Philosophy Program Annual Report
2006-2007
Department of English and Philosophy
The Program’s
1. Mission Statement
2. Statement of Goals, Objectives, and Assessments
3. Learning Outcomes for the courses Introduction to Philosophy and Critical Thinking can be found at: http://www.westga.edu/~phil/effectivenessEvaluation.html#mission
4. Statement of Program’s Condition
For the academic year 2006-2007 a total of five people taught in the Philosophy Program. In the fall there were four and all were either tenured or tenure-track. Dr. Mark Tietjen joined the faculty last fall. He has primary responsibility for the courses we offer in the Religion Track part of the program. All four of the tenured or tenure-track faculty taught normal loads in both semesters. For Drs. Donohoe, Lane and Tietjen this load was 3 courses a semester with one course release for research. Dr. Alberg taught a 3/2 schedule with an additional course release for his duties as Director of the Program. Dr. Alberg did not receive the course release for teaching an honors section in the Spring semester. In the Spring semester Dr. David Strand taught two sections of Critical Thinking as an adjunct.
We had another year of increasing the number of majors. We began the year with approximately 48 majors and are ending it with 64. In the spring semester seventeen students declared their philosophy as their major. This is a clear indication of the strength of the Program. The Pre-Law Track has more than 25, and the Philosophy and the Religion track have more than 15 each.
We served around 245 students in the core in the fall and over 300 in the spring. Our upper division classes averaged just under 20 students per class.
5. % Students passing licensing Data not available
6. % admitted to graduate school 50%
7. Types of licensure Data not available
8. Preparation for Licensure Data not available
9. Other Notable Achievements:
· The Iota Chapter of Phi Sigma Tau, the national honor society for the study of philosophy, enrolled nine new members.
· Once again, Meeting of the Minds was a great success.
· The Program produced its second Senior Seminar collection of essays, on the topic of Heidegger’s philosophy.
· The West Georgia Philosophical Society continued to meet regularly every two weeks during the Fall and Spring semesters.
10. Total Published Research 0
11. Total Presentations 08
12. Total Internships 00
13. Total Co-ops 00
14. Total Scholarships 01
15. Total Fellowships 00
16. Total Recipients of Notable Awards 04
17. Other Notable Achievements:
Teaching:
18. New Course Developments 00
19. Faculty Teaching Honors Courses 01
20. Faculty Involved in Academic Advisement 100%
Research/Productivity:
21. Books and Monographs 00
22. Book chapters 01
23. Peer Review Articles 03
24. Shorter Works 05
25. Paper Presentations 07
26. Other Presentations 02
27. In-House Publications 02
28. Juried Exhibits/Performances 00
29. Other Exhibits/Performances 00
30. Positions in Journal Editorship 00
31. Total Faculty in Notable
Continuing Education Efforts 03
Public Service:
32. Participants in Honors Organizations 01
33. Offices in Professional Organizations 02
34. Advisors of Student Organizations 02
35. Participants in Cooperative Consulting
Efforts 00
36. System-Wide UWG Committees 01
37. Total Participants in Public Service 04
38. Other Notable Achievements by Faculty:
Grants/Awards:
39. Proposals Submitted 02
40. Proposals Funded 01
41. Amount Funded $2100
42. Gifts Generated by Department
Burdett and Shirley Wantland Scholarship $1200.00
43. Contracts awarded 01
44. Fellowships awarded 00
45. New Degree Programs or Deletions 05
46. New Departments, Units, or Restructuring None
47. Accreditation or Renewal None
48. Other Awards or Achievements None
49. Additional Comments None
50. Give an example of how our department used the assessment of goals and outcomes to change/improve a process:
We revised course descriptions for our Religion courses in order to make them correspond more closely to the reality of the way these courses are presently taught. One faculty member taught an introductory course in the Honors College. One faculty member was the coordinator of the Pre-Law Learning Community. Both of these activities are an explicit part of our assessment for reaching the goal of providing a high quality curriculum that emphasizes disciplinary rigor and ensures the transmission of a unique method of inquiry.
There were a variety of things done to help integrate our new faculty member into the Program. I have already mentioned the way that the course descriptions have been revised. Further, he has been WAC certified. His classes were reviewed by the Director.
Jeremiah Alberg, Director
May 10, 2006