Enhancing our Culture of Learning: Discoveries
We have discovered that Fredonia excels in many ways that have lead to it having a strong and vibrant culture of learning. By necessity, this chapter will concentrate on ways we can improve and thus serve to form a pathway to enhancing this culture. Our threads of Diversity,
Transitions and Assessing assessment may weave throughout this discussion, as we have discovered that these often are intertwined together and recommendations for improving one will also improve another.
COMMUNICATION
Much of what we recommend in the individual chapters comes down to improvements in communication, not so much in the volume of communications, but rather in the quality, timeliness, inclusivity and efficiency with which we gather, store and retrieve the information that is communicated. First and foremost we should clarify what we communicate to the campus and to the community on why we are here. We need to revisit our aging Mission statement, revitalize it and make it relevant to what we do and hope to do as an institution.
Communication on planning, and on resource allocation as a consequence of the planning process, works well at management level. The process is less well understood or explained to the campus as a whole. The Fredonia Plan and the MOU with System Administration form the basis of planning documents at Fredonia, but neither has been very well promulgated to the campus, and progress on meeting the goals and objectives of these plans should be
communicated more effectively. When analyzed, the connection between these planning
documents and resource allocation is clear, and in some divisions this clarity and connectedness is well understood and appreciated at the unit level. But an analysis of academic department- level documents suggests that it is not so clear to all the campus equally. The Fredonia Plan will soon enter its last year and the campus is getting ready to forge a new Plan. Moreover, the SUNY Chancellor has announced a new SUNY-wide strategic planning initiative and any future Fredonia Plan will need to be aligned with this process. Communication will be very important on this campus in order to promote effective planning, and to ensure that resource allocation as a result of this planning is apparent to all campus constituencies. To this end we feel that the Planning and Budget Advisory Committee (PBAC) of the University Senate should act as the communication voice to impart this information to the campus in a much more open, frequent and comprehensive way.
Our final recommendation under “Communication” may seem to be demanding more
documentation and greater workload, but we have discovered through our analyses how difficult it can be to locate important documents. Information that informs programs and is critical for effective functioning and assessment should be readily available. To this end we recommend that a central repository of all important documents generated on this campus be created and that office be staffed by professionals. With the current demands for assessment reporting, and for data-based decision making in planning and program development, a centralized source for campus documents is absolutely needed
DIVERSITY
Our analysis confirmed that Fredonia has done a great deal over the past decade to address the concerns raised during the last decennial review regarding the lack of diversity on campus. Our commitment to increasing diversity is tangible through our many programs and offices (e.g.
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Keeper of the Dream scholarships, Office of Multicultural Affairs, EDP and many others) whose mission is to recruit and support students from underrepresented groups on this campus. We also see the campus’s recognition of the challenges of increasing diversity in its planning, and the formation of the Diversity Task Force as part of the Fredonia Plan as positive steps in addressing this issue. Moreover, the campus is experiencing a growth in international student enrollment, increased opportunities for students to study abroad, and new agreements with international partner institutions. Without doubt our campus’s location relatively far from diverse population centers has impacted our ability to recruit and retain students and
faculty/staff from underrepresented groups. Despite this we have been demonstrably successful in increasing applications, and increasing enrollment of students of color. We have also been active and reasonably successful in recruiting qualified faculty of color. However, we also see that our record of retaining students and faculty, and of graduating minority students has fallen short of our goals. We support the recommendations of the Diversity Task Force and also recommend that greater attention be placed on finding reasons for the difficulties related to retention and graduation of minority students, and for retention of faculty/staff of color. We also would recommend that the campus increase its welcome to students from other countries by making their transitions easier, and encourage more faculty involvement in supporting international initiatives.
TRANSITIONS
The University supports students transitioning into Fredonia through programs ranging from summer orientation, liberal arts and other freshman seminar experiences, the University’s commitment to the “Foundations of Excellence” process, the multitude of programs in the Residence Halls, Campus Life, and other areas too numerous to list. This is particularly evident for the traditional freshman student, and rightly so as this is the transitional cohort with the least experience of university life. Although there are less specific programs designed for transfer and graduate students, those programs that are in place seem to fulfill the immediate needs of these groups. It is time to evaluate the advising process throughout the campus, not just advising for first year students. Ideally, the advisement process would include advising on post-graduate opportunities as well. Our Liberal Arts program, which serves so many of our newest students is also due for a targeted assessment.
ASSESSING ASSESSMENT
Assessment of student learning and of institutional effectiveness has been a focus of action and accomplishment at Fredonia for a number of years. The institution has a simple overall plan for assessment that lays out the map for assessment activity, reporting and, most importantly, ensuring that assessment is used to inform programs and unit activities with a view to improvement. The Office of Campus Assessment was instituted eight years ago to provide advice and a degree of oversight for the process; however, the leadership and responsibility clearly lies with the faculty, staff and management in the divisions that comprise the university.
All academic programs have an assessment plan in place, and departments are actively involved in evaluating their programs on a regular basis. There is good evidence of effectiveness in assessment. Periodic academic program review processes require departments and Deans to arrive at a formal action plan based on assessment. Departments themselves are “closing the loop” and evaluating changes made as a result of assessment for effectiveness. Assessment of student learning is not confined to academic departments, and many units in Student Affairs division have incorporated, or are in the process of incorporating, student learning outcomes to their interactions with students.
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There are areas in need of improvement within assessment of student learning, but these, by and large, can be addressed through greater vigilance in reporting, and are not indicative of any general lack of assessment activity. In a similar fashion, assessment of institutional
effectiveness is clearly an ongoing and organic component of the functioning of the various units comprising the University. There is good evidence of clear alignment between mission and goals, and, for the most part, clear assessment practices that give rise to useful, authentic information that is used by these units for self-improvement.
Implicit in our “thread” of Assessing assessment, is the notion that in some areas we are overwhelmed with assessment activities. The additional burden of assessment reporting for external entities, especially NCATE and SUNY General Education, has definitely increased the workload. This experience is not unique to Fredonia, and there is some evidence that external accreditors and SUNY are beginning to recognize how large demands on faculty and staff time in performing assessments for multiple agencies does not advance the purpose of effective
assessment well. However, our analysis showed that if the assessments are proven useful, and the department faculty uses the assessment analysis to validate or modify curriculum, then the department is more likely to find the work worthwhile. Our administration helps with this process by supporting departmental decisions based firmly on assessment findings, through approval of curricular change and priority in resource allocation. Challenges remain and Fredonia needs to broaden its assessment of non-traditional courses (on-line, time shortened, graduate and certificate programs), and to continue to work building on the advances in assessment processes gained over the past few years.
We can help ourselves more by finding better ways to present data and assist departments more directly in data gathering, analysis and reporting. In this study we recommend more uniformity in reporting institutional assessment activities and results. It is also time to further
institutionalize effective and efficient assessment reporting and record keeping through
allocating increased resources in support of a more centralized and professionalized Assessment Office, and a closer alignment of the office with Institutional Research and Planning.
CONCLUSION
Fredonia bears many hallmarks of a vibrant and successful institution of higher education. Our faculty are productive scholars and creators of artistic works, committed to the teaching mission of the University, and providers of strong service to the functioning of the university, the greater community and the academy. Enhancement of faculty development is a priority for the
institution as evidenced through the new professional development center. Our student support services are regarded by the students themselves as excellent; from the quality of the residence halls, to the food service, to the roster of activities available. Despite the fiscal challenges faced by the campus over the past ten years as a result of declining state operating support, and particularly the current economic crisis, Fredonia’s financial management team has carefully administered the various budgets of the institution with integrity and skill. Our achievement of the monetary goals of recent capital campaigns, coupled with our increasingly active
engagement with alumni, promises to provide Fredonia with greater support for future growth, not only from the financial sense, but also to enhancing our advocacy potential.
Despite economic challenges of the last decade, Fredonia has managed to modernize many of its current buildings and facilities and has added significant new learning and living spaces,
including a state of the art Natatorium, the award-winning Rosch Recital Hall, and University Commons to name a few. The SUNY Fredonia Technology Incubator in nearby Dunkirk, NY will open later this Fall, a new Child Care Center is scheduled to open in February 2010, and a $60