Academic Program Portfolio Review | WVU Tech Academic Transformation

The Phase 2 program portfolio review is a deeper dive into our program portfolio review process. This includes looking at student demand metrics at the program level, as well as instructional activity and efficiency and financial performance at the department level.

The goals are to create a more focused academic program portfolio aligned with student demand, career opportunities and market trends that also serves our land-grant and research missions; and to ensure that the programs in the portfolio are being delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Timeline

A complete timeline of the academic transformation process is available here.

Process

WVU Tech approached the review process with two broad goals in mind.

Improve Student Success
Broad Review of Academic Affairs

To accomplish these goals, WVU Tech worked with the WVU Provost's Office ands the Board of Governors to undertake a full program review of all WVU Tech's academic programs with a focus to improve student success (as measured by retention, persistence, and degree completion). These reviews will look at enrollment and completion trends, faculty staffing and productivity trends, high DFW courses, and curricular flexibility as measured by general electives in the curriculum.

Program Review Self-Study

As part of the Rule 2.2 Program Review process, the Provost’s Office required that a single Program Review Self-Study Form be completed on behalf of all identified programs in the department or unit. This Program Review Self-Study Form was to be submitted to the Provost’s Office by end of day on March 28, 2024.

Before submitting the Program Review Self-Study Form, academic leaders were to have sought input and feedback from the faculty and appropriate staff within the department. At a minimum, they were to have circulated the completed draft form to the faculty and staff and ask that they provide feedback within a certain period of time (at least five days) using the online comment form.

Preliminary Recommendations

Once the Provost’s Office completed its Board of Governors Rule 2.2 Program Review process for the programs and departments identified for formal review, they notified each unit of their preliminary recommendations. There are four possible recommendations for programs:

Continue at the current level of activity with no specific action (i.e., no recommended changes for the program)
Continue at the current level of activity with specific action (i.e., the program will continue to exist, but there are recommended changes for the program, including reduction of faculty positions)
Development of a cooperative program (i.e., potentially merging one or more programs together to create a new program / curriculum)
Discontinue the program (i.e., program will no longer exist after a teach out is completed)

Program Review Appeal Process

If a chair opts to appeal any part of the Provost’s Office Preliminary Recommendation, they must submit a Notice of Intent to Appeal by Friday, April 19, 2024. Any chair who files a Notice of Intent to Appeal will receive notification at least three business days in advance of when the Program Review Appeal Committee hearing for their program will be scheduled. Most hearings will occur on either April 25 or 26, 2024.

To ensure a broad-based representation, the Provost’s Office will establish a Program Review Appeal Committee specific for each unit. As specified in Board of Governor’s Rule 2.2, members will include the vice provost, the associate provost for undergraduate education, the program review officer, an administrative representative from program’s home college, two representatives from dean’s offices outside of the program’s home college, and the Faculty Assembly chair or designee from the program’s home college.

The chair, school/division director, or faculty member who filed the Notice of Intent to Appeal must submit the Program Review Appeal Form, which contains any additional information or data they wish the Program Review Appeal Committee to consider, at least two business days in advance of the hearing.

During the appeal hearing, the unit’s representative is given 30 minutes to present the substance of their appeal and 15 minutes to address questions from the Program Review Appeal Committee.

The Program Review Appeal Committee will then deliberate and vote to accept or change the Provost’s Office Preliminary Recommendation. The program review officer tallies the votes, informs the Program Review Appeal Committee of the results, and communicates the results to the campus leadership and chair within three business days following the hearing.

If the appeal is denied, the original recommendation will be presented to the Board of Governors for a vote on June 21. If the appeal is granted, the Program Review Appeal Committee may provide a new recommendation to the campus leadership. This new recommendation would also go to the Board of Governors for a vote. All decisions made by the Program Review Appeal Committee are final.

Notice of Intent to Appeal Program Review Appeal Form