Annual Program Review

Background

Over the past year, the Program Performance Review Committee developed an Annual Program Review (APR) process that will be timelier and more meaningful, along with two complementary dashboards. The idea of standardized programs metrics surfaced in the Academic Resource Planning sub-committee of Pre-Planning work that set the foundation for the current process and plan.  The APR and dashboards will enable each unit to look at their undergraduate program portfolio more effectively and be beneficial for informing any future program review and revision that may happen as part of implementing UAC recommendations.  Longer term, the APR will become the foundation for a more comprehensive program review process that will take the place of our old PAR process. In the near term, the pilot will also serve as a complement to the current review of graduate program portfolios that we have been doing.  Along each step of the process, stakeholders will be able to provide feedback to help improve the process year to year.   An oversight committee will be developed to oversee the process in collaboration with the Office of the Provost. 

The Dashboards:

• Strategic Dashboard: A complement to the Tactical Dashboard, the Strategic Dashboard is used to determine if there is alignment to the Strategic Plan and to what extent. This rubric can be used by program directors, faculty, and individual school/college administration to discuss and develop solutions and strategic planning for programs
• Tactical Dashboard: Available to units throughout the year, the Tactical Dashboard provides data across 16 metrics.

The Process:

• Program Reports: Program representatives will utilize the two dashboards to complete a program report that will be shared with the leadership of their college or school.
• College Reports: College representatives and leadership will utilize an aggregated college level report along with the context and information provided within the program reports to create a college level report.
  
  • The colleges and schools will meet with the Provost and develop an action plan for the next year based on the college report and the meetings.
• University Report: The APR Oversight Committee will review the college level reports in order to develop a university report with aggregated trends.

• January 2023: First meeting of Program Performance Review Committe
• June 2023: Addition of the Strategic Dashboard to the process    
• February – April,2024: Stakeholder review and feedback   
• May - June 2024: Feedback reviewed by committee and Provost’s Office to develop pilot year process
• June 2024 - February 2025: APR Pilot 
• February - March 2025: Pilot results evaluated and shared.  New process developed for full-roll-out
• April 28, 2025: Full roll-out of APR for undergraduate programs

Process Details

• Deans will select 1/3 of undergraduate programs to be reviewed for this academic year (programs will be reviewed on every 3 years)
• College/schools with smaller undergraduate portfolios will review all programs
• The plan will be to include graduate programs beginning in year 2. 

Timeline

• April 28 - June 9, 2025: Program Reports
• June 23 - August 4, 2025: College Reports
• August 11 - September 15, 2025: College Meetings with Provost
• October, 2025: University Report Creation

Below are resources to support the Annual Program Review Process

• April 2024 APR Presentation
  
• APR Pilot Year and Timeline
• Undergraduate Benchmark Descriptions
• APR - Program Report Collection Survey
• APR- College Report Instrument
• APR - College Report Process