Review of the Psychology Department
By the Academic Program Review Committee
November 2005
1.
Documents relevant to the APR Committee’s report
1.1 Self-Study Report by the Psychology Department
1.2 Unit Data Sheet by the Office of Institutional Research
1.3 Report of the External Consultant
1.4 Departmental Response to the External Review
1.5 Dean’s Summary Report
2.
The APR Committee’s report to the Faculty Senate
2.1 Summary of Program Goals and Objectives
2.2 Summary of How the Academic Program Attempts to Reach its Goals and
Objectives and How Those Goals and Objectives Have Been Achieved
2.3 Summary of Program assessment and the Results of Attempts to Measure
Student Learning
2.4 Significant Resource Concerns
2.5 Report of how the Program Has Responded to the Recommendations by
the Previous APR Committee
2.6 The APR Committee’s Recommendations
Appendixes
Appendix 1: Unit Data Sheet by Office of Institutional Research
Appendix 2: The Academic Program Review Committee’s Summary of the
External Review of the Programs of the Psychology Department at the
University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.
2.1 Summary of program goals and objectives:
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Knowledge – a psychology major should understand the nature and logic of the
scientific method; logical principles for measuring psychological variables; and
the appropriate use of basic statistical tools for analyzing and summarizing
scientific data. The student will gain an appreciation of the interrelationships
among subareas of psychology as well as an understanding of how psychological
knowledge relates to other academic disciplines.
Academic Skills – students in psychology should develop thinking skills that will
enable them to use psychological concepts. Students should be able to find, read,
and comprehend psychological literature from primary sources.
Practice Skills – majors in psychology should develop skills that are useful in
work settings, interpersonal relationships, problem solving, be able to clarify
values and appreciate techniques used for personal change.
2.2 Summary of How the Academic Program Attempts to Reach its Goals and
Objectives and How Those Goals and Objectives Have Been Achieved
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In addition to requiring Introduction, Experimental and lab courses, the
Psychology department is structured to allow students freedom of choice within a
variety of categories.
When a student completes the Psychology Major, they have completed courses in
introductory psychology, developmental psychology, research design,
social/personality, psychopathology and biopsychology.
The curriculum is designed to reflect the various subfields of psychology and
provide a strong empirical and liberal arts training. The Psychology curriculum
has three “unique” features: a three-semester honors program where qualified
students complete independent research projects, some form of experiential
coursework, and an elective “orientation to the Major” class.
The department reflects contemporary trends with two major offerings – a course
in the psychology of women and cross-cultural offerings.
2.3 Summary of Program assessment and the Results of Attempts to Measure
Student Learning
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The Psychology department has been actively involved in programmatic
assessment utilizing a variety of direct and indirect measures. Every other Spring
semester, a 1-credit senior seminar serves as a vehicle for carrying out several
assessment goals and measures. Every other year, a sample of seniors complete
the “Learning Environment Survey” that provides an indirect measure of students’
views on the program and the objectives and goals of the program. Other surveys
of alumni and graduating seniors have provided data for the department.
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In the past year, the department began work with a national set of objectives for
the undergraduate psychology major.
The department has had two successes with responding to assessment data. The
first noted success was the reorganization of developmental courses and the
addition of prerequisites to some of the more senior courses. The most significant
change to the program was the area of advising. With multiple changes to the
advising program, senior rating of advising quality increased from 38% to 80%.
The design of an interactive web advising tutorial has been well received by
students and faculty. Students complete the tutorial on their own, prior to meeting
with their advisor. This allows the student better use of time with the advisor.
2.4 Significant Resource Concerns
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Faculty work load has been identified as the biggest concern of the program itself.
2.5 Report of how the Program Has Responded to the Recommendations by the
Previous APR Committee
Two major recommendations came from the Academic Program Review of 1996-97.
First, the committee recommended that the Psychology Department create an assessment
plan for the Psy 100 (General Psychology) to determine the effectiveness of teaching a
large student body in keeping with the mission of a general education curriculum. The
Psychology department has pursued several assessment activities in response to the
report. This includes the administration of a content-based pre-post multiple choice
exam. A social science-based assessment was conducted as part of General Education
assessment for the “Self and Society” component. Another assessment was conducted
with pre-post short answer exams regarding psychological theory and critical thinking.
Second, the committee recommended that upon completion of the assessment instruments
for the major, that attention now focus on implementing the results of assessment. Two
major improvements have resulted from this implementation, a re-sequencing of courses
and an improvement to the advising system.
2.6 The APR Committee’s Recommendations
PROGRAM: School Psychology
DEPARTMENT: Psychology
The Academic Program Review (APR) committee observed the following from the selfstudy report from the School Psychology Department, the external reviewer’s report and
the report from the Dean of the College of Liberal Studies.
 The external review, Dr. Prus, was the Chair of the Program Review Board of the
National Association of School Psychologies (NASP). In his comments, he indicated
that the School Psychology at UW-L was reviewed by at least two members of
NASP. This is quite different from other externally reviewed reports that are usually
done by one person. NASP granted full approval for the program for the 4-year
period 2004-08.
 NASP and the Dean of the College of Liberal Studies indicated that the major
strength of the School Psychology program is its assessment techniques and
implementation and evaluation of the assessment methods. The APR committee
concurs with both of them.
 NASP and the Dean both indicated that the School Psychology program provides a
lot of practical experience for the students. It is evident from the number of data
collection forms included along with the self-study report and how the program uses
the data collected.
 The Dean commented that the program maintains a track record of producing highly
qualified and employable graduates. It would have been better if the self-study report
includes job placement rating to strengthen this comment.
 NASP addressed several areas of improvement for the program. These are:
o Diversity and multicultural issues to be included in the curriculum
o Family, school and community interventions to be included in the curriculum
o Improved use of information technology in courses
o Systematic faculty evaluation
o Lack of research activities for students
o Lack of documenting internship sites information and contracts with internship
agencies
The self-study report indicates that the program is working on resolving these issues.
 The self-study report indicates that the faculty members meet with all the students at
the end of every semester. Further, the program also introduced the thesis/portfolio
requirement for the students. These efforts re remarkable and speak for the success
and quality of the program.
 The APR acknowledges the need for appropriate graduate faculty to manage the
theses load and sustain a quality Graduate Program. The addition of a thesis/portfolio
manual is an additional burden. There was no comment on this issue from the Dean
of CLS.
Actions taken on previous APR committee report:
The previous APR report on School Psychology was part of the APR report on
Psychology programs in 1996-97. There was no specific recommendation for the School
Psychology program in the previous APR report.
APR committee’s recommendations:
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The committee recommends the program look closely at NASP’s comments and
recommended areas of improvement.
The committee urges the program to work on the thesis/portfolio manual so that
expectations for graduate students are more clearly stated.
PROGRAM: Psychology Major
DEPARTMENT: Psychology
The Academic Program Review (APR) committee observed the following from the selfstudy report from the Psychology Department, the external reviewer’s report and the
report from the Dean of the College of Liberal Studies.
 The department’s scholarship activities are remarkable as indicated by the number of
publications in the last 3 years. This includes more than 25 manuscripts including 3
books and more than 50 presentations in peer-reviewed conferences.
 It is claimed in the self study report that the department’s major strengths are
academic advising and undergraduate research. Both the external reviewer and the
Dean of the College of Liberal Studies concurred with excellent academic advising
but the Dean recommended for increased research and scholarly activities. However,
they both acknowledged that higher teaching load of the faculty members is an
obstacle for improving scholarly activities.
 Another major strength of the department according to its self study report is its
assessment of student learning. It is clearly evident from the publications and the
department’s contributions to General Education.
 The department received the UW-L nomination for the Regent’s Teaching Excellence
Award in 2002. The APR committee considers this as a significant acknowledgment
for the faculty members in the department.
 The external reviewer suggested reducing the number of credits required for
Psychology major from 42. In response to this suggestion, the department
reorganized the categories of course offerings and moved some of the required
courses into electives, thereby reducing the required number of credits for Psychology
major to 39.
 The external reviewer suggested adding another faculty member to the department.
The Dean concurred with this decision.
 Both the external reviewer and the Dean appreciated the outstanding leadership of
Professor Betsy Morgan, the Chair of the Department. The APR committee extends
its congratulations to Professor Morgan for her outstanding achievement and her
recognition and appreciation from her peers.
Actions taken on previous APR committee report:
The last time the Psychology Department was reviewed by the APR committee was in
1996-97 academic year. There were two major recommendations by the committee in
1996-97:
The committee recommended creating an assessment plan for Psy 100 (General
Psychology) course. In response to this recommendation, the Psychology Department
has already pursued several assessment activities. The Dean of CLS reported that the
Psychology Department has been the leader in assessment of student achievements. It is
also evident from the publications form the Psychology Department (please see the article
by Dr. Morgan and Dr. Johnson in the self-study report).
The committee recommended focusing on using the results of assessment after
completing the assessment plan. In response to this recommendation, the Psychology
Department indicated in its self-study report how student advising has improved by using
the assessment plan. The department also re-sequenced courses in order to accommodate
the assessment techniques.
APR committee’s recommendations:
The APR committee concurs with the Dean of the College of Liberal Studies that the
Psychology Department is a strong and vibrant department in the college and has shown
several significant achievements. The committee acknowledges the quick response of the
department for the external reviewer’s comments. The committee makes the following
recommendations:
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The APR committee encourages the continuation of scholarly activities in the
department. Although it is hard to focus on the scholarly activities with heavy
teaching load, it is part of the mission and goals of both the department ad the
university to attempt to improve both teaching and scholarly activities.
In relation to the previous recommendation, the APR committee recommends to the
Dean the consideration of adding another faculty position to the department. The
GenEd contribution of the department, its effective student advising and the
expectation of improved scholarly activities are al influential factors for this
recommendation.
Both the external reviewer and the Dean recommend the department formalize a plan
of assessment of student learning. The APR committee agrees with this
recommendation. It will be a valuable tool for the university to adopt such a
formalized assessment plan.
Since the Dean expressed his full support for a retreat, the APR committee strongly
recommends the department hold a retreat with the next year. A mission statement
could be defined during this retreat.