Board Approves New Academic Department, Hears Reports
Baylor University's Board of Regents at its Homecoming meeting today approved establishment of a new Department of Statistical Science and heard interim reports from three review committees established at its September meeting.
The new Department of Statistical Science will replace the existing Institute of Statistics beginning with the 2004-05 fiscal year. It will assume the current institute's primary function of administering doctoral and master's programs in statistics. The institute is currently one of the top three producers of Ph.D.s at Baylor. The new department will report to the provost's office.
The three review committees were charged with reaching out to all constituency groups of Baylor, utilizing available information and resources to make recommendations to the full board or the appropriate standing committee for action or further study.
Chaired by Will Davis of Austin, the Special Regent Review Committee is evaluating faculty relations, the faculty hiring process, provisional students and Baylor traditions. It also is evaluating the university's agreement with the Baylor Alumni Association to ensure that the institution is meeting fully its commitments as represented in the cooperation agreement, which was signed last May.
The Audit Review Committee, chaired by Dale Jones of Dallas, is examining the university's financial model, its bonded indebtedness, the board's conflict of interest policy, and tuition structure. The Legal Issues Committee, chaired by Joe Armes of Dallas, is monitoring pending litigation.
Final reports from the Special Regent Review and Audit Review committees are expected to be made at the February 2004 board meeting.