Academic Program Prioritization (APP) Moves Forward

On November 24, the Academic Program Prioritization Committee (APPC) held its first public forum. I was one of approximately 60 in attendance for a very informative 1.5 hour session.

What is APP?

“Portland State is conducting an APP (Academic Program Prioritization) process during the 2014-15 academic year as a way to take stock of the broad range of academic programs that our university offers. More specifically, the results of this process will be used to support well-informed, strategic planning for the purposes of program development and resource allocation and to help in identifying new opportunities and directions for the university. The goal is to build and share a greater understanding of who we are, what we do, and how we interact with and support one another through our diverse array of academic programs.” -- Academic Program Prioritization Committee

Mark Jones, Professor of Computer Science and Chair of the APPC, facilitated the session by: 

• Providing an overview of the APP process  
• Discussing and soliciting feedback on the draft proposals for Criteria, Metrics, and Questions that will be used. 
• Discussing and soliciting feedback on the draft proposed list of academic programs that are included in the review.
• Discussing initial plans for the scoring phase of the APP process, including a role for broader faculty involvement as members of the Program Scoring Teams (or PSTs).

There were great questions and comments – some from faculty who were just learning about APP and from faculty who have been following the work of the Faculty Senate and the APPC over this past year.  Mark and the other members of the APPC did a terrific job in responding to questions and listening to the concerns and input received.  I have no doubt that the conversation was helpful to  the APPC and those present in the audience.

Learning more about APPC:

There is a lot we can all learn about APP. On August 6^th, I blogged about APP to share the preliminary work and to reiterate that this must be a faculty-driven process. It is an opportunity for our faculty to determine and make known the priorities for our academic program array.

You can follow the APPC work, including copies of the proposals and other documents at the APP website. 

You can also subscribe to the APPC discussion mailing list via the blog site. As of last week the appc-discuss@lists.pdx.edu had over 50 subscribers.

Next public forum:

The next public forum will be in January or February of 2015.  Details will likely be announced at the January Faculty Senate meeting (or shortly thereafter) and on the APPC blog.

APP Committee Members Include:

Sy Adler, CUPA

Talya Bauer, SBA

Samuel Henry, GSE
Mark Jones, chair, MCECS

Karin Magaldi, COTA
John Rueter, CLAS
Lynn Santelmann, CLAS

Ex Officio:
Michael Bowman (in capacity of his Library faculty position, but there is also benefit in his role as chair of Faculty Senate Budget Committee) 
Steve Harmon, Provost Office
Kathi Ketcheson, OIRP

I know members of the APPC would love to hear from you. To send a message just to APPC members please use: pdxappc@gmail.com.