Academic Program Review SUMMARY*
Program under review International Studies Minor
Date self-study received in Dean’s office May 2013
Date of external consultant’s review Not Applicable
Date APR received report September 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 International Studies Minor is a free-standing, interdisciplinary minor offered to students in all
other programs and majors and builds upon those students who have completed a proficiency in a
foreign language (202 or above). Coursework draws from 15 departments with over 200 course
options and provides in-depth courses on international topics beyond the scope of General
Education. Additionally, the INS minor has different emphases: European, Latin American, Asian
and Middle Eastern. Students might choose an emphasis to equip them for study abroad
experiences, which is encouraged to be a part of this program. Advising is crucial and used to
create a plan for each student pursuing the international studies minor, so that a student can be
guaranteed to complete the minor along with a given major.
The program, led by the Director of the International Studies Minor, has averaged about 26 total
students, with 7.4 students graduating per year, though the recent trend is downward.
APR’s comments including:
Notable Strengths
1. This is a free-standing minor available to all programs across the university.
2. This minor has tremendous flexibility and allows for students to experience a breadth of
perspectives by utilizing the courses from various perspectives and departments.
3. This minor aligns with UW-L’s mission for students to seek study-abroad experiences.
4. The INS minor is unique in its commitment to enhancing internationalization through
diversity and culture experiences beyond the scope of the General Education program.
Notable Weaknesses
1. Campus awareness of the INS minor among the students and faculty is low.
2. Students are recruited from a narrow pool of students.
3. According to UDS, students tend to start the minor late and few students who start the
minor also complete the INS minor.
4. Instructors are asked to oversee final projects as an overload.
APR comments on any/all of the six specific components of the self-study (if applicable)
Self Study: Purposes
The goals and objectives of the International Studies Minor are to further international study at
Page 1 of 5
UW-L by promoting the following:
1. Enabling students to learn about a wide variety of international topics (both global as well
as specific national/regional) at greater depth than is otherwise standardly available.
2. Providing students with an interdisciplinary approach to international study that builds on
foreign language and culture mastery, but also selecting coursework from over 200 course
options from 15 different departments and all three colleges at UW-L.
3. Offering a minor that (a) is available to students in all other programs, that (b) builds upon
student coursework in General Education, and that (c) complements students’ major (or
majors and any other minors).
4. Making it possible for students to pursue an in-depth understanding of their study abroad
experience (an experience that is strongly encouraged for those enrolled in the INS minor).
Self Study: Curriculum
To earn an International Studies Minor students must complete 24 credits of course work. The
program of study is designed in consultation with the Director of International Studies using the
following guidelines:
1) Proficiency in a foreign language demonstrated through completion of 202 level course work
from Modern Languages (four semesters) or equivalent. These credits do not count toward the
minor.
2) All INS minors must take ANT/ECO/HIS/POL/SOC/GEO 202 (Contemporary Global Issues, 3
credits)
3) 18 Credits from two course lists developed by International Studies:
Category I: Global Issues
Category II: National and Regional Topics
Six of the 18 credits must be Category I courses from at least two departments, while 12 credits
must be Category II courses from at least two departments. Sixty-seven courses are listed under
Category I, and 134 courses are listed under Category II. Students wishing to specialize in
European, Latin American, Asian, or Middle Eastern emphases must take their Category II
courses from course lists that are subsets of the larger Category II list.
4) All INS minors must take INS 495 (Directed Readings in International Studies, 3 Cr) in which a
student’s plan of study is designed in consultation with appropriate faculty.
5) 12 Credits must be at 300 level or above.
If a student studies abroad, a 3-course sequence, INS 250-251-252 (1 Cr each), can be used to
partially fulfill the Category I requirement.
Self Study: Assessment of Student Learning & Degree of Program Success
No actual data reported regarding assessment.
Page 2 of 5
The report hints that each department looks at student work, but no data was reported. Assessing
student progress within a department would be beneficial. However, according to the Self-Study,
the purpose of the capstone project is “to gauge the depth of international understanding that each
student has achieved in that student’s specific course of study” (p. 3). Therefore, program
assessment might be focused on INS 495, which is required for all international studies minor
students.
Self Study: Previous Academic Program Review and New Program Initiatives
Previous Review: N/A for the Self-Study
New Program Initiatives:
1) Continue to seek expanding curricular options for the INS minor by keeping a pulse on new
course offerings and advising students of these opportunities.
2) Continue to develop more specific emphases, such as the most recent: the Asian emphasis
and the Middle Eastern emphasis.
Self Study: Personnel
The administration and student advising is carried out by a Program Director. The current director
is a member of the Philosophy Department. The director reports that there are enough faculty with
appropriate expertise, and an adequate infrastructure to make the INS minor rigorous. Dozens of
faculty are available to mentor students for their capstone projects. However, this mentoring does
depend on the good will of faculty members.
Self Study: Support for Achieving Academic Program Goals (Resources)
The Program Director has pinpointed a few items that he believes would assist the program.
1) One item is to seek a small stipend for faculty overseeing INS 495 students, as they are
currently doing so as an overload. The stipend is partially considered to help develop a
more careful assessment of an individual student’s progress.
2) The Director feels that finding a home for the International Studies Minor would be
valuable.
3) The Director is aware that the International Studies Minor has tremendous potential to serve
many students and there is a need to develop better publicity beyond emailing students after
completing their foreign language requirement courses.
External Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on External Reviewer (if applicable)
Page 3 of 5
Not Applicable
Department’s response to the Reviewer Recommendations
APR’s Comments on the Department’s Response (if applicable)
Not Applicable
Dean’s Letter
APR’s Comments on Dean’s Letter (if applicable)
The Dean agreed with the major points raised in the self study, and noted the need to engage in
strategic planning for the minor. Particular items noted by the Dean to be addressed through this
planning include:
1) The need for honorariums to compensate the work of faculty mentoring individual students
on INS 495 projects.
2) Recruitment of students into the Minor and the specific emphases available, particularly the
two new emphases: Asian Studies and Middle East Studies.
3) Development of an African Studies emphasis within the Minor.
4) Continued partnership with the Department of Modern Languages and the Office of
International Education.
5) Discussion of a possible academic department home for the INS Minor
6) Improve networking and collaboration between faculty with international studies expertise
to create a sense of identity for the minor, and promote interdisciplinary teaching and
research.
The APR committee agrees that all these topics are worthy of further planning to strengthen the
International Studies Minor.
APR’s Recommendations (must be completed)
Recommendations:
1. Strengthening awareness of the International Studies Minor in a variety of ways. The
committee recommends developing a more informative website, a brochure for Academic
Advisors, continued communication to students enrolled in all levels of foreign language
courses, and finding opportunities to present to the general student and faculty population.
2. In consultation with the University Assessment Coordinator and the Director of the
International Studies Minor, develop and implement program assessment and articulate
student learning outcomes for the program.
3. With input from the Dean and Director, determine whether to move the free-standing INS
Minor to an academic home.
4. To aid the program, the APR committee suggests a more shared sense of publicizing and
overseeing the International Studies Minor through a committee.
No serious areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle
□ Some areas to address – review in next regularly scheduled cycle
X Some areas to address – department should submit short report on progress to Faculty
Page 4 of 5
Senate/Provost’s Office in 3 years
For the progress report, the APR feels that the assessment recommendations and website update
would be valuable. The Committee recommends that the INS Director lead efforts to collect
assessment data, document and report data back to the APR Committee in 3 years, and, at this same
time, report the updated website changes and recruitment strategies that better advertise and advise
students and faculty of the potential for this minor.
* APR’s report to faculty senate will consist of this completed form in electronic form.
Page 5 of 5