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IRP Annual Report 2010 - 2011

UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA
ANNUAL REPORT TEMPLATE (NONACADEMIC)
Fiscal Year 2011 (July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011)

Department of Institutional Research and Planning

Name of Person Completing Report Dr. Ebenezer Kolajo

DEPARTMENTAL MISSION & ASSESSMENT

1. Departmental Mission

http://www.westga.edu/irp

The University of West Georgia’s strong commitment to "Educational Excellence in a Personal Environment" is central to the mission of the Department of Institutional Research and Planning. The Department has, as its primary mission, the collection of data (from both internal and external sources), and timely analysis, distribution, and presentation of information for use in planning, decision-making, and policy formulation at the University.

The Department is also responsible for ensuring the accuracy of vital University statistics and for reporting these data to a broad spectrum of stakeholders including regulatory entities, management, faculty, private organizations, parents and the general public. Another major function of the Department is to respond to diverse requests for data from members of the University community and to assist with research and analysis.

Institutional Research and Planning also serves as records custodian for the University of West Georgia. In this capacity, it promotes an efficient administration and management of State governmental records in compliance with the Georgia Records Act and the Georgia Open Records Act. Institutional Research and Planning also advises departments on appropriate records keeping techniques and guides in developing records retention schedules.

Departmental Goals

The Department of Institutional Research and Planning adopted the following goals to facilitate institutional effectiveness and to foster mechanisms to assess results:

2. Assessment Summary of Departmental Goals Addressed This Academic Year

The Department of Institutional Research and Planning administered an online customer satisfaction survey to UWG faculty and staff. This survey covered various areas of the department and requested feedback as to how the department may improve. One of the major findings of the survey was that many individuals are not aware of Institutional Research and Planning and the services it provides. This finding suggests that the department needs to increase its visibility by marketing its services to the university community as a whole. For those who are aware of the department and its services, they are very pleased and highly complimentary.

3. Changes/Improvements Made as a Result of Assessment

Starting fall 2011, the Department of Institutional Research and Planning will promote the department and the services provided to all UWG units. Each week, IRP will include a short write up on a subject of interest in the UWG Daily Report to highlight the numerical significance or trends in the subject matter. Information presented will include UWG specifics and comparative trends or statistics to inform and encourage the use of IRP services and become a data-driven community. The IRP website will continually improve to facilitate increasing data-driven decision making across the campus. IRP publications will be shared more widely to different units.


STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATES

The Strategic Plan (2010-2015) is designed to shape the University of West Georgia for the next five years in such a way as to place it as a destination university, particularly among peer universities in the state of Georgia and among those universities in the nation granting doctoral degrees in programs that balance liberal arts education with professional preparation.


4. Identify the strategic plan goals pursued by your department during this academic year:

No. Institutional Strategic Plan Goals (SPG) (2010-15) Check the SPG pursued Indicate your Departmental Initiatives that correspond to applicable institutional SPG
i
Every undergraduate academic program will demonstrate a distinctive blending of liberal arts education, professional competencies, and experiential learning, preparing students to be ethically responsible and civically engaged professionals in the global economy of the 21st century.    
ii
Every undergraduate student will be advised to take advantage of one of multiple available learning communities. Learning communities that are available to students will include communities organized by living arrangement, by year in program, by other co-curricular associations – Honors Program, Advanced Academy, Band, Athletics, Debate, or program in the major.    
iii
The University will endeavor to increase enrollment in and graduation from graduate programs, including doctoral programs, that have as their mark a practical professional purpose, experiential learning opportunities, and an intellectual program informed by a foundation of liberal education.

X

Provide analytical support to evaluate RPG performance. A departmental staff was actively involved in the activities of the President's Commission to Improve Graduation at UWG.
iv
The University will maintain an environment that is safe and conducive to learning.

X

Conduct evaluative survey of faculty, staff and students to facilitate an environment that is conducive to learning
v
The University community will provide a balanced variety of cultural, recreational, leisure, and informal education programming opportunities for faculty, staff, and students that enhance the quality of campus life.

 

 

vi
All units will strive to improve the compensation and working environment of faculty and staff in order to recruit and retain the best individuals.    
vii
The University will endeavor to increase our overall enrollment to 14,500 by the year 2015.

X

Provide data analysis support to enhance decision-making. In addition, a departmental staff was actively involved in the activities of the Strategic Enrollment Committee that provides an oversight on strategies for increasing students' enrollment.
viii
With our enrollment growth, West Georgia will remain committed to the following targets of academic quality: faculty-student ratio of 18 to 1; average class size of 29; full-time to part-time faculty ratio of 4.4 to 1.

X

Keep up-to-date records of institutional KPIs to monitor compliance with desired targets.
ix
West Georgia will develop several new facilities to improve quality along with meeting capacity demands due to enrollment growth    
x
Capital Campaign: The Development Office will prepare for a capital campaign to assist in meeting the long-term needs of the University of West Georgia.    
xi
Communication and Marketing: The Office of University Communications and Marketing (UCM) will internally and externally promote the missions and goals of the strategic plan. This will be achieved by aligning the institution's integrated marketing plan (advertising, visual identity standards, web presence, media relations, etc.) with the strategic plan. X Share information that positively promotes the university's image and the strategic plan. The department provides information on the status of strategic plan implementation.
xii
Community Relations: The University will engage the local community educationally, culturally and recreationally.

X

Provide easy access to data for all stakeholders


5. How did you measure successes/failures toward your expected goal(s)? What metrics are being used?

The Department of Institutional Research and Planning measures success/failure by completing an internal work log that tracks completed requests. The following are examples of the metrics that are observed: the number of visits to the IRP website; the number of data requests responded to; the number of surveys, projects, ORRs completed; the number of presentations made on-campus and off-campus to inform and improve decision-making processes; contribution to instructional assessment such as the administration of the CLA, a value-added assessment of student learning in general education; and feedback from the campus-wide satisfaction survey administered.

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6. Describe some notable achievements toward selected goal(s) during this academic year.
  1. Conducted value-added assessment of student learning (CLA) in Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 (iii)
  2. Facilitated the administration of NSSE on campus (iv)
  3. Facilitated the administration of The Chronicle's Best Colleges to Work for Survey (iv)
  4. Tracked institutional Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor institutional progress using dashboards (viii)
  5. Improved Access to Data through the IRP website (xii)
  6. Produced the Annual Fact Book & Just the Fact (xii)
  7. Produced the Five-Year Data Report by Department (xii)
  8. Responded to Open Records Requests (xii)
7. What resources could have helped you achieve or exceed your goals for the year? How would you have used them to facilitate/improve the work of your department?

Department of Institutional Research and Planning could benefit from additional personnel to assist in in-depth study and analysis useful for institutional progress. A better infrastructure which provides access to data from key areas of the campus such as finance, faculty and staff data.


8. Departmental Accomplishments