The main body of the Self-Study should normally not exceed 20 pages, double spaced (a page is normally about 350 words). It normally includes the sections described below, although sections not relevant to the unit may be omitted, and others may be added.
Section 1: Description and Analysis of the Unit
A.
Overview of the Unit - Briefly describe the unit. Note its outstanding characteristics, role and mission within the University, programs offered, personnel, national reputation, financial status, and placement of its graduates. If your discipline is ranked in national rankings (National Research Council, others), please tell us how your unit is placed in those rankings, and reference your source(s). You may comment on your rank placement if you feel it appropriate to do so. Your external reviewers will be asked to do the same. If your discipline is not ranked by the national ranking systems, you may ignore this component of your overview. Norlin Libraries Central Reference Department maintains a web site to provide you easy access to several ranking systems. This overview should not exceed two pages.
The vote of the unit in accepting the Self-Study Report should be reported in this section.
In sections B through D, the following categories for analyzing the unit’s activities should be explicitly addressed:
1.
Quality and Uniqueness – Indices include the quality and quantity of teaching and research, funding, reputation and visibility, leadership, quality of students, placement of graduate students, and coherence, rigor, and clarity of curriculum. If available, the unit should make reference to external evaluations from organizations within its own discipline and/or from federal funding agencies. The singular or significant roles that the unit plays at the State, regional, or national level also are indicators of the unit’s quality and uniqueness.
2.
Centrality – Indices include the program’s contributions to the role and mission of the University, the teaching of general education requirements, productive interdisciplinary research, and contributions to the aims of the UCB strategic plan. A copy of the campus Strategic Plan is available online.
3.
Student Demand – Demand is reflected by the amount of student interest in a unit’s courses, the number of undergraduate majors, and the number of applicants to the graduate program. It can also be indicated by a strong service-course role, enrollment and waiting list trends and by number of degrees awarded.
4.
Budget – It is important to note the 1994 Excellence Task Force’s statement that, "programs high in quality and centrality would be maintained regardless of cost." Academic concerns, not costs, are the primary importance of Program Review. Further, Program Review recognizes that there is no single metric for determining cost versus benefit of a unit, especially across disparate disciplines. However, an evaluation of costs and budgetary support are informative in assessing the programs described in Section I and the goals and plans articulated in Section III. Please provide budgetary information as appropriate, and please provide cost estimates to aspects of your strategic plans and goals in Section III that are not cost neutral.
B.
Undergraduate Curriculum and Programs – Using the criteria above, briefly describe and evaluate the undergraduate curriculum for majors, the service and non-major curriculum offered by the unit, and the involvement of the unit in providing special or individualized instruction opportunities for undergraduates. Detailed description of curricula may be placed into an appendix. Issues such as the following could be considered:
1.
What is the rationale for the undergraduate curriculum? Is the unit satisfied with the coherence and overall design of its undergraduate offerings and programs?
2.
What is the level of the unit’s participation in the Honors Program? What enrichment activities for undergraduates are offered outside the classroom? What does the unit do to provide a sense of community for its majors? How are faculty involved in academic advising and career counseling for majors?
3.
To what degree does the unit regularly discuss teaching methods and what support is offered to help faculty members strengthen their teaching? What methods does the unit use to assess teaching on an annual basis, and as part of promotion and tenure decisions? How does the unit incorporate the Outcomes Assessment process into its evaluation of its curricular offerings? What data do you have of the fate of your students after they graduate?
C.
Graduate Curriculum and Programs – Briefly describe and evaluate the process used by the unit for graduate student selection and training. Detailed description of curricula may be placed into an appendix. Issues such as the following could be considered.
1.
What is the rationale for each graduate degree program and how is that rationale related to the overall aims of the unit? How does the unit evaluate the content and rigor of its graduate program?
2.
What are the enrollment and graduation trends for each graduate program over the last several years?
3.
What kind of placement success does each of the graduate programs have?
4.
What is the recruitment success into the graduate programs over the last several years? How do the incoming students perform on standardized national graduate entrance exams?
D.
Research and Creative Work – Briefly describe and evaluate the research and/or creative work activities of the unit. What are the primary areas of emphases and strength within the unit? In what areas has the unit recently developed new strengths or collaborations? How does the unit judge its scholarly productivity relative to its national peers? What programs does it consider to be its peers? What is the recent history of research support, fellowships, awards, contracts or commissions by members of the unit? How will the faculty demographics of the unit impact its research and/or creative works mission over the next several years? There may be faculty development issues, as detailed in the description of Appendix F that the unit may wish to discuss within this section also.
E.
Staff Support – Program Review recognizes that a key component to every successful unit is the right mix of support staff for both the instructional and the research/creative works activities of the unit. Briefly describe and assess the unit’s investment in and utilization of state classified, professional exempt, and non-tenure track faculty personnel within the unit. Non tenure track faculty titles include lecturers, instructors, research associates, and professional research assistants. Describe any professional development and training opportunities that the unit provides to its staff.
F.
Facilities – Describe the current instructional and research/creative works facilities of the unit. To what extent do these facilities meet the needs of the unit? Are there issues related to facilities that are the responsibility of Academic Affairs? Are there issues of facilities that you believe should be called to the attention of Facilities Management?
Section 2: Unit Goals and Plans
In this final section of the Self-Study Report narrative, the unit should summarize its goals for itself over the next seven-year period. Each unit has developed a Diversity Plan document and a Strategic Plan document to help guide it in attaining its goals. The complete text of both Plans must be included as appendices. In parts A and B below, summarize the aspects of these plans as they pertain to the unit’s short- and long-term goals.
A.
Diversity Plan – Each unit contributes to the campus-wide diversity initiative. A complete version of the unit’s Diversity Plan must be included as an Appendix. In this section, describe the rationale for the unit’s plan and summarize the progress made in implementing it. Comment across the range of parameters of diversity noted in the official Campus definition—Diversity "may include but is not necessarily limited to ethnicity, race, gender, age, class, sexual orientation, religion and physical disabilities." How is the unit addressing the issue of climate, given that the Campus document goes on to say that, "a climate of healthy diversity is one in which everyone values individual and group differences, respects the perspectives of others, and communicates openly"?
B.
Strategic Plan – This is one of the most important parts of the Self-Study. The more specific the plan, the more useful it will be. A Strategic Plan typically addresses the unit’s major short-term and long-term goals and what the unit wants to be distinguished for in the next 7 years. It should discuss its curricular, facilities, and faculty development needs and aspirations during the next review period. Faculty hiring plans, almost always an important component of a strategic plan, should be summarized here and defended in terms of both replacement and in terms of growth and reallocation. A complete version of the strategic plan must be included as an Appendix. Here, only the key points of the plan should be presented. Special attention should be given to how the unit proposes to focus its activities to achieve or sustain excellence in a few key areas. The resource implications of the plan must be analyzed, since most new money for a unit can only be made available through reallocation from some other campus unit. The first responsibility of the unit is to plan improvement by reallocation of existing resources or with minimal new assistance. Then, the unit should propose ways in which its contributions would be enhanced if additional resources become available.
Section 3: Required Appendices
A.
Centers & Joint Programs - Describe and provide a specific evaluation of any formal Centers housed in the unit and of any joint-degree programs in which the unit participates. Note: this section is intended to be the equivalent of a Program Review of such Centers. Each evaluation should be accompanied by an explicit recommendation to renew or not to renew the center, institute, or laboratory, along with a rational for that recommendation.
B.
Strategic Plan - The unit’s most recent plan, updated as necessary, should be included here. Issues that should normally be addressed include:
1.
The most promising prospects for future development and steps that might be taken to fulfill these opportunities, both by internal reallocations and by the application of new resources.
2.
Enhancements to or changes in current major areas of research/scholarly emphasis and the development of new ones.
3.
Problems and areas of concern that should receive the attention of the unit and steps that might be taken to deal with them.
4.
Faculty composition by age and rank and how anticipated retirements are taken into account in long-range planning.
5.
Plans for faculty recruitment with a rationale developed for the sub-disciplines to be emphasized in the recruitment.
6.
Procedures and criteria used in hiring new faculty members, and how diversity goals are addressed: Are women and minority groups fairly represented in the various faculty ranks? If not, what measures are being pursued to recruit and retain female and minority faculty?
7.
Major changes in graduate training programs.
8.
Overall aspects of the undergraduate experience.
9.
Physical plant and other resource issues.
C. Outcomes Assessment - In partial fulfillment of campus policy regarding outcomes assessment, include a detailed report describing your unit's assessment results, including:
1. Academic assessment actions such as standardized testing, outside consultant evaluations, etc., that address the skills and knowledge goals of your unit as
delineated
in the campus course catalogue;
2. Conclusions reached by your unit with respect to your evaluation of student performances on those assessment measures;
3. Actions taken or planned in direct response to the results of 1 and 2 above.
A full discussion of the outcomes assessment process, and a timetable, may be found at http://www.colorado.edu/pba/outcomes.
D. Unit Merit - In fulfillment of campus policy regarding unit merit, include a description that compares the unit to its AAU peers in the following areas:
1.
Salaries: These data are available on the web at http://www.colorado.edu/pba/facstaff/facsal/. Report the data for your unit in this section. Provide a brief (one paragraph) narrative of these data, if necessary.
A list of the official list of AAU public institutions is at http://www.colorado.edu/pba/misc/peer.htm. These are the institutions that the University uses for comparisons. Some disciplines will not be represented at all the other AAU publics, but a significant sample of AAU publics should be available for most units.
2.
Research/Creative Works National Rankings: Compare your unit's research/creative work accomplishment or reputation to other public AAU units. Use or create whatever measure or measures that are appropriate for your unit. These measures should be measures of scholarly reputation (e.g.,rankings) or productivity (e.g., published refereed articles) that can be found or compiled from databases or peer websites. Whichever measures are chosen, provide parallel information for the other AAU publics where your discipline is represented. Please note, many common ranking systems are accessible at http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/reference/rankings.htm.
3.
Non-comparative and Qualitative Measures: In this section, include other, non-comparative data that help to describe the scholarly or artistic merit of the unit. Units may choose to list awards, honors, or special recognition of unit faculty that cannot easily be compared to the public AAU peers.
4.
Unique Indices: This section can be qualitative or quantitative in nature. This is the appropriate section to mention other measures which reflect the quality of the unit, such as service awards or other indicators of unit merit.
Please note: the PRP external reviewers will be asked to comment on the comparisons made in this section.
(If the unit belongs to the College of Arts and Sciences, please refer to the A&S dean's January 15, 2002 memo of understanding for further directions).
E.
Detailed Response to Previous Program Review Recommendations - Address each recommendation made by the Program Review Panel in the last review. Those that have been implemented should be discussed as to their impact on the unit. If any previous recommendation has not been implemented, explain why and whether the unit plans implementation. This section is most easily approached by synthesizing the unit’s annual Program Review progress reports.
F.
Diversity Plan - This is the plan previously submitted to the Office of Academic Affairs.
G.
By-Laws -Existing unit By-Laws and/or related governance documents.
H.
Faculty Development Procedures - Include in this appendix the written documents defining the standards and procedures for reappointment, tenure, and promotion within the unit. Describe also any active mentoring activities that the unit provides to its junior faculty members. Other issues that the unit may wish to address in this appendix include its history of reappointment, tenure, and promotion, its post-tenure review activities, or its policies and record with regards to applying a policy of differential workloads within the unit.
I.
Brief CVs of unit members - Normally, no more than 2 pages per person.
J.
Internet - Briefly discuss the unit's presence on the Internet. Include a strategic statement that describes who the unit targets as an audience for its online resources. Address how the unit plans to maintain the currency and usability of its website(s).
K.
Information Technology - If appropriate, please discuss how information technology enhances, or will enhance, the research and curricular goals of the unit. Include a brief strategic statement describing the nature and objectives of any information technology initiatives, as well as their implementation and upkeep requirements.
L.
Statistical data - These data are
available
online. The entire data set should not be appended here. However, specific tables that are referenced in the Self-Study should be copied and included, as should any figures or tables generated by the unit itself
M.
Arts and Science Units - Include as an appendix all College Investment Committee proposals in the last 3 years and their status.
N.
Other - Please note that there is normally no need for extensive documentation beyond what is described in these guidelines. However, optional Appendices may include results of student surveys, annual reports, and other information that reviewers (especially external reviewers) might find useful.
