DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY:  ASSESSMENT PLAN

 IV) ASSESSMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT AND ITS PROGRAMS

             A)  Departmental Major Assessment Plan

                         1)  Departmental Mission Statement

                         The Mission of the Department of Sociology is to provide students with (a) a rich learning experience that facilitates (b) the
                         acquisition of specific skills, knowledge, and attitudes that contribute to (c) the development and articulation of a unique personal
                         world view that reflects (d) (i) a broad humanistic liberal education continuing throughout ones lifetime, (ii) social awareness, (iii) the
                         promotion of peace and justice, (iv) the appreciation and promotion of human diversity, (v) empathy for others, and (vi)
                         decision-making grounded in sound moral and ethical judgments. 

                         2)  Learning Objectives for Majors

                         Students will develop and articulate a unique personal world view through the acquisition of the following skills, knowledge, and attitudes:

                         a.  Skills

                                     i.  The student will use scientific methods and reasoning as demonstrated by designing specific research projects, writing
             proposals and reports, constructing theories and models, creating hypotheses, collecting data, and performing data analyses.

                                     ii.  The student will critically assess, analyze, and evaluate from a sociological perspective current issues, events, public policies, and social problems as evidenced by engaging in class discussion and doing presentations, article and media analyses, written exams, written papers and essays, and debating.

                         b.  Knowledge

                                     i.  The student will effectively utilize and apply core sociological concepts including status, role, social group, social
                                     structure, social institution, society, social stratification, social inequality, prejudice, discrimination, norms, values,
                                     beliefs, mores, folkways, deviance, culture, and socialization through presentations, class discussion, written papers and
                                     essays, written exams, and projects.

                                     ii.  The students will contrast, compare, apply, and evaluate a broad range of alternative world views, domain assumptions, and theoretical perspectives through presentations, class discussions, written papers and essays, written exams, and projects.

                                     iii.  The student will contrast, compare, apply, and evaluate the broad range of methodologies and statistical techniques common to the social sciences through article critiques and reviews, written papers and research proposals, written exams, projects, and the analyzing, summarizing, and reporting of data.

                                     iv.  The student will be able to apply and utilize a sociological approach to understanding and evaluating current events, social and public policy, social problems, and international development through presentations, class discussion, written papers and essays, written exams, article and media critiques reviews, and debates.

                         c.  Attitudes

                                     The student will utilize and apply a sociological perspective as one means to develop and articulate a personal world view
                                     reflecting a keen awareness of oneself and others in the active understanding and promotion of human diversity, empathy,
                                     compassion, cultural and global awareness, moral and ethical understandings, and the promotion of peace and justice as
                                     demonstrated by presentations, class discussion, written papers and essays, written exams, article and media critiques and
                                     reviews, and projects.

                         3)  Methods for Assessing the Major

                         a.  The department will require all seniors in the major to take a senior seminar course offered each Fall in which each student will
                         demonstrate the above skills, knowledge, and attitudes through class presentations, written papers and essays, projects, and exams,
                         with the goal being that every student will have acquired at least a minimal level of proficiency in each area. 

                         b.  The department will administer and score a practice copy of the Sociology GRE to students enrolled in the senior seminar with the goal that each student will achieve an average score or better.

                         c.  The department will administer a senior survey to students enrolled in the Senior Seminar asking them to evaluate their experiences in the sociology program and to make suggestions how that experience might have been improved.

                         d.  The department will conduct alumni surveys once every four years with specific objective questions about the acquisition of the above skills, knowledge, and attitudes and the degree students have retained, internalized, and utilized them.  The alumni survey will also include demographic information used to assess how well the program prepares students for continued education and employment.

                         e.  The department will make one “outstanding student in sociology” award each year to the student that best exemplifies the skills, knowledge, and attitudes identified above, in addition to showing a strong potential and inclination to make a continuing contribution to the field of sociology.

                         4)  Documentation of Student Learning in the Major

                         a.  Departmental faculty will collect and maintain accurate records of scores on all assessment instruments for a minimum of 
                        five years with the expectation that average scores on individual instruments will show relative improvement over that time period.

                           5)  Use of Assessment Information to Improve Education

                         a.  Departmental faculty will devote at minimum one meeting each year to review, discuss, and evaluate senior surveys, levels of student performance within the major and senior seminar, and the implications for faculty, departmental, and program improvements in those areas. 

                         b.  Departmental faculty will devote at minimum one meeting every five years to review, discuss, and evaluate alumni surveys and the implications for faculty, departmental, and program improvements in those areas.

                         c.  The department chair will maintain and make available to other departmental faculty and his or her successors a running file containing documentation of the departmental mission, departmental learning objectives, syllabi, course descriptions, all assessment information, and program review materials.  This file should contain data and materials representing a minimum of five years of assessment and review. 

                         d.  The department will publicly display and maintain a plaque with the names of students who have received the “outstanding student in sociology award” with the goal that it will provide achievement motivation and a positive example for other students in the major.

                         6)      Evaluation of the Departmental Assessment Plan

At the end of every other academic year (In this case, that means at the end of the 2004-2005 and the 2006-2007 years), the faculty of the Sociology Department, with assistance from the Dean of the College and with student representation will review our Assessment Plan.  At those points, we will decide by consensus what alterations need to be made in the plan and then implement any changes needed in the following year.

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