The following is a list of QEP themes proposed by various constituents between January and March 2008.

• Expanding understanding of the global economy through global knowledge and intercultural competence      

• Holistic health, the Mind Body Connection 

          - there is an interconnected nature of physical and intellectual/academic lives of students;

          - early classes and poor attendance often lead to poor performance, the culprit is frequently a lack of sleep;

          - the "all-nighter" is a standard practice for students prior to major exams or due dates for papers;

          - there is a link between binge drinking, absenteeism and grades.

• Shared accountability of learning goals between students and teachers, generating opportunities for improvement everywhere   

• Civic responsibility requiring conversations on and not limited to:  1) ethical decision making, 2) drinking issues (drunk driving, public intoxication, breaking laws), 3) moral ambiguity, 4) volunteerism, and 5) political action or involvement. 

• Students' development of self advocacy evidenced through actions such as students not following steps provided in writing and students calling their parents and having their parents call university faculty and staff to solve problems.  The assessment of this topic could be provided through the new Student Information System (SIS) where everything that students should need to know how to do will be compiled.  Rates of student voting could also be considered since that would be an action of students' advocating for their wants and needs.  A focus group that is tracked from freshman year through their senior year could also be a way to assess the university's ability to reach students' self advocacy. 

• Critical environment issues like recycling, energy conservation, and environmental issues in general expanding on the common experience theme "A River Runs Through Us." 

• Meeting the academic needs of our changing generational.  The new generation of Texans learns and responds differently in an academic setting compared to prior generations.  As our state and nation changes demographically, we, as educators, need to be proactive with changes which meet the needs of that new demographic.  These changes involve much more technology and new teaching and research methods and techniques to reach this new generation and inspire them. The topic could also include training/expecting professors to teach application and to model skills. Teaching should be viewed as a responsibility. Research should not get in the way of teaching

• Enhancing customized student learning support programs.  Texas State has long been recognized for having high quality student learning support service programs embedded in various departments and programs (e.g. The Writing Center, Student Learning Assistance Center [SLAC], The Oral Communication Lab, The Modern Language Learning Lab).    Although there is a strong network of student learning support services, these programs are typically not linked to one another; there is no over-arching coordination of these student learning resources.  In addition, there is no central clearing house to help students find existing customized learning resources and many students who may need these services may not find them.  The goal of this QEP theme would be to build on the existing network of programs at Texas State and, based upon a needs assessment, explore developing additional customized learning programs.  The project could also seek to develop greater coordination among both new and existing programs, and help students who would benefit from these support services find the customized help they need.  Assessment measures could be developed to track student use of the customized student learning support programs.  Helping students enhance their academic success through the enrichment of these academic support programs could result in improved retention as well as provide an attractive admissions recruitment story for incoming students and their parents.

• Terrorism on campuses including campus safety and security

• Developing a shared learning community where there is more transparency and accountability of administration and less bureaucratic hierarchical decision making.  Communication could flow more freely and the university community could be more organic, less concretized, hierarchical, and structured.

• Ethics among faculty, staff, and students. Students are often targeted as the greatest violators of ethical policy and irresponsible behavior. New to adulthood and with new and frightening challenges, some students cheat on their tests, plagiarize papers, or abuse illegal substances. Unfortunately, in this equationthe ethical responsibility of faculty is all but lost. One of the goals of QEP should be to touche not just on student abuses but also should consider regulation and oversight with professors who are more than merely eccentric. Abuse by unchecked faculty increases the drop out rate, creates animosity among students, and harms the learning process. 

• Educating literate citizens could be a theme spanning several years and encompassing each college and major, such as Music and Arts Literacy or Fine Arts Literacy; Financial Literacy, Health and Mental Heath Literacy, Ethics Literacy, Personal Responsibility Literacy, Ecological Literacy, etc.

• Building sustainable communities.  Grassroots momentum is growing worldwide for social equity, ecological integrity, and economic viability the “triple bottom line” of sustainable development. Research at Texas State University could be applied through outreach education to help infuse knowledge into local communities. The University can take a guiding role in helping communities inform sustainable local smart growth decisions. It can bring new perspectives to local projects, build local leaders and capacity, and enhance how communities involve the public. University involvement will nurture sustainable decision-making by being politically challenging and cutting-edge innovative.
  
  

• The success of first generation students at Texas State is increasingly important as we strive to close the gaps and meet the educational needs of the state.

• Educating the whole student.

• Information literacy encompasses the skills needed to effectively locate, evaluate, and use information resources.  More specifically, an information literate student is able to choose a topic appropriately, choose and evaluate appropriate sources for college-level research, search databases effectively, understand the difference between scholarly and other types of sources, use resources ethically, and cite their sources correctly in their finished work.  These are critical skills, not only for academic success, but more importantly, translate into skills that foster life-long learning.
   
  The Information Literacy Initiative involves expanding our strong librarian/faculty collaboration and partnership with a proactive program that encourages faculty to take a more active role in developing the Information Literacy skills of their students.  Our dedicated team of seven Information Literacy Instruction librarians reached 6,373 students in 2007.  If this initiative is accepted many more students would benefit from improved Information Literacy skills.

• Reaching out for tomorrow’s changing and expanding world by leveraging the enchantment, beauty and tradition of our campus community.

• Undergraduate transfer center that advises potential transfer students on admissions & transferability of coursework from community colleges and four year institutions.  Such a Center would consolidate everything under one roof,  a one-stop shop. The Center needs to be accessible and visible to the general public. We could cross-train our Transfer Admission Counselors insuring they provided accurate information for potential Texas State transfers on requirements of each major or we could house the Transfer Center with academic advisors, in effect making them general academic advisors. The cross-training of these individuals could be piloted by one college and then moved across campus.  The Transfer Center could be responsible for Transfer Course Information web page; Transfer Planning Guides; community outreach; working  with the community college counselors/advisors ensuring the smooth transfer of our students; Day of Dialogue; Transfer Advisory Council, etc.  This would help our current academic advisors ensuring transfer students are on the right track even before they are seen at the college level, thus increasing retention & graduation rates.

• Increased scholarships to lessen the need for students to work 

• Experiential learning and volunteer opportunites

• More on-campus jobs

• Maintain smaller classes and more selection

• Return Friday classes

• Increase affinity for Texas State by treating students well

• Better communication with students and organization among advisors

• More in-depth exposure to diversity

• Better use of technology

• Faculty rewarded for engaging with students outside the classroom.  Student experience more individual interactions with faculty.

• Service learning and transition to work force

• Individualized advising

• Increase efforts to welcome new students to Texas State "culture" through initial acceptance in the fall

• Faculty engaged in activities with students outside classroom and faculty are rewarded for this engagement.

• Mentoring including student to student mentoring and faculty mentoring

• Service learning requirements

• Responsible consumerism which would involve making sure graduates have the necessary tools to effectively and adequately manage finances (money management, credit, savings, investments, retirement, etc.), to make wise purchasing decisions (effects on environment, over consumption, etc.), awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities, etc. Education should strive to ensure that university graduates are prepared to be socially responsible adults.