FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\nFriday, September 24, 2021<\/p>\n
STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University\u2019s research enterprise is already a powerful economic engine, driven by faculty experts who lead their fields and create new ones. But they need more time for discovery.<\/p>\n
President Hurley\u2019s Faculty Development and Research Initiative, unveiled today, continues Tarleton\u2019s record-breaking research efforts and makes a significant investment to provide more time for faculty to uncover fresh knowledge and deliver life-changing breakthroughs.<\/p>\n
The initiative reflects the university\u2019s commitment to academic excellence through innovative instructional practices as outlined in the 10-year strategic plan, Tarleton Forward 2030<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cTarleton\u2019s academic researchers are exploring solutions to world challenges and enriching our lives through innovation and development,\u201d Dr. Hurley said. \u201cEnsuring they have the time and resources they need is paramount to their impact on our state, nation and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n President Hurley\u2019s plan initially reduces classroom teaching to three courses (from four) each semester for 47 tenure-track faculty researchers and backfills instructional capacity with high-achieving graduate students.<\/p>\n Tenure-track faculty members representing all colleges, but concentrated in seven departments, were selected for a pilot program based on their success in securing external research funding. These initial participants are in addition to full-time faculty researchers already making robust discoveries in the university\u2019s 11 research centers and institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cReducing the teaching load for faculty equates to more time for research,\u201d said Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Karen Murray. \u201cAnd using master\u2019s-level students as instructors elevates opportunities for leadership and increases the likelihood they\u2019ll be employed by an institution of higher education in their early careers.\u201d<\/p>\n She said selecting high-caliber graduate students and \u201cdeveloping them into extraordinary master instructors will complement and diversify Tarleton faculty.\u201d Mentoring and support through the university\u2019s Center for Educational Excellence will help ensure their long-term teaching success.<\/p>\n Dr. Hurley: \u201cWe have a formidable legacy of educational excellence, coupled with a spirit of research, innovation and development. This grow-your-own faculty initiative will help increase the pipeline of future professors and researchers in higher education. Being able to increase research productivity and strengthen the workforce is a win-win proposition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, September 24, 2021 STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University\u2019s research enterprise is already a powerful economic engine, driven by faculty experts who lead their fields and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,425,427],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics-research","category-campus-community","category-science-health"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"keegan","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/keegan-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2023\/10\/Spring-Flowers-Admin-Gates_7545-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Academics & Research<\/a>","Campus & Community<\/a>","Science & Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academics & Research<\/span>","Campus & Community<\/span>","Science & Health<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 years ago","modified":"Updated 7 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on September 24, 2021","modified":"Updated on September 22, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on September 24, 2021 12:00 am","modified":"Updated on September 22, 2025 3:46 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Tarleton State University entrance with flags and flowers.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53750,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25260\/revisions\/53750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}