Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template. Name and contact information for person completing the review:

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1 Name of Program: Liberal Studies Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template Name and contact information for person completing the review: Indicate whether the program is X on campus online both NCA Criterion 1 Mission and Integrity NCA Criterion 2 Preparing for the Future NCA Criterion 3 Student Learning and Effective Teaching NCA Criterion 4 Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge NCA Criterion 5 Engagement and Service I. Program Mission (NCA Criterion 1 and Criterion 5) program mission statement (should identify constituency served) (1A, 1B) The Liberal Studies program is an innovative major designed to allow students with diverse academic interests to integrate those interests into a self-designed major. It is an excellent choice for students seeking a more interdisciplinary educational experience. It is also suitable for students with a lot of prior college experience who are looking to apply transfer credits to a Wright State major. Additionally, such a program at WSU was a direct response to a recommendation made by university college to encourage timely movement of students into appropriate majors. Our constituents are our students, many of whom are transfer students or students who seek greater flexibility than traditional majors provide. The flexibility of the Liberal Studies program enables students with a lot of previous college experience to finish their degree in a timely manner. That same flexibility also serves students who want to design a more individualized course of study. consistency with university mission (1C, 1E) The Liberal Studies program enables students to be innovative by designing their own course of study; this is in keeping with the university s commitment to innovation and creativity. By taking control of their own education, Liberal Studies students embark on a path of life-long learning. consistency with college mission (1C, 1E) As said above, the Liberal Studies program encourages creativity and innovation by having students design their own course of study. This is in keeping with the college vision to engage in creative, innovative, and applied scholarship and professional service in the region and beyond.

2 Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template 2 consistency of goals, learning objectives with program mission (1C) The goals and learning objectives emphasize developing students abilities in areas that are important across Liberal Arts disciplines. These include the ability to think critically and logically and to write effectively. In addition, Liberal Studies graduates have been exposed to an inter-disciplinary approach to intellectual problems and issues. Finally, by having students concentrate in a specific area, the major equips students to pursue graduate study or employment. extent to which program prepares students to "live and work in a global, diverse, and technological society" (4C) The Liberal Studies program, by its very nature, requires students to get a wideranging education. The core curriculum requires that students take two classes in each of three areas: fine arts, humanities, and social sciences. They then select one of those three to be their area of concentration. In addition to these requirements, students must also currently complete two inter-disciplinary courses that look at a particular issue from a variety of disciplinary approaches. For this requirement, students often take African and African-American Studies, Women s Studies, and International Studies courses, thereby preparing them to live in a global and diverse society. As for technology, many students take computer science classes to fulfill the professional component requirement of the major. extent to which program, through its curriculum and co-curriculum, fosters civic engagement and social responsibility (5A, 5C) Liberal Studies does not explicitly or directly foster civic engagement and social responsibility. Students are free to design their own course of study within the parameters stipulated in the previous response. Not all choose to design a course of study that is socially engaged. However, those students who choose a social sciences concentration do tend to take social work courses as part of the professional component and many take education classes as well. extent to which program fosters life-long learning (4A) Because Liberal Studies students must make frequent decisions about what kind of courses they want to take and how to best construct a major that will suit their interests and goals, I feel it puts them on the right path to future learning in a less guided environment. interrelationship with general education (1C, 4B) Liberal Studies majors may not double-dip with the G.E. requirements and must take entirely different courses to satisfy the requirements of the major. We also require them to do two additional writing-intensive courses within the major. interrelationship with other WSU programs (1C)

3 Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template 3 In a sense, Liberal Studies has a relationship with all of CoLA s other programs because students can apply almost any course in CoLA toward their major. In a program with a lot of prerequisites, however, this can limit our majors. Communications and Fine Arts classes are often closed to our students. community engagement (5C, 5D) II. Program Description (NCA Criterion 2) brief history of program, emphasizing past seven years (e.g., changes in administration, change in program direction, new degrees, minors, or certificates, de- or re-activation of program), including recommendations of any previous internal and/or external program reviews Liberal Studies was under the direction of Dr. Mark Sirkin from the program s inception in 2002 until the fall of 2008, when Dr. Valerie Stoker of the Religion Department took over. The files were relocated to the Religion Department offices and Siobhan Semmett became the administrative assistant. At the same time, a graduate student in the Master of Humanities program,, Sarah Gombis, was appointed as the Graduate Assistant. The Liberal Studies committee was also reconstituted in the fall of 2009, following the retirement of Carol Nathanson and Gary Pacernack. These members have been replaced by Lisa Morrisette (Art History) and Carol Morgan (Communications). number of students served The Liberal Studies program has been steadily growing for the past 7 years. It began in the fall 2002 with 14 majors and now has 149. Number of students: F02 F03 F04 F05 F06 F07 F08 F09 Grand Total number of majors 149 number of minors number enrolled in certificate program (if applicable) number of faculty N/A student/faculty ratio, average class size N/A balance in rank of program faculty N/A number of staff 2 1 administrative assistant and 1 graduate assistant

4 Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template 4 diversity (gender, race, ethnicity) of majors, faculty, and staff Racial make-up of the students from Office of Institutional Research: Female F02 F03 F04 F05 F06 F07 F08 F09 American Indian/Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific Islander Black, non-hispanic Foreign/Non-resident Alien Hispanic Unknown White, non-hispanic Female Total Male American Indian/Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific Islander Black, non-hispanic Foreign/Non-resident Alien Hispanic Unknown White, non-hispanic Male Total Grand Total The staff in Liberal Studies are all White, non-hispanic women. budget facilities and equipment/instrumentation technology and information resources and services program cost The director receives a monthly stipend of $166 and a summer stipend equivalent to teaching one 3 credit-hour summer course. The Graduate Assistant is paid $7725 per academic year. III. Program Effectiveness (NCA Criterion 3 and Criterion 4) achievement of student learning outcomes (Please summarize program assessment findings for past five years and subsequent improvements to program) (3A) For the past seven years, the procedure for assessing the program s effectiveness has remained fixed. It consists of a mixture of portfolio evaluation by committee

5 Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template 5 members and exit interviews. The program s objectives and learning outcomes have also remained consistent over the past seven years. They are as follows: Graduates of this program will: 1. Be prepared to obtain employment in occupations related to their concentrations and other coursework, 2. Be prepared to pursue graduate study in programs related to their concentrations and other coursework, 3. Have satisfied their desire for personal enrichment and understanding and have enhanced the relationship between themselves and others, and understanding of their own personal values. The most recent assessment report on these objectives had the following findings: Regarding the first objective, graduates often had employment prior to graduation but it did not generally reflect their course of study. But several exit interviewees said that the program had enabled them to think more about their prospective career goals and plan better to achieve them. Two students are applying to graduate school. Three graduates were on the Dean s list, indicating that they would do well in graduate school. For the third program objective, many students were pleased with the program s flexibility but often because it enabled them to graduate sooner. But for some students, this flexibility clearly served them well intellectually as they were able to design a major that was best suited to their interests. Three students felt the additional requirements of the program were cumbersome or redundant (e.g., the 2 inter-disciplinary studies courses.) The learning outcomes are 1. Critical thinking/logical reasoning skills, 2. Effective writing skills, 3. Effective research skills, and 4. Ability to use an interdisciplinary perspective. The most recent assessment report recounts the following findings on learning outcomes: There was consensus on most of the 13 papers. Only 5/6 papers were seen as having a thesis, using sources critically and presenting a valid argument. (As a Religion department faculty member, I d like to point out that three of these were papers from Religion classes.) In part, the other papers foundered on these criteria because they were not really research papers. Students were asked to submit research papers in their portfolios but some of them contended that they had not done any such papers during their time at WSU. They submitted critical thinking/textual analysis papers instead and these did not always match up to the Liberal Studies program learning objectives. In general, student writing seemed decent (stylistically, grammatically) but certain weaknesses in these areas persist.

6 Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template 6 In general, the program seems to be meeting its objectives. Student papers also reflect that, in general, they graduate with an ability to reason and think critically. Assessing research skills has remained difficult, however, due to the fact that not many classes require real research. Also, the interdisciplinary perspective is not always in evidence in the papers students submit but, arguably, the program s very nature determines that our students receive an inter-disciplinary education. Weaknesses in papers (such as those of grammar and structure) remain present. Perhaps the transition to semesters will remedy this as well as the dearth of research papers students are required to write. In exit interviews, many students have cited with appreciation the Liberal Studies major s flexibility and their consequent ability to finish their degrees in a timely fashion. Some felt that certain requirements (such as the professional component) were too restrictive and/or excessive. student retention rate (3A) % % % % % % number of graduates annually (3A) Degrees Awarded R02- S03 R03- S04 R04- S05 R05- S06 R06- S07 R07- S08 R08- S09 Liberal Studies - AA Liberal Studies - BA Grand Total placement of graduates (e.g., employment, graduate study) (3A) I currently have no data on alumni. I know from exit interviews that several students plan to apply to graduate school. Also we typically have students on the dean s list. In fall 2009, we had 8 students listed as having high honors, and 13 students listed as honors on the dean s list. This implies that they will do well, whatever their future endeavors. teaching effectiveness (3B, 3D) n/a faculty productivity (e.g., publications, grants) (4A) n/a interrelations of program s teaching, research, service activities (3A-D, 4A-C, 5 A-C) n/a

7 Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template 7 integration of technology into curriculum and instruction (3C) description of how program ensures that it is always current (4C) comparative advantage (e.g., distinctiveness in terms of students served, differentiation from programs offered at other regional institutions, strengths attributable to collaborative/interdisciplinary nature of program, etc.) If the program is online, respond to the following questions (drawn from NCA Best Practices): Is the online program taught by the same faculty as the on-campus program? How do the retention and graduation rates of the online and on-campus programs compare? How does the achievement of learning outcomes by online students compare with those by on-campus students? How does student evaluation of instruction for online classes compare to that for on-campus courses? How does the online program provide for appropriate interaction (synchronous or asynchronous) between students and instructor and among students? How does access to academic and technical support programs compare for online and on-campus students and for online and on-campus faculty? How does the program provide a coherent plan for student access to all courses necessary to complete the program (or provide clear notification of requirements not included in electronic offerings)? How have issues of workload, compensation, and ownership of intellectual property been addressed by the program? How have issues of security of personal information been addressed? IV. Program Needs/Areas in Need of Improvement Summarize the program needs (e.g., personnel, facilities, equipment) identified in this program review and the areas in need of improvement. The most critical need in Liberal Studies currently is additional advising staff. Currently the director and the graduate assistant provide advising for all 149 majors. Because Liberal Studies students are either transfer students, students who have been unable to stay in other majors, or students who are designing their own course of study at WSU, they need more advising than students in a traditional major. Thus, the need to enlist additional advisors for this task is critical. An additional area in which the program needs improvement is securing means by which to track alumni success. V. Proposed Improvement Action Plan Summarize the actions that will be taken in response to the findings of this program assessment. Provide a timeline that indicates how these changes will be implemented and assessed over the next seven years. The transition to semesters has required us to reconfigure the major. Accordingly, we will be streamlining some of the current requirements. The core will require

8 Undergraduate Academic Program Review Template 8 students to take 4 classes in the three areas and the concentration will consist of 4 upper-division courses. We will be eliminating the inter-disciplinary requirement but will retain one professional component course. The timeline for completing these changes is the same as that for all departments. As far as bringing more advisors on board, I hope to work with some senior administrators to elicit their assistance. I hope to have added one additional advisor by the end of Once I have some assistance with advising, I will be in a better position to track alumni.