MSCHE/ACOE Self Study

President’s Council (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Finance and Administration, Clinical Administration, Institutional Development, Institutional Research and Planning) and International Programs to articulate short-term goals relevant to the strategic plan. These are referred to as institutional goals and are specific to the coming academic year. The president initiated this process in 2007, shortly after his arrival and continued the practice after the completion of the A Shared Vision. Institutional goals for 07-08, 08-09, 09-10 and 10-11 are in Appendix A-9. These goals are developed by the College’s senior managers in consultation with the faculty and staff members of relevant units working through the College’s administrative and faculty governance structure and are distributed annually through email to the College Community. They represent a significant investment on the part of those who are charged with their implementation. The responsibility for unit improvement rests with the senior managers, and accomplishment of the annual institutional goals is a key basis upon which each senior manager is evaluated by the president. The Budget Call Letter, issued by the vice president of administration to the vice presidents , initiates the annual budgeting process for operating units of the College. This letter states “as much as possible, link your request to institutional priorities set forth in the College’s Strategic Plan” (Appendix A-10). In addition to the written submission of budget requests, separate budget hearings are held with the president, the vice president for administration, the business affairs officer, and the vice president of each unit. In these negotiations, each vice president must discuss linkages between his/her budget request and goals/objectives of the strategic plan. During times of budgetary uncertainty, multiple meetings may be required. Linking expenditures to the strategic plan also facilitates decisions as to what requests are clearly outside the parameters of the plan. Through its strategic planning process and the linkage of resource allocations to this process, the College has a history of institutional and unit improvement efforts in the areas of education, scholarship and service. These efforts are described in the relevant sections of this self-study. Institutional Assessment (MSCHE 7) 1.3 The program identifies and uses outcomes measures to evaluate effectiveness by documenting the extent to which its goals and objectives have been met, and uses such assessment to improve its performance. Such measures include but are not limited to graduation rates, National Board of Examiners in Optometry scores, licensing examination results and career placement. The last decade has seen the College place an increased emphasis on the use of outcomes measures to assess institutional effectiveness and student learning and to drive resource allocation. The pace accelerated significantly with the inauguration of President Heath in 2007. The primary motivation is to identify,

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