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Summary of External Evaluation Report Report by Dr. Lori Wingate Assistant Director The Evaluation Center Western Michigan University Summary by Mike Chambers UP/Goal 4 Report-out, 1/31/13. External Evaluation Process. Each UP center/institute submitted annual report in mid-November
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Summary of External Evaluation Report Report by Dr. Lori Wingate Assistant Director The Evaluation Center Western Michigan University Summary by Mike Chambers UP/Goal 4 Report-out, 1/31/13
External Evaluation Process • Each UP center/institute submitted annual report in mid-November • External advisory board questionnaires sent out, results tallied • Campus visit by Dr. Wingate Dec 3-5 • Discussions with UP project leaders, senior University administrators, and Faculty Senate leaders • Dr. Wingate reviewed these materials as well as materials on UP website
External Evaluation Process • Two parts to evaluation: • Narrative for each center/institute that highlights salient aspects of the project • Focuses on infrastructure issues, student impact, impact on institutional distinctiveness, external impact, sustainability, degree of interdisciplinarity, and challenges and key considerations • Use of qualitative rubric to assess impact potential and current impact of each project • Student impact, institutional distinctiveness, external impact, and sustainability
Evaluation Summary • Focused on ISU’s attempt to enhance its distinctiveness through UP • Commended us for developing criteria by which to measure “institutional distinctiveness” in the early stages of the UP process • Her assessment draws heavily from our own metrics and benchmarks
Evaluation Summary • Even though 2012 was implementation phase, and progress toward goals was less smooth for some projects than others, Dr. Wingate found strengths in each of the centers/institutes • She also identified challenges or issues to be addressed for each center/institute • Areas in which a center/institute can seek improvements
Evaluation Summary • Student impact (based on experiential learning opportunities, new academic programs) • Strength for CSA, TCGA, CUSHCD, relative strength for CGE, CHWLE, ICS • Institutional distinctiveness (presentations, publications, grants & contracts, external attention) • Strength for CUSHCD, CSHRS, relative strength for CHWLE, ICS, TCGA, RUEDI
Evaluation Summary • External impact (involvement w/ external partners, external organizations & individuals served, etc.) • Strength for RUEDI, CSA, CUSHCD, relative strength for CGE, ICS • These areas of strength or relative strength are not surprising: annual reports noted that many projects met/exceeded several of their benchmarks
Evaluation Summary • Challenges or areas for growth • Infrastructure, particularly need for support staff, was identified as a challenge for some of the projects • Logistical arrangements for some projects (e.g., parking for CSA) • Increasing student impact; in some cases (e.g., CGE) is a relative strength, but need to increase # • Interdisciplinarity: is planned, but bring to fruition
Evaluation Summary • Chief challenge facing UP projects: Sustainability • Plans for long-term external funding (grants, contracts, fees, philanthropy) need to be solidified • Projects need to move forward with these plans Something to work on in 2013
Evaluation Summary • Finally, report identified some areas to strengthen the UP initiative as a whole, including in terms of program administration (notes to self…) • Better sharing of ideas and knowledge • Routinization of deadlines and reporting • Improved communication to projects • Clarification of expectations for reporting data, getting more consistent data across projects
Conclusion • A lot of great work has been done over the past year • We have a lot of work in front of us this year as we move from implementation phase into full operational mode