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Progress Reports - October 1998

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California State University - Sacramento

Submitted by: Dean Dorn, Campus Director

Below are the Steps which have been taken at CSU-Sacramento to begin our work on the Institutional Portfolio Project.

  1. We have only created one new structure--the local Pew Project Team which will oversee and direct the project on the campus. It is composed of three faculty members including myself, the Provost, the Director of the Office of Institutional Studies (Research), the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Programs.
  2. We intend to use a variety of structures already in existence to accomplish our work. Internally we will be using four key committees of the Faculty Senate--the GE Committee, the Curriculum Committee, the Faculty Policies Committee, and the Academic Policies Committee, as well as the entire Faculty Senate, the Department and Program Chairs, and the Office of Institutional Studies. We will also be getting input from students and the general faculty through a questionnaire. Externally we will be using a variety of community advisory boards for input--the University's Campus Advisory Board, the University's Alumni Council, and the Community Advisory Boards of each of the colleges--College of Business, Health and Human Services, Education, Engineering, etc.
  3. Thus far the Pew Project Team has been developing a first year plan which will involve conducting a campus-wide discussion of core learning goals, selecting a Hallmark of good practice, an enabling environment, and a barrier or impediment. The Office of Institutional Studies will track our existing learning and teaching practices on campus. The initial effort of the first year plan is coming up with the core learning goals or expectations for the campus. We have designed a seven stage approach to accomplish this--stage one is soliciting input from the four key faculty senate committees, stage two is soliciting input from department chairs, stage three from students (a survey), stage four from faculty (a survey), stage five from an open meeting of faculty,and stage six from the various community advisory boards. The final stage seven involves the entire Faculty Senate.
  4. We have already met with the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate and will soon meet with two of the four key Senate Committees. In the meanwhile, we are working on the design of the various questionnaires we will be using to solicit input from both the internal and external constituients mentioned above.
Georgia State University

Submitted by: Tim Crimmins, Campus Director

Initiation of the Urban Portfolio Project:

Georgia State University is an institution that has multiple administrations rather than a single monolithic administration. And, lest you think I am talking about branch campuses, these are the administrations of the various vice presidential areas and the academic colleges. As Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Campus Director of the Urban Portfolio Project, I am housed in what is known as the central administration. My goal is to make the project one in which there is widespread faculty and administrative ownership in all of the various administrations of the university.

The first step I have taken is to have this project included as an item in the 1999 Action Plan of the University Strategic Plan. Each fall the Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Provost Ron Henry and having representatives of all of the colleges and key committees of the University Senate, updates the list of action items which move the institution closer to the goals of the Strategic Plan. There are two action items where the Portfolio Project can have a beneficial influence. The first goal is to utilize appropriate benchmarks to allocate resources among colleges and programs; and the second relates to a goal of assessing student learning outcomes. In each of these action items, we will note the role of the Urban Portfolio Project so that it becomes part of the strategic advancement of the university.

The second step is consultative. I have introduced the Project at a retreat of the Deans Group--the council, chaired by Provost Henry, and composed of three associate provosts, six deans, the Library Director, the Director of Institutional Research, and the Associate Vice President for Research. The group engaged in a discussion of the mission of the university and, particularly, the meaning of urban research university. We are classified in the university System of Georgia as one of four research universities and, despite the fact that Georgia Tech is also located in the heart of Atlanta, are known as the urban one. (Before the first decade of the 21st century has passed, the University of Georgia, located in the expanding city of Athens, will be sucked into the suburban sprawl of Atlanta and counted as part of the Atlanta SMA. Even then, we will be known as the urban research university.) The Deans Group indicated that it is important to keep urban from becoming a modifier of research, as in urban-research university. So I agreed that in our discussions we should refer to Georgia State as an urban university and a research university, a phrase that is wordy and repetitive, but necessary. Based on our discussions in Indianapolis, I also introduced the suggestion that we add a goal of general education that would highlight our intention to increase students understanding of the complexities of metropolitan life. The group expressed interest is seeing this happen.

I also consulted with the deans in the appointment of a Portfolio Advisory Committee, which consists of me, Mike Moore--Director of Institutional Research, and one senior faculty member from each of the six colleges. I have scheduled a meeting of this committee October 16th. The initial meeting will review the mission statement of the university and discuss whether we should consider recommending that the goals of general education be amended to add an urban component. I have distributed copies of the mission statement and a list of the goals and objectives of general education. In Chicago, I will be reporting on this meeting and the development of a plan to advance any recommendation about introducing an urban goal to our general education program.

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Submitted by: Sharon Hamilton, Campus Director

Progress Report on the Urban Universities Portfolio Project:

  • First step: Planning Meeting with Campus and Community Leaders
    The Campus Director of the UUPP, Sharon Hamilton, and Institutional Research Representative, Vic Borden identified several campus and community leaders to be invited to a planning meeting early in September. The invitation list and meeting were both strategic and information-gathering in their functions: strategic, in order to elicit early involvement and "buy-in" from campus and community leaders, and information-gathering insofar as providing us with diverse perspectives concerning the contents of an institutional portfolio, what constituencies need to be represented or involved, what audiences need to be addressed, and what organizational structures might best serve these purposes. After synthesizing the ideas from that meeting, we set up an outline for an organizational chart and are now in the process of fleshing out that chart (literally!).
  • Second Step: Establishment of Core Committee
    One first step in fleshing out the chart has been the establishing of a Core Committee, similar in some ways to the Executive Planning Committee at Portland State. This committee is comprised of our Campus Project Director, our Institutional Research Representative, our Provost, our Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Institutional Improvement, and our Vice-Chancellor for External Affairs. Since we are fortunate to have them situated on our campus, we invited Susan Kahn, Project Director of the UUPP and Tim Thomas, Technology Development Associate for the UUPP to meet with this committee ex officio. We began meeting last week, and will be meeting weekly prior to the October 28-29 meetings to respond to the objectives that Susan Kahn has set out for us as well. In addition, we will be constituting the implementation committee. The core's major function is to create the overall vision, direction, and strategic planning for the project. The work of the implementation committee will be to make it happen. The project director will be the major liaison between these two groups. Membership on the implementation committee is based primarily on two criteria: expertise in an area essential to the success of the procedural aspects of the UUPP and representation with a constituency or committee essential to the contents aspect of the UUPP.
  • Third Step: Developing the Process
    In early November, we plan to bring in a consultant, as did Georgia State, to work with the core and implementation committees to develop a strategic plan in relation to the organizational chart and information gathered during the initial planning meeting. All who were at the meeting will be kept informed of what transpires, and involved to the extent they are willing and able.

In summary, our efforts to date have focused on early campus and community involvement, setting up a workable infrastructure, and establishing a workable process that will ensure widespread, efficient, and effective involvement among all appropriate constituencies.

Portland State University

Submitted by: Kathi Ketcheson, Campus Director

At Portland State University, we have developed a new committee structure to organize our work on the Portfolio Project. Under the leadership of Provost Reardon, we have formed an Executive Planning Committee, comprising the Provost, Campus Project Director, IR representative, Chair of the Portfolio's Faculty Advisory Committee, and three additional faculty members, to oversee the project. Within the last week, we have completed appointments to the Faculty Advisory Committee, which comprises eight faculty members from across the University whose primary activities are teaching and research. The Chair of the Advisory Committee is a former Dean and member of the teaching faculty. Applications for service on the Advisory Committee were solicited from the faculty at large, and final appointments were approved by the Provost and Council of Academic Deans. The Executive Planning Committee also has drawn up a list of prospective Ex-Officio members and consultants to the Advisory Committee. These individuals will be called in as needed to provide knowledge and expertise regarding various functional areas of the University as the Committee moves forward in shaping PSU's Portfolio.

The Executive Planning Committee has been meeting regularly to discuss the goals of the October meeting, and to gather information for the Provost, Project Director, and IR representative to take to Chicago. The first meeting of the Advisory Committee will come before the October meeting. The Executive Planning Committee envisions the Advisory Committee as the "think tank" for the creation of PSU's Portfolio. They will meet once a month to review materials and discuss ideas. The Office of Institutional Research will provide support to the Advisory Committee, such as literature searches or other information gathering, to assist them with their work. OIRP also will be responsible for technical support, such as Web site development. The Campus Project Director, who is also the Director of Institutional Research, will serve as a project manager, providing coordination between the Advisory Committee and IR office staff, managing budget and personnel matters, and supervising support activities for the Excutive Planning and Faculty Advisory Committees.

In addition, the University has initiated a new assessment plan that we anticipate will overlap with the goals of the Portfolio Project. Under the proposed plan, a council of assessment liaisons from each of our Schools and Colleges will meet under the leadership of an Assessment Coordinator, who will reside in the Office of Academic Affairs. The Coordinator will be a member of the faculty who will have release time for a period of two to three years to serve as a point person for assessment on the campus. Liaisons will be responsible for coordinating assessment activities within their academic areas. Support for the Council will be provided by the Office of Institutional Research and the Center for Academic Excellence. The Council will be responsible for regular reports to the Faculty Senate, and at least one member of a constitutional committee will be seated on the Council. Liaisons will be appointed between the Portfolios Faculty Advisory Committee and the Assessment Council, once the new plan in put in place. Final approval of the plan by the Council of Academic Deans is forthcoming.

University of Illinois - Chicago

(pending)

University of Massachusetts - Boston

Submitted by Peter Langer, Campus Director

Steps taken to get started on the UUPP

At the August meeting in Indianapolis the project team determined that the best structure for our campus would be to work through existing campus committees and structures. The campus project director and Provost made discussion of the project a central part of the August daylong Dean's Retreat and planning meeting. We discussed the project at the first meeting of this year's Academic Council. In his major address to the faculty at September's Convocation, the Provost highlighted issues of accountability as one of the major themes of the upcoming academic years, and explained the UUPP project to the faculty.

We have sent a questionnaire to all faculty asking them to help us inventory present assessment practices used at the course, department or collegiate level. These questionnaires are just being returned to us and will serve as baseline data for our project activities. On the basis of the response to this query we will create a Faculty Advisory Committee to assist us in the project.

We are following the emphasis of our regional accreditation agency - NEASC - in emphasizing the central role that assessment plays in curricular improvement. A team of faculty and staff attended a September NEASC workshop on assessing student learning outcomes. The theme of that workshop was that assessment is worth doing only if it feeds back into curricular change and improved teaching. This message was well received by faculty and will continue to be highlighted in our faculty outreach.

We are continuing our faculty development workshops through which new Seminars are being developed and on-going general education courses are being revised in order to address our new general education capabilities. We are bringing in external consultants to assess the pilot phase of our First Year Seminar program. We are continuing our review and modification of the curriculum in four major academic departments. All these activities are intended to use the UUPP project as a way of moving the campus from isolated assessment activities to an institutional culture of assessment.

I gained an enormous amount from the reports of our colleagues at the other UUPP campuses, and I look forward to seeing you this coming week.