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Departments will be notified of their upcoming review by the Office of the Provost as far in advance as possible to allow ample time for preparation. Following this notification, a meeting with the department’s leadership will be scheduled to provide an overview of the review process and upcoming deadlines. The Academic Program Review team will organize an optional workshop for department Chairs to provide examples of best practices regarding the review materials they will need to submit over the upcoming year.

See Sample Review Timeline. 

Departments will identify four to five critical issues they would like the review to address and examine in greater depth. Key Issues should focus on long-term, strategic issues that are of importance to the department’s academic strategy or standing in the field, and that would benefit from external reviewer feedback. They may relate to departmental faculty operations, research focus and strategy, governance and decision-making, undergraduate or graduate teaching and learning, collaborations with other units or areas of the University, or operations of the department.

Once the department has agreed on their set of Key Issues, they are submitted to the Academic Program Review team, who will then share them with the Dean, Provost, and Faculty Advisory Council for their feedback. Occasionally, the Provost and/or Dean may request additional topics be added to the department’s list.

For guidance on developing this list, see Key Issues Template.  

The Academic Program Review team, in partnership with the Office of Institutional Research, will administer a Faculty Survey to gather feedback on the strengths and opportunity areas for the department. Departments may tailor this survey to its core faculty audience, depending on the structure and composition of its faculty. Results are kept confidential, responses are not attributed to any individual, and personal identifiers are removed prior to sharing. Full survey results are shared with the Provost, Dean, Academic Program Review team, Faculty Advisory Council Chair, and department Chair. A summary of the survey results is shared with the full faculty respondent population.

See Faculty Survey Template. 

The Academic Program Review team, in partnership with Institutional Research, will compile a robust data profile on each unit. A core profile is used as a baseline, and custom requests from the unit are incorporated as needed. Metrics included in the core data profile generally cover a ten-year period, and include data on faculty, undergraduate programs, graduate programs, and rankings.

See Sample Data Profile Metrics. 

Based on the Key Issues, Faculty Survey, and Data Profile, the department prepares a Self-Study that summarizes its history, faculty and governance structure, academic programs, research portfolio, collaborations, and examination of the final set of Key Issues. For guidance on completing this document, see Self-Study Template.

Each Academic Program Review team is comprised of three external and two internal reviewers. External reviewers are senior faculty members from peer institutions who are considered to be leaders in the discipline area. Internal reviewers, both ̨ÍåÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ faculty members, are identified to serve alongside the three external reviewers during the visit. Ideally, one of the two internal reviewers will be a current Faculty Advisory Council member; this practice lends institutional context and expertise to the team and provides continuity of process throughout the review.

Identifying and finalizing the review team is a joint process between the department Chair, Dean and Provost. The Academic Program Review team will handle all invitations and communications to the identified reviewers.

See External Reviewer Selection Worksheet.

The Academic Program Review team partners with the department to organize the Review Visit. During this visit, the review team will meet with faculty, staff, students, and other stakeholders across ̨ÍåÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ to gather feedback on the strengths and opportunity areas of the department. While each review visit is customized based on the needs of the department, a typical visit takes place over the course of 3 days. The review team will submit its report to the Academic Program Review team within 2-3 weeks after the conclusion of the campus visit. The report is shared with the department Chair first and then, upon review and approval, with the Provost, Office of the Provost leadership, Dean, and the Faculty Advisory Council.

See overview of Review Visit and Logistics and a Review Report Template. 

Following the visit, a meeting will be scheduled for the department Chair, Dean, Provost and other University leaders as needed, to discuss the Review Report and any resulting action items. This meeting is an opportunity for the department Chair, school, and Provost to discuss the report findings and align on the prioritization and implementation of any recommended action items within the context of unit, school, and university strategic priorities. See a sample Action Plan Overview.

The Academic Program Review team will follow up with each unit approximately one year after the completion of the Action Plan to assess the outcomes of the review.