University of Houston-Clear Lake Program Review

Introduction | Roles and Responsibilities | Time Line | Report Format | Appendices

Introduction

The University of Houston-Clear Lake has committed itself to an ongoing, cyclical, comprehensive, shared governance planning system. It is an integrated system in that each of its various components plays a special, unique role. Each is vital to the optimal operation of the whole. Program review is one of those components.

As an integral part of the shared governance planning system, program review derives particularly from five years of annual planning, data reports, and assessment. Thus, program review actually consists of much more than the program’s study of itself at any one time.

Those directly involved in each individual review include the program faculty, the program chair, the program report committee, the school faculty and administration, the School Curriculum Committee, and the Senior Vice President and Provost. Each has a clearly specified role in the process.

Within the shared governance planning system, the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost has been assigned responsibility for general oversight of program review.

Definition of a Program

A program is any academic UNIT offering a collection of related degrees, support areas, concentrations, teaching fields, or certification offerings which a school wishes to group for the sixth year review.

A program is an academic entity. Thus, for purposes of program review, “program” and “curriculum” are NOT synonymous terms. A program offers at least one curriculum. It also has initial responsibility for the quality of that curriculum, the faculty who offer the curriculum, the students in the curriculum, the resources and facilities supporting the curriculum, and the focus of the program (unit) in all dimensions of its operation.

Purpose of Program Review

Program review is an integral part of the university’s overall planning process. Its purposes are:

• To improve program quality in the context of university and school missions, to implement criteria for program approval by the state, national accreditation standards, guidelines put forth by academic organizations, and to address institutional resource needs and demands.
  
  
• To help a program examine itself in its entirety (its focus, faculty, curriculum, students, resources and facilities, and learning outcomes) within a framework that includes its past development and its plans for the future.
  
  
• To provide the program with an impartial study of and response to the work presented in the Program Report by informed colleagues outside the program.

Roles and Responsibilities

Provost

As the university's chief academic officer, the Senior Vice President and Provost acts on behalf of the institution in:

• Initiating the program review process by sending a letter to the Dean requesting review of programs according to the University’s master review schedule and identifying issues of current, general university concern.
  
  
• Receiving the completed Program Review Report and an Executive Summary from the Office of the Dean.
  
  
• Conducting an Exit Interview with the Dean, the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs (AVPAA) and the program faculty together to discuss the findings of the Program Review Report and Executive Summary and determine appropriate follow-up as needed.
  
  
• Sending to the Dean a written summary of the outcomes of the Exit Interview, including any identified programmatic changes to be made.
  
  
• Receiving from the Dean, within one year from the date of the written summary of the Exit Interview, an accurate, complete, formal school/program Follow-up Report on follow-up activities and their outcomes. Requiring and receiving any additional follow-up as needed.
  

Dean

The Dean acts on behalf of the school in:

• Responding to the Senior Vice President and Provost’s request for review of programs according to the University’s master review schedule.
  
  
• Appointing the Program Report Committee, naming the convener and notifying the Senior Vice President and Provost and the Director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness of those appointments.
  
  
• Instructing the Program Report Committee on how to address specific concerns and issues as it carries out its responsibilities.
  
  
• Ensuring that the Program Report Committee produces the Program Report in a timely fashion.
  
  
• Ensuring that the school’s Curriculum Committee has studied and approved the Program Report.
  
  
• Reviewing and attesting to the accuracy and completeness of the Program Report.
  
  
• Sending the Program Report and an Executive Summary to the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and forwarding a copy to the Provost.
  
  
• Attending the Exit Interview with the Provost, the AVPAA and the program faculty together to discuss the findings of the Program Report and Executive Summary to determine appropriate follow-up as needed.
  
  
• Receiving the Provost’s written summary of the outcomes of that meeting.
  
  
• Working with the program faculty, along with other school bodies essential to the process, to address any problems and recommendations ensuing from the review.
  
  
• Sending to the Provost, within one year from the date of receipt of the Provost’s written summary of the Exit Interview, an accurate, complete, formal school/program Follow-up Report on follow-up activities and their
  outcomes.
  
  
• Working with program faculty, along with other school bodies and administrators essential to the process, to resolve concerns or problems and to implement recommendations issuing from the review and those contained in the Provost’s written summary of the Exit Interview. These actions are to be completed within one year of receiving the Senior Vice President and Provost’s summary.

Program Report Committee

The school Program Report Committee produces the Program Report. The Dean appoints the convener and members of the committee that produces the Program Review Report. In most cases, the committee will consist of the program faculty, but persons external to the program may also serve.

The duties of the convener are to accomplish the following tasks:

• Contact Office of Institutional Effectiveness to review and discuss the program data.
  
  
• Convene all meetings.
  
  
• Make work assignments to members.
  
  
• Maintain the production schedule within the given time frame.
  
  
• Report interim progress to the Dean.
  
  
• Contact Neumann Library (Associate Director for Public Services) for a supporting resource review, including books, journal holdings, Texas and U. S. government documents, specialized microform collections, and electronic databases.
  
  
• Oversee the production of the final report.
  
  
• Transmit the report to the School Curriculum Committee.
  
  
• Respond to the curriculum committee.

Committee members are responsible for performing their work assignments in a timely manner, reviewing and revising the compiled document and representing the program at the Exit Interview with the Senior Vice President and Provost.

School Curriculum Committee

The School Curriculum Committee acts on behalf of the faculty of the school in ensuring that the Program Report meets school standards and expectations and is ready for presentation to the Dean. The signature of the convener attests to the Curriculum Committee’s official approval of the Program Report.

Time Frame

Schedule

All programs will undergo review on the established six-year cycle.
Information on which years each program will be reviewed may be found in the approved Program Review Schedule maintained by the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. When feasible, the program reviews may coincide with state approval and/or national accreditation review.

Length of Process

The program review process should be completed in 26 months. It commences with the Senior Vice President and Provost’s notification to the Deans, no later than March 15 of the year before the review is to conclude, and ends with the formal school/program Follow-up Report of the follow-up activities engaged in to achieve the outcomes agreed upon in the Exit Interview.

Time Line

Schedule

All programs will undergo review on the established six-year cycle.
Information on which years each program will be reviewed may be found in the approved Program Review Schedule maintained by the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs. When feasible, the program reviews may coincide with state approval and/or national accreditation review.

Length of Process

The program review process should be completed in 26 months. It commences with the Senior Vice President and Provost’s notification to the Deans, no later than March 15 of the year before the review is to conclude, and ends with the formal school/program Follow-up Report of the follow-up activities engaged in to achieve the outcomes agreed upon in the Exit Interview.

Time Line

First Calendar Year:

Second Calendar Year:

Third Calendar Year:

Report Format

Introductory Materials

The Program Report begins with a cover sheet followed by a table of contents. The Program Report Committee may wish to provide a brief introduction prior to the body of the Program Report.

Cover Sheet:
The cover sheet must contain the names of the program, the program chair, and the school, as well as the date on which the program began. It must also include the signatures of the Program Report Committee convener, the School Curriculum Committee chair, and the Dean, along with the dates those signatures were affixed. Finally, it must contain spaces for the signatures of the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Senior Vice President and Provost and for the dates when they sign the document.

Introduction:
The introduction includes information that readers need from the outset to understand special factors that have a profound influence on the program. Examples might be national accreditation standards, state program approval guidelines, certification requirements, and the date of the program’s initiation.

The Body

The body of the Program Report is to be organized as follows:

Category A. Program Focus
Category B. Curriculum
Category C. Faculty
Category D. Students
Category E. Resources and Facilities
Category F. Learning Outcomes

Each section should be set off by the appropriate title.

Summary

The summary serves as the capstone and summation
of the program’s review of itself.

Appendices

Four appendices are required (described later). They provide documentary material to support the report.

Appendices

Appendices to the Program Report serve the following purposes:

Appendix A: Copies of the program’s last five annual plans are to be included. If the program is not five years old, the annual plans prepared since its inception are needed.

Appendix B: Mandatory Data

The data collection will be based on the academic year. Each year’s data will be made available to the UHCL community by the OIE, or other office designated by the Provost and should be used as appendices to support the narrative. The OIE will conduct a survey of graduating seniors every year and alumni during spring of odd years and make these data available to programs undergoing review. Where both graduate and undergraduate programs are included the data should be presented separately. The program review narrative should integrate the following data wherever appropriate.

1. PROGRAM PROFILE – Fall Semesters – 5 Fall Semesters

• By declared major
• Gender & Ethnicity
• Enrollment Status
• New, Continuing, Returning
• Student Load
• Status: Full time/Part time
• Average SCH load by program (CIP)
• Counts & Column Percentages on all
  Source: CBM001
• Average Age
  Source: CBM001

2. GRADUATES – Academic Year – 5 Years

• Ethnicity & Gender & CIP Code
• Counts & Column Percentages
  Source: CBM009

3. ENROLLMENT & SCH (Total) – Fall Semesters – 5 Fall Semesters

• By Rubric for each Program
• By Course Level (undergraduate/graduate)
• Number and Column Percentages
  Source: CBM004

4. AVERAGE CLASS SIZE

• Average Class Size = total number of sections within each rubric divided by total number of students enrolled
• For all classes within a rubric that enroll more than 5 students
  Source: CBM004

5. FACULTY PROFILE BY PROGRAM AREA - Fall Semesters – 5 Fall Semesters

• Rank
• Tenure
• Status (Full time/Part time)
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Counts and Percentages on all
  Source: CBM004 and CBM008
• Average Age
  Source: CBM008

6. END OF TERM GPA & COMPLETIONS BY RUBRIC REPORT – For most current Fall term only

• This is something new that OIE will attempt to provide
  Source: PS Query (end of term GPA data and PS reports)

Appendix C: Faculty vitas.

Appendix D: Previous Review Activities
The documents from the previous review of the program should provide useful information in constructing the new Program Report, especially the Summary section. These documents should include the Program Report, the EPCC Narrative Summary or Dean’s Executive Summary, the Provost’s written summary of the outcomes of the Exit Interview with the Dean and program faculty, and the school/program Follow-up Report. The new Program Report may be considered an update of the previous one. Over time, the program’s Program Reports should provide a useful history of the program.

Additional Appendices: Additional appendices may be used as needed to accurately portray the results of the self-study.

Glossary of Terms

Category One of the five dimensions of program operation addressed in program review: program focus, faculty, curriculum, students, and resources and facilities.

Exit Interview Meeting of the Dean, the AVPAA, and the program faculty with the Provost to discuss findings of the Program Report and the Executive Summary, with special attention to concerns, problems, and recommendations, and to determine appropriate follow-up.

Executive A written summary submitted to the Provost by the Dean
Summary summarizing program issues.

Final Report An accurate, complete formal school/ program Follow-Up Report giving an account of the follow-up activities, other changes that may have occurred, and status of the program in the year since the Exit Interview with the Provost.

Learning Knowledge, skills, and/or behaviors to be exhibited after
Outcomes program completion.

Master The official roster of programs by year in which they
Program Review undergo program review, developed and maintained by
Schedule the Office of the Associate Vice President for Academic
Affairs.

Program Any academic UNIT offering a collection of related degrees, support areas, concentrations, teaching fields, or certification offerings which a school wishes to group for a sixth-year review.

Program Report The document that presents the results of the serious
thinking the program has done about itself, its direction, and its future. It addresses the categories for review and follows the guidelines and format published in the Guide to Program Review for its preparation.

Program Report The body appointed by the Dean to produce the
Committee Program Report.