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Untitled Document
Graduate Studies Division Governance and Oversight
September 6, 2005
AQIP Annual Action Project Update
1. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.
• Immediately following the Higher Learning Commission's removal of stipulations on graduate offerings in Augsburg's Statement of Affiliation Status in the spring of 2004, the Graduate Council was established to oversee maintenance, planning, and development of graduate programs at the College. The Graduate Council is convened by the Associate Dean for Graduate and Adult Academic Programs and its membership includes the directors of all six graduate programs. This body met monthly during the academic year to discuss issues of graduate program budgeting, staffing, academic support, and program expansion, and to preview any issues to be discussed by the Graduate Academic Affairs Committee (GAAC). Examples of topics discussed in this past year include program budgets, alignment of mission statements, assessment of student needs and pedagogical responses, program capacity issues, and the recognition of graduate programs within the College's vision document.
• The Graduate Academic Affairs Committee was established by the Faculty Senate and approved by a vote of the full faculty. Its voting membership, which consisted in its first year of five graduate directors, two faculty members representing the MBA program, a graduate student representative, and the Associate Dean for Graduate and Adult Academic Programs, was nominated by the Senate and approved by the faculty. The Committee's non-voting membership consists of the Registrar, Director of Library Services, and Director of Graduate and Weekend College Admissions. This committee was convened monthly during the 2004-2005 academic year by the Academic Dean. The GAAC has purview over all curricular decisions relating to graduate programs, including course approvals, programmatic changes and revisions, and academic calendars.
• The stretch goals for Year 1 have largely been met. Graduate Council and the Graduate Academic Affairs committee have overlapping but separate memberships; these memberships are expected to further diverge in the near future. The committees are convened by different deans: the Graduate Council by the Associate Dean for Graduate and Adult Academic programs, whose responsibilities include the development and growth of graduate programs; and the GAAC by the Academic Dean, whose responsibilities include issues of curricular quality. In this way initiatives directed toward expansion of graduate programs and advocacy for their growth do not conflict in interest with issues of academic quality. Questions of admissions policy, program capacity, mission alignment and strategic planning rest with the Graduate Council, while all questions of program delivery fall to the GAAC.
• The success of Augsburg's new MBA program made substantial contributions to the College's fiscal surplus in Fiscal 2005.
2. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.
• Augsburg has attempted to meet the first part of this initiative by restructuring its administrative support staff. Three work teams were developed to insure the best possible service and support for adult students.
• A corporate outreach initiative is in its fledgling stages as the College works to establish partnerships and assess market needs for graduate education and training. These responsibilities dictated that the College reallocate .5 FTE to a member of the graduate recruiting staff.
• A variety of faculty and staff members have become more directly involved in graduate program governance in the first year of this action project. These include the following:
• Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.
In its initial description of the Graduate Program Action Project, Augsburg proposed the addition of two to three graduate programs to the College's present offerings. At the time, two possible programs were suggested: a master's degree in music therapy and another in youth and family ministry. Further review of these possibilities has led the college to rule out both as unprofitable in the Twin Cities marketplace. Subsequent conversations have focused on possible professional science master's degrees. Market need seems less than clear, and so these conversations are on hold.
In the short term, then, Augsburg has elected to pursue a series of post-master's degree certificates and additional licensure options within its existing programs. Post-Master of Arts in Leadership certificates have been approved in four tracks: communications, organizational leadership, global leadership, and ethics and leadership. Within the Master of Arts in Education program, certification and licensure in special education and reading have been added. Four concentrations or certificates will be added to the Augsburg core MBA: finance, international business, marketing management, and music business. The status of these concentrations is still under deliberation by the GAAC, which hopes to decide between adding coursework as concentrations or as post-MBA certificates.
In anticipation of future visibility and marketing campaigns, a market study has been commissioned from the Aslanian Group to assist the College in identifying the most effective means for publicizing and advertising Augsburg's graduate programs.
• Describe an "effective practice(s)" that resulted from work on this Action Project
The adult programs staff reorganization has helped the College to arrange student services with more attention to student needs and less attention to the organizational functions of College offices and divisions.
A series of effective practices have been accomplished and could be summarized as follows:
• Proactive communication: making contact with students and disseminating necessary information with greater frequency without waiting to respond to student queries and issues.
• Increased convenience and attention to customer service: while some offices on campus have always been good at this, the focus of this year's work teams was to accomplish this goal in all offices and administrative functions (e.g., parking, facilities management, and food service options).
• Better and more regular internal communication; the focus of this practice is to ensure that staff are able to advise students of service options and escort them better through administrative processes.
5. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?
• Though successfully managed, the rapid growth of the MBA did, in fact, tax the College's capacity to enroll students, support them academically, and house classes for six cohorts operating alongside Augsburg's existing evening classes.
• Two related and larger issues that the College will need to address in the near future are those of internal organization and external representation.
• The first is the question of operational units and their potential for redefining the domains within which graduate education takes place: should there be schools or colleges dedicated to each major discipline represented by a graduate program, and if so, where do interdisciplinary programs like the Master of Arts in Leadership Program fit? How should faculty be appointed or designated within these programs, and whose responsibility is it to appoint them? How should resources be allocated within and among these schools?
• The second question concerns Augsburg's identification as a "college" as opposed to a "university." While the former bespeaks a unity of purpose as defined by the College's present mission, the latter perhaps signifies Augsburg's dedication to serving a larger and more diverse set of educational needs within the Twin Cities metropolitan area, specifically with regard to graduate and professional education beyond the bachelor's degree.
• If you would like to discuss the possibility of AQIP providing you help to stimulate progress on this action project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and when.
We feel confident that this action project is well in hand.
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