AUR Process and Procedures
- Parameters
- This plan covers non-academic units. These are administrative and support units
with no academic instructional responsibilities.
- The assessment program will operate annually and on a 5-year cycle. If warranted, additional reviews may be required.
- Preparation
- As part of the planning process, an orientation meeting for all units will be
conducted by the president or their designee. The meeting will outline the annual
planning process and timelines while emphasizing the institutional focused
initiatives for the coming planning period.
- During the 5th year review cycle, Senior staff for each unit will determine with
the unit planning leader the membership of the unit's self-study committee. It is
recommended that the self-study committee be large enough so that the unit as a
whole is represented. Multiple perspectives are a critical part to undergoing a self-
study of the unit.
- An orientation meeting for each unit under the 5- year review will be conducted
by the designated senior staff and the institutional research office. This
orientation meeting will introduce the purpose, concepts, principles, and
procedures of the assessment process. This orientation will also review the
timeline for the 5-year review process.
- Review Process
- Unit Employee Survey: The institutional research office will survey employees
of the unit to obtain information about operations, structure, and culture. These
surveys will allow for the breakdown of the data by employee status (student, faculty,
staff members). The institutional research office will assist in the development
of the survey, administer the employee questionnaire, oversee the data processing,
and submit a report of the survey results to the self-study team and the relevant senior
staff member. The unit will utilize the findings of the survey in its self-study and
will attach a copy of the report as an appendix to the self-study report. These
surveys will be standardized surveys across the college's units to provide comparable
data across units. Units may collect additional data, as they deem appropriate. (An
employee satisfaction survey example is available from the institutional research office.)
- Customer Feedback: The institutional research office will obtain customer
feedback addressing the needs, expectations for, and evaluation of the unit's services
and programs. The unit under review will compile a list of targeted users (5-10
faculty, 5-10 representatives from other departments, students) to complete the
survey. The appropriate senior staff member may add/delete members to this list
to ensure adequate sampling of users. The unit will utilize the findings in its self-
study and will attach a copy of the report as an appendix to the self-study report.
These surveys will be standardized and utilized across the college's units in order to
provide comparable data. Units may collect additional data, as they deem appropriate.
(A customer satisfaction survey example is available from the institutional research office.)
- Self-Study: The unit self-study committee will conduct a self-study that addresses the
questions and follows the format outlined in administrative unit review template. The self-study should also incorporate the results of the employee
survey and customer survey in its analysis. In addition to the data provided via the
surveys, the units should focus on internal data that measures and provide trends
of the indicator of achievements of their program goals. The unit should go beyond
mere description of the data to providing an analysis of the data within the context
of the unit's structure and functioning. The unit will have access to "hard" data but
qualitative data is likely to be important as well. All data referenced should either be
presented in the document or attached as an appendix.
- External Assessment: Self-study committees will determine if any external
assessment is warranted and incorporate those findings into their final report.
- General Feedback: The college community will be notified of each unit undergoing
a self-study and be allowed to submit feedback, via the web, that the committee may
include in its report, providing a copy of the report as an appendix.
- Comments by the designated Senior Staff: The designated Senior Staff will offer
comments on the self-study assessment report forwarded to her/him. This packet
of materials, including the senior staff member comments, shall inform the unit's
objectives for continuous improvement, or for supporting its resource and capacity
needs, or for compliance. These objectives will inform the unit's work plan and
resource requests.
- Work Plan and Progress Reports
- The designated senior staff will be responsible for securing a work plan with the
appropriate resource requests from the unit after completion of the unit review
process (annually and at the 5-year cycle). The work plan shall support the unit's
objectives that resulted from the unit's review process.
- The designated senior staff or his/her designee will monitor the annual unit
progress reports and provide feedback to the unit planning leader.
- The copies of the self-study reports will be kept in the office of the appropriate senior
staff member and unit planning leader. Information in the self-study reports
will be entered and thereafter updated in the college's resource allocation plan
datasets.
