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Program Director Self-Study Report
For Program:
B.S. in Packaging
Submitted by Program Director Name:
Robert Meisner
Year:
2013-14
Planning and Review Committee
1.
UW-STOUT’S STRATEGIC PLAN
1.1 UW-Stout's Strategic Plan – Respond to the following:
1.1.1 Describe early and ongoing experiential learning opportunities to students
within the program.
Students in the Packaging program all have many experiential learning
opportunities. Every student is required to complete at least one cooperative
work experience at an approved company for at least one credit during a single
summer term. Most students complete three credits for an eight month
summer/semester experience and some students may complete a second co-op.
1.1.2 Describe program initiatives employed to support and/or increase student
enrollment, retention and graduation rates?
Currently the Packaging program participates in preview days, individual
preview visits, and STEM Career Day to help recruit students. After
completing their co-op experience, all students are required to make a verbal
presentation about their co-op experience. Students are highly encouraged to
make the presentation at their high school but a few students are allowed to
present at a UW-Stout professional student organization meeting. The high
school presentations are used as a recruiting tool for the program.
To aid in retention, all students in the program are required to meet as a group
with the program director during each semester’s advisement day. Many also
meet individually with their faculty advisor for guidance in course selection
and career goals. The first year program retention rate has floated from 88.9%
in 2006 to 65.4% in 2010 with a 10 year average of 76%. The ten year average
for retention in any program is 83%. The graduation rate in the same program
within six years is 72% when last measured in 2006.
1.1.3
Describe, provide examples and explain how the program intentionally
integrates diversity efforts, functions and contributes to the program in
support of Inclusive Excellence: “UW-Stout’s plan to intentionally integrate
diversity efforts into the core aspects of everything we do. Diversity is
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broadly defined and includes, but is not limited to, race/ethnicity, gender,
sexual orientation, age and disability status.”
Faculty have been involved with various recruiting activities to encourage
greater enrollment of women in this technical field. Participation in events
such as STEPS for Girls (Science Technology Engineering Preview at Stout) is
intended to pique the interest of young girls in STEM fields. In addition,
faculty within the Packaging program have offered a number of short tern
international courses in Germany and have established a student exchange
program with Munich University of Applied Sciences.
1.1.4 Describe environmental sustainability initiatives embedded and supported
by the program: “UW-Stout’s attempt to make students, faculty, and staff
more aware of the importance of sustaining our environment through energy
conservation, waste reduction, and other measures that will not bring harm
to the environment, and to provide students with innovative research
opportunities in these areas.”
Doing more with less has been the cornerstone of the packaging profession for
decades. Students are continually taught about the sustainability driven options
available and are encouraged to make decisions based on not only material
type but other sustainability initiates like waste reductions, recyclability,
weight reductions and minimizing distribution costs associated with producing
a product and shipping finished goods. Additionally, one of the more popular
emphasis areas in the Packaging program is Sustainability. The program has
essentially built into the curriculum the minor in Sustainable Design and the
Environment which allows the student to complete the minor within the
Packaging degree.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM
2.1 Curriculum Design – Respond to the following:
2.1.1
State the approved program objectives.
The Packaging Engineering Technology Program develops packaging
professionals who are:
• In demand nationally and internationally
• Recognized for their creative problem solving abilities and applied
technical design skills used in the development, implementation and
oversight of packaging solutions
• Recognized for their ethical leadership, hands-on approach and teamwork
skills
• Committed to continual professional development
2.1.2
Describe processes and initiatives employed in determining the need for
program revision?
• Input from the program advisory committee
• Input from faculty associated with the program
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Input from graduates through alumni follow-up studies and individual
conversations and meetings
Trends and advances in industries
Input from potential employers and current employers of graduates
Input from co-op employers and co-op students
Exit interviews with graduating seniors
Enrollment, retention, graduation, placement and salary information
Course embedded assessment of learning outcomes
2.1.3
Check all that apply regarding the program:
X Traditional, on campus program
___Offsite location
___Online program
2.1.4
Briefly describe the components of your program where students
participate in scholarly activity such as: research, scholarship, experiential
learning and creative endeavor. “programs are presented through an
approach to learning which involves combining theory, practice and
experimentation” (UW-Stout’s Mission Statement)
All students are required to take the PKG 495 Packaging Seminar course which
is based on students doing an independent research based semester project and
presenting their findings during a time with the advisory board and faculty.
Students also have a lot of opportunities to create solutions to industrial
problems in classes and through design competitions and Discovery Center
projects. In classes PKG-250, PKG-350 and PKG-490 the students are
presented with real life packaging situations which they solve by creating
physical samples that overcome the packaging problems identified.
Stout Packaging students have consistently competed successfully in national
contests including, the Paperboard Alliance design contest, the Institute of
Packaging Professionals Ameristar design contest, the World Packaging
Organizations WorldStar design contest and the 48 Hour Repack challenge.
The Discovery Center has also utilized Packaging students to conduct research
for a variety of projects over the past few years including Ameripack,
Electronic Theater Controls and Corenso to name a few.
2.1.5
Does your program currently have an accreditation or certification agency
that reviews the program? If so, which agency and to what extent does it
influence the structure of the curriculum?
The Packaging program is currently undergoing revision and documentation to
enable the program to pursue ABET- ETAC accreditation. ETAC is the
Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET for technology
programs. If achieved, UW-Stout’s B.S. in Packaging would be the first
ABET accredited program in the nation. The program advisory board has
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expressed strong support to pursue accreditation.
2.2 Faculty/Academic Staff Expertise – Respond to the following:
2.2.1
List key instructors in the program. A key instructor is one who teaches at
least one required professional course in your program (this should be the
combined faculty of Key A and Key B who were surveyed by the PRC).
Tenure track faculty who teach PKG courses:
• Ajay Kathuria
• Robert Meisner
• John Scheffler
• Joongmin Shin
Academic Staff who teach PKG courses:
• Mike Lorenzen
• Ken Neuburg
Faculty and staff in department teaching support courses:
• Brenda Puck
• Nancy Schofield (retired May 2013)
Faculty and staff in College of Management teaching support courses:
• Bill Burmesch
• David Ding
• John Dzissah
• Tom Lacksonen
• Marya Wilson
2.2.2
2.3
What additional faculty/academic staff expertise is needed?
Current faculty have a broad range of experience to cover most areas required
to produce successful graduates.
Facilities – Respond to the following:
2.3.1
Describe facilities and or capital equipment currently used and how it
supports or strengthens the program? What program specific facilities
(unique classrooms, labs, additional space involving minor construction)
have been requested and provided?
The Packaging program complex has laboratories located in Applied Arts 112
(Packaging Machinery), 113 (Dynamics), 127 (Computer), 129 (Materials
Testing). All laboratories are well equipped but as usual, there is constant need
to maintain and upgrade equipment. The budget cuts have had a dramatic
effect on the programs ability to plan for equipment replacement or schedule
maintenance. The program was able to arrange for the purchase of a major
piece of equipment a few years ago that cost $150,000. Using a combination
of funds from campus laboratory modification, department capital equipment,
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college accounts, supplier discounts, and funds from the Packaging account in
the Stout Foundation, enough money was assembled to make the purchase.
Purchases such as these are getting to be nearly impossible with the budget
cuts.
Program faculty have been very active in representing equipment needs to their
industrial contacts who have helped support the program with equipment
donations. The programs computer lab (6 stations) was donated by one
company along with the very specialized design software. It is unreasonable to
expect that a company would be willing to purchase new computers every four
years or provide for their maintenance.
During the summer of 2013 the College of STEM and College of Management
arranged a transfer of offices on the second floor of Jarvis Hall Tech Wing.
This allowed CSTEM to covert one storage room into a small office for one
packaging faculty member.
2.3.2
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3.
What added facilities needs (if any) such as unique classrooms, labs,
additional space involving minor construction exist in the program?
It is planned that the office area in JHTW be remodeled to provide a better
faculty office layout that may also add one office. The plan is to fund this as a
small project with the State of Wisconsin.
Resources for the Program – Respond to the following:
2.4.1
Evaluate the quality, relevance, and quantity of the library resources to
support the program. Include a brief statement as to how these needs
have been met by the library.
Library resources are adequate for the Packaging program. Most journals are
now available online and have decreased the use of the resources through the
library. As the university continues to push for more research based work the
library resources need to accommodate the purchase of globally published
research reports and references. A meeting with library acquisition staff will
be scheduled to discuss this need.
2.4.2
List any special resources used to meet program and/or student needs such
as: Learning Technology Services for curriculum materials development,
ASPIRE, Research Services, Advisement Center, Disability Services,
Multicultural Student Services, etc.
There are no special resources used to meet program or student needs outside
of the common services provided by the support services.
2.4.3
Describe other resources (if any) needed to meet the program objectives?
Quality of the graduates of the program – Respond to the following:
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3.1 Describe program graduate demand and/or anticipated changes or trends
impacting the future demand.
The Packaging program has had 100% graduate placement for at least the past 10
years. Starting salaries have been always in the top tier of Stout undergraduate
programs with the average for 2011-12 being $55,000. There is no indication that this
positive data will change in the near future.
3.2 Interpret the data provided by the Planning, Assessment, Research and Quality
(PARQ) office of the alumni follow-up surveys.
The following data is from the alumni follow-up surveys conducted by the PARQ
office of the one year (2010), and the five year (2006) graduates.
Of the one year follow-up there were 12 responses. On a scale of 1to 5 (5 is high),
83% of the respondents rated the overall effectiveness of the program either a 4 or 5.
Areas that received high scores (above 4.0) were: utilization of technologies, creative
problem solving, working in team, leadership, thinking creatively, promoting
meaningful connections between your academic program and career, and finding
employment. Students were also positive about how well they were prepared for
employment assigning 4.08 mean to “your classes” and “your experiential learning
experience.” Areas that scored low (below 3.0) were: appreciating and understanding
diversity, appreciating the value of literature and the arts, academic advising,
preparation for community – civic – and political roles, financial management, and
continuing education. All graduates were currently employed in the packaging
profession. One was employed part-time. Average salary was $58,000.
The big picture survey questions were generally positive. Nine of twelve respondents
to the question “Given the cost of education and your investment of time and effort,
how would you rate the value of your education?” gave either a score of 4 (7) or 5 (2).
Ten of twelve respondents to the question “How would you rate your overall Stout
experience in the development of interpersonal skills?” gave either a score of 4 (8) or 5
(2). In the million dollar question “If you had to do it over again: Would you attend
UW-Stout? And would you enroll in the same program?” respondents were affirmative
with a mean score of 4.25 and 4.58 respectively.
The five year follow-up data were nearly identical to the one year responses. There
were 11 responses. Eighty percent of respondents rated the overall effectiveness of the
program at either a 4 or 5. Areas that received high scores were: utilization of
technologies, making decisions, working in teams, leadership, thinking creatively,
availability of faculty in program courses, academic advising, laboratory facilities and
equipment, promoting meaningful connections between your academic program and
career, and finding employment. Students were also positive about how well they
were prepared for employment assigning 4.09 mean to “your experiential learning
experience.” Areas that scored low were: appreciating the value of literature and the
arts, appreciating history in context to current issues, preparation for community –
civic – and political roles, and financial management. On graduate was currently
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unemployed while two were employed in fields not related to the packaging field.
Average salary was $58,000 but two responses were abnormally low at $30,000 and
$42,000. Not including those in the calculation raises the average to over $65,000.
The big picture survey questions for the five year survey were also generally positive.
Seven of eleven respondents to the question “Given the cost of education and your
investment of time and effort, how would you rate the value of your education?” gave
either a score of 4 (4) or 5 (3). Five of eleven respondents to the question “How would
you rate your overall Stout experience in the development of interpersonal skills?”
gave either a score of 4 (2) or 5 (3) while 5 gave a score of 3. In the million dollar
question “If you had to do it over again: Would you attend UW-Stout? And would you
enroll in the same program?” respondents were positive with a mean score of 4.5 and
4.1 respectively.
3.3 Interpret program specific surveys (students, faculty and advisory committee)
conducted by the Planning and Review Committee.
Student surveys
There were 60 students who responded to the survey. Questions which received a high
score (above 4.0) were:
• My oral communication skills have been enhanced through my coursework.
• My critical thinking skills have been enhanced through my coursework.
• My problem solving skills have been enhanced through my coursework.
• Instructors in my program are accessible for help out side of regular class time.
• Instructors in my program provide current and relevant information.
• Instructors in my program achieve the stated objectives as presented in their
course syllabi.
• As I near the completion of my degree, I feel confident that my program has
prepared me to be successful in my profession.
• Overall, this is a quality program.
• If I had to do it all over again, I would choose this program.
The only item that scored low (below 3.0) was:
• The laboratory equipment for my program is up-to-date.
There were many positive comments from the current students about perceived
program strengths such as the co-op program and the pragmatic nature of the program.
But there was a marked increase in complaints over the alumni responses pertaining to
lack of equipment or out of date equipment, and difficulty getting into classes or
crowded labs. This is the most likely the increase in enrollment to the current 276
which as caused scheduling problems for some classes.
Faculty survey
There were only two of the six faculty from within the department which responded to
the survey. They indicated dissatisfaction with the program director. Four of five key
faculty outside of the department responded. Both responses were generally positive.
Program Advisory Committee
Eighteen of 27 members responded to the survey. There were many positive written
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comments about industry involvement and the connection that the industrial board
members feel toward the program. Most members indicate that program graduates are
“well prepared for a career in the packaging field” and are very supportive of the
pragmatic nature of the program. Opportunities for program improvement focused on
two areas. One, staffing issues revolving around need for more packaging faculty and
stability in the faculty. Two, need for improvement of laboratory equipment which is
out dated. Board members do not perceive any unnecessary repetition in the
curriculum.
4.
Program evidence of continuous improvement – Respond to the following:
4.1 Describe program strengths distinguishing it from similar programs. Describe
and explain program weaknesses?
The strength of the program is the broad based hands-on education provided to
students that allows them to be successful in nearly every segment of the packaging
industry. A frequently cited strength is the co-op learning requirement and the strong
relationship the program has with industry. The packaging program is one of only a
few, five at last count, in the nation and the only one in Wisconsin.
Program weaknesses as evidenced by the surveys seem to be a response to the growth
in the number of students in the program and the stress this has caused on course
section enrollment. Enrollment has grown 48% since 2008 from 184 to 276 students.
The grown has caused some courses to have three sections offered per year rather than
the normal two. To compensate for the increased demand the department stopped
offering a very popular GE class that was not required in the major so the faculty
member could teach a required course. The college has also reallocated one FTE to
B.S. in Packaging from B.S. in Construction starting fall 2013. The increased demand
for sections is difficult to staff using adjuncts since those with appropriate work
history and degrees are difficult to find in the area.
A second weakness that was cited in the surveys was the perceived need to improve
laboratory equipment. With the full lab sections there has been added demand placed
on the laboratory equipment for maintenance and with the budget cut replacement of
outdated or broken equipment has become even more difficult than in the past.
Faculty have done a very good job of getting industry donations and discounts but
more state support is required.
4.2 Submit evidence of program response to the concerns and recommendations
from previous program review.
2008 Recommendation from PRC
1. Implementation of the Staffing Action Plan. This may include faculty
development efforts for degree-completion or research release, or other efforts to
secure a stable staffing of highly qualified instructors.
2013 Evidence of program response
Since the last PRC review in 2008 the program has hired three new faculty
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members. One faculty member has received tenure, another has made excellent
progression toward completing a terminal degree, and the last two faculty were
hired with terminal degrees.
All faculty have excellent qualifications and the two terminal degree hires have
active externally funded research projects. Stout has made excellent progress
toward satisfying this recommendation.
2008 Recommendation from PRC
2. Continue to explore opportunities for updating labs, laboratory equipment,
computer resources, and software out of available college funding as well as any
additional sources; collaborate with and support the capital campaign.
2013 Evidence of program response
The Packaging program faculty proven to be very good at getting industry support
for equipment, computers and software. But always, there is greater demand than
funds available to support the program laboratories. The program has available to
them capital equipment funds through the Engineering and Technology
Department. But the department must allocate those very limited funds across 28
high technology laboratories run by the department. The department has an
equitable system to distribute the money but again budget cuts have seriously
affected replacement of outdated equipment. The Packaging Capital Campaign
with the UW-Stout Foundation was discontinued years ago before ever reaching its
goal after the Foundation was redirected to other campus initiatives.
We have made some significant equipment purchases in recent years as cited
earlier in the report but there is much yet to be done to be able to offer a highly
technical, hands-on program such as Packaging.
4.3 In the next seven years, what major improvements or changes are planned for
implementation to improve program quality?
Program faculty have identified the following areas to improve the program.
• Addition of medical packaging related courses and laboratory activities
• Increase the number of collaboration projects between industry and UW Stout
• Implement higher GPA standards for those entering the program
• Implement higher GPA standards for those enrolled in the program
• Add sufficient staff to allow all the packaging students to take the core classes
when necessary without delaying their graduation
• Consider revising cooperative education requirements to balance industries
desire to hire co-op students and the universities need to move students through
the program in a timely fashion.
• Initiate a capital campaign to subsidize the shrinking funding support from the
state.
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5.
Attachments - Include electronic links to the following:
5.1 Links of specific program information to be included:
• Current assessment in the major
• Program plan sheet
http://www.uwstout.edu/programs/bsp/upload/bspkg_pp1314.pdf
http://www.uwstout.edu/programs/bsp/upload/bspkg_emph1314.pdf
• Individual program facts
http://www.uwstout.edu/admin/provost/upload/PackagingProgramFacts.p
df
• Current program advisory committee
http://www.uwstout.edu/admin/provost/progcommittees.cfm
• Other items that may be helpful to PRC
• Other items requested by the consultant