Prepare students for professional careers in the 21st century
Objective
Professional Marketplace
Upon graduation, students will be prepared to enter the professional marketplace
Indicator
Professional Market Skills
Graduating seniors will complete the online undergraduate exit survey. Data from questions 3 and 4 of the undergraduate exit survey will be used to evaluate students' professional skills.
Criterion
Professional Market Skills
We will anticipate that at least 70% of our graduating seniors will answer yes to question 3d or question 4d and at least 50% or more will answer yes to question 3c or question 4a.
Finding
Professional marketplace
100% of the students responding to the survey answered yes to question 3d (Do you feel that your academic training has given you the skills necessary to pursue graduate studies?) and 100% of the students responding to the survey answered yes to question 4d (Do you feel that your academic training has given you the skills necessary to pursue professional employment?). Although the results are quite positive the low response rate (9/32) is problematic.
Action
Professional marketplace
We continue to encounter problems with the response rate despite the shift from mail surveys to online surveys. We believe we can increase the response rate if me make a more concerted effort to inform students about the survey. Previously students were sent two emails reminders towards the end of the semester. In the future we will send out monthly email reminders throughout the semester, make announcements in classes, and post information in areas frequented by our students. We will continue to send the reminders until we have reached a reasonable response rate.
Goal
Develop Students' Skills
Develop students' analytic, writing, speaking, and professional skills
Objective
Skills
Throughout their enrollment, students must complete extensive writing assignments that require the following abilities: analyze scholarly writing, interpret empirical data, understand argumentation, express well thought out opinions, and write clearly and correctly
Indicator
Skills
Faculty members teaching #379 will randomly select 5 papers from each course. All papers will be reviewed by the faculty members. Faculty members will use an agreed upon criteria to evaluate the papers. Papers will be scored using a simple scoring system of A, B , C, D, and F.
Criterion
Skills
We expect that (1) faculty scores will not vary in the vast majority of cases and when there is a difference in scores the difference will not be greater than a single letter grade and (2) at least 70% of the papers will score at the C level or above
Finding
Skills
Faculty were in general agreement regarding the scores assigned to students'' papers. When there was a difference in faculty scores, the difference did not exceed a full letter grade. Over 75% of the papers were scored at or above the C level.
Action
Skills
We will continue to review papers written by students enrolled in Pol Sci 379. We will continue to expect that (1) faculty scores will not vary in the vast majority of cases and when there is a difference in scores the difference will not be greater than a single letter grade and (2) at least 70% of the papers will score at the C level or above.
Goal
Develop Students' Knowledge Of Government And Politics
Build students' knowledge of government and politics, citizenship skills, and civic engagement
Objective
Forms Of Government
Throughout their enrollment, students will explore the following themes in a national and international context: the structure and operation of various forms of government, political philosophies, informal and formal political organizations and actors, public policies, and political behavior
Indicator
Knowledge Of Government And Politics
Each field of study will be assigned a team of 2 faculty members who have expertise in the particular field. Each semester the individual teams will receive and review 5 randomly selected papers from an upper division course in their respective fields. Papers will be scored using a simple scoring system of A, B , C, D, and F.
Criterion
Forms of Government
We expect that (1) faculty scores will not vary in the vast majority of cases and when there is a difference in scores the difference will not be greater than a single letter grade and (2) at least 70% of the papers will score at the C level or above
Finding
Knowledge of government
Faculty assigned the majority of papers the same scores. When there were differences in scores, the differences did not exceed a full letter grade. 78% of the papers scored at the C level or better.
Action
Knowledge of government
Each field of study will be assigned a team of 2 faculty members who have expertise in the particular field. Each semester the individual teams will receive and review 5 randomly selected papers from an upper division course in their respective fields. These changes will correct the problems we encountered in our initial attempt to assess student knowledge. We will continue to expect that (1) faculty scores will not vary in the vast majority of cases and when there is a difference in scores the difference will not be greater than a single letter grade and (2) at least 70% of the papers will score at the C level or above.
Objective
Civic Involvement
Throughout their enrollment, students will participate in several activities designed to promote their civic involvement in local, state, and national government and politics
Indicator
Civic Involvement
Students' civic involvement will be measured through their participation in the internship program, the Junior Fellows program, and voter registration and voter education activities.
Criterion
Civic Involement
The department will offer at least 20 internships per year, promote at least 40 Junior Fellows Program activities per year, and involve 6 or more of the Department??????s American Government 261 courses in voter education projects.
Finding
Civic Involvement
The department offered roughly 20 internships at the local, state, and federal levels of government. As we had hoped the reduction in the number of internships from 40 to 20 allowed us to focus strictly on internships that promised very rewarding experiences (e.g., numerous opportunities to make professional contacts, involvement in important and high profile projects, direct and consistent professional training, etc) and allowed us to grant internships only to high quality students by making the application process more competitive (e.g., requiring higher GPAs, better writing samples, etc). We had anticipated involving six of our 261 courses in voter registration and voter education projects. Students enrolled in seven of our 261 courses listened to a lecture addressing voter registration and voting and received voter registration cards.
Action
Civic Involvement
We will continue to offer roughly 20 internships per year. We will increase the number of 261 courses involved in voter registration and voter education projects from roughly 40% to at least 60% or more.