Regular reviews of academic programs (department or interdisciplinary program) are an essential element of ensuring that the academic programs at Whittier College are vital, current, effective, and challenging. Every academic program should undergo a full review 3, 5 or 7 years, depending on the recommendation made by the Assessment Committee (AC). Self-studies are intended to be comprehensive and thoughtful summaries of the current programs, its recent history, and its future plans in the context of the discipline. In order to broaden campus-wide understanding of various programs and facilitate academic planning on a broad scale, self-studies will be submitted to the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and the Assessment Committee of the faculty who are charged to perform an Internal Review.
Each department/program has a mission statement and learning outcomes specific to their discipline as well as to our liberal education program. Departments/programs are also asked to complete a Curricular Map and Long-term Assessment Plan and are asked to submit yearly assessment plans and reports (assessing at least one of their learning outcomes or an implicit/explicit curriculum) so that at the end of the cycle multiple outcomes/curriculums have been assessed.
Such factors as planned leaves and sabbaticals, scheduled accreditation visits, and distribution among the academic divisions will be considered in scheduling reviews. This schedule does not, however, mean that departments are to assess their work and make changes only as part of formal reviews. The formal review should rather be seen as analogous to FPC’s periodic reviews of individual faculty; the self-study, like the professional growth plan, should be an articulation and summary of a continuous process. Assessment of student learning should be an important part of every review.
