Development of the QEP
The process of selecting the QEP at Tarleton officially began in February of 2018.
Tarleton’s QEP, Texan Smart, was selected and developed based on a number of activities that occurred in two distinct phases.
Phase 1: Review of Data
In Spring 2018, Tarleton began a first set of planning processes under the direction of Dr. Mark Morvant, Associate Vice President for Academic Administration and SACSCOC Liaison. Dr. Mark Morvant
selected two co-chairs to lead this phase of QEP development, Dr. Keith Emmert and Dr. Jolena Waddell, and formed a QEP Planning Committee with faculty member representatives in the Division of Academic Affairs and staff member representatives from the Divisions of Enrollment Management, Finance and Administration, and Student Engagement & Success. The goal of the QEP Planning Committee was to collect and review a wide range of data to explore possible QEP topics.
Phase 2: Develop, Organize, and Assess the QEP
In February 2020, Tarleton began a second set of planning processes and formed the QEP Steering Committee. Dr. Jordan Barkley, Tarleton’s Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Administration, authorized and charged the QEP Steering Committee to finalize selection of Tarleton’s QEP topic and lead the development of the QEP proposal. Dr. Laurie Sharp was selected to serve as Chair of the QEP Steering Committee and Dr. Jolena Waddell continued to serve as Co-Chair. Dr. Laurie Sharp and Dr. Jolena Waddell worked with executive and academic leaders across campus to select a representative group of faculty and staff members who would serve as committee members.
Institutional Development of the QEP
Informational and Feedback Sessions
The goal of holding multiple informational and feedback sessions was to gather the broad-based support of institutional stakeholders. Dr. Laurie Sharp created a PowerPoint presentation that provided general information about the QEP process, key issues that emerged from data analyses, and the broad focus areas for potential QEP topics.
Next, Dr. Laurie Sharp scheduled and held multiple informational and feedback sessions among Tarleton administrators, faculty and staff members, and students who represented distinct groups throughout Tarleton. The feedback gathered from these sessions was compiled and given to the members of the QEP Steering Committees.
The informational and feedback sessions helped keep institutional stakeholders throughout Tarleton informed about the development of the QEP and allowed everyone to be represented in the QEP development process with opportunities to offer meaningful insights and perspectives. Input from informational and feedback sessions enabled the continuous refinement of Tarleton’s QEP topic. During early sessions, wellness emerged as a possible QEP topic. In subsequent sessions, input provided by each group helped hone the broad area of wellness evolved into a QEP topic with a more manageable and narrow scope. Towards later sessions, financial wellness and well-being became the focus of Tarleton’s QEP.
Planning Meetings
Once Tarleton’s QEP topic narrowed to financial wellness and well-being, Dr. Laurie Sharp and Dr. Jolena Waddell solidified the QEP topic name, scope, and operational definitions for topic-related terms. In collaboration with members of the QEP Steering Committee, Dr. Laurie Sharp developed Tarleton’s QEP into an action plan with realistic, measurable student learning and student success outcomes. Dr. Jolena Waddell met with student leaders to seek input from them concerning the concept of financial wellness and well-being as Tarleton’s QEP topic and its potential impact on student learning and success.
At the conclusion of these planning meetings, Dr. Laurie Sharp designed a survey entitled QEP Topic – Final Feedback Survey to gather any final input on the framework for Tarleton’s QEP topic from members of the QEP Steering Committee and President’s Cabinet. Dr. Laurie Sharp emailed the QEP Topic – Final Feedback Survey out, and when the survey period closed, Dr. Laurie Sharp received useful feedback with which to finalize the framework for Tarleton’s QEP.