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                                                                                    February 6, 2006

Dr. Walter Harris
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs
Office of the Provost, Campus Box 7
Loyola University New Orleans

Dear Walter:

I am reluctantly submitting the materials you requested of deans: the A&S Program Matrix and the Ranking of Programs.  I have discussed the Matrix and the ranking with both my College Planning Team and my Council of Chairs.  Both groups unanimously recommended that I not submit these because they do not know how they will be used.  The following items are at the heart of their concerns:

• faculty uncertainty that the centrality of programs to mission will be the principal component in program evaluation,
• the need for program evaluation at all levels in all divisions and offices in addition to evaluation of academic programs,
• the vagueness of the process to be used,
• frustration that the evaluative criteria used in the Program Matrix are not equally applicable across programs,
• concern that interrater variability will not provide reliable evaluations of programs across departments, colleges, offices, or divisions.. 

Walter, I believe that program review is important and that appropriate resources should be distributed to the programs that are the most important to the mission of the university.  However, if those resources are decreased to one program and increased to another without any clear understanding about how the decisions to do that have been made, then there will be confusion and distrust among the faculty about the motives of administrators.  I know you do not want to draw out the program review process.  Neither do I, but I believe the review can be done in a timely manner and include a discussion with faculty about the exact process of arriving at the difficult decisions that will need to be made to ensure the integrity of programs essential to this university. 

In the end administrators will need to make the very difficult decisions about distributing limited resources.  I am prepared to abide by that, but my faculty want assurances that the programs in their college are reviewed fairly and with an understanding of the centrality of the humanities, the sciences, and the fine arts in the mission of any liberal arts university.  They also want assurances that program evaluation will be carried out at all levels in all divisions of the university.

I suggest that the ratings of deans and vice presidents be distributed widely, opened to the faculty and staff for comments for a week, and all of this considered by you and the president in the next phase of evaluation.  When any recommendations about reallocation of resources are made, I suggest those decisions also be opened to faculty comments and that similar iterations be made as necessary throughout the review process.  In this way the tough final decisions will be made with transparency and clear communication throughout the process. 

Walter, I am ready to support you in this difficult process as best I can, but, if decisions are not made in the light of day, administrators will lose faculty confidence and this is not something we can afford to squander in these difficult times.

Sincerely,

Frank E. Scully, Jr., Dean

Overall Ranking of Programs

in the College of Arts and Sciences

Criteria for Overall Ranking:

1. Demand for the Program, i.e., Value in Recruitment for University
2. Recognition (Measurable Success) of the Program’s Students or Graduates
3. Adequacy of Faculty to Sustain Demand for Program
4. Quality of Faculty Scholarship
5. Quality of Faculty Teaching
6. Centrality of Program to the Mission of the University
7. Involvement of Faculty in Innovative Teaching, curricular development, or programs that enhance Retention (PIES, FYE).

Rank:

First Quintile:

Communications

Counseling, M.A.

English

History

Philosophy

Second Quintile:

          Biology

Chemistry

Psychology

Religious Studies, B.A.

Sociology

Spanish

Third Quintile:

           Education, B.S.

           French

           Mathematics

Political Science

          VISA, Graphic Design

Fourth Quintile:                                                           Fifth Quintile:

            Classics                                                                       Education, Graduate

            Computer Science                                                       M.S., Mass Communications

            Drama                                                                         Japanese

            German                                                                       Religious Studies, M.A

            Physics                                                                        Russian

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