

BigJack85 said:

---

I was on the alumni marketing advisory committee back in 2013/2014. I believe the SFA endowment (which is divided into 3 components) was about $82 million. I hope. Hope the university is successful in raising a large chunk of the $100 million goal.

---

That would be an absolute game changer for the university. The next 5 years under a new prez are going to be so important for the next several decades as a school.

I just hope our fundraising team is capable of pulling it off.

ACU's endowment was around $50 million in 1990. That's an incredible rate of return.

http://acuoptimist.com/2013/11/times-points-to-acus-endowment/

I did not know that A&M is managing our modest endowment.

http://www.sfasu.edu/vpfa/112.asp

From another message board:

"The A&M System provides investment services to Midwestern State University (MWSU), Stephen F. Austin University (SFA), and Texas Woman's University (TWU). As of August 31, 2018, the A&M System managed investments valued at $41,226,260.46 for MWSU, $71,621,794.15 for SFA, and $175,625,332.92 for TWU."

SFAJack_76 said:

---

I did not know that A&M is managing our modest endowment.

http://www.sfasu.edu/vpfa/112.asp

---

I'd be curious to see our endowment's return vs A&M's return.

SFAJack_76 said:

---

From another message board:

"The A&M System provides investment services to Midwestern State University (MWSU), Stephen F. Austin University (SFA), and Texas Woman's University (TWU). As of August 31, 2018, the A&M System managed investments valued at $41,226,260.46 for MWSU, $71,621,794.15 for SFA, and $175,625,332.92 for TWU."

---

There is a separate piece that is not managed under the A&M piece that is about $12 million. It has been the case for years that we rolled most of our endowment under a cooperation agreement that many others take advantage of. If we reached that $200 million threshold we could get better returns (possibly) on our own.

BigJack85 said:

---

If we reached that $200 million threshold we could get better returns (possibly) on our own.

---

200 million would really be something. But it shouldn't be unreachable over the next decade or two with our upcoming fundraising campaign.

Anyone heard even a whisper about our fundraising campaign for the 100th anniversary?

Not a peep.

BigJack85 said:

---

Not a peep.

---

The only hide or hair I've heard of it has been bits and pieces. We've apparently been paying nearly 200k to a fundraising consultant for 2018:
http://www.sfasu.edu/purchasing/purch_public_posting/B1800987.pdf

Back in August 2018 we hired 2 new "development" professionals for the fundraising team.

And we mention a different fundraising consulting firm here, who looked at a feasibility study here:
http://www.sfasu.edu/9447.asp

And according to KTRE, the regents approved the 100 million campaign in Mid 2017:
http://www.ktre.com/story/35969750/sfa-regents-approve-recruiting-marketing-efforts-aimed-at-different-generations/

Heck, we even had posts on here about it back in 2017.

Are we running the first secret capital campaign in history?