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Program change is coming

Photo by: Henoc Kivuye

 

The campus-wide program review is rapidly approaching the full implementation stage.  Recommendations for both degree and non-degree granting programs have been issued and modifications are under way.

Rumors circulating on the cancelation of entire programs, such as the theater and missions programs are untrue, however, the restructuring of the entire academic side of Oklahoma Christian University could change things in a way that does not render these rumors baseless.

“There are no academic programs that received a recommendation that said ‘cut,’” Executive Vice President Bill Goad said. “There are academic programs that received recommendations that said you need to rethink this program some, you need to redesign it in some way.“

Every program will not be remaining the same, however.

“This doesn’t mean that there won’t be specific courses or specific activities that are being done in another area that might not be changed or cut – that’s happened on the non-degree granting side and will happen some in the degree granting programs as well,” Goad said.

In the past every program on campus has been submitted regularly to review, but this is the first time the campus reviewed every program simultaneously and so strenuously. The review began summer 2012 with non-degree granting programs and recommendations based on compiled data went out to the various programs at the beginning of this semester. These recommendations were broken down into one of four categories.

“One of the categories was ‘Grow the program,’ the second category was ‘Maintain,’ third category was ‘Restructure, redesign, rework’ in some way and the fourth category was to eliminate or cut, what we called ‘Sunset,’” Goad said.

A program review is required of all universities by their accrediting body. The administration decided to change the established yearly assessment to a more intensive program review. This review is based on the guidelines set out in the book “Prioritizing Academic Programs and Services: Reallocating Resources to Achieve Strategic Balance” by Robert C. Dickerson.

“This is the book we’re using as the model, we’re not using it exactly how it’s outlined in the book but it is the model,” Goad said “We’re going to continue doing this on an ongoing basis. It’s new in the sense that we’re using this model as opposed to previous evaluation and assessment models.”

This evaluation across the university has been a process at Oklahoma Christian for years.

“This is a new form of this annual planning that’s always happened,” Vice President of Academic Affairs Scott LaMascus said.

The first step in this process was a 15-item questionnaire sent to every department under review. These questions included: benchmarking units as compared to all other programs on campus, listing every staff member (including student workers) in these units, technological and resource evaluation, current needs of the unit in question, services provided and what each program wishes to change or achieve.

“Every program was asked to fill out a questionnaire that included 15 questions and the first two questions were ‘Does your unit have a mission statement?’ ‘How does this unit fit into the university’s mission?’” Associate Dean for Academics Lee Anne Paris said.

These questions were designed to begin discussion on the program review’s three-criteria of mission effect, demand and cost. Demand refers to the graduation and retention rate of each program, and cost evaluates the revenue generated and expended by each unit.

“Any time you are looking at metrics or numbers, everyone comes with a different perspective,” Vice President for Finance Jeff Bingham said. “‘What’s the most important benchmark?’ ‘What number are we judging ourselves against?’ That was a really challenging part. To me the most surprising part of the process was how long it took us to decide what’s important.”

The ongoing nature of the review makes this a process that cannot be fully quantified until after the changes are in place. Confirmation of each  change will come about over an extended period, but right now the focus is on promoting effective change in order to benefit students.

“One of the focal points that we’ve been discussing is how to help each program improve its ability to retain students at OC and graduate students in a four-year or a six-year window,” LaMascus said.

Because the non-degree granting programs began review much earlier, many of these changes have already occurred. Dropping the laptop program and tennis scholarships, as well as the discovery of a need to expand student housing, are the most noteworthy changes.

“We have residential life, housing policies, dining hall, athletic programs,” Goad said. “We manage our endowments; all those things factor into how the university operates. We took a full scope review of everything. ”

Many departments have begun the implementation and others have set their own deadlines for their decisions in November. Two new academic proposals arising from this campus-wide review are already up for discussion in the next academic affairs meeting on Sept. 23.

“Faculty are already moving at a much more rapid pace to improve their work for the students,” LaMascus said.

These changes may not be readily apparent to the student body in the early stages, but increased communication is promptly moving things forward.

“My perspective is a little bit different because I did not sit on the review committee, but what I am already hearing is that early on the most change you will see is the collaboration across programs both on the non-degree and degree granting side,” Vice President for Enrollment Management Risa Forrester said.

Further information will continue to trickle in as various changes are confirmed. One of the only things that can be said for certain is that change is definitely coming and that change will be seen across the board.

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