As befitting an institution whose mission is to promote intellectual development through an exemplary liberal arts-based education, Millersville University has a solid reputation for providing a wide range of excellent baccalaureate and graduate programs. During the past five years, Millersville has added a number of programs and retired others; currently, it offers four associate degree programs, 57 baccalaureate programs , 23 master’s programs, and several certificate programs. The academic programs are appropriate to the goals of the University and provide a wide range of choices for undergraduate students who come to Millersville, as well as professionals in the area who wish to pursue graduate study.

     Over the last twelve years or more, the University has revised its general education program several times. In 1988, the University added writing intensive courses across the curriculum and two Perspectives courses. In 1999, in order to incorporate emerging skills and competencies into the program, the faculty modified the writing and Perspectives courses and added competencies in technology and information literacy. This recently revised program responds to the principle that “the kinds of courses and other education experiences that should be included in general education are those which enhance the total intellectual growth of students, draw them into new areas of intellectual experience, expand cultural awareness, and prepare them to make enlightened judgments outside as well as within their specialty.” (Characteristics of Excellence, p. 13)

     While the general education program has been in operation for many years, the University is only now beginning to analyze its effectiveness through a comprehensive program of outcomes assessment. Although the review and development of the program over time has led to incremental improvements, the team concurs with the Self-Study report that it is time to review whether the program is accomplishing its stated goals. In addition to some of the considerations suggested in the planning section of this team report, the general education program may need to be reviewed in light of the needs of an increasingly diverse, non-traditional undergraduate student population. (Over 14% of the undergraduates are over the age of 25.)

     Given the need for ongoing analysis and assessment of this critical component of the undergraduate curriculum, the University may also be well advised to designate a person with responsibility for overseeing the general education program and its assessment.

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     The University has developed a number of special programs, including the Virtual University, an Honors program, PACE/ACT 101 program, and others. We comment in this report only on the first two.

     The Virtual University is an experiment with Shippensberg and West Chester Universities to deliver courses on-line to graduate students, college students, and high school students, some of whom might potentially seek admission to Millersville. While the program has been in operation for only two years, the University has begun to learn from this experiment and intends to use these insights to continue the program beyond the System grant-supported pilot program now in operation. Conversations with individuals involved in the program indicate, however, that there is no long-range programmatic or funding plan for the future of the Virtual University. There have been some difficulties in cooperation among the three institutions, as well as difficulties in managing the admissions and registration processes. Although some of these start-up problems are to be expected and will be addressed, the team concurs that this program has a promising future if it finds a home on campus, is integrated into the long-term planning of the University, and is led by a full-time coordinator.

     Another special academic program, the Honors Program, has been offered by the University for over 20 years, but recent events -– the change in director, a renewed campus emphasis on recruiting high- ability students, and the need to compete with other institutions which have received significant gifts to develop their honors programs -- has led to a reexamination of the program and its expansion into an Honors College. The current honors courses, which are now taken by approximately 300 students a year, will continue under this new proposal and will be complemented by an integrated student activities program and a renewed residential experience. This plan will also provide additional scholarship funds for meritorious students.

     The team concurs with the institution’s decision to expand the honors program to include a residential and student affairs experience. At the same time, we also caution that, as the program is transformed from an honors program to an Honors College, the institution will need to clarify the distinction between the two and address structural questions of faculty responsibilities and evaluation procedures within the context of three schools.

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     Although the University embraced outcomes assessment eight years ago and the Faculty Senate approved an assessment policy in 1994, the University has only recently begun to collect assessment data in selected departments and majors. It has not yet developed a comprehensive plan for academic program assessment. The assessment measures listed on pages 18 and 19 of the Self-Study and the three faculty workshops led by consultant James Nichols in 1997 and 1998 indicate the good-faith efforts of the University to implement a broad-based assessment program.

     Some of the data that have been collected to date are being used to reevaluate and, in some cases, revise program and course content, thereby demonstrating compliance with the policy of the Commission on Higher Education that “the ultimate goal of outcomes assessment is the improvement of teaching and learning.” (Characteristics, p. 17) Many faculty are supportive of assessment activities; others are still not convinced of the value they add. The team encourages all faculty to take the assessment activities and their results seriously.

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     Although the University has excellent liberal arts programs, it has recently made the decision to close some programs and develop new ones in response to market demand and faculty strengths. Specifically, Millersville has recently created new degrees in Early Childhood Education, Educational Leadership, Nursing, and Sports Management, as well as several new majors and a few options within current majors. Two examples of responding to market demand are the new Associate in Industrial Technology and the new Masters Degree in Leadership for Teaching and Learning. The latter will respond directly to a market demand for education for principals, department heads, supervisors, and curriculum directors. Serious discussion is also taking place about the development of an MBA in international business, a program supported by local business leaders. Another measure of the University's willingness to change can be seen in the eighty new courses developed and locally approved since 1997.

     At the same time that the University is being encouraged to develop new programs to meet regional needs, several Trustees, external supporters, faculty, and administrators have cautioned that new programs need to be carefully developed following an analysis of local market demands and the capability of the institution to respond to them. Some of the recently developed programs have emerged from strong faculty interest and expertise, but moving ahead will require a more thorough analysis of community and regional demands. We concur with the Self-Study recommendation to "conduct a broad based examination of the growth in the academic initiatives to determine whether the developments are drawing resources and energy from what we have clearly established as our priority: a strong, liberal arts based undergraduate education." ( Self-Study, p. 24) The University, however, may want to integrate into this examination a serious consideration of outside factors that should also influence program development.

     The team feels that a closely articulated vision for the campus in light of new exigencies will help the campus address what appear to be disincentives to new program development at Millersville. These include:

• an expressed sense of faculty overload and fatigue in light of the cumulative demands for excellence in teaching, academic advising, scholarship, and service, including committee work

• lack of sufficient incentives and rewards, such as released time and seed money, to develop or launch new curricula; and

• a perceived threat to traditional, underenrolled programs. (Let us call them "endangered species.") The Millersville University Fact Book identifies over 100 programmatic options with fewer than ten enrollees, in addition to those that have already been eliminated. Although some of these may overlap other programs and be offered at virtually no additional cost, others may represent opportunities in which resources could be saved and redirected to other, newer programs.

Two ways in which the University may create incentives for new initiatives are (1) freeing up more faculty time and resources by streamlining committees and internal processes, and (2) eliminating additional, selected low-enrollment programs.

     The team recognizes the desire of the University to maintain the foundations of excellence it has established through its exemplary, relatively traditional curriculum. At the same time, as we underscored in the planning section of this report, there is a need for the institution to be agile and creative in defining its future role in an increasingly competitive regional and national market.

     In sum, and we cannot stress this enough, planning for new academic programs -- graduate and undergraduate, credit or non-credit and/or new modes of program delivery such as distance learning or a Virtual University -- should follow widely accepted strategic planning practices; i.e., scan the external environment to determine needs; conduct an internal feasibility study of resources; select those initiatives best suited to the institution's mission and capabilities; identify and commit budgetary and human resources (new or reallocated) to get the program underway; market the program; assess program effectiveness; and, after a reasonable time period, determine if the program should be expanded, reduced, changed appreciatively, or discontinued.

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