Interim provost Floyd Wormley introduced himself to members of TCU’s faculty senate at last Thursday’s meeting.

Wormley came to TCU in 2019 as the Associate Provost for Research. He was appointed to the interim provost position in December after former provost Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg accepted a job as president of the University of Tampa.

“I plan to continue to work for TCU as I am contracted for the next five years,” Wormley said. “I will help in this position until May of 2025 after the national search concludes.”

He assured the faculty senate of his dedication to maintaining TCU’s academic excellence and advancing its mission.

In other business:

A report from the Office of Institutional Equity presented findings and insights on the lack of substantial differences in outcomes between students who took the SAT or ACT and those who didn’t.

Dean of Admission Heath Einstein said TCU aligns itself with the emerging trend observed across a majority of academic institutions, which transitioned to test-optional admissions in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Einstein said TCU’s test-optional admission policy is still in place.

The Office of Institutional Research presented a study on how students are doing under the test-optional policy and a negligible difference between the cohorts.

A faculty survey on the test-optional policy showed that many faculty have a favorable bias toward students who took admission tests.

The conversation then turned to the upcoming budget presentation in April. The proposed budget outlined a 6.2% increase in funding.

Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Bill Nunez said the percentage increase is due to rising costs of educational resources, faculty development needs, and infrastructure improvements.