Academic Affairs Annual Report 2008-09

Mark E. Workman, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

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Goal 1: Advance the recruitment of academically ready and culturally diverse students and set occasions for their success.

Action 1.1: Implement universal tracking system pilot and create academic program maps to increase student completion rates.

The Academic Roadmap system was developed in response to the need to systematically track and monitor the native and transfer undergraduate student progress toward graduation. The Academic Roadmaps system provides students with a term-by-term schedule for their selected academic major and highlights the mile marker courses that must be successfully completed at critical junctures along the way. Student progress on their Academic Roadmap will be monitored, and students will receive support and guidance from professional and faculty advisors when they fail to make adequate progress toward graduation. The Academic Roadmaps system is expected to have a positive impact on the student support infrastructure and, as a consequence, six-year graduation rates. Go-Live for the original 10 pilot roadmaps is set for the end of June, 2009.

The director of the academic roadmap initiative will obtain continuous feedback from stakeholders after Go-Live. The university’s remaining undergraduate program roadmaps are currently being built and meetings arranged with stakeholders for roadmap review and sign-off. A second modification request is pending for enhancements to the roadmap application’s builder interface. These enhancements will improve the completion rate of the remaining roadmaps.
Action 1.2: Strategically recruit FTIC and Florida Associate of Arts students in accordance with BOG enrollment targets while increasing both academic profile and diversity.

Faced with significant budget cuts at the state level for the 2008-2009 academic year, institutionally the University of North Florida made the decision to constrict enrollment in an effort to bring actual enrollment in-line with a reduced FTE funding. At the FTIC level, this meant reducing the overall number of FTICs admitted to UNF for this academic year. This reduction lead to the enrollment of the most academically talented FTIC class to ever enter the University of North Florida. Comparing GPA, SAT & ACT scores between the class of '07-'08 and '08-'09, there were significant leaps in all measurable academic catagories. The GPA for the 2008 Fall FTIC class increased .12 points moving from a high of 3.61 in 2007 to a high of 3.73 in 2008. At the same time, the SAT average for the fall term increased from 1176.21 in 2007 to 1190.76 in falll of 2008. Finally we saw an increase in the ACT from 22.49 in 2007 to 23.99 in Fall of 2008. During this same period of time, UNF also constricted transfer enrollment eliminating the transfer of lower level and upper level transfer and focusing most of the year on only admitting AA transfers from Florida Community Colleges. These efforts are evident as we saw an increase of AA transfers to UNF with a total of 984 AA transfers in 2007 moving to a total of 1196 AA transfers for the 2008 year.

Unfortunately, efforts to constrict enrollment had a negative impact on campus diversity. At the FTIC level, we saw diversity drop from 23.7% in 2007 to 23% in 2008. For AA transfers during this same time, the percentage dropped from 22.88% in 2007 to 22.58% in 2008.
Action 1.3: Recruit graduate students in line with institutional priorities, diversity enhancement, and, where applicable, new programmatic entry standards.

In 2008-09, 2362 applied for graduate study at UNF (up from 2162 in 2007-08), 1164 were admitted (up from 1124), and 781 enrolled (down from 801). Our Fall 2008 headcount was 1801 (up from 1686 in 2007). 2008-09 FTE generation for Grad 1 & 2 was 1020.33 (98.7% of target; up from 968.63 in 2007-08). In support of recruitment of graduate students, we invested $38,000 in marketing initiatives that included an enhanced program-focused presence on the Grad School’s website, a national online presence, a UNF print ad presence, participation in recruitment events at UNF and throughout north and central Florida, campus newspaper ads throughout this same region, and participation in a recruitment trip to China and Taiwan. In addition, we invested approximately 1.5 million dollars in graduate student scholarships, graduate assistant stipends, and the allocation of tuition waiver authority, both in-state and out-of-state. Also in support of recruitment, we launched a new electronic referral system to streamline the admissions process and speed our responses to applicants.

Unfortunately, the diversity of our graduate student profile went down slightly, from 20.29% in 2007-08 to 19.58% in 2008-09. This happened despite our marketing focus on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-Serving institutions.

In 2009-10, we will focus our efforts in this same way and to the greatest extent our resources will allow.
Action 1.4: Continue to develop initiatives in areas of advising to increase university retention and graduation rates.

Task Force on Undergraduate Advising (TFUA) made up of students, faculty and staff campus wide holds regular meetings researching best practices, alternate models and current data on UNF advising in order to submit a comprehensive report to Academic Affairs outlining enhancements for advising on our campus.

TFUA has submitted its report and recommendations and AA is currently reviewing this report for feasibility and consistency withe the university and AA mission and goals.

Undergraduate Studies Council initiatives: Continued UNF Reads program for incoming freshmen in 2009. o The council continues meeting on a regular basis to research retention efforts and brainstorm ideas for enhancing graduation and retention rates.

Freshmen class of 2009 will participate in a common read of A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. Under discussion is the possibility of incorporating a new calculation of GPA for students returning from suspension who have since attained an AA degree. Implemented a policy for “early graded feedback” for all general education coursework.

Undergraduate Studies has been authorized to search for a new position of Retention Director, with an anticipated start date for this person in the winter of 2010.

Academic Center for Excellence new initiatives: Recruited, hired and trained an academic advisor/mentor specifically for the students in the Jacksonville Commitment program (JCP). This advisor is housed in ACE and meets weekly with the JCP students.

Researched and designed a student success course (SLS 1995 Surviving the First Year) to be piloted fall 2009 with JCP students.
Identified one academic advisor to work specifically with freshmen and sophomore student athletes, concentrating on those students identified as the most academically at-risk.
Continued to dedicate advisors to work with the Pathways Scholarship and Academic Potential Program students on a regular basis with enhancements to the retention efforts for both of these programs.

Curriculum Advising Program Planning (CAPP) enhancements: The CAPP team continues to meet on a regular basis to streamline degree evaluations, the timing of updating data and how this data feeds into the UNF catalog in order to provide students accurate information in a timely manner.

Online Catalog: The CAPP team conducted a series of troubleshooting meetings with ITS to create the online presentation of the programs of study. Banner Upgrade: During fall 2009, the CAPP enhancements will be included in Banner 8.2. The CAPP team will be instrumental in determining if the software is functioning appropriately. Banner Releases: Software releases applied during spring 2009 affected CAPP and the team diligently tested the system and constructed work around activities to circumvent the software defects.

During the 2009-10 academic year, the CAPP team will participate in the review of the online catalog and recommend a series of navigational adjustments. Banner Upgrade: During fall 2009, the CAPP enhancements will be included in Banner 8.2. The CAPP team will be instrumental in determining if the software is functioning appropriately. The CAPP team will be providing SunGard via the CAPP Users Groupd with input on the prioritization of RPEs and defects for upcoming releases.
Action 1.5: Develop first-year programming to facilitate the transition, integration, and engagement of freshman students.

Development and implementation of UNF Reads program establishing a common reading for incoming freshmen and other members of the UNF community. Purpose of UNF reads is to prepare students for some of the academic and intellectual rigors of college life, to create a bond and sense of community based on this shared intellectual reading experience, and to demonstrate how the most profound ideas cross disciplinary boundaries. Organize faculty/academic program participation at Open House and Week of Welcome activities. Freshman Interest Group program discontinued due to budgetary shortfall and course scheduling pressures. Faculty orientation advising discontinued due to budgetary shortfall.

A new position in Undergraduate Studies, Director of Retention, will be charged with new student programming and identification of best practices to increase first-year retention rates.

Goal 2: Advance the scope and quality of academic programs in a manner consistent with the mission and resources of the university.

Action 2.1: Monitor as appropriate new and existing undergraduate and graduate programs in conjunction with the program review and strategic planning processes.

Graduate:

In 2008-09, UNF did not begin any new graduate degree programs. However, in line with student demand, our fiscal stewardship obligations and, in one case, recommendations originating through our Program Review process, we deactivated two programs, the Master of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling program and the Master of Science in Applied Sociology program. While we have suspended admissions in both cases, we of course continue to meet our obligations to students completing those degree programs.

We continue to monitor enrollment trends among all graduate degree programs and tracks within those programs.

The Graduate School hosted a series of conversations between the leadership of the Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology program and the (now) Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling program, as well as the two deans of the respective colleges, conversations that focused on developing a plan to address the overlap in both curricular offerings and in the career trajectories of students graduating from them. These conversations led to a proposal that was shared with a Program Review external consultant who was brought to campus to review the MACP program and advise us on the relationship between the MACP and MHC programs.

We continue to monitor enrollment trends among all graduate degree programs and tracks within those programs.

Program Review: History (UG, GR), Counseling Psychology (GR), International Studies (UG), and Criminal Justice (UG, GR) participated in the program review process this year. Each program had an on campus visit with an external reviewer.

Debriefing sessions for each program will be held during June and July. During these sessions the recommendations from the self-study document and the external reviewer are discussed.

The strategic plans, ALC's and GLO's of the appropriate departments and programs will reflect steps to be taken in light of the program review process.
Action 2.2: Expand efforts to increase student political participation and civic engagement via the ADP.

In the 2008-2009 academic year the American Democracy Project Steering Committee organized and/ or promoted 28 events. These included Constitution Week activities, presidential campaign and election forums, voter registration drives, panels on the “first 100 days”, and a JCCI-led workshop on strategies for community change. Through the New York Times Readership Program, we provided 250 papers daily so that students and faculty can stay current on national and international issues of the day.
Action 2.3: Generate detailed Quality Enhancement Plan and begin its implementation; recruit academic departments and other units to lead implementation.

The QEP: Community-Based Transformational Learning was completed and submitted to the Commission on Colleges (SACS) for the February 2009 on-site visiting committee review.

The On-Site Review Committee determined the QEP to be compliant with Core Requirement 2.12, but with two recommendations: 1) UNF provide evidence that it has formally approved an adequate financial expenditure plan to support the successful implementation of the QEP for the next five years; and 2) UNF demonstrate that it has an appropriate QEP assessment plan to ascertain the achievement of the Plan's goals.

A revised QEP is being produced to address the two recommendations provided by SACS. This new document will be submitted to SACS by July 13, 2009. The implementation activites will begin fall 2009.
Action 2.4: Focus assessment on meaningful student learning outcomes in general education, academic majors, and all graduate programs. Begin installation of the Voluntary System of Accountability.

Graduate: Work on graduate level assessment, in particular on the meaningfulness of student learning outcomes, is readily dividable into “pre-SACS” and “post-SACS.” Before our February 2009 SACS visit, our focus was on the comprehensiveness of the Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLO) statements and data; our focus was on whether for every graduate program we had a complete graduate level assessment plan, on whether we had quality assessment data over a multiyear span, on whether we had quality continuous improvement plans for each program, and finally on whether the assessment cycle in all cases was completed by seeing new assessment data collected after a set of continuous improvement plans had been implemented and tested.

After our SACS visit, the focus has been two-fold: first, on ensuring that graduate programs maintained the consistency of their investment in assessment work; second, on an investment in reflection on the quality and meaningfulness of their learning outcomes and of their assessment strategies.

At the present time, we await the arrival of UNF’s new Executive Director for Assessment; her expertise will provide an occasion for moving to the next level of sophistication in our assessment efforts.

The ALC's and GLO's were strengthed for 2006-07 and 2007-08 for use in demonstrating compliance with SACS Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.1 and the software was released to the on-site visiting committee in January.

The SACS on-site visiting randomly sampled approximately 20 academic programs over the two cycles. They stated "it is clear that UNF has a good system in place for identifying learning outcomes, assessing them and using the results." For ALC's, they indicated that "nearly all programs have good outcomes, and undergraduate programs have reasonable assessment methods and most demonstrate the use of assessment information." For GLO's, they indicated that "some have measures not appropriate to the outcome and on some occasions, the use of results bears little resemblance to the outcome that was measured or it is missing all together." The report concluded with the committee finding "Despite these shortcomings, ... a robust institutional effectiveness system in which most academic programs have exhibited good outcomes, good assessment plasn, and appropriate use of results."

The ALC's and GLO's could be strengthened further and a thorough review by the incoming Executive Director for Assessment will be instrumental.

Voluntary System of Accountability: UNF completed its data submission to the College Portrait in compliance with membership in the VSA. All but the student learning outcomes data was included in the Portrait. UNF plans to distribute the required student learning outcomes test to a sample of students in the spring of 2010. All but the student learning outcomes data was included in the Portrait. UNF plans to distribute the student learning outcomes test (to be determined) to a sample of students in the fall of 2010.

2008 data was submitted in the new College Portrait web interface. The 2009 NSSE data will be published summer 2009 when the data is made available to UNF.

Data has been updated into the new VSA web interface based on Fall 2008 IPEDS data and the spring 2009 NSSE data was been entered into the College Portrait. The Executive Dir of Assessment is currently in conversation with the UG Studies Council and General Education Council to determine which student learning outcomes test is most appropriate. Selection of this test will occur before the fall 2010 term so testing can begin.

General Education Assessment Task Force has developed an assessment protocol that has been validated by the SACS reaffirmation process and which includes integration with UNF Reads and UNF Writes for the systematic assessment of reading and writing skills.
Action 2.5: Implement strategies to maximize the effective utilization of AA resources particularly in light of recent budget reductions.

Academic Affairs redirected one faculty position from the College of Education and Human Services to the College of Arts and Sciences as a result of curricular and enrollment issues.

Brooks College of Health transferred two faculty lines from E&G to Foundation in response to the budget reductions.

E&G and Auxiliary resources that had previously been directed to the Fine Arts Center have been reduced in consideration of the budget reductions.
Action 2.6: Facilitate Academic Leadership Development

Academic Affairs has drafted a new annual chair evaluation policy which is more formative in its approach, providing deans and the chairs with a more meaningful review process. Included in this review will be academic chairs reflection of the past year’s accomplishments and challenges as well as their goals for the upcoming year, both in terms of their professional ambitions as well as their goals for the department.

Academic Affairs continued evaluation workshops for chairs in order to provide faculty with more comprehensive annual evaluations, mid-tenure review, and guidance in the promotion and tenure process. Through the support of the FSU Institution for Academic Leadership, several chairs attended the May June and October workshops.

Academic Affairs provided the funds to cover expenses associated with the travel of interested chairs to attend the annual Academic Chairs Conference held in Orlando, Florida sponsored by Kansas State University. Academic Affairs will continue to provide such opportunities to new and returning chairs.
Action 2.7: Implement Provost's special task force to refine university mission.

The Provost's task force concluded its work April, 2008 with the BOT adoption of a new university mission, vision, and goal statements for 2009-2015. The task force progress can be viewed on the website: http://www.unf.edu/acadaffairs/taskforce1.html.

The Provost established a new Strategic Planning Council to further the work of the task force. The SPC is charged with determining univeristy strategies for each of the university goals along with the identification of peer-aspirants and performance measures.
Action 2.8: Install a system for program review that includes student learning as a core element and uses assessment findings within the review. Report findings externally, as has been the practice, and use feedback internally to improve student learning.

Program Review: History (UG, GR), Counseling Psychology (GR), International Studies (UG), and Criminal Justice (UG, GR) participated in the program review process this year. Each program review included a discussion of its ALC and/or GLO.

Debriefing sessions will occur during June and July to discuss the feedback from the external reviewers and the input from the faculty in the self-study document.

The information obtained from the debriefing sessions will be used to inform the ALC and GLO's for 2009-2010. In addition, the information will be shared with the incoming Executive Director of Assessment to determine how the overall program review process can be improved with respect to student learning outcomes.
Action 2.9: Foster the inclusion of diversity as an aspect of curriculum and academic programming.

Graduate: This year the Division of Academic Affairs, in an effort to foster the inclusion of diversity into academic programming, offered preferential consideration to a portion of grant proposals generated through the Faculty Development Summer Grants Program. The preference was described as follows: "In order to advance two initiatives that have been identified as university priorities, Academic Affairs is especially interested in funding at least a few quality proposals (no more than 10% of total grants awarded) focused on a) community based research or learning, and b) diversity.

25% of funded research proposals included a focus on diversity and 22% of funded teaching proposals included a focus on diversity.

Diversity: for 2008-09, the Diversity Task Force is conceiving of "diversity" in its broadest definition: we seek diversity in faculty, staff, and students; we seek diversity in race, color, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, and disability. Projects for which applications are sought might include the development of courses where diversity is a focus; development of a program's curricula with a focus on enhancing diversity; and studying the history, culture or other aspects of a minority population."

Goal 3: Advance the strengths and scholarly engagement of the faculty.

Action 3.1: Develop, propose, and implement strategies for enhancing the diversity of the faculty profile.

The work of enhancing the diversity of the faculty profile is carried on by an assortment of UNF agencies, but the one that is most central to this effort in terms of its mission and its advocational role is the Provost's Diversity Task Force. In September 2008, the DTF presented to the President and the Provost a set of 19 action steps, prioritied in terms of resource needs. Number one on the list was the establishment of a university-wide, presidential-level, permanent Commission on Diversity. In late October, our diversity consultant, Dr. Mordean Taylor-Archer, Vice Provost for Diversity and Equal Opportunity at the University of Louisville, paid us a second visit. Her visit centrally consisted of two events, consultation with the DTF on the establishment of the COD and service as the keynote address at the Academic Affairs fall retreat. At that retreat, the new chairperson of the COD was announced: Dr. Henry Thomas, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration. During the 2008-09 year, Dr. Thomas met with DTF chairperson David Fenner and Intercultural Center for PEACE Director Oupa Seane. In addition, he met with President Delaney. These meetings focused on the transition from the DTF to the COD. Over the year, a preliminary website for the COD was developed (www.unf.edu/diversity) and in May of 2009 an associate chairperson for the COD was identified: Dr. Christopher Johnson, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Geography. It is anticipated that before the summer of 2009 has passed, a preminary COD meeting will be held.

The recommended 19 action steps submitted by the Provost's Diversity Task Force were accepted. Commission on Diversity established.

UNF's new Strategic Plan has been in development over the year. The second of the five goal statements is "Recruit and support a diverse community of students, faculty and staff, who will contribute to and benefit from the university’s mission." The subcommittee working on this goal, chaired by DTF chairperson David Fenner, developed the following strategies in support of this goal: "(1) Increase the diversity of faculty, staff, and students to reflect or exceed the diversity within appropriate recruitment populations; (2) Create and implement strategies to foster retention of students, faculty, and staff from underrepresented populations; discover and eliminate barriers to retention, and (3) Provide opportunities for challenging and enriching intercultural and educational experiences that will celebrate our differences, improve the climate for less represented groups, and ultimately prepare members of the UNF community to be better citizens of our diverse world."

Evolution of this goal statement and these strategies continues, as does the development of appropriate performance indicators and targets, but the strong strategic focus on diversity does not waiver.
Action 3.2 Hire new OFE Director and expand the linkage between faculty development activities and larger institutional priorities.

The interim director of the Office of Faculty Enhancement was converted to Director based on his performance as interim re-establishing faculty development programming and integrating the work of OFE with larger institutional initiatives and priorities. Faculty development activities during the 2008-2009 academic year have linked with institutional priorities by helping faculty develop enriching learning opportunities (consistent with Goal 2; advance the scope and quality of academic programs), pursue opportunities for quality scholarly activities (consistent with Goal 3; advance the strengths and scholarly engagement of the faculty), and build capacities as community-based scholars (consistent with Goal 4; advance community outreach and partnerships).
Action 3.3: Increase funding of external research

UNF received a total award of $8,948,742, for sponsored research and other sponsored projects, as of May 30, 2009. This is about 6% above the total award received by May 30, 2008. We project that the total award at the end of this fiscal year will be about the same or slightly higher than it was in the previous year (about $10,000,000). The total direct federal award (award for which UNF is the prime) received as of June 12, 2009, is $4,619,496. This represents an increase of about 80% relative to the total direct federal award in 2007-2008 ($2,569,350). Given the number of awards currently under negotiation, the total dollar amount of direct federal awards received by UNF will likely double between 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. As PIs at UNF increasingly take on lead roles in accessing federal grants, the amount of flow-through federal funds awarded to the University continues decrease (30% between 2007-2008 and 2008-2009). The total funding ($1,049,367) from state agencies fell by about 42% below the level for last year, while awards ($432,730) from local funding sources have doubled between 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.

2008-2009 has been the first full year of the implementation of our funds placement policy. As a result, some funds previously counted as sponsored project awards are now administered directly through the Auxiliary Oversight Committee and have not been included in this funding report for research and sponsored projects.
Action 3.4: Highlight faculty scholarship and research activity.

Academic Affairs, through its representation on the Internet Presence committee, recommended that the newly designed UNF homepage include a "faculty spotlight" area. This rotating spotlight will draw upon published "Inside UNF" articles highlighting faculty research, teaching and other activities.

With the migration of department and college websites into a content management system, the opportunity to highlight faculty work at the local level will be greatly enhanced. The AA project manager will provide support and guidance on how best to accomplish that goal.

The Academic Affairs Faculty Award recognition webpage http://www.unf.edu/acadaffairs/awards_recog.html was redesigned to include more extensive information on the annual Faculty Association awardees for teaching, research and service. The webpage lists each recipient along with his or her biography and picture.

Opportunties for increased public recogntion of faculty work will be ongoing. Plans for increasing visibility for faculty research and teaching proposals funded through Academic Affairs have been initiated for the 2009 year.

Goal 4: Advance community outreach and partnerships.

Action 4.1: Establish an office for community-based learning to advance and oversee initiatives designed to increase civic awareness and engagement of students.

A director for the Center for Community-Based Learning was hired in February 2009. Searches have been initiated for an executive secretary and coordinator to provide the Center with appropriate staffing levels. The Center is scheduled to move into its permanent location in fall, 2009.
Action 4.2: Inventory the service needs of the Jacksonville community and develop initiatives to address those needs.

The Community Impact Study was finished in 2008-09 and results were published to the web: http://www.unf.edu/acadaffairs/Comm%20Impact/index.html.

The director of the Center for Community Based Learning has met with campus constituencies, including campus groups with GIS capabilities, to determine organizational capacity to build, maintain, and resource a listing of community needs. The director has met with a broad representation of campus and off-campus stakeholders including meeting with the deans, campus Community-Based Transformational Learning leaders (academic, student affairs, and student organization), representatives of Florida Campus Compact, and community representatives from Hands on Jax, the Children’s Commission, United Way, JCCI, and Community Connections. The CCBL director has been accepted into Leadership Jacksonville, class of 2010.

Academic Affairs directed up to 10% of its faculty summer development funding to support proposals focusing on either diversity or community-based learning.

24% of total summer funding was awarded to CBL proposals.

Reporting Units Annual Reports 2008-09

Brooks College of Health

Coggin College of Business

College of Arts and Sciences

College of Computing, Engineering, and Construction

Enrollment Services

Graduate School

Undergraduate Studies