Academic Program Review is the ongoing, high-quality peer review of all Northern New Mexico College’s academic units and programs.
The reviews aim to advance academic excellence and provide guidance for administrative decisions in support of continual future improvement. Additionally, Academic Program Review is necessary for the college’s accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) in order to satisfy accreditation criteria.
Responsibility, Compliance, & Schedule
NNMC academic programs regularly undergo review on a seven year schedule.
Programs that are not accredited by an external, discipline-specific body are required to complete a self-study to evaluate the program as a whole.
Programs which undergo review by an external accrediting organization are expected to provide their self-study and outcome report (when available). Because external accreditation does not cover all aspects of internal program review, the program will be required to complete an abbreviated version, or select criterion, affiliated with internal self study requirements.
For academic departments to advance proposals for new academic programs and/or academic program changes, all programs within the department must be up to date on academic program review and complete reports in a full and comprehensive manner. Compliance with the academic program review requirement is an indication of the department’s capacity to evaluate and maintain program quality and effectiveness.
The responsibility for scheduling self studies rests with the Provost and will typically follow this timetable as closely as possible:
The first week of April (prior year): Unless there is a financial emergency, any changes to the program selection scheduled in the seven-year review calendar established in Spring 2020 will be communicated by the Provost to the Program no later than April of the prior year.
Month of April (prior year): Grays Associate and Watermark Training for Programs undergoing review in the following year will be provided and relevant review rubric(s) will be released.
May (prior year): Reviewers for the upcoming year will be assigned. Reviewers include stakeholders from academic leadership, including by Academic Deans, Chairs, Directors, one representative from the Educational Policy Committee (who does not have a conflict of interest with the Program), and leaders for Student Affairs, Institutional Research, Admissions, Registrar, Distance Ed, Library, and Financial Aid.
July/August: The Office of Institutional Research will provide required tables as well as the Gray Associates Program Economics/Scorecards and Program Economics Waterfall as well as student success-related tables (retention, graduation, etc). This step will require a session with IR and the Office of the Provost to analyze and explain the data.
October 15: Self-studies/program reviews are due. These will immediately be distributed to Reviewers.
Oct 15-Nov 15: Reviewers complete individual evaluations using the rubric(s).
Nov 15- Dec 15: Reviewers provide feedback in a unified recommendation to respond to the assigned section(s) of the review/self-study.
January 15: Department Chairs receive reviewer feedback.
First two Fridays in February: Program leaders and reviewers gather for Q&A sessions to explore any unanswered questions or evidence provided in the review/self-study.
March: A formal meeting with the Program will be held to discuss the findings and recommendations and formally sign the Program Review Report. The recommendations may include program elimination, continuing level funding, probation of Program pending compliance with recommendations and annual review, increasing funding or other resources, or other recommendations as deemed appropriate during the review process. The Provost will inform the Faculty Senate simultaneously, and, as a courtesy, the report will be sent to the Federation representative.
March/April Programs completing self-studies/reviews in previous years will attend a check-in session with the Provost. Should a Program need enhanced monitoring, additional meetings may be scheduled.
May: The Provost will present the report to the Board of Regents at their May meeting.
Resources
Utilize this job aid and templates to complete the Program Review. If you have problems or concerns, contact Courtney Bruch at 505.747.2237 or courtney.bruch@nnmc.edu.