Strengths

• Our academic programs promote intellectual development and prepare students to engage in productive and contributive lives. Surveys of students and alumni strongly support the quality of our academic programs and demonstrate students' satisfaction with the education that they have received and its contribution to their professional lives.
• Our commitment to a strong liberal arts education is demonstrated by the many years we have devoted to rigorously studying, reviewing, and modifying the General Education curriculum. The curriculum is dynamic and supports and informs the entire academic life of the University.
• Millersville's vitality is demonstrated in our many innovative programs. The Adult & Continuing Education program and new interdisciplinary minors are examples of our attempts to meet our students' diverse and changing needs. The addition of new academic programs is an example of the University's responsiveness to a changing world.
• Progressive partnerships that support students' intellectual development abound. The growing Cooperative Education program is an excellent example of our partnerships with area businesses and agencies that give our students new educational opportunities.
• Our academic programs are regularly evaluated through accreditations, program reviews, surveys, and outcomes assessment. Progress has been made in training faculty on outcomes assessment and in articulating assessment plans.
• Academic policies are communicated and enforced with increasing accuracy and efficiency, thanks to our Web site, program reviews, careful reviews of existing publications, and new publications. The Degree Audit Records System has greatly enhanced academic advisement by improving the quality of information on student progress.

Areas of Concern

• If our current rate of expansion of programs, initiatives, and responsibilities continues, we may soon spread ourselves too thin, and our obligations may exceed our human resources. Some faculty have expressed concern that our increasing number of commitments will make it difficult to provide the "exemplary liberal arts-based education" (emphasis added) that is the primary focus of our mission.
• While progress has been made in developing outcomes assessment plans and collecting information, at this early stage in the process only some academic departments have begun to use the results to improve their programs.
• Outcomes assessment of the General Education curriculum is incomplete.
• The writing component of the General Education curriculum has been altered by increasing the number of students in these courses to 30 and redefining the writing requirements they must complete. While some faculty are concerned that these changes have reduced the rigor of this curricular component, others feel the quality of our students' writing experiences has not been diminished and remains exceptional compared to writing opportunities at peer institutions.
• The extensive participation of all University interests and the cumbersome State System process for approving new degree programs can inhibit our responsiveness to our students' changing needs and discourage collaboration with other State System universities.
• Some of our academic policies have not been reviewed contextually in the past ten years.

Recommendations

• Conduct a broad-based examination of the growth in academic initiatives to determine whether new developments are drawing resources and energy from what we have clearly established as our priority: a strong, liberal arts based undergraduate education.
• Institutionalize systemic academic outcomes assessment.

Suggestions

• Work with the State System to streamline its process for approving new academic programs.
• Conduct a holistic review of pertinent academic policies to determine their effectiveness in achieving our desired outcomes and ascertain their appropriateness to the 21st century.
• Ensure adequate day-to-day leadership of the General Education curriculum.