Graduate
Program Review
Ten-year review roles and responsibilities
The appointed GFEC representative will inform the program chair about Graduate School expectations.
Role of the Graduate School Staff
The Graduate School will provide several resources for use during the review process including:
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A comprehensive list of issues important to the review of a graduate program. This list will be provided to the GFEC representative at the start of a review and made available to departments and colleges.
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A copy of the previous review and/or other pertinent correspondence.
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A centralized data resource bank in the form of the Graduate Program Profiles, references to other campus resources, and suggestions for departmental archiving of data relevant for the review process.
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A point person who will act to monitor the status of action items to ensure timely completion of the review process. In addition, after GFEC chooses which action to take at the end of a review, the appropriate Associate Dean will prepare the letter to the department, clearly defining required department responses and time limits, and will monitor any required follow-up.
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The appropriate academic Associate Dean will provide a GFEC member for each review, or will serve if no member can be found. The Associate Dean will prepare the appointment letter to the GFEC member (with a copy to the college dean's office).
- When an accreditation or external review is combined with a ten-year internal review, the appropriate academic Associate Dean will work with the school/college to determine roles and responsibilities of the college-appointed faculty committee member and the GFEC member, and will prepare a letter articulating those expectations to the review committee members, including the external reviewer (see Information regarding external and accreditation reviews).
Role of GFEC representative
The role of the GFEC member assigned to each review, while contingent upon the nature of the review itself, will include these functions:
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The GFEC representative will meet with the appropriate Associate Dean to receive the charge and discuss the type of review.
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As a committee member, the GFEC representative will concentrate on Graduate School concerns and facilitate the program review committee and department under review in using the resources made available to them from the Graduate School.
The GFEC representative should confirm that there is at least one opportunity to talk with as large a group of graduate students as possible during the review process.
The GFEC representative will report back to the GFEC as a whole, typically within two months of the completion of the review. At least one and a half weeks prior to the meeting, the member will provide the following materials for the agenda:
- The complete review or, if more than 20 pages, the graduate portion of the review coupled with an overview of the complete document.
- The college response, if available.
- The department response, if available. For the presentation to GFEC, the representative will prepare 2-3 overheads that summarize the strengths, weaknesses, recommendations and proposed actions.
Roles and responsibilities of the department
Prior to the review:
Document program activities to ensure continuous assessment. This information will also provide the basis for the self-study that is required at the time of program review. Review the comprehensive list of issues important to the review of a graduate program.
Campus-wide resources of information available to departments include, but are not limited to:
Information the Graduate School strongly encourages departments to maintain on an on-going basis include:
During the review:
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Provide the GFEC representative with a copy of the department/program self-study, highlighting those areas that are pertinent and relevant to graduate education.
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Coordinate the logistics of meetings between the GFEC representative and the program faculty, staff, and students.
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Provide additional information/documentation upon request.
After the review:
Should the department/program receive a letter of congratulations from the Dean of the Graduate School indicating that the review has been favorable, it is expected that the department/program will participate in continuous assessment.
Should the department/program receive a letter from the Dean of the Graduate School providing recommendations to address certain concerns, it is expected that the department/program will provide required responses within the specified timeframe. These expectations and time limits will be defined clearly in the letter.