SECTION 4.227. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) Commissioner--"The Commissioner of Higher Education" means the agency acting through its executive, and his or her designees, staff, or agents.

(2) Curriculum Vitae--A document that summarizes the career and qualifications of the instructor of record, including at least the following:

(A) all institutions of higher education attended, with the degree(s) earned;

(B) all previous teaching positions, including the names of the institutions, the position, beginning and ending dates; and

(C) a list of significant professional publications relevant to the academic positions held, including full citation data for each entry.

(D) The curriculum vitae may include the instructor's professional contact information, such as office telephone number, work address, and institutional email address. Vitae are not required to include personal information about the instructor, such as the home address or personal telephone number.

(3) Departmental Budget Report--If a course is offered through a unit other than a department - such as a program, college, or institute - substitute the budget for that unit as appropriate. If the institution posts general budget data on its website in which the information required by statute is reported, it may substitute a hyperlink to that data in place of a separate departmental budget report. The budget report shall include:

(A) detail for the most recent academic year for which data are available;

(B) income from all sources; and

(C) a summary by functional categories such as salaries and wages, travel, etc. (as defined by the National Association of College and University Business Officers).

(4) Institutions of Higher Education or Institution--Any public technical institute, public junior college, public senior college or university, medical or dental unit, other agency of higher education as defined in Texas Education Code, §61.003.

(5) Instructor(s) of Record--The primary instructor or co-instructors of a course who are responsible for the course content and the assignment of final grades. This includes tenured and tenure-track faculty, lecturers, adjuncts, and graduate assistants (who are not working under the supervision of an instructor of record). It does not include guest lecturers or others who may be brought in to teach less than fifty percent of the class sessions.

(6) Internet Website Home Page--The primary Internet web page that serves as the opening portal to the public for all of the other public web pages and Internet services hosted by the institution. It is commonly the web page with the uniform resource locator (URL) address that ends with the domain suffix ".edu".

(7) Medical or Dental Unit--"Medical and dental unit" means Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth, and the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso, and such other medical or dental schools as may be established by statute or as provided in Chapter 61 of the Texas Education Code.

(8) Significant Professional Publications--Discipline-related refereed papers/publications, books/book chapters, and juried creative performance accomplishments.

(9) Syllabus--A document describing the course that satisfies any standards for syllabi adopted by the institution. The document shall include, at a minimum, the following:

(A) brief description of each major course requirement, including each major assignment and examination;

(B) the measurable learning outcomes for the course, as defined in Subchapter E, §4.104 of this chapter (relating to Measurable Learning Outcomes for Undergraduate Courses);

(C) a general description of the subject matter of each lecture or discussion; and

(D) lists of any required or recommended readings.

(10) Undergraduate Classroom Course--Any lower- or upper-division credit course offered to five or more students. This includes on-campus, off-campus, distance education, and dual-credit courses (including those taught on high school campuses). It excludes courses with highly variable subject content that are tailored specifically to individual students, such as Independent Study and Directed Reading courses. It excludes laboratory, practicum, or discussion sections that are intrinsic and required parts of larger lecture courses and are directly supervised by the same instructor(s) of record for those large courses.

Source Note: The provisions of this §4.227 adopted to be effective December 3, 2009, 34 TexReg 8508; amended to be effective May 29, 2012, 37 TexReg 3799; amended to be effective February 18, 2021, 46 TexReg 1055