FORMAT FOR APR COMMITTEE REPORTS TO THE FACULTY SENATE
1. The Academic Program Review (APR) Committee makes recommendations about each
program that it reviews in written reports to the Faculty Senate. The APR Committee Report
to the Faculty Senate should provide constructive feedback that encourages program
improvement. APR should provide a report to Faculty Senate using the reporting grid
attached to this document. In addition, APR may choose to request a mid-review period
follow-up (3 years) to concerns raised regarding the program.
2. All materials referenced by the APR Committee should be in electronic format and are
received from the Deans’ Office. The following materials comprise the report to APR:
 The APR Self-Study Report provided by the departmental self-study committee
(including the annual reports and other important departmental documents
contained therein);
 the unit data sheet provided by the Office of Institutional Research to the
department under review
 the report of the external consultant(s) or accreditation agency;
 the departmental response to the aforementioned reports; and
 the dean’s summary report, which is prepared by the dean after reviewing the APR
Self-Study Report, the external consultant’s or accreditation agency’s report, and the
departmental response to this report.
Approved by Faculty Senate 9/28/06
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Academic Program Review SUMMARY*
Department under review: Military Science Minor
Date self-study received in Dean’s office: October 2012
Date of external consultant’s review: Not Applicable
Date APR received report: January 2013
APR’S summary of self-study (first two boxes must be completed)
APR’s summary of how the academic program attempts to reach its goals and objectives and
the extent to which those goals and objectives have been achieved.
The Military Science Department offers a rigorous path to the officer cadre of the US Army or Army
Reserves. Upon completion of coursework in the program, students become second lieutenants and
serve for a number of years before continuing in the Army, Army Reserves, moving to the private
sector or working in the civilian public sector. The program falls under the jurisdiction of the
Department of Defense, which ensures that it is meeting the requirements that all military science
minors nationally must meet. This oversight is essential because the faculty’s high turnover rate (2-3
year contracts that are standard across the country) makes the accumulation of significant institutional
memory more difficult. In addition to physical training and military science courses, the minor requires
students to take a number of social science electives to encourage the development of well-rounded
officers who understand a range of political, social and global issues. The program is a partnership
among UW-L, Viterbo University, Winona State University and St. Mary’s University, but the minor is
open only to UW-L students. A key part of the program is the scholarships awarded to students that
enable them to pursue their education.
APR’s comments including:
Notable strengths
1. The department provides a rigorous training program for students interested in obtaining
leadership skills applicable in the military and civilian sectors.
2. Students in the program do very well at national level assessment of skills and capacities.
3. The department is able to offer 4-, 3- and 2-year scholarships based on merit to students
enrolled in the minor and those enrolled as cadets in training. In each semester, eight to ten
students have these scholarships.
Notable weaknesses
1. Though not the fault of the minor, declining numbers of students has been recognized as an issue
by the Military Science Department. This decline is due to factors beyond the program’s control
such as changes in recruiting personnel and the fact that National Guard and Army Reservists (a
key constituency within their student body) have been called to Active Duty. As they return,
presumably the number of students enrolling in the department’s courses and the minor will
increase.
APR comments on any/all of the six specific components of the self-study (if applicable)
Self Study: Purposes
The six purposes of the Military Science minor include: 1) offering an interdisciplinary minor in
Military Science; 2) improving student’s military performance; 3) providing course work and experience
that encourage the development of leadership skills and further investigation of the field of military
science; 4) enabling leadership experience at Ft. Lewis, Washington in the Leadership Development
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and Assessment Course (LDAC); 5) integrating expertise of other departments into the program; and
6) ensuring that students in the minor become better citizens through their ability to communicate,
value individual rights, understand the US Constitution and the role of the military in protecting it and
respecting individual differences.
Self Study: Curriculum
This minor complements students’ majors regardless of their particular focus by developing students’
leadership and problem solving skills. The body of knowledge explored through the minor is
applicable to multiple career paths within the military or in other sectors.
The minor consists of 25 or 33 credits depending on students’ prior experience. Most students start
the minor as freshman and take the Basic Course requirements (8 credits MS 101, 102, 201 and 202 for
2 credits each) meaning that the minor requires 33 credits. For those who have either served in the
military or national guard or who have taken the Leadership Training Course (a one month course in
Fort Knox, KY), the program waives the Basic Course requirements. These students take the
Advanced Course, which consists of 25 credits. These 25 credits include MS 301, 302, 401, 402, 403 (3
credits each) and WGS 255 (1 credit) in addition to nine credits of electives (ANT 352, ENG 308,
GEO 110, 300, 307, POL 202, 234). The LTC is an intensive course that covers the material in 101,
102, 201 and 202 and is completed before junior year. Students returning from this training are ready
to start their third year in the minor. Between junior and senior year students must either do the
month-long Leadership Development and Assessment Course (LDAC) or the Cooperative Education
Internship 450. Completing the LDAC does not confer any credit.
Most students are enrolled in the department’s classes with the aim of being cadets and going into the
Army or Army Reserves; they do not enroll in the minor. Thus the department serves a much larger
group of students with its course offerings (MS 101, 102, 201, 202, 301, 302, 401, 402 + LDAC) than
those who choose to enroll in the minor. Only the top students among this group tend to complete the
MS minor.
Self Study: Assessment of Student Learning & Degree of Program Success
The program’s learning outcomes are: oral and written skills, physical fitness, leadership, ethics and
values, multimedia technology skills, understanding of international and domestic events and their
impact on national security and military skills. These outcomes are assessed in each class as well as in
the month-long training sessions.
The primary means by which the Military Science Department assesses its performance is through
student success in the Leadership Development and Assessment Course. There, they compete with
5000 cadets from 272 programs nationwide. Additionally, however, the department uses After Action
Reviews after each training event and after the completion of each course a student takes. Written
evaluations completed by students also provide important qualitative feedback to the faculty. Other
direct measures include evaluation of student leadership skills at the Leadership Training Camp, three
physical fitness tests per semester, exams and presentations.
The program’s indirect measures include: 1) student evaluations of courses, 2) peer evaluations, 3)
completion rates for LDAC, Leadership Training Camp, Cadet Professional Development Training
and National Council Licensure Examination for cadets studying nursing; 4) students’ success in their
choice of Army branch; 5) feedback from Army branch schools on students’ performance; and 6)
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Command Inspection by Brigade-level personnel from the Army that studies the standards, resources,
personnel and training deployed by the minor.
Program success is also a function of the numbers of students enrolling in MS courses as well as those
who enroll in and complete the minor. Recruiting takes place in high schools and during UW-L
freshman orientation. For this year enrollment in MS courses by UW-L students in their first-fourth
years is 19, 9, 3 and 5 respectively. The program anticipates an increase in the number of UW-L
students who have proved to be among the best young military leaders. Over the period of 2006-2011,
the minor has had 6 graduates. Enrollments in the minor ranged from 5 in 2007 to 2 in 2011. The
program is arduous and although scholarships are available, it requires a significant time commitment.
Self Study: Previous Academic Program Review and New Program Initiatives
Assessment findings from Fall 2010 to June 2012 indicated that the minor meets or exceeds the
brigade and Cadet Command standards. As a result of the findings, the Department has conducted
land navigation events and rifle marksmanship firing range training, offered more physically
demanding training and provided additional leadership opportunities. Drawing from their indirect
measures, they have sought to make the program more fun, included more active learning in courses,
used focus groups (2 in 2012) to identify systemic problems, and added additional technology to
improve the realism of the training experience (e.g. air soft weapons).
Self Study: Personnel
Personnel in the minor have extensive military experience and undergo rigorous screening by Cadet
Command. Faculty members change every 2-3 years (per Army requirement), which ensures that
instructors have cutting edge knowledge of the latest innovations in military science.
Faculty in the minor coordinate with the Athletic Department but the rapid turnover of personnel in
the minor make active collaboration with other UW-L departments difficult. However, after LDAC, all
students select a branch of the Army and undertake senior year coursework that may support that
choice (e.g. law, nursing, languages etc.).
Self Study: Support for Achieving Academic Program Goals (Resources)
All requirements for physical facilities, equipment, library resources and personnel have been met.
External Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on External Reviewer (if applicable)
External review comes from Cadet Command to which the program is answerable.
Department’s response to the Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on the Department’s Response (if applicable)
Dean’s Letter
APR’s Comments on Dean’s Letter (if applicable)
The APR Committee concurs with Dean Ruthann Benson’s review of the Military Science Minor.
Dean Benson observed that the program has four strengths: 1) national and campus level monitoring
and approval of the military science curriculum; 2) Cadet Command oversight ensuring that faculty
have requisite military training and academic experience; 3) a strong student learning assessment
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system; and 4) a rigorous evaluation instrument for students built into the program (the Leadership
Development and Assessment Course). UW-L students ranked at the high end of the scale in the
LDAC in 2012 and typically met or exceeded the standards of the 3rd Brigade and of Cadet Command.
While the program offers full scholarships to students, it is not always able to recruit students in
sufficient numbers. This, however, has no impact on the department, the college or the university as
the Department of Defense covers most expenses incurred by the department.
APR’s Recommendations (must be completed)
Recommendations:
1. Continue the commendable work preparing students for military and civilian life.
2. The committee recommends that the Military Science Minor seek the common threads between
course student learning outcomes (that are very detailed per course) and program outcomes that
are less specific (e.g. ethics and values) in order to more fully develop the program learning
outcomes. This work will facilitate program reporting in the future.
No serious areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle.
* APR’s report to faculty senate will consist of this completed form in electronic form.
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