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Academic Program Review SUMMARY*
Department under review: Ethnic and Racial Studies Minor
Date self-study received in Dean’s office: January 2014
Date of external consultant’s review: NA
Date APR received report: April 2014
APR’S summary of self-study
Overview/Roles:
The Ethnic and Racial Studies (ERS) minor provides an interdisciplinary focus on the
historic and contemporary experience and contributions of ethnic and racial minorities in the
US. The program ensures that students at UW-L have access to information about the roles
and challenges of minority groups in the US and develop the cultural competence to
understand an increasingly diverse community. Established in 1972 as an institute offering
a 14-credit certificate, ERS replaced the certificate in 1997 and began offering a 24-credit
minor. Around 2009, the minor was redesigned from 24 to 18 credits. ERS became a fullfledged department in 2012, still housing the minor but no major. There are no equivalent
programs in the La Crosse area. UW-L is in line with regional trends because the UW
System and other schools in the Midwest offer majors or minors in ethnicity-related topics.
APR’s comments including:
Notable Strengths:
1. The increased number of minors (from 18 in 2009 to 78 in 2013) demonstrates the
desirability of the program and the continued perseverance of its faculty and staff.
2. Representation of male students in the minor has improved greatly in recent years,
from a 14:4 ratio of women to men in 2006 to a ratio of 32:21 in 2012. Additionally,
minority enrollment has also improved from a low of 1 in 2009 to 15 in 2012.
3. ERS 490 has provided a capstone experience transforming theory to practice as
students assessed policies related to ethnicity in a real-world agency or program,
thus equipping them with expertise valuable in the professional marketplace.
Notable Weaknesses:
1. The greatest weakness of the program remains its lack of rigorous, documented
methods of directly assessing Student Learning Outcomes.
2. Physical space is limited pending the relocation of CBA to clear space in CWH.
3. The variety of courses offered by the department itself remains limited by the small
number of tenure-track faculty and staff; therefore, the success of the minor greatly
depends on interdepartmental cooperation.
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Self Study: Purposes
The stated goal of ERS is to create culturally competent individuals who will be able to
successfully interact in their personal and professional lives with individuals from different
ethnic, racial, and cultural groups. The program supports the University’s mission to
increase and support diversity within the community and to be sure that information on the
contributions of diverse cultures is part of the educational process.
ERS courses, programming, faculty and staff also support the current UW system-wide
Inclusive Excellence initiative to recognize the importance of cultural diversity and diversity
education in creating citizens for tomorrow’s world. Courses in ERS examine the prejudice
and stereotyping of individuals and cultures in the American media, the theories explaining
the interactions between ethnic and racial minorities and the “dominant” culture, and the
system of White Privilege that continues to disadvantage minority groups in the US.
Self Study: Curriculum
The ERS minor consists of 18 credits which includes four required courses within the ERS
Department and two interdisciplinary elective courses.
The introductory course, ERS100, satisfies the Minority Cultures or Multiracial Women’s
Studies (GE 03) requirement in General Education. A large proportion of eventual ERS
minors enter through this course. Currently, approximately 650 students take this course
each academic year – with 455 enrolled for the fall semester of 2013. The second course,
ERS220, satisfies Self and Society (GE 06) and explores the ways minority ethnic and
racial groups are represented in the American media. The third course, ERS351 focuses on
the theories of group interaction between majority and minority groups. The final required
course, ERS490, examines the current state of intergroup relations by drawing on historical
and sociological information from the earlier courses, and results in student proposals to
evaluate an agency or program, and prepares them for post-college employment.
In addition to the four required courses, ERS minors have a choice of over 20 courses in
departments across the University that can be applied to the 6 credits of electives in the
minor. The Department chair regularly examines course offerings of other departments to
include those that cover topics relevant to ethnic and racial groups in the US.
Self Study: Assessment of Student Learning & Degree of Program Success
The 2010-2012 Biennial Assessment reports the evaluation of two SLOs in ERS100 and
ERS220; outcomes were assessed using items on the final exams in these courses. For
each course, there were five such items (although none of those items were identified in the
report). Each academic year a different set of five items was identified for use in each
course. It is not clear how the two SLOs and the five items are related. Beyond this outline,
systematic data about student learning was not provided.
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To measure program success, surveys have been done in the past four years to gauge
student awareness of and perceived desirability of the minor. In Spring 2010 only 21% of
students in ERS100 knew about the existence of the minor. Those results led to the
creation of a promotional video and connections with other departments and colleges. As
part of the capstone course (ERS490), students interviewed employers in the La Crosse
area to determine whether cultural competency was actually valued by employers and
found that diversity issues were part of the selection process for all positions.
In Spring 2013 ERS minors were surveyed on their perceptions of and satisfaction with the
minor. Respondents suggested the program offer more courses and ERS faculty members
teach advanced courses. Students also commented positively on the real-life relevance of
the minor. The survey confirmed that the capstone course required modification (which was
already in the planning stages). Plans are in place to conduct a survey of minors who will
graduate in 2015 since the minor was streamlined in 2009 from 24 to 18 credits.
Self Study: Previous Academic Program Review and New Program Initiatives
The previous 2008 Academic Program Review evaluated the 24-credit program which is
vastly different than the current 18-credit one. Recommendations were used as guidelines
to design the current program. Recommendations from the 2008 review included 1)
developing program and curriculum goals and determining whether those are met; 2)
moving from “Institute” status to a Department; 3) increasing the number of minors; 4)
improving communication across campus and designing promotional material; 5)
developing systematic assessment data on learning goals and outcomes.
In response to the 2008 recommendations, the department has 1) done surveys of ERS100
students’ awareness and ERS minors’ satisfaction of the 24-credit program and, as a result,
reduced the minor requirements to 18 credits; 2) attained full departmental status; 3)
increased the overall number of minors from 18 to 78 between 2009 and 2013 and
increased the number of minors outside of CLS in both SAH (28%) and CBA (13%); 4)
developed a group of “Affiliated Faculty” who teach in the minor and advise the department
as well as recruited students through publicity initiatives and outreach; 5) acknowledged
that efforts focused on student learning assessment have not received adequate attention.
Focused specializations make the UW-L program somewhat unique from programs with a
broader focus. New program initiatives include further strengthening of support for each of
four fields of ethnic study: Hispanic, American Indian, African American, and Asian
American. Personnel and resources are in place for the first three of these tracks, with the
intention of a future hire to buttress the last. Currently the faculty loads do not allow for
additional offerings. The department has also proposed developing a major; a subsequent
strategic plan will be required to delineate what additional resources will be needed to
implement additional courses.
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ERS began collaborating in 2012 with English, History, Psychology, Sociology/Archaeology,
and WGSS. Department chairs identified clusters of faculty with similar research interests
and “wish lists” of courses they would like to teach which will provide opportunities for
interdisciplinary scholarship as well as cross-listing of courses.
Self Study: Personnel
The ERS Department consists of two full time tenure-track faculty members, one full-time
permanent IAS, and a half-time Chair. The Department suggests that it would be in the best
interest of the department to have an internal Chair, rather than an individual who
contributes a single course per semester (with the rest of the .5 appointment allotted to
administration). They further note that each of the two tenure-track faculty members teach
half their load each semester in introductory courses. The permanent IAS in the department
was hired to cover ERS100, and teaches three sections per semester along with an
advanced course and often a summer school course online; additional sections of ERS100
each semester are covered by IAS with relevant training.
All teaching faculty and staff possess terminal degrees with expertise in History, Cultural
Anthropology, and Psychology. The department requires either a completed or nearly
completed PhD because students are attracted to a minor offering them the experience of
interacting with an outstanding instructor with whom they can take advanced courses. The
department cautions that while partnerships and collaborations are currently the best option
for meeting student needs for more courses in the minor, any future growth will require
rearrangement of space: the department has expanded to fill its present location and has
no space to house any additional hires.
The areas of expertise currently represented in the interdisciplinary department are fully
consistent with the department’s goals. Since the 2013 self-study was written, the
department has hired a full-time GQA Instructional Academic Staff member with a terminal
degree and Hispanic expertise beginning in Fall 2014.
Self Study: Support for Achieving Academic Program Goals (Resources)
Currently the only funding comes from sources internal to UW-L. Ethnic and Racial Studies
is an area where external funding is extraordinarily difficult to obtain as sources disappear.
Even within the UW System, the decimation of the System Institute for Race and Ethnicity
has resulted in the loss of what had been one of few sources of external funding.
A. Physical Facilities
Currently, ERS has extremely limited physical facilities. Space is at a premium and is
already subdivided and multi-purposed. It is essential for group development and cohesion
that all faculty members be housed in the same area. The CLS Dean’s Office will be
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working with UW-L Facilities Planning to identify a more appropriately sized space for the
department in Wimberly Hall when the CBA moves to Wittich Hall.
B. Supplies and Equipment (S&E)
With additional funds contributed by the absorption of ILAS (Institute for Latino/Latina
Studies) into ERS, the resources available for supplies and equipment are sufficient.
Between the department’s collections, those in the library, and inter-library loan, the
reference fundamentals are well covered. Because ethnic and racial studies is by definition
interdisciplinary, other departments’ collections contribute to available resources.
Dean’s Letter
APR’s Comments on Dean’s Letter:
Dean Benson noted that the ERS self-study only briefly mentioned that the department has
assumed responsibility for Latino/Latina programming that was previously part of the
Institute for Latina/Latino and Latin American Studies. The dean encouraged ERS, ILAS,
and Modern Languages to seek greater collaboration on interdisciplinary opportunities.
Dean Benson also suggested the department develop its assessment work to identify
specific Student Learning Outcomes for the minor, assess those SLOs, and make
programmatic change as a result of the assessment. The Dean noted that the department
acknowledged its need for both student and program assessment.
Finally, the Dean suggested that ERS explore its plans for tracks within the Minor (including
collaboration with ILAS on programming that will support development of the Hispanic
Track). The Dean asked the department to present to the CLS Dean’s Office a schedule for
when these tracks would be fully developed, along with specific resources necessary for
their implementation. Subsequently, the department postponed development of these tracks
in favor of proposing an ERS major.
APR’s Recommendations
Recommendations:
Major:
As the ERS department is aware, direct assessment of program-level SLOs in specific
courses must be the focus of their near-term efforts. The 2008 APR report made this
recommendation, and it continues to be our foremost concern. The Department has begun
assessing ERS 490, which should yield information about students’ completion of
programmatic learning outcomes as well as general program success. Because this
assessment initiative must be extended to student learning outcomes in the department’s
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other courses, the APR Committee suggests that this process be facilitated by assistance
from the Assessment Coordinator and CATL.
Our committee also suggests the department develop and present a formal strategic plan
and timeline exploring the feasibility, desirability, and resources necessary for a proposed
major program.
Minor:
The APR Committee encourages the department’s continued consultation with the CLS
Dean and Facilities Planning to satisfy its physical space needs.
□ 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 – The ERS department should submit a short report on progress
toward both APR major recommendations (regarding assessment practices and a strategic
plan) to Faculty Senate/Provost’s Office in 3 years
* APR’s report to faculty senate will consist of this completed form in electronic form.