Florida Atlantic University Academic Program Review Self-Study Report Program: Sociology BA, MA Program Director/ Coordinator Name: Ann Branaman Program Self-Study Contact: Ann Branaman Self-Study Contact Email: [email protected] Self-Study Contact Phone Number: 561-297-0261 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Mission and purpose of the program……………………………………………………5 Mission statement Department’s purpose in the context of the BOG and FAU mission and strategic plans B. Responses to the last program review………………………………………………….6 List of recommendations Recommendations fully implemented Recommendations on which we have made significant progress Recommendations under consideration for future implementation Recommendations dependent on change in university/college policy C. Instruction………………………………………………………………………………12 Baccalaureate Programs……………………………………………………………….12 Goals for student learning: SLOs and BA program assessment Use of assessment results for program improvement Lower-level prerequisites Admissions criteria Sociology majors Sociology minors Enrollment information Average class size Faculty-student ratio Curriculum Internships, practicums, study abroad, field experiences Pedagogy pedagogical innovations Scope of institutional contributions Student profile, including student diversity and demographics Advising procedures Retention rates (2nd year retention) Graduation rates (6-year) Student recruitment Graduate Programs…………………………………………………………………21 Admissions criteria Enrollment information Average class size and faculty/student ratio Curriculum, including duration of program and comparison to peer programs Description of internships, practicum, study abroad, and field experiences Pedagogy/pedagogical innovations Scope of institutional contributions to programs outside of Sociology Student profile 2 Advising procedures Placement rates/employment profile Retention rates Graduation rates Student recruitment Faculty……………………………………………………………………………..24 Administrative structure of the department Faculty profile Faculty teaching load Summary of faculty scholarship and research productivity Strategic planning for hires D. Research…………………………………………………………………………..28 Review of Part II of Departmental Dashboard Indicators Interdisciplinary efforts Establishment of goals for research Assessment E. Service……………………………………………………………………………..29 Review of Part III of Departmental Dashboard Indicators Establishment of goals for service Assessment F. Strengths and Opportunities……………………………………………………..30 G. Weaknesses and Threats…………………………………………………………31 H. Resource Analysis…………………………………………………………………32 I. Future Directions………………………………………………………………….33 Anticipated Changes Questions for the Review Team 3 APPENDICES Appendix A: Graduate Proseminar Syllabus Appendix B: Honors BA Sociology description, requirements, and admission Appendix C: Student Learning Outcomes Appendix D: BA Curriculum Change Proposal Appendix E: Graduate student placement/employment profile spreadsheet Appendix F: BA Sociology graduates -- employment/continuing education Appendix G: BA Sociology graduates -- salary data Appendix H: BA Assessment 2018-2019 Appendix I: Departmental Dashboard Indicators Appendix J: Sociology Department Annual Evaluation Criteria Appendix K: Sociology Department Promotion & Tenure Criteria Appendix L: FAU Strategic Plan 2015-2025 Appendix M: Faculty CVs 4 A. MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM Mission statement: The faculty of the FAU Department of Sociology are committed to sociology as a critical scholarly endeavor in the service of humanity. The department aims to introduce as many students as possible to the power of “the sociological imagination” and to prepare students to be thoughtful, active and effective participants in shaping the world in the 21st century. On both the Davie and Boca Raton campuses, the sociology major cultivates an integrated perspective on society that stresses the connection between the social, economic, political, and personal aspects of life as well as between the local and the global. Faculty are committed to offering challenging courses, inviting students to become participants in and contributors to contemporary debates and developments in the discipline, and creating a thriving intellectual community. In addition to the instructional mission of the department, the faculty are committed to contributing to the development of the field of sociology through their research. That research complements and underpins the department’s pedagogical mission. Department’s purpose in the context of the BOG and FAU mission and strategic plans: • The Department of Sociology makes robust contributions to the broader mission and strategic plan of FAU. The department provides high-quality education and co-curricular opportunities in sociology to students in the university’s Intellectual Foundations Program. It offers the BA in Sociology on two campuses as well as offering a broad range of upper-division courses that invite the enrollment of students from outside the major. Additionally, the department offers a BA Honors Program, an MA in Sociology and contributes to the Ph.D. in Comparative Studies. • Through courses offered, student-faculty research collaborations, and faculty publications, the Department of Sociology contributes to the Healthy Aging Pillar and the Community Engagement, Global Perspectives, South Florida Culture, and Undergraduate Research and Inquiry platforms. Additionally, the department serves a large number of first generation and students of color which contributes to the Diversity platform. • The Department of Sociology contributes to all six goals of FAU’s 2015-2025 Strategic Plan: Boldness, Synergy, Place, Quality, Brand, and Strategy. The Department contributes to the goal of Boldness through the strategic actions and initiative of “academic support structure for timely student graduation” by developing eLearning courses, evaluating and updating curricula with evidence-based practices, and providing substantial summer semester offerings. The department contributes to the goal of Synergy by prioritizing hiring in the pillar area of Healthy Aging. The department contributes to the goal of Place by supporting faculty and student research on South Florida. The department contributes to the goal of Quality through the continual monitoring and improvement of assessment tools and strategies. The department contributes to the goal of Brand through its faculty’s nationally recognized publications and grants. The department contributes to the goal of Strategy by making efforts to maintain alumni relations and encourage a lifelong commitment to the university across the full range of support (financial, political, and social). 5 B. RESPONSES TO THE MOST RECENT PROGRAM REVIEW In 2013, the department went through a comprehensive review. The reviewers offered a broad range of thoughtful recommendations as to how the department could move towards its goals and improve its programs. Twenty-three concrete recommendations were offered. 1. Prepare a mission statement. 2. Create a more enriched learning experience for sociology majors. 3. Teach SYA4400 (Quantitative Methods) on a regular basis. 4. Consider restructuring major around skills rather than substantive areas. 5. Align learning outcomes with the structure of the undergraduate major. 6. Strengthen academic advising. 7. Collect job placement data. 8. Reduce required hours to 30 for MA program. 9. Develop student learning outcomes for each option in the graduate program and individualized plans of study to achieve them. 10. Require social statistics course of all MA students. 11. Develop dual-level enrollment courses. 12. Consider offering an accelerated BA/MA. 13. Develop and teach a pro-seminar course for graduate students. 14. Restructure the graduate teaching assistant program into a training program 15. Increase graduate stipends. 16. Create a more equitable workload between Boca and Davie campuses. 17. Allocate a faculty line for a new hire with expertise in quantitative methods and statistics. 18. If no additional lines are forthcoming, prioritize expansion goals and cut back on successful course offerings to accommodate change. 19. Identify additional large classroom spaces for sociology instruction 20. Provide a computer lab to foster the development of student quantitative and qualitative analysis skills. 21. Provide the Department with assistance in updating, maintaining, and expanding its web presence. 22. Provide more funding to support research of faculty and graduate students 23. Create two advisory committees (one undergraduate and one graduate) and appoint faculty members to chair each. Out of these 23 recommendations, we have fully implemented some of them, made significant progress on others, and made minimal or no progress on the few remaining. Note that one of the recommendations (#18) urged us to slow the pace of change and limit our departmental aspirations unless the department was permitted to add lines. The reviewers concluded that, for a small faculty, we were taking on too much. We have heeded that advice in part and, as you will 6 see, have paced ourselves as we worked through their recommendations and our own aspirations. Nevertheless, we continue to be ambitious for our program. Recommendations fully implemented: 1. We now have a department mission statement (#1). The statement was developed through faculty discussion and meetings; it states our consensus about the kind of programs that we offer our students. It is tightly connected to the kinds of research