Pilot Program Review – Family and Consumer Science Department - 2002-2003
Executive Summary
In the College of Education, the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences was selected by
Dean Rebecca Bowers to participate in the initial program review process under development
through the provost’s office. As an initial, pilot effort, much was learned by all of the
participants about the process itself, the timeline, contents of the self-study, selection of external
reviewers, organization of the campus visits, and efforts to ensure that all of the work and effort
put forth by all of the various people produces meaningful results.
As a part of the process, the department composed a self-study document following the academic
program review guidelines, which was submitted in a timely and competent fashion. It is clear
that individual faculty members were involved in the process and helped to write portions
directly related to their specific program. The Chair, Dr. Jan Bowers, was also very involved in
the composition of the document and the meetings which were held to discuss the program
review process.
Dr. Debra Handy, Assistant professor of the Department of Human Development at Washington
State University served as the external reviewer reading the self-study document and meeting
with faculty and administrators during her campus visit.
Based upon the self-study document, Dr. Handy’s report, and the dean’s review, this report
outlines and summarizes the commendations and recommendations. It is expected that this report
will provide a framework and guidance for the department to continue their endeavors in meeting
their mission and goals within the university.
Commendations:
As a department, Family and Consumer Sciences (F&CS) has much to celebrate. Faculty are
clearly dedicated to their professions, their scholarship, and their students. Faculty are to be
commended for:
Wide and pervasive involvement in professional service contributions at all levels: national,
regional, local, and university. Based upon faculty records, there is clear documentation of active
faculty involvement in their professional associations and contributions in many different arenas.
Clear focus on creating high quality programs for students. Faculty are deeply involved and
concerned about providing curricular, instructional, and programmatic excellence for their
students.
Grant funding for a variety of purposes. The department chair and several faculty are committed
to securing grant funding to support departmental mission and activities.
Commitment to creating high quality general education courses. The FC&S department plays a
significant role in helping to create a science opportunity for students in their general education
program. The department has also added another class, Human Sexuality, to better prepare
students.
Quality mentoring and advising of program majors. Both faculty and students regard advising as
an integral component of the relationship between faculty and students. As such, faculty strive to
provide appropriate, accurate and timely advising to all students in their department. Students
appear to recognize and appreciate the efforts of faculty in this area.
There is also a high level of involvement in a variety of scholarship a activities, some leading to
peer-reviewed publications and acceptance of paper presentations at national conferences.
Recommendations:
The overall recommendation is that the faculty of the department need to consider and make
some decisions about where they would like to put their resources – time, money, work effort,
and scholarly endeavors in order to align their individual programs within the overall mission of
the department.
The second major recommendation is to bring together faculty with diverse areas of expertise,
scholarship, and interests in order to discuss, plan, and make decisions about the nature and
future of the department.
Specific recommendations flowing from these two general recommendations are stated later in
the document.
Family and Consumer Sciences is a complex department with sub areas that have distinct areas
of expertise. This creates both strengths and challenges within the department. There are two
major challenges flowing from the nature of the departmental mission and composition that lead
to the recommendations. First, there is diffusion and confusion about the exact nature of the role
and mission of the department’s various majors and the contribution of each area to the overall
departmental mission. This confusion permeates the department in a variety of ways including
the exact nature of scholarship, the scholarly expectations for faculty productivity, and the role of
graduate programs, course curricula, advising loads, and personnel decisions. Just the number of
major programs and graduate programs for the number of faculty and student majors illustrates
the diffusion and lack of clarity about the exact nature of each major program within the overall
departmental mission. One item that needs clarification within the department is the role of the
interior design major since there is no tenure-track faculty line associated with this program and
given the current fiscal nature of the university, it is very doubtful that any tenure-track faculty
line will be allocated to that program.
In addition, the department needs to find the balance between what it can reasonably accomplish
given limited resources and the programs it wants to offer. Clearly, faculty and students alike
perceive the stress brought about by diffuse curricular offerings, too many preparations for
faculty in an attempt to meet the program requirements, and an overall attempt to do too many
things. Given the budgetary nature of higher education funding, it would be unreasonable for the
department to expect to receive any additional funding for additional faculty lines. They must
work within the current resources. Consequently, actions suggested such as “broaden
departmental programs to include entire spectrum of human development,” “develop lab
program to support curriculum,” and “hire additional faculty” are not feasible and may not be
desirable. Instead, the department needs to work together to resolve and address their challenges.
The second general recommendation speaks to the need of the department to work on
communication between and among faculty and administration. Specific items for such
discussions are suggested by both Dr Handy and Dean Bowers. A clearly defined policy of
scholarly inquiry that meets college and university standards needs to be crafted and through
consensus accepted by the faculty. The role and function of the graduate programs is a second
area where faculty must work together to decide what they can and can not support.
Within these challenges there is a clear need in the department for upgrading and replacement of
equipment, computers, and software appropriate for each of the major programs. Lacking
instructional equipment such as video players is not acceptable. This must become a prime area
for resources in order to best prepare students and to allow faculty the access and assistance they
need for their scholarly activities and teaching responsibilities.
Specific recommendations include:
Clarify the role of individual undergraduate majors within the overall departmental mission and,
where necessary, focus by elimination, on those areas where quality, student demand, and
resources can best be served and used.
Analyze the role of graduate programs and make recommendations about future actions such as
continuance or abeyance.
Seek collaborative relations with other departments whose expertise and selective course
offerings would complement the F&CS programs. Such departments as psychology, early
childhood, and physical education would be good beginning points.
Use the grant writing abilities demonstrated in the department to seek additional support for
technology and upgrades in equipment and computer software.
Review and revise information literacy standards for each major and include specific
assessments related to student proficiency in such standards.
Develop and implement a systematic gathering and utilization of data about program graduates.
Develop and implement program assessment data that is connected to student outcomes.
Recommendations for Dean and Provost’s Office:
Assist and support the department’s efforts to upgrade instructional technology and computer
support for faculty.
Provide guidance and support in analyzing the departmental mission and through those efforts to
make decisions about an appropriate balance between programmatic offerings and faculty work
load.
Overall, the Family and Consumer Science department has a strong foundation from which to
build an even stronger department. With some work on alignment of mission with curricular
offerings, assessment of graduates and definition of contributions, the department can be a leader
in the College of Education and Professional Studies.