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1. ASSESSMENT OF DEPARTMENT AND PROGRAMS

a. Departmental Major Assessment Plan:

i. Mission statement

1. The word “politics” comes from the Greek work polis meaning “city” or “regime.” According to Aristotle - the first political scientist - the polis is the comprehensive association whose end or purpose is the complete human life. Political Science, then, involves not only the scientific study of political and legal institutions, but of human nature, justice and the common good. The St. Ambrose University Department of Political Science is thus committed to the following objectives:

a. First: The department seeks to provide quality instruction in the liberal arts tradition. Courses are designed to present different and often conflicting points of view on a variety of important political questions. Study of how different persons have answered these questions enlarges the mind and serves to cultivate critical reasoning skills.

b. Second: The department seeks to promote enlightened and responsible citizenship. Students not only study in-depth the historical and continuing controversies which inform our regime, they are also provided opportunities to participate in public life through internships and field experiences.

c. Third: The department seeks to prepare students for graduate study in political science, or for training in the professional fields of Law and Public Administration through the Pre-Law Studies program and the Public Administration Major.

ii. Learning Objectives for Political Science Majors: The Department of Political Science is committed to carefully assessing our major program(s) over the next five years. We have formulated explicit goals and objectives for fulfilling the objectives outlined in the Departmental Mission Statement.

1. Majors will read primary texts in political science to gain a basic understanding of important political scholars, theories, philosophies, and models.

2. Majors are required to write critically and analytically about political science literature.

3. Majors will be encouraged to develop communication skills essential to political participation.

4. Majors will be assisted by Departmental faculty in developing critical skills for effective reading, writing, and communication in the discipline.

5. On the basis of their familiarity with the discipline, majors should become more reflective individuals able to more fully evaluate their own value systems, ethics, and morals within the context of political thought, generally, and their career choices, specifically.

iii. Methods of Assessment and Documentation of Student Learning:

1. The Department, through the Chair, will annually monitor the syllabi of courses to establish that students are being required to read, write, and communicate about primary political science texts.

2. The faculty of the Department will annually evaluate writing samples of 100 through 300 level courses and establish whether the level of analysis is more sophisticated at the upper levels.

3. The Department, during the course of normal advising, will spend time reviewing with advisees their progress in developing reading, writing, and communication skills. This may include review of academic transcripts, student writing samples, and examinations that are kept in the advisee folder.

4. During the student's senior year and while enrolled in or after completing WI-PSCI 349 (Political Science major) or WI-PSCI 370 (Public Administration major), the student will be evaluated by the Department as to their overall progress in the major.

5. Whenever appropriate, the Political Science major is encouraged to find an internship through which to more deeply explore career options.

6. Each year pre-law students are given the opportunity to take a previously administered LSAT exam. Tests are graded, questions are reviewed, and strategies are discussed at each testing session. Pre-law advisors work closely with students to monitor progress throughout their studies at St. Ambrose University .

7. Pre-law students are strongly encouraged to release LSAT scores and test questions (when available) to the Pre-law advisors so that we can monitor and track strengths and weaknesses of students taking the LSAT examination.

8. Department will monitor activities of graduates noting requests for letters of recommendation, contacts with Departmental faculty as to career choices, and information provided by the Placement Office.

iv. Documentation of Student Learning:

1. Student File. A file will be kept on each student we advise in the major. The following is a list of documents tracking student learning that will be collected by the department, placed in each student's advisement file, and reviewed for assessment of the six learning objectives by the faculty in the year prior to program review.

a. One final exam from a 100 level course and one final exam from a 300 level course.

b. Student writing samples from WI-PSCI 349 and/or WI-PSCI 370.

c. Entrance and exit self-assessment forms (see below)

d. Internship evaluations (by the student faculty and internship supervisor).

e. Pre-LSAT results (as available, for pre-law students only)

f. LSAT scores (as available, for pre-law students only). Note: LSAT tests aptitude not specific knowledge or learning. Assessment toll addresses testing strategy only.

g. Information regarding post-graduate career placement (collected from the office of Career Planning) and/or graduate school. (Note: The number of majors in this department is small enough that faculty generally have knowledge of what happens to majors after graduation. For this reason, during this program review cycle, the department will collect information in student files as we have contact with former students rather than do an alumni survey.)

h. Notes from entrance interview and notes from exit interview during the Senior year will be kept in the student’s permanent file.

2. Entrance Interview. Upon identifying students interested in a political science major, the faculty in the Department will interview the potential student for the purpose of evaluating their known academic work to date, to roadmap a plan of study, to discuss with them their goals and objectives at Saint Ambrose University, and to assist them in determining the best possible plan of action toward realizing their career choice.

3. Exit Interview. At the end of the Junior year or during the Senior Year the Department faculty will conduct individual interviews with majors to assess how they progressed throughout their studies and to discuss the future plans of the student.

4. Student will complete self-assessment survey at entrance and exit interview which will be kept on file and reviewed regularly.

v. Use of Information to improve Education in the Department and Evaluation of Department Assessment Plan:

1. The above information will be collected and filed by the department and reviewed annually or as needed in preparation for the next departmental review. Each internal review will give special attention to the department and university mission statements, fulfillment of departmental mission, any evidence suggesting a need to reassess the departmental mission, and appropriateness of the curriculum.

2. The information collected will also be reviewed for the purpose of assisting each major in their studies at St. Ambrose, assisting each major upon graduation, and improving instruction for new majors enrolling in departmental curriculum.

vi. Assessing the Departmental Major Assessment Plan:

1. The department will evaluate the usefulness of the assessment tools as soon as enough information has been collected to make informed judgments. The last ten years has seen steady growth within the department. The number of majors has increased from around ten to around thirty. Former students have been quite diligent about informing the department of their post-graduate plans and opportunities. Majors in the last five years have generally had good success in gaining employment and entry to law and graduate school. Since Dr. Parsons has become a member of the faculty programs have been developed for pre-law studies and public administration. A number of courses have been added and deleted from the catalog and the content of some courses has changed to accommodate the changing nature of the department. These changes include personnel; in the last five years the second full-time faculty position in the Department has changed twice. This year is likely to be Dr. Norton’s last as a part-time emeritus instructor. However, as noted by the increase of majors and graduates going on to graduate and law school, there is some indication that despite these significant changes the department is growing larger and stronger. Because of curriculum, program, and personnel changes the Department recognizes the importance of a quality assessment plan as it looks forward over the next five years. Most importantly, the Department will need to address in its assessment of majors how we handle student needs given the imminent departure of Dr. Norton.

2. Faculty of the department will meet once a year or as events dictate to discuss assessment.

b. Assessment of Teaching and Learning in the Major

i. Enclosed is some documentation as evidence that material has been collected and informally evaluated.

1. Due to the many changes in the department over the last five years we have not had the opportunity to collect and evaluate materials that would adequately measure student performance. We are hopeful that our current assessment plans will meet this need.

2. Proposed actions reflect 50% turnover in the staffing of the department and assessment plan must be considered in the context of this significant change

ii. Evaluation of Major Program

1. See Proposed Actions, Assessment Plan, Course Descriptions and Syllabi)

c. General Education Assessment of Teaching

i. For each existing General Education course there is attached with the four point plan and syllabus assessment for courses with General Education status

Materials for new courses provided