Strategies & Benchmarks for Key Goal 2
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.1.1
Each division/unit (see Organizational Chart) within UMA will be engaged in assessing its effectiveness, and applying the learned results to improve the university's overall success in achieving its mission. The processes of assessing effectiveness, analyzing the results of these reviews, and applying the gained information will be systematized. Sharing and comparing data will occur across the units as well as with the administration.
As a result of this systematized process of review and subsequent discussions of the information gained, each unit will glean what are the best practices to be applied to optimize its effectiveness. In other words, UMA will develop a culture of assessment. This process has begun in recent years and will continue to develop and evolve over the five years of this plan.
The benchmark for this objective is that the process becomes progressively more routine at all levels of the University on an annual basis, and will be evident through written annual reports and how they are used and applied.
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.1.2
This process has begun and we must continue to develop and refine it. The Provost working with the Deans, Faculty Senate and Program Coordinators during FY '07 will:
- Develop forms to be used in the learning outcomes assessment processes based upon the FY '06 Faculty Retreat and workshop with Paul Cunningham of Rivier College;
- Continue to review and refine the contents required in annual program reports, and how the information can and should be used in advocacy of the programs and the planning and budgeting processes;
- Continue to review and refine the contents and process by which the annual reports build into a Program Review document;
- Develop the coordinators into an ad hoc committee of the faculty for the purposes of building expertise in learning outcomes assessment by those most responsible for doing the assessment and reporting the results. The Provost will supply a half-time facilitator for this purpose. Within the academic unit this group will be the forum for the sharing and comparing data referenced in the implementation of 2.1.1. This ad hoc committee will also be where the identifying and sharing of best practices will occur for the faculty.
- The Faculty Senate's Assessment Committee will evolve into an Assessment and Planning Committee and have by-laws that accurately reflect its purview.
- The Provost and Academic Deans in consultation with the faculty will establish a new time table for the submission of Program Reviews. A new 7-year cycle for the reformed Program Reviews will start in FY '09.
- We will develop a definition of who can be considered as an outside reviewer bearing in mind any NEASC expectations in this area.
- The Dean of Libraries & Distance Learning and the Dean of Student Development will have systems in place within their units.
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.1.3
This thread of institutional assessment will formally begin in year 2 (2007-2008) of this Strategic Plan
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.1.4
This thread of institutional assessment will formally begin in year 3 (2008-2009) of this Strategic Plan
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.2.1
Each UMA vice president will develop a plan by FY '09 in consultation with unit members as needed and appropriate to insure that the results of assessments being done within the units will serve to enlighten and inform their needs. By FY '10 this systematic ability to identify needs will be fully integrated into planning and decision making within the unit.
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.2.2
By FY '10 the President will have approved a plan that insures unit priorities and needs are weighed against each other in order to enlighten and inform institutional priorities. The plan will be implemented by FY '11.
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.3.1
By FY '09 the President will approve an institutional Planning Calendar. The vice presidents will be responsible for identifying the specific planning processes within their units that influence or are influenced by other units by the end of FY '07. President's Staff will then synchronize the various processes to insure that critical information and decisions are being made in a timely manner to optimize institutional effectiveness. President's Staff will complete this work during FY '08.
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.3.2
By FY '11 the University will have a governance structure that incorporates and documents the areas represented in the NEASC Standards. The President's Advisory Council (PAC) will assume leadership to achieve this objective. By FY '08 an inventory of the University's standing committees will be completed. By FY '09 the development of new committees and/or new committee charges will be started and completed by FY '11. The new governance structure will be fully functional by the start of FY '11.
In recent years we have seen the problems of not documenting our endeavors as we prepared this Strategic Plan and the NEASC Self-Study Report. Accordingly, the development of a systematic approach to archiving materials on the Intranet as well as hard copy is critical to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of future planning and assessment endeavors. As each committee is identified a folder will be created for it on the Intranet, which will house all its documentation.
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.3.3
All annual reports generated by the various units of UMA will be archived on the Intranet. A systematic approach to storage of reports will be generated on the X Drive (a.k.a. University Intranet). There will be three folders clearly identified that relate to the domains of the three vice presidents. The writing of reports will be a pyramiding process (e.g. academic programs will feed into the deans' reports and the deans' reports will feed into the Provost's report.) Annual reports penned by the vice presidents will be the basis for the planning efforts of the PAC. However, the PAC will also have access to all the preliminary reports that were posted to the Intranet for additional reference.
STRATEGIES & BENCHMARKS: Objective 2.3.4
In FY '08 the PAC will generate an Annual Agenda for the University, and will do so annually thereafter. The Annual Agenda will be constructed in the fall of each year. It will be designed for implementation in July of the next fiscal years hence. (e.g. The FY '08 Agenda will be developed in the fall semester of 2007. It will be implemented in July 2008 [the start of FY '09].) The lead time reflects the need to influence the budgeting process. Normally, the budget for the coming fiscal year is done in the early spring of the preceding FY.
This objective is the culmination of all the other efforts within Goal #2. It is where "grassroots" assessment and its resulting identification of strengthens and needs feed into how the University will operate. The Agenda will say where we invest our money and energy to be more effective in accomplishing our mission.