Program Review
“Program Review”… Two words that can bring a chill to the heartiest of academics… especially those who hold the title of “Director” or “Chair”, “Head or "Dean” At our institution it’s an every five year event. Depending on your view of things, it’s either an inquisition, a trial by fire, or maybe it’s a bit more like Carnavale… everyone spends time preparing individually and as a group and we all parade down the street together (often out of synch) in our costumes for three days. At the end, we are exhausted, upset with some of our fellow performers and can’t figure out why we didn’t get a big trophy or why the newspapers didn’t name us “Best in Show.”
What is an academic program review? Well, that varies from place to place but it almost always starts with some kind of “self study” or documentation provided by the department… lots and lots of data, a strategic plan and almost always, a plea for more resources. At some places, it’s an entirely in-house exercise where your program is subjected to scrutiny by a hand picked group of local colleagues who don’t know anything about you or your field and often don’t care… or they think they know something about your field and have heard that “other programs elsewhere are so much better”… or they know “Professor X” from your program and he is married to a reviewer’s ex-spouse… now there are some healthy assessment dynamics!
Another model you see is when you mix the locals with an “outside” expert who provides “a view from the field.” This can lead to interesting differences of opinion or in fact can work as hoped and provide “context” for the review and a sense of how things are done elsewhere.
Sometimes, there are multiple teams involved in a review… one group sifting carefully through the graduate program and another minutely assessing undergraduate efforts… these can be mixed or all “locals”… it just depends. These things can turn into a war of attrition... grinding on for weeks, casualties mounting.
Finally (and I have not exhausted all permutations!) you might have a program review group composed entirely of outsiders… that’s the way it is at Purdue. A group of outside experts, chosen by the dean with input from the department arrive on campus for 2-3 days, interview all the usual suspects (faculty, staff, students, others from across campus… maybe even alums), write a brief report and jet off to their next gig. Actually, it’s a lot of hard work for these folks and I know from first-hand experience that it doesn’t pay enough and the hours are long.
Of course, it’s all about making programs better… right… well that’s the goal and that’s a goal we should all strive for, but sometimes other factors get in the way. Let’s just hope ours goes well and the upper administration sees fit to throw more scarce resources into our efforts to improve the quality of our programs. Well, got to go. it’s breakfast with the review team and I’ve got to straighten my tie.
What is an academic program review? Well, that varies from place to place but it almost always starts with some kind of “self study” or documentation provided by the department… lots and lots of data, a strategic plan and almost always, a plea for more resources. At some places, it’s an entirely in-house exercise where your program is subjected to scrutiny by a hand picked group of local colleagues who don’t know anything about you or your field and often don’t care… or they think they know something about your field and have heard that “other programs elsewhere are so much better”… or they know “Professor X” from your program and he is married to a reviewer’s ex-spouse… now there are some healthy assessment dynamics!
Another model you see is when you mix the locals with an “outside” expert who provides “a view from the field.” This can lead to interesting differences of opinion or in fact can work as hoped and provide “context” for the review and a sense of how things are done elsewhere.
Sometimes, there are multiple teams involved in a review… one group sifting carefully through the graduate program and another minutely assessing undergraduate efforts… these can be mixed or all “locals”… it just depends. These things can turn into a war of attrition... grinding on for weeks, casualties mounting.
Finally (and I have not exhausted all permutations!) you might have a program review group composed entirely of outsiders… that’s the way it is at Purdue. A group of outside experts, chosen by the dean with input from the department arrive on campus for 2-3 days, interview all the usual suspects (faculty, staff, students, others from across campus… maybe even alums), write a brief report and jet off to their next gig. Actually, it’s a lot of hard work for these folks and I know from first-hand experience that it doesn’t pay enough and the hours are long.
Of course, it’s all about making programs better… right… well that’s the goal and that’s a goal we should all strive for, but sometimes other factors get in the way. Let’s just hope ours goes well and the upper administration sees fit to throw more scarce resources into our efforts to improve the quality of our programs. Well, got to go. it’s breakfast with the review team and I’ve got to straighten my tie.
posted by hsypher at 4:21 AM
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