University of New Orleans Institutional Effectiveness 2003-2004

The University of New Orleans has conducted a yearly review of its academic programs since the mid-1990s, but took an evolutionary step in 2001 by completely restructuring its institutional effectiveness process. Currently, the institution engages in ongoing institution-wide review of all of its academic, administrative, and educational support units and programs. The review is headed by the Coordinator of Institutional Effectiveness, who reports directly to the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. The Coordinator chairs a 10-member committee made up of representatives from academic, administrative and student support/units.

The academic departments and administrative/student support units develop their institutional effectiveness plans in accordance with both departmental/unit and university goals. Academic departmental plans must be approved by a vote of the faculty (and chairs must keep minutes of the meeting) before being submitted to the appropriate dean. All IE plans/reports are then reviewed by the respective college dean or division head to make sure that the goals and objectives are congruent with those of the college/division, and are then sent to the IE Committee. The IE Committee then reviews the yearly IE plans from the institution’s units to ensure that each has a well-defined mission statement and clearly articulated goals, measurable objectives (expected outcomes), and strategies and assessment tools for achieving the mission. Academic departments and programs are required to include at least two direct and two indirect measures of student learning outcomes.

The IE Committee also reviews the end-of-year IE reports from all the institution’s departments/units to ensure that each is using their assessment outcomes to modify the next year’s IE plan and thereby improve future performance. The IE Committee has the authority to return IE plans/reports to the departments/units with requests for modifications. The yearly IE plans and reports are maintained in hardbound form and are available for everyone’s inspection on the IE website (ie.uno.edu).

Institutional Effectiveness is integrated with the institution’s strategic planning process in both a top-down and a bottom-up process. In the top-down process, the Chancellor and Provost consult with the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Planning and the University Planning Committee to identify short-term and long-term strategic initiatives that are of such importance that they should be addressed by the institution’s academic and student support services units. The IE Committee circulates these top-down directives to all of the units and then checks to see that they are addressed by all of the institution’s units in their individual IE plans. In the bottom-up process, the IE Committee evaluates all, requests for new funds in the end-of-year IE reports and forwards all of those considered to be worthy to the University Planning Committee. The University Planning Committee then considers these requests in their deliberations for the next year’s budget.

2003-2004 Institutional Effectiveness Committee
Bruce King	Chair, Research Professor of Psychology
Sandra Eason	Assistant Dean of the Graduate School
Lucille Gallese	Acting Dean of Student Life
Charles Hadley	Chair of Political Science
Walter Lane	Chair of Economics & Finance
Emily London-Jones	Director of Office of Financial Aid
Dennis McSeveney	Associate Provost and Professor of Sociology
Will Peneguy	Associate Vice Chancellor of University Relations and Campus Services
Scott Whittenburg	Research Professor of Chemistry

top

Last updated: August 24, 2005