A number of bachelor’s degree programs at ISU are currently under review. Included in the reviews are the Bachelor of English, Bachelor of Philosophy and the School of Nursing’s bachelor’s degree completion program.
The English and philosophy bachelor’s program reviews are part of a regular scheduled review process. The School of Nursing instigated its own review into the bachelor’s degree program for students who have already obtained their associate degree in the field, according to the nursing school’s Associate Director for Undergraduate Studies, Tina Mladenka.
Mladenka explained that the School of Nursing has three programs within its undergraduate degree program. The traditional program is for students seeking their first bachelor’s degree, the accelerated program is for students who earned a bachelor’s degree in another field and the bachelor’s completion program is for registered nurses with an associate degree. The completion program is the only one being reviewed.
“I know word gets out and people get confused,” said Mladenka. “The traditional program and the accelerated program are set.”
Although the School of Nursing received accreditation for 10 years in 2011, recent updates to the accrediting agency’s recommendations spurred the school to update its program.
“Our next accreditation actually isn’t until 2021 but you’ve got to keep up with new recommendations and new criteria,” said Mladenka.
The bachelor’s degree completion program is not accepting new applicants during the review process. Mladenka said the review and curriculum updates are expected to be completed by May 1, at which time new applicants will be encouraged to apply for the Fall 2013 semester.
Mladenka stressed that current students in the program are still expected to graduate on time in May.
“We’re finishing up revising the handbook and the curriculum so it can be published,” said Mladenka. “Then it’s going to go through an approval process through the end of March and early April. So we’re hoping to get it all finished up before the end of April.”
According to Mladenka, new students in the bachelor’s completion program will be required to take more nursing courses in order to be best prepared when they graduate.
“They used to be able to get the program done in possibly a semester, if they had everything read and all they had to finish were nursing courses,” said Mladenka. “Now it’s going to take them two semesters.”
Three School of Nursing faculty members are conducting the review.
Unlike the nursing school’s internal, self-initiated review, the English and Philosophy departments are undergoing a regular external review.
“The fact that English is being reviewed just means that we’re one of those who were first up in the review process,” said English department chair Jennifer Attebery. “We were chosen because it’s been seven years since we were last reviewed.”
The bachelor’s of philosophy degree is also under a scheduled review, according to Acting Director of Philosophy Jim Skidmore.
Skidmore said the outside reviewers will look at the program’s strengths and weaknesses, and then make recommendations based on what they find. “A new set of eyes” examining the degree program will benefit and strengthen the bachelor of philosophy degree in the long term, according to Skidmore.
“The department does a bit of self-study before being reviewed,” said Attebery. “This time around, the review is looking fairly narrowly at our B.A. degree in English.”
Each department’s review team is made up of one ISU faculty member from another department and a faculty member from another university. The English department’s external reviewer is from Portland State University and the Philosophy department’s is from Utah State University, according to Attebery and Skidmore, respectively.
Since philosophy is a fairly unchanging field, compared to engineering or science, Skidmore said he doesn’t expect any big changes to be made to the program.
“The kinds of skills we are pursuing are broader skills that are not narrowly applicable to one kind of career but, our hope is, are very relevant to a wide variety of possible careers,” said Skidmore.
During the English program’s review, the review team will meet with Attebery and other department leaders, Attebery and the department’s assessment coordinator and with students. Because tenure-track professors of English also teach general education courses, the spread of the review process “is really quite massive,” said Attebery.
Attebery said she is especially interested in conversations the reviewers will have with recent graduates of the English undergraduate program.
“Those folks are going to be able to offer an important perspective on whether the degree has satisfied their needs,” she said.
The meeting with the assessment coordinator will be important to the program requirements, according to Attebery. “The question that we try to answer is, ‘Do the students leaving ISU with a B.A. in English have the set of skills and knowledge that we think they need at the undergraduate level?’”
Each department’s review is expected to be completed by the end of this semester. Changes implemented may include immediate adjustments such as new required courses or long-term changes, like tweaking the student recruitment process, according to Skidmore.