Information Gathering

The committee should feel free to request from the unit under review any information it needs beyond the self-study document.

Because of the limited time available for the site visit, the on-campus committee members should hold prior discussions to identify issues and formulate specific questions for the external members of the committee.  These should be communicated to the external faculty in advance if possible. The on-campus committee is encouraged to meet with the unit chair/director or other key faculty, staff and students prior to the site visit, and to collect advance information that may be useful to the whole committee.

The evening before the site visit the review committee convenes in Seattle for a working dinner meeting.  This is an opportunity for the entire committee to meet for the first time and coordinate their work for the site visit. This meeting is a mandatory element of the site visit.

The academic unit, in consultation with OAP and the review committee, is responsible for arranging the site visit schedule.  The committee is free to discuss the schedule with OAP and the unit chair to make sure that its concerns are addressed. The committee should meet with faculty, students, and staff of the programs under review.

If issues arise during the site visit which cannot be resolved in the limited time available, the on-campus committee members may wish to pursue them after the site visit.

In order to preserve the integrity of the review process, reviewers are asked to avoid unnecessary contact with members of the academic unit under review or accept professional or social invitations that might suggest a conflict of interest, from the time the committee is constituted until the committee report is complete.


Committee Report

The report must be endorsed by all committee members. In addition, the external reviewers may wish to submit as appendices separate letter(s) summarizing their observations. Such letters are very helpful because they provide an expert external perspective.

The committee report should be submitted to The Graduate School within four weeks of the site visit and should contain the following elements:

     1.   Executive summary’s findings.

    2.   Summary of process. What was reviewed, when, and how? Who was interviewed; what facilities were examined?
    3.    Findings. Present strengths and weaknesses of the programs, history relevant to the present status, directions in which programs are heading, relative to the field.
    4.    Recommendations. How may strengths be maintained and weaknesses corrected?

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In organizing its findings or recommendations, the committee may find useful as a reference the "Important Characteristics of Degree Programs," enumerated on below.

Both praise and criticism are normal and valuable features of reports. To be effective, the report should be frank. The more constructively criticism is phrased, however, the more effective it is likely to be. It is useful if the report begins and ends positively, and avoids pejorative adjectives or censure of individuals. Where findings are tentative or impressionistic, this should be stated. The committee may ask to meet with the deans if there is sensitive program or personnel information to be conveyed which would be inappropriate to include in the report.  The main body of the report will be posted on the website of the Provost, therefore, any personnel matters should be addressed in a confidential appendix.

If the faculty of the unit reviewed perceives major errors in the report, and makes this view known to the committee, the committee should carefully consider the possibility of revision. The final decision on content, however, rests with the committee.
 

IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF DEGREE PROGRAMS