Graduate Program Review
Joint review roles and responsibilities
Role of the Graduate School staff
The Graduate School will provide several resources for use during the review process including:
- A comprehensive list of issues important to the continuation 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.
- 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.
- The appropriate academic Associate Dean will provide a GFEC member for the joint review committee.
- A point person who will act to monitor the status of action items to ensure timely completion of the review process.
Role of the director of Academic Planning and Analysis:
- Provide oversight to the process.
- Assure that the review committee is appointed, and that they have the information needed to conduct the review.
- Be a consultant to the review committee and attend review committee meetings.
- Be the liaison with UW System Administration.
Role of the GFEC representative:
- Receive from the Provost/APA staff the charge of the committee.
- Receive from the Provost/APA staff a copy of the program's self-study, additional supporting documentation, and at least two letters from external reviewers.
- Receive from the Provost/APA staff a copy of the proposal for authorization to implement approved by UW System, and copies of GFEC and UAPC minutes from the meetings at which earlier decisions were made on the program (if available).
- Concentrate on Graduate School concerns and facilitate the program review committee and program under review in using the resources made available to them from the Graduate School.
- Confirm that there is at least one opportunity to talk with as large a group of graduate students as possible during the review process.
- Present the joint review committee finding to the GFEC as a whole,
typically within two months of completion of the review. At least
one and a half weeks prior to the meeting, the representative 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 the joint review. Review the comprehensive list of issues important to the continuation of a graduate program.
Campus-wide resources of information available to departments include, but are not limited to:
- Graduate Program Profiles
- Department Planning Profiles
- Data Digest
- Registrar Enrollment Reports
- InfoAccess (campus data warehouse)
Information the Graduate School strongly encourages departments to maintain on an on-going basis include:
- strategic plan of the department
- majors listings
- alumni databases
- degree reports
- exit surveys
- cohort studies
- placement information
- graduate student funding
- graduate student handbooks
- faculty advising responsibilities and procedures
- faculty accomplishments
- professional development opportunities for graduate students
During the review:
- Complete the self-study as requested by the Provost. Work with the school/college dean's office and APC to satisfy school/college processes. Have the college dean's office submit the self-study, additional documentation, and information about external reviewers to the Provost and the Dean of the Graduate School.
- Provide a representative to the four-member joint review committee.
- Provide additional information that may be required by the review committee.
After the review:
- Should the department/program receive a letter of congratulations indicating that the program may continue, it is expected that the department/program will participate in continuous assessment. The program then enters the normal institutional ten-year review cycle.
- 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.
- Should the department/program receive a letter recommending discontinuation, numerous issues need to be addressed (e.g., determine timeline for suspending admission to the program; inform current applicants that the program is being discontinued; determine timeline for currently enrolled students to finish degrees or change to another viable degree program; make changes in department/program publicity to reflect suspension of admission, including web site, printed documents, etc.). The Graduate School will assist the department/program in handling these issues.