Written Testimony for the Senate Committee
on Higher Education
Interim Hearing – September 12, 2016
Monitoring Charge
Rex Peebles, PhD
Assistant Commissioner
for Academic Quality and Workforce
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
1200 E. Anderson Lane
Austin, TX 78752
(512) 427-6520
[email protected]
I. Multidisciplinary Studies Associate Degrees
A. SB 1189, 84th Legislature by Senator Seliger required public community colleges to establish
an associate’s degree designated as an Associate of Arts in Multidisciplinary Studies by fall
2016. The degree must incorporate the institution’s Core Curriculum and provide a pathway for
transfer to a four-year institution. The legislation also mandated advising no later than the point
at which a student had accumulated 30 semester credit hours.
B. All institutions have submitted the required associate’s degree to the Coordinating Board.
II. Fields of Study and Programs of Study
A. HB 2628, 84th Legislature by Rep. Clardy requires Fields of Study to be revised periodically
and the establishment of Programs of Study.
B. Fields of Study (FOS) establish the lower division requirements for a major in a bachelor’s
degree. FOS typically range from 12-18 semester credit hours. Both a completed FOS and
completed courses taken in a FOS are fully transferable and must be applied to the degree
in the appropriate major. FOS have been in statute since 1997, but legislation passed in the
last session added new emphasis to the revision of current FOS and the creation of new FOS.
A completed FOS results in, in effect, statewide articulation agreements.
C. The Coordinating Board has FOS committees that are comprised of both two and four-year
faculty and administrators in the applicable discipline.
D. Existing FOS are in the following disciplines:
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Business
Communication
Computer Science
Criminal Justice
Engineering Technology
Mexican-American Studies
 Music
 Nursing
 AAT - Early Childhood
Education/Grades 4-8 Teacher
Certification
E. The FOS in Engineering, Mexican-American Studies, Music, Architecture, and Nursing have
been revised or are in the process of being revised.
F. FOS Committees in Business, Criminal Justice, and Computer Science are being established.
G. Criteria for deciding what FOS to do next are:
1) Most popular majors - an analysis of the top 25 majors for transfer students has been
completed.
2) Of those top 25 majors which are most in demand in the workforce.
3) Majors that are problematic for students in transferring such as Music, Engineering, and
Architecture.
4) Requests from the field, such as Mexican-American Studies.
H. Programs of Study (POS) establish the degree requirements for Associate of Applied Science
(AAS) degrees. AAS degrees are awarded in Career and Technical Education (CTE). POS will
range from 45-60 semester credit hours. The result would be statewide articulation
agreement that facilitate horizontal transfer among two-year colleges in CTE programs and
vertical alignment with secondary education and applied bachelor’s degrees.
I. POS committees will be comprised of secondary and postsecondary faculty and administrators
and business/industry representatives.
J. POS have been organized around the state’s 16 industry clusters. Subcommittees for each
program will be formed to report to the appropriate committee.
K. The committees for Health Sciences and Architecture/Construction have met. The
subcommittees for Rehabilitative Services (Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy),
Emergency Medical Technician/Paramedic, Building Construction Technology, and Building
Design and Documentation (CAD, Drafting) have been scheduled.
III. Fields of Study and Programs of Study Committee Productivity over an academic year
A. The revision and creation of FOS and POS are time-consuming, labor intensive endeavors.
Faculty must be involved to ensure the kind of subject matter expertise needed to create
meaningful FOS/POS and ensure buy-in from the field.
B. Twenty weeks of the year are problematic for college and university faculty serving on
FOS/POS committees due to holidays, student needs, and workloads associated with the
beginning and end of semesters. During the remaining weeks of the year, taking into account
the planning and organization that precedes a meeting and administrative follow-up activities,
staff estimate that one full-time FOS/POS program director can manage 24 meetings during a
year; two full-time staff will double the output to an estimated 48 meetings during a year. Staff
further estimate, based on experience to date, that a committee can fulfill its charge in an
average of four meetings, meaning that one or two full-time program directors can staff an
average of 6 to 12 committees annually. This estimate does not take into account the synergy
and economies of scale that should follow as the process becomes more routine over time and
with increased awareness of the initiative in the field. Factors that may limit productivity
include (1) limited facilities at the Coordinating Board that support compliance with the Open
Meetings Act and (2) the limits of institutional resources to allocate staff time and travel funds.
The latter consideration also has potential ramifications for equitable participation on the part
of smaller colleges and universities.
C. The Academic Quality and Workforce Division (AQW) has reorganized to provide a full-time
person devoted to FOS/POS in addition to the staff that include oversight of committees as a
part of their job duties. The Coordinating Board has reorganized as well to provide two
additional full-time equivalent (FTE) starting fall 2016.
D. The Coordinating Board is also requesting the 85th Legislature consider funding an exceptional
item request for approximately $500,000 to allow for two additional FTE to be devoted to the
creation and revision of FOS/POS. The request also includes approximately $100,000 to defray
the cost of travel for committee representatives.
E. To be effective, FOS/POS must not only be created, but also revised periodically to reflect
changes in disciplines.
IV. Conclusions
A. FOS and POS result in statewide articulation agreements that facilitate the transfer of student
credits form one institution to another.
B. More importantly, FOS and POS facilitate the applicability of a student credits to a major, thus
reducing the loss of credit, reducing time-to-degree, and reducing costs to the state.
C. Overall, the implementation of FOS and POS are expected to ease student transfer and
contribute to the state achieving the goals of 60x30TX.
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