Preparing the Self-Study Document
The departmental or program self study should encourage the participants to engage in a critical evaluation and a process to determine the future directions and priorities for the unit. Although the report will be tailored to meet the needs of the program under review, most reports will include the following:
1. A brief history of the department/program and its relationship to other academic units of the university.
2. A strategic plan for the department/program outlining the unit’s goals and aspirations for the next 7–10 years. If there has been a previous review of the department, the new report should include information about the steps taken to accomplish the recommendations of that review. The self study should relate the mission of the department/program to the strategic plans of the Arts and Sciences and the University. This is a key component of the review, and it must be included. Please see Appendix A, Section IC for details as to what should be included in the strategic plan.
3. The intellectual and scholarly direction(s) of the department/program and any aspects that might make it unique in the national spectrum. Identification of the challenges likely to be faced in the coming years and how they might be addressed; i.e. where would the department/program like to go; is there a good balance between research and teaching, do both impact positively on both faculty and students?
4. A discussion of the resources currently available to meet goals and objectives and those that might be needed to meet future objectives and attain excellence.
5. An analysis of the current state of the department: the characteristics of the students and faculty (at all ranks): enrollment trends, academic standings, scholarships and awards, the quality of departmental/program life (interactions with faculty at the graduate and undergraduate levels), number of degrees awarded, professional life of the faculty (research awards, levels of support, etc.
Appendix A: Self-Study Document and Data
Departments and programs should use the guidelines below to prepare their self-study documents. These are guidelines only. Some of the material requested below may not apply to a particular department or program. Some departments may find it useful to include material that is not listed here. Departments and programs may adapt these guidelines as necessary to best meet their requirements.
Nonetheless, each department and program is expected to provide both a serious analysis of the current state of the department based on data and information from the past several years and a plan, based on that analysis, that details the department’s or program’s goals and aspirations and plans for achieving those goals.
Departments should involve the complete faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students in the preparation of the self-study.
Departments should submit one electronic copy and one hard copy of its self study to the College office.
If you have any questions about the guidelines or the materials to submit, please contact Lori Cavagnaro at 404-727-0773 or via email at lcavagn@emory.edu.
I. Narrative
A. Executive Summary
B. Departmental Overview
1. Describe the department’s mission, role, and scope. Describe the department’s history since the last program review, or within the last 5 years if there was no previous review, emphasizing the major changes that have occurred. Summarize the recommendations from the previous review and describe the extent to which those recommendations have or have not been met.
2. Describe the department’s present organizational structure; faculty composition, including tenure-track and lecture-track faculty as well as temporary and part-time faculty; undergraduate and graduate programs; support staff; and infrastructure, including space and equipment for faculty, students, and staff.
3. Explain the department’s or program’s major relationships to other academic units of the University.
C. Program Assessment.
1. Faculty: Summarize the faculty’s strengths and weaknesses in research, teaching, and service. Include the information that has been used in identifying these strengths and weaknesses. Discuss the recent history of faculty hiring, retention, and advancement. Assess the extent to which the current composition of the faculty fulfills the goals and aspirations of the program.
2. Undergraduate Program:
a. Describe the current curriculum in the undergraduate program. What have been the major recent curricular changes? Compare your curriculum to other programs in what you consider peer universities. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum. Assess the actual course offerings over the last several years. Have the courses offered been adequate to meet the goals of the curriculum and to fulfill the demands of students and of majors?
b. Describe the student population in your program. What are the trends in enrollments and majors? Assess the quality of the student population. Describe and assess your Honors’ Program. Describe and assess any special programs that involve undergraduates in the academic or social life of the department. Describe and assess the quality of the advising of students in the program. What do your students do after graduation from Emory, i.e. employment, professional or graduate school? Describe the general quality of departmental/program life.3. Graduate Program:
a. Describe the current areas of concentration, curriculum, and requirements in the graduate program. What have been the major recent changes to the program? Compare the focus, curriculum, and requirements to other programs in what you consider peer departments. Assess the actual course offerings over the last several years. Have the courses offered been adequate to meet the goals of the program and the needs of the students? Describe and assess the preliminary examinations. Are adequate faculty present to advise and train students in the areas of research offered by the program? Assess the strengths and weaknesses in your program.
b. Describe the student population in your program. What have been the trends in applications, admissions, yields, and enrollments in terms of GRE scores, GPA, quality of college attended, and gender, ethnic and international identification? Describe the distribution of students by their areas of prelims and dissertation (or thesis) research. How are the student areas of dissertation research distributed across areas of concentration and of faculty? What are the trends in attrition, completion, and time to degree? What is the placement record of the students?
c. Describe and evaluate the teacher training program in your department, both TATTO and any other teacher training programs you may have. What are the typical teaching experiences of students (level and number of courses, and number of students taught) during their graduate career? Evaluate the quality of graduate student teaching.
d. Describe and evaluate the student support programs in the department, both those initiated by the department and those initiated by the students. These may include orientations, pro-seminars, dissertation writing and support groups, peer mentoring programs, job placement programs, and the like. Describe and evaluate the department’s advising and student review procedures.4. General Assessment:
a. Assess the overall quality of the faculty and of the undergraduate and graduate programs. How does the program compare in national assessments and to peer programs in each of the major areas covered by the department?
b. Describe and analyze the department’s strengths and deficiencies, and proposed changes. Identify unresolved problems on which an external review panel might provide special counsel, and prepare a list of specific questions you wish to send to them.
D. Strategic Plan
1. Describe the intellectual and scholarly directions of the department or program and any aspects that might make it unique in the national spectrum. Identify the challenges likely to be faced in the coming years and how these can be addressed, i.e., Where would the department or program like to go? Is there a good balance between research and teaching? Do both impact positively on both faculty and students?
2. Identify specific curricular, disciplinary, service, faculty, and other program goals (i.e., what is the program trying to accomplish?). Think in terms of a five- to six-year period, and relate to College and institutional goals and priorities.
3. Comment on the resources available to achieve these goals. What additional resources are needed? What changes in department quality might be projected if additional resources were available, and what would be the expected effects of those changes? How might existing resources be reallocated to meet department or program goals? How do the physical facilities affect the teaching and research programs of the department?
4. What is the faculty’s collective view of the program’s future, its desired directions, and its means for reaching these objectives? How do planning and incentives direct the program to these ends?
E. Other Relevant Material
II. Data and Details
Include the following data as part of the self-study. Much of this data is part of the Annual Reports of the College and of the Graduate School:
A. Faculty and Departmental Data (provide data for 1995/96 to 2005/06)
1. Complete current curriculum vitae for all faculty associated with the program.
2. Department rankings: Provide data on national assessments, i.e. NRC and US News rankings; rankings by disciplinary associations, private groups, accrediting agencies, etc. The Emory College Office can provide information about US News and NRC rankings.
3. Faculty Productivity: indicators such as publications, citation indices, etc. list citations by author. Describe the overall nature and breadth of the faculty’s research and other scholarly contributions made through active participation in the generation of knowledge and exemplary practice or creative performance. If there is a means of doing so, provide an appraisal of the significance of these contributions in this field.
4. Faculty awards: Mellon, Fulbright, etc. List by faculty name and date.
5. Honorary societies: National Academy, disciplinary societies, etc. List by faculty name and date. Describe the faculty’s participation, leadership and influence in the academic profession through such avenues as professional associations, review panels, and advisory groups.
6. Faculty Ph.D. and M.A. thesis committees: list by faculty, students supervised, indicate whether faculty member is/was committee chair or committee member.
7. Faculty composition and change: list by year, number of faculty by rank, faculty hires and level, faculty promotions and tenure, faculty terminations at tenure or 4th-year review, voluntary terminations, list outside offers to faculty and source.
a. Provide data on faculty size: comparative size of top five peers and/or competitors.
b. Provide data on the gender and race/ethnicity composition of faculty.
c. What efforts are underway to attract and retain well qualified faculty?
d. Describe the major features of the program’s plan and efforts for the recruitment and retention of a diverse faculty.
e. Is the present faculty adequate to provide this program? If not, identify what additional faculty are needed and at what cost. If additional resources are not forthcoming, what alternative strategies will be used to improve program adequacy?8. Describe the distribution of tenure-track and lecture-track faculty, temporary and part-time faculty, and graduate students in the department’s teaching programs. How are teaching loads and particular courses assigned? Do non tenure-track faculty members participate in department meetings and discussions, and in curriculum planning and/or in course design?
B. Graduate Program: (5 or 10 years of data, as indicated)
1. Describe, in general terms, the graduate program(s) offered by this unit. How does (do) the graduate program(s) reflect the basic goals of the academic program? What changes have occurred in recent years, and what changes are contemplated for the future? What evidence (resources, reputation, outcomes, or other criteria) is available concerning the quality of this unit’s graduate program(s)? How is this information used to strengthen the graduate program(s)?
2. Applications and admissions: number of completed applications, number of students offered admission, number of students accepting admission, average undergraduate GPA and average GRE scores of applicants, students admitted, and students accepting admission for years 2000/01 through 2005/06; and for each student offered admission who declined, indicate school attended (from GSAS Annual Report).
3. Attrition/Retention: number of students leaving the program before completion of Ph.D., by year in program, for cohorts of students beginning in 1995/96 through 2005/06 (from GSAS Annual Report). Note number of students dropped from the program for each year.
a. What efforts are underway to attract and retain well qualified graduate students?
b. What are the retention rates in this graduate program? How do these rates compare with the rates of 5 years ago?
c. How do graduates view their graduate experience, and how are their views solicited? What program modifications do these views suggest?4. Placement: List first job placement since Ph.D. degree and current placement, by employment sector, for students completing their degrees from 1996 through 2006 (from GSAS Annual Report).
5. Composition of student body: What is the current gender and race/ethnicity composition of the unit’s graduate students? How do these figures compare to figures at comparison schools?
6. Completion and time to degree: number of students completing their degree by year in program, for cohorts of students beginning in 1995/96 through 2005/06 (from GSAS Annual Report). Include number of students whose program has been extended.
7. Resources: Do students have adequate resources to carry out their studies, e.g., stipends, office and lab space, supplies, travel, photocopying, etc.? What additional resources would be required to improve the quality of the graduate program substantially?
8. Teaching: What role do teaching assistants and graduate students play in instruction, and how are they prepared for their responsibilities? Describe department specific teaching opportunities and preparation for graduate students and how opportunities are distributed.
9. Advising: What is the nature and quality of advising for graduate students, and how has advising been assessed? What is the average ratio of student/faculty thesis supervision?
10. Student Concentrations: Provide data on the number of students taking prelims by area of concentration; number of dissertations by area of concentration for 2000/01 through 2005/06.
11. Completed Ph.D. and Masters’ Theses: list student, title of thesis, advisor for years 1995/96 through 2005/06.
12. Student publications: list with full citation for years 2000/01 through 2005/06.
13. Student awards: external fellowships, honors, etc. for years 2000/01 through 2005/06.
14. Courses: list by year and enrollment for years 2000/01 through 2005/06.
a. What evidence is there of sufficient offerings and balance among the various specialties—is there sufficient breadth of course offerings and sufficient depth for specialization? How are the courses in the graduate program coordinated? What plans are underway to modify the graduate program(s) in light of available information?
b. What evidence is there that the courses meet student needs? Are a sufficient number of courses offered? In what ways besides individual thesis or dissertation research are students involved actively in their learning—for example through internships, practica, teaching internships, and/or assistantships?15. Graduate Student Handbook.
C. Undergraduate Program: (5-10 years of data, as indicated)
1. Students: Provide data on number of majors, number of honors students, and student awards from 2000/01 through 2005/06.
2. General Education Requirements: Describe your department’s role in the College and University in offering courses that satisfy the GER.
a. Who teaches these courses, and what evidence of instructional quality exists for these courses? How is their quality assessed? What plans are underway to strengthen these offerings? Describe the process for planning and updating these courses.
b. Provide a list of courses that satisfy the GER from 2000/01 through 2005/06 with the number of students enrolled, instructor’s name, rank, and evaluation score.3. Freshman seminars: List the courses offered as freshman seminars for the past 5 years, including the number of students enrolled, instructor’s name, rank, and evaluation score.
4. Curriculum: Describe the curriculum for undergraduate majors and minors.
a. What evidence is available to compare the undergraduate major(s) curriculum and courses with similar programs nationally and assess its quality?
b. What specific efforts are made to incorporate new knowledge and perspectives into the curriculum, and to consolidate or eliminate outdated views?
c. What efforts are made to involve students actively in their learning through such opportunities as internships, practica, work-study, or seminars?
d. What opportunities are provided for undergraduate participation in research? Indicate percentage of majors that take advantage of research opportunities.
e. Provide data on courses and enrollments: list courses and enrollments, 2000/01 through 2005/06 (from College Annual Report).5. Teaching: Percentage of courses and of students taught by each of the following categories: tenure-track faculty, lecture-track faculty, part-time or temporary faculty, and by graduate students, 2000/01 through 2005/06.
6. Teaching excellence: Provide data that indicates the quality of teaching in the department or program, i.e., average teaching evaluation scores, etc.
7. Advising: How are undergraduate students majoring in the unit’s program(s) advised? How has the advising process been evaluated? If the advising process has been evaluated, what were the results of this evaluation?
8. Alumni: How do alumni of the program view their educational experience? What methods are used to solicit their views?
D. External Research Funds: (2000/01 through 2005/06)
1. Provide data on total external research funds by source, faculty and graduate students for each year.
2. Provide data on total federal research funds, faculty and graduate students for each year.
3. Provide data on training grants: number of students, amount, by year.
4. Provide data on internal grants (i.e., University Research Committee (URC) grants) by faculty for each year.