2021 Kansas Board of Regents Program Review UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS University of Kansas Program Review Year 2021 Degree Program CIP Level Recommendation* Notes** African & African-American 05.0101 B, M Continue Studies American Studies 05.0102 B, M, D Continue Anthropology 45.0201 B, M, D Continue Contemporary East Asian 05.0104 M Continue Studies Creative Writing 23.1302 M Continue Dance 50.0301 B Continue East Asian Languages and 16.0300 B, M Continue Cultures Economics 45.0601 B Continue Economics 45.0603 M, D Continue English 23.0101 B, M, D Continue Film and Media Studies 50.0601 B, M, D Continue Global & International Studies 30.2001 B, M Continue (GIST) Humanities B Discontinue Discontinue major and department History 54.0101 B, M, D Continue History of Art 50.0703 B, M, D Continue Indigenous Studies 05.0202 M Continue Interdisciplinary Studies 30.9999 M, D Continue Latin American & Caribbean 05.0134 B, M B = Merge Merge bachelor’s with Studies M = Continue GIST as concentration Liberal Arts & Sciences 24.0101 B Continue Museum Studies 30.1401 M Continue Philosophy 38.0101 B, M, D Continue Religious Studies 38.0201 B, M Continue Russian, East European & 05.0110 B, M B = Merge Merge bachelor’s with Eurasian Studies M = Continue Slavic & Eurasian Lang. & Lit. as concentration Theatre 50.0501 B, M, D Continue Visual Art 50.0702 B, M Continue Visual Art Education 13.1302 B, M B = Discontinue Low enrollments; not M = Discontinue enough faculty to support quality program M= Masters; B=Bachelors; D= Doctorate *Recommendation options are: Continue, Additional Review, Enhance, Discontinue 2 University of Kansas Program Review Institutional Overview The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research university that serves as a center for learning, scholarship, and creative endeavor. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities since 1909, KU consistently earns high rankings for its academic programs. Its faculty and students are supported and strengthened by endowment assets of more than $2 billion. Students are split almost equally between women and men and come from all 50 states and 103 of Kansas’s counties. More than six percent of students are international and students of color comprise more than 23% of the student body. KU’s program review is based upon the belief that the academic unit is the locus of program excellence for any institution of higher education. The faculty, with their expertise and involvement in teaching, research, and service, are in the best position to assess KU’s academic programs and to improve those programs. As such, KU’s program review is structured around a detailed self-study conducted by the academic unit with summary information and well-substantiated assessments reported to the deans and provost. The current report includes program review information for programs in the following units: • College of Liberal Arts & Sciences o African & African American Studies o American Studies o Anthropology o Center for East Asian Studies o Center for Global and International Studies o Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies o Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies o East Asian Languages and Cultures o Economics o English o Film & Media Studies o Humanities o History o History of Art o Indigenous Studies o Liberal Arts & Sciences o Museum Studies o Philosophy o Religious Studies o Theatre & Dance o Visual Art • Graduate Studies o Interdisciplinary Studies The Kansas Board of Regents’ program review asks institutions to evaluate programs based upon the following criteria: 1. Centrality of the program to fulfilling the mission and role of the institution; 3 2. The quality of the program as assessed by the strengths, productivity, and qualifications of the faculty; 3. The quality of the program as assessed by its curriculum and impact on students; 4. Demonstrated student need and employer demand for the program; 5. The service the program provides to the discipline, university, and beyond; and 6. The program’s cost-effectiveness. In response to these criteria, University of Kansas program review employs a standard self-study template, managed through an online system, with questions addressing each criterion, on topics such as: 1. Departmental mission and how it aligns with the mission and role of the institution; 2. Faculty productivity, impact of department scholarship, grant awards and expenditures, honors and awards, community-engaged scholarship; 3. Assessment of student learning, pedagogical innovations, curricular changes, student satisfaction 4. Effectiveness of degree and program demand; 5. Faculty service to the discipline and contributions to university committees; and 6. Teaching loads, recruitment and retention of students, ideal size for programs, faculty/student mentoring. Units at the school level respond to the KBOR prompts, while units at the department level respond to the KU prompts. For each question posed, relevant data were provided to the respondent from a variety of sources, including Academic Analytics, Faculty Professional Record Online (PRO), Academic Information Management System (AIMS), degree-level assessment, senior and graduate student surveys, Survey of Earned Doctorate, Doctoral Completions Survey, Doctoral Placement Survey, and the Progress to Degree system. For those programs within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, an external review was conducted following the completion of the self-study. If an external review was not possible because of the onset of the pandemic, an internal review team was assembled. For each program, review materials were then reviewed by the dean and by the Office of the Provost. The completed program review report was reviewed by the department chairs and the Provost’s Office prior to submission to KBOR. Previous Program Closures While outside the scope of the review, University discontinuation procedures were initiated in Fall 2020 for several programs in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences based on low enrollment and diminishing faculty: graduate degrees in Gerontology, and an undergraduate Juvenile Justice track in Applied Behavioral Science. Total anticipated savings from these recommended closures is $230,000. Additionally, in the past six years, KU has moved to discontinue the following 15 programs. The programs had no or low enrollments and many were duplicative of existing offerings: • MA and PhD in Botany • MA and PhD in Entomology • Doctor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering • Doctor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering • LLM in Elder Law 4 • MA in Chemistry • MS in Water Resource Engineering • MS in Water Resource Science • Bachelor of General Studies in Human Biology • Joint MBA/MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies • Joint MBA/MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures • Joint MBA/MA in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies • Certificates in Global and International Studies, Strategic Management, and Military Transition Other Areas of Fiscal Responsibility The following page outlines KU’s budget. The largest category, 24%, is from student tuition, fees and scholarship allowances, followed by grants/contracts at 20%. State appropriations accounts for 18% of KU’s budget. KU is refining its budget model to focus on foundational priorities. The model requires difficult conversations and decisions about where KU must invest and where it can no longer invest. Such conversations, along with steps to address the budget shortfall as a result of COVID-19, have resulted in an estimated $61.18M in savings as outlined below. • Elimination of the administrative structure of the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures saving $450,000 annually. This school, approved in 2014 and housed in the College of Liberal 5 Arts & Sciences, was home to most of the university’s foreign language programs and departments. Changes to departments and programs are included on the previous page. • Closing of the following centers after an evaluation based on return on investment which led to $1.13M in annual savings: the Tertiary Oil Recovery Program in Engineering, the Center for Research Methods and Data Analysis in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and centers in Supply Chain, Integrated Customer Service, and Business, Industry and National Security — all housed in the School of Business. • Closure of the Center for STEM Learning, housed in KU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, has saved $1M annually. The Center graduated 17 STEM teachers in AY 2018 and five in 2019. The Center oversaw the UKanTeach program which was modified and moved to KU’s School of Education and Human Sciences which annually graduates numerous STEM educators. • In response to COVID-19, instituted a voluntary salary for the leadership team, a hiring freeze, a six-month salary reduction plan, a voluntary separation program, and a partial central sweep of unit carryforward balances and vacant positions, generating an estimated in $58.6M in savings. Complementary and Synergistic Initiatives KU is engaging in a number of complementary and synergistic initiatives to benchmark systems and processes against best practices to improve outcomes and services. As KU is faced with the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous disruptions, there is no choice other than to make changes – not only to keep people safe, but to best position KU for the future. These initiatives include strategic planning, an administrative services review, an academic portfolio review, development of a university- wide faculty