Program Review

Overview

The College’s five-year cycle of Academic Program Review provides non-externally accredited degree and certificate-seeking programs the opportunity to assess their curricula, learning outcomes (qualitatively and quantitatively), student demographics enrollment trends, and other critical academic components, for the purpose of evaluating program effectiveness and identifying possible improvements.

This program review process has been developed to serve the following purposes:

• To help the College’s academic programs better support Nassau Community College’s mission to offer “students high-quality, flexible, and equitable educational opportunities, combined with co-curricular learning experiences, continuing education, and professional development opportunities.”
• To assist in creating a strong academic culture that embraces continuous improvement for all academic programs and promotes the use of best practices.
• To comply with SUNY’s guidelines for periodic review of all academic programs.
• To ensure compliance with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education’s accreditation standards, which require confirmation of academic quality through continuous assessment.

Program Review Process

All program reviews begin with a self-study written by the program’s faculty and staff. The self-study is reviewed by the Dean or Vice-President of Academic Affairs (in the case of the Liberal Arts programs) and feedback given to the program’s faculty and staff. OIESP also reviews the self-study to ensure all prompts are answered. Once the self-study is completed, the document is then shared with a team of two (2) external reviewers who will complete an on-campus site visit to visit the program. During the site visit, reviewers meet with program faculty and staff, students enrolled in the program, program alumni, the program’s Dean or Vice-President of Academic Affairs and OIESP. The site visit may also include a tour of the program’s facilities. All self-studies are written and stored in Planning and Self-Study (PaSS).

Following the site visit, recommendations for improvement by program personnel and external reviewers will be evaluated for inclusion in an Action Plan developed between the program personnel and Dean. This action plan should serve as a guide for the program’s future assessment activities.

Given that some departments house multiple academic programs, OIESP will schedule programs in the same department in the same cycle. Where possible, some academic programs may be reviewed together (example: programs with a degree and certificate may be reviewed together).

Additional details about the Program Review process can be found in the Program Review Manual, found in the Resources section.

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Strategic Planning welcomes feedback, on this process as we aim to ensure that all academic programs engage in a meaningful program review process and the goals of the Program Review process are met.

External Reviewers

Once the program’s self-study is complete, two external reviewers examine the document and conduct a site visit on-campus. The program’s faculty and staff may provide recommendations to OIESP for potential reviewers no later than October 1 of the fall semester. The program’s Dean and the Associate Vice President for OIESP approves the external reviewers. Once the external reviewers have been approved OIESP extends an invitation to the approved reviewer and solicits copies of the reviewer’s updated CV. The reviewer’s schedule for participating in the review is also solicited. OIESP also formulates the schedule for the site visit in collaboration with the program’s faculty and staff as well as coordinate transportation, lunch and honorarium for all external reviewers.

After the external reviewers have completed the on-campus site visit, they submit a written report commenting on the program to OIESP. OIESP then disseminates the document to the program’s Dean for approval/comments. The external reviewers’ report, with the school Dean’s comments, is provided to the program’s Department Chair and serves as the basis for developing the Action Plan.

Program Review Schedule (Tentative)

Below is the tentative program review schedule for the current and forthcoming academic years.