Annual Report Form
1. Please answer the following questions in the body of an e-mail and return to
rculbert@iusb.edu. CC a copy of the report to your department faculty and to your dean.
a. Program Name - Department of History
b. Report prepared by – Isabel O’Connor
c. Who is the current assessment contact for your program? Isabel O’Connor
d. Should assessment information be sent to anyone else in your department? No
1. What are the program’s educational goals? (Please take goals directly from your
program’s assessment plan, and highlight any changes made this year.)
! Students seeking degrees in History will be exposed to a broad understanding of the past and
the varieties of ways to examine it.
! Students should be able to understand and analyze primary and secondary sources, including
archival documents, journal articles, and monographs.
! Students should be able to use a variety of research tools, both in print and in electronic
format.
! Students should be able to communicate, both in written and verbal form, multiple ways of
understanding the past.
! Students should develop ways of thinking historically.
! Students should gain a global perspective by taking courses that cover various regions of the
world.
In preparation for its Fall 2007 Program Review, the History Department discussed its
educational goals in September 2007. We adopted the educational goals listed above because
they stress the acquisition of skills in history courses.
2. What assessment techniques did the program use? (Please take assessment techniques
directly from your program’s assessment plan and highlight any changes made this year.)
A. The portfolio. History faculty reviewed six portfolios in the Fall 2007 and four in the Spring
2008. All the students, with the exception of one who turned in a protfolio in the Fall 2007, were
considered ready to take the senior seminar. We are very impressed with the quality of the selfassessment essay. Since the new portfolio guidelines that we adopted in the Fall 2006 provide
specific questions to guide the students through the self-analysis essay, the responses that they
provide are more analytical and contain more in-depth, useful information for the department.
B. Exit interviews. For the second year in a row, we conducted exit interviews of all the
graduating seniors. Five students completed the exit interview in the Fall 2007 and four in the
Spring 2008. The faculty discuss all the exit inteviews collected in a semester at the first
departmental meeting of the following semester.
C. Alumni Survey. In September 2007, the History Department revised its alumni survey. We
expanded the survey to include questions that emphasize how the skills taught in the program
helped the alumni in the professional world. In December 2007, we sent the survey to over 200
alumni; seven responded. The alumni praised the department for its emphasis on teaching its
majors to think as historians by emphasizing research skills, critical thinking and writing skills.
3. What has your program done with assessment information this year? (i.e. communicated
results to faculty, staff, alumni and students, made changes in the curriculum, made
changes in the budget, added new courses. . .)
The department discussed its goals, mission statement and assessment techniques as it was
preparing the report for the Program Review. Full and part-time faculty, students and staff met
with the oustide reviewer, Dr. Gary Stark, in November 2007. The department discussed the
reviewers report in January 2008 and prepared a response in consultation with Dean Williams.
Dr. Stark, the outside reviewer, praised the many strengths of the department and offered some
recommendations concerning faculty hires and curriculum. The department discussed which
recommendations could be implemented.
4. After reflecting on assessment activities in your unit, as a result of assessment what are
two issues you would like to address?
! The History Department is very proud of the accomplishments of many of its majors. In 2007
and 2008, several History majors were awarded campus-wide prizes, such as the Library
Undergraduate Research prize, the Religious Studies and Women’s Studies’ writing contests.
The department feels that it is time to focus on students who struggle to complete the major. The
faculty plan to address this issue at the Fall 2008 teaching retreat and to discuss strategies on
when and how to best help at-risk students.
! Exit interviews done in the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 showed that History majors are
generally happy with the quality of the program. One issue that most graduating seniors
highlighted was that the quality of advising varied among the department faculty. We will
dedicate at least one department meeting in the Fall 2008 to ensure that all departmental advisors
understand the process.