Self-Study Process

Integration with Strategic Planning Process

In 1994, Michigan Tech embarked on a new strategic planning process to guide the University in accomplishing its mission and vision. The self-study process for North Central Association (NCA) reaccreditation provided us an opportunity to examine our planning process and evaluate accomplishments toward our strategic goals. The strategic planning process will be discussed in Chapter 2; here, we describe the Self-Study Process and how it was integrated with the strategic planning process in 1996/97.

A Self-Study Coordinator was selected in Winter 1996, and in Spring 1996, a Steering Committee was assembled which included the Coordinator, the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Director of Budget, Planning, and Faculty Personnel, and chairs of ten “Goal Committees” convened to evaluate the University’s progress toward its eight strategic goals (three committees were convened for Goal 1 because of its breadth of scope). During the Summer of 1996, the Steering Committee selected a broad and diverse membership of faculty, staff, and students for each Goal Committee (see Appendix 4 for a complete list of committee members) and wrote a detailed charge for each Goal Committee to pursue during the 1996/97 academic year [6.2D].

Because nearly 100 people were directly involved in the Self-Study Committees, the Coordinator established five coordinating mechanisms to keep the process on track:

1. A time-line (see Figure 4) established deadlines for completing the process in a timely manner, and was followed quite successfully.
2. An orientation for all Goal Committee members in September jump-started the process.
3. A Resource Room in the library acted as repository for documents gathered or requested by the committees.
4. Two e-mail lists kept committee members informed about events as the process unfolded.
5. A World Wide Web page (http://www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/nca/) provided easy access to basic information about the Self-Study Process, as well as to reports generated by departments and committees during the process.

FIGURE 4. Timeline for Michigan Tech’s NCA Self-Study Process.

1. Appoint Steering Committee.
2. Submit Self-Study Plan.
3. Appoint Members to each Goal Committee.
4. Inventory current institutional data collection.
5. Present information on Self-Study Process to campus constituencies and Board of Control.
6. Provide orientation for Goal Committees.
7. Begin data collection by Goal Committees; complete Jan. 1.
8. Begin Self-Study by academic and administrative departments; complete Jan. 1.
9. Begin data analysis and interpretation by Goal Committees; complete rough draft of Goal Committee Reports by April 1.
10. Begin writing Self-Study Report.
11. Circulate rough drafts of Goal Committee Reports to Steering Committee.
12. Complete Goal Committee Reports.
13. Complete rough draft of Self-Study Report
14. Circulate rough draft of Self-Study Report within University
15. Circulate rough draft to Board of Control and other external constituencies
16. Complete final draft of Self-Study Report
17. Complete logistics for NCA Evaluation Team Visit
18. Send Final Draft of Self-Study to NCA Evaluation Team
19. Visit by Evaluation Team

Goal Committees worked with Institutional Analysis and the Director of Budget, Planning, and Faculty Personnel to gather necessary documentation. Several Goal Committees conducted surveys of faculty, staff, and students.

Concurrently in Fall 1996, the Steering Committee issued guidelines [6.2D] to all academic and administrative departments for preparing departmental self-study reports. Departments created a committee to prepare their report, which included a departmental mission statement, an evaluation of departmental goals and accomplishments since 1988 as they related to the eight University goals, and, based on this evaluation, a list of strategic initiatives for 1997/98, including those that required new resources. These departmental self-studies became a primary source of information for the Goal Committees; they were available both in the Resource Room and on the WWW to the University community.

The departmental strategic initiatives then entered the University strategic planning process. This linked the Self-Study and strategic planning processes. Engagement in departmental self studies broadened the range of people responsible for planning and heightened awareness of both the Self-Study and strategic planning processes. Units which lacked mission statements developed them, and the administration had a better basis for evaluating strategic initiatives.

The Steering Committee reviewed and provided feedback on all Goal Committee reports in Spring 1997. Complete texts of the Goal Committee Reports are available in the Resource Room [6.2B] and on the WWW. During Summer 1997, the Self-Study Coordinator and a technical editor utilized the Goal Committee reports and Departmental Self-Studies to prepare the University Self-Study.[3] The Steering Committee reviewed drafts of the University Self-Study in Summer 1997, and approved the final draft in October 1997 for distribution.

Involving External Constituencies

Because the committee structure developed for the self-study process required intensive and frequent meetings, and because our remote location made attendance at such meetings difficult for external constituents such as Board members or alumni, the Steering Committee chose not to add external constituents to Goal Committees. The University’s National Advisory Board, the Michigan Tech Fund, and the external advisory boards and academies in the departments, colleges, and schools all provide significant and ongoing insight and feedback into the planning process of these units. Nonetheless, the Steering Committee utilized several strategies to involve external constituencies in the self-study process; it

• encouraged Goal Committees to use alumni and community members as resources;
• preented the self-study process to the Board of Control at its September 1996 and September 1997 Board Meetings and invited Board Members to participate and to follow the process via the WWW site;
• placed a draft of the University Self-Study on the WWW site in September 1997 to elicit comments from alumni and the community, in addition to obligatory third-party comment required by NCA;
• provided a draft of the University Self-Study for discussion at the Board’s October 1997 retreat; and
• convened a focus group of alumni and community members in Fall 1997 to elicit comments.

The completed University Self-Study Report was mailed to the NCA Evaluation Team in November 1997, before their scheduled visit in January 1998. It was also placed on our web site.

ENDNOTES

1. Ostrander, C. and Schwartz, J., Crime at college: The student guide to personal safety, Ithaca, N.Y.: New Strategist Publications, 1994. BACK
   
   
2. In this Report, we will use the term "underrepresented" to refer to specifically to those ethnic minorities listed in Table 2. BACK
   
   
3. Statistics cited in this Self-Study and statistics in the Goal Committee and College and School reports (see Appendix 6) do not always agree. Because of the lengthy self-study process, new and updated information became avail able after the Goal Committees, Colleges, and Schools completed their reports. Statistics cited here are accurate and have been verified by appropriate personnel. BACK

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