Sociology

Five year Program review

Program Review Self Study Contents
Year 2011-2012

The self-study is prepared through the leadership of the department chair by the faculty of the department and is both descriptive and evaluative; it provides basic information on the nature of the department’s programs and gives the faculty’s assessment of the program’s strengths and weaknesses.  A program of self-study is the faculty’s opportunity to scrutinize itself, to publicize its accomplishments and examine its shortcomings.

The foundation of the program review process is to provide staff and faculty with an opportunity to describe, analyze and reflect upon the role, goals, and contributions of the department to the college and university’s missions. It is meant to be a flexible process that can be adapted to meet particular departmental or programmatic concerns or idiosyncrasies.

The single most important goal is that the results of the process be used by faculty and administration in making decisions that affect such topics as personnel, resource allocation, and curriculum. Emphasis will be placed on how the administration and faculty have used the results of the previous program review to form decisions. Additionally, the department will be asked to analyze previous program review documents and compare to their current situation. What actions have occurred in the intervening years based upon the results of the program review? What on-going recommendations remain? What new challenges have emerged since the previous self-study document was completed?  This self-analysis will provide the context for the long-term improvement in academic programs at CWU.

The following outline for the contents of the self-study combines elements from academic norms, accreditation standards, and performance-based budgeting issues.  The contents of the outline were compiled from a variety of sources and have been modified based upon feedback from previous program review documents.

Departments are asked to fill out each category concisely, with appropriate supporting data for each item.  Evidence may be included in appendices.

IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO PREPARE YOUR SELF-STUDY IN THE SAME FORMAT AS THIS OUTLINE.  SEVERAL ITEMS ARE USED IN YEARLY REPORTS TO THE HECB AND NWCCU.  If a category does not apply to your department, please enter N/A.

I. Introduction to Department/Program(s)

A. Department/unit mission statement 
The department of sociology prepares students to understand society and social phenomena.  Through the application of conceptual and analytic tools unique to our discipline, students learn to investigate society as a concrete, social world of diverse populations, groups and institutions, and to understand the relationship among the cultural and historical foundations of society, its social systems, social and technological change and the individual.  Students are challenged to recognize that social phenomena are not necessarily unalterable facts of life.  They develop the ability to observe and critically analyze social issues and to examine strategies for implementing social change and/or constructing a satisfying social world for their own future.  The sociology program provides the resources to link the broad perspectives of liberal education with an awareness of employment areas where these perspectives may be applied.  It blends career education and the liberal arts.  Our program provides to the entering student a foundation in general education, it enables one to make wise choices when choosing a career path that demands a foundation in society’s social structure and processes and opens the opportunity for juniors and seniors to enroll in particular courses within sociology to broaden their knowledge about contemporary social issues.

B. Brief description of department and program contexts including date of last review

The department of sociology is a subunit of the College of the Sciences which is composed of 12 physical and social science departments.  We last underwent program review in 2005. We began the period under review with  nine tenure-stream faculty positions and two (part-time) adjunct faculty members on the main campus.  We currently have nine tenure stream faculty positions, three FTNTT faculty positions and two part-time adjunct positions on the main campus. We also have one tenure track faculty position, five part-time adjunct faculty members who offer courses at the Yakima, Lynnwood, Pierce, and Des Moines university centers and on-line (funded by Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Studies.) The department has one full-time secretary and three part-time student clerical workers. The department’s curriculum can be divided into five key functions:  1) we offer coursework leading to two B.A. degrees and a minor in Sociology; 2) we offer coursework leading to a B.S. degree and a minor in Social Services; 3) we offer coursework leading to a minor in Ethnic Studies; 4) we offer service courses taken by students majoring in other disciplines (for example, students majoring in Law and Justice and Family Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies: Social Science and those pursuing a minor in Gerontology routinely take several of our upper-division courses as a component of their majors); and 5) we offer three sociology courses and one ethnic studies course that are components of the university’s general education curriculum.   In addition, we offer five courses that fit the writing component of the general education curriculum.

C. Describe departmental governance system and provide organizational chart for department.

The Department of Sociology has two governing structures whose most important duties are to  oversee reappointment, tenure, promotion and merit decisions—the department chair and the department personnel committee.  The department chair is appointed by the Dean of the College of the Sciences in consultation with department faculty.  The personnel committee is composed of all full-time faculty members assigned to the department.  As is the case with the department chair, all full-time faculty members are eligible to vote on who will serve as chair of the personnel committee.  The committee’s chair is the second most important organizational position in the department; this individual typically works directly with the department chair in all personnel matters (searches, merit, tenure and promotion processes, etc.).  Typically all full-time faculty members sit on this committee and are allowed to participate in discussions and have voting rights.  In instances in which the Faculty Code specifically limits voting rights (e.g., tenure decisions) voting rights are restricted to tenured associate and full professors, and the department chair is not permitted to vote in these situations regardless of tenure or faculty rank.  The department chair and personnel committee are guided by the procedures and principles outlined in the department’s Personnel Manual, the Faculty Code, and other university policy manuals.  They operate independently and make separate recommendations on matters pertaining to the above personnel issues.

The department is rather small, which allows it to use a committee of the whole approach to most other issues.  Therefore, when addressing curriculum, programs, and policies, for example, all full-time faculty are allowed to participate in the discussions and have voting rights.  Part-time faculty are permitted to take part in such discussions, but are not allowed to vote.  Any alteration or change in policy or program requires the support of a plurality of department members.  Occasionally the department creates ad hoc committees.  These committees may not include all faculty members but instead be composed of interested parties who volunteer to take on a particular task.  No formal voting is involved in selecting the membership of an ad hoc committee.  The department is occasionally asked to provide a representative to serve as a liaison between the department and another university unit (e.g., the department’s library representative or Faculty Senator).  In these instances the chair calls for nominations and volunteers.  If multiple parties express interest in the position, a vote by all full-time faculty is held to determine who the representative will be.

Department Instructional Staff
Tenured Faculty
Full Professors                                                                                                                            LauraAppleton                                                                                                                             Delores (Kandee) Cleary
Nelson Picardo
Hong Xiao ( On Leave as of Fall 2010)
John (Jack) Dugan retired Spring 2009

Associate Professors                                                                                                                                         
Judy Hennessey
Tenure-track Faculty
Assistant Professor                                                                                                                  
Michael Harrod (hired Fall 2006)
Eric Cheney
Michael Mulcahy (hired Fall 2009)
Pamela McMullin-Messier (hired Fall 2009)

Full-time Non tenure-track Faculty                                                                                                                            
Assistant Professor
Connie Robinson
Tracy Hoover                                                                      
Instructor
Cheryl Johnson
Jessica Strawn


Part-time Non-tenure track Faculty
Adjunct Instructors
 
Ericka Stange
Gloria Beckley
Lindsey Vaagen
Jennifer King
Julie Aldcroft
Sandra Martinez
Peggy Roberts
Arthur Manjerrez

Cornerstone Participants
Constance M. Davidson, Shelton High School
Randy Gleasman, Chelan High School

Department Support Staff

Full-time Classified Staff
Office Administrator/Secretary
Noella Wyatt

Part-time (Student) Employees
Current
 
prior

D. Department/Program(s)
1.  List department/program goals (be sure to include goals for each degree program).Goal 1.  Offer a superior sociology program which emphasizes critical thinking and guides students toward personal development, civic engagement, and professional objectives
Goal 2.  Enhance and improve our social services program
Goal 3.  Provide knowledge and skills needed to use current computer-based research and teaching application
Goal 4.  Expand and emphasize the ethnic studies program as a campus-wide diversity educational opportunity focusing on the social, political, economic and cultural experiences and aspirations of ethnic minorities in our service region, nationally and globally.
Goal 5.  Expand sociology offerings at the CWU Center campuses.  Sociology offers a small number of courses at the Yakima, Lynnwood, Pierce, and Des Moines facilities.  Enrollment suggests more courses could be offered.

3 List results for each department/program goal.
1.  Provide results in specific quantitative or qualitative terms for each department/program(s).
2. Compare results to standards of mastery listed above.
3. Provide a concise interpretation of results.

4 Based on the results for each department/program(s) listed above describe:
1.  Specific changes to your department as they affect program(s) (e.g., curriculum, teaching methods).
2. Specific changes related to the assessment process. 

Goal 1.  Offer a superior sociology program which emphasizes critical thinking and guides students toward personal development, civic engagement, and professional objectives.
A.  Better communicate to students how the specializations of the faculty directly relate to the mission of the sociology program.
1.  Students are informed of the varying emphasis areas and course offerings as a part of class lectures and discussions.
2.  Students are provided with information concerning professional specializations and job opportunities within sociology during advisement.
B.  Offer opportunities for students to judge and evaluate their professional goals through individual study and research projects.
1.  Upper-division students may arrange individual study or research projects with the department’s faculty.
2.  A research project is required of students enrolled in the sociology honors program.
C.  Build interest in improving the social policies and practices responsible for the creating and maintaining a civil society among non-majors who enroll in sociology class.
1.  General education classes specifically address the role of social policy and methods of evaluating information about society.
D.  Regularly evaluate the sociology programs through assessment practices to maintain a strong and timely curriculum for all students of the university.
1.  Department faculty members create new curricula and are engaged in on-going discussions pertaining to program evaluation and curriculum review.
2.  Prior to graduation all majors must take an essay exam in SOC 489, which is the Capstone Course.  The results of which are used for assessment purposes.
3.  SEOI quantitative and particularly qualitative results are utilized to gain student feedback on our curriculum.
4. Students are required to take a Capstone course that serves as a mechanism to assess the program curriculum.
5.  Department faculty engage in discussions with students about their learning experiences and incorporate this information into their classes and, when appropriate, pass these comments on to other faculty members.
6.  Faculty routinely utilize nonverbal communication from students in the classroom (from smiles and interested nods to blank stares and quizzical looks, etc.) as feedback on how instructional presentations are being received and respond with questions and additional information when it appears appropriate.
7.  Throughout this period, when interviewing candidates for vacancies within the department we have asked a standard set of questions concerning our curriculum:  “From reading our catalog, how do you see our current sociology and social services [and, if appropriate to the position, ethnic studies] programs?  What do you perceive as their strengths and weaknesses?  What changes would you see as desirable?”  Responses to these questions not only allowed us to better visualize how a candidate perceived her/himself fitting into the department’s instructional framework, but constituted an attempt to acquire outside feedback (albeit not entirely objective given the circumstances) on our curriculum and programs.

Goal 2.  Enhance and improve our social services program.
A.  Maintain a social service program with a continuous structure of internships, field activities, and voluntary work along identified social service program goals that can be completed within four years of study.
1.  The curriculum of the social services program is designed to meet the employment expectations of social service agencies. 
2.  The faculty offer required and elective courses on a timely basis in order to facilitate graduation within a four-year period.
3. Developed a BS in Social Services at the Pierce Campus to serve place bound students and increase the likelihood of graduation within four years.
3.  Internships, field activities, and volunteer work activities may also be completed within the four-year period.
B.  Create service area internships and service area programs in partnership with providers to function as investment strategies for grant-assisted activities.
1.  Cooperation between the department and social service agencies has generated funding opportunities for some students. It is anticipated that additional opportunities can be created by continuing the growth of such partnerships.
C.  Extend student involvement with community service organizations  through more demanding field experience placements and more field experience options.  This will allow students to gain agency/field experience that meets most employers’ expectation of prior experience and extend employment opportunities upon graduation.
1.  Upon graduation, students will be able to gain employment with a broader range of social service agencies.

Goal 3.  Provide knowledge and skills needed to use current computer-based research and teaching applications. 
A.  Faculty members introduce computer laboratory exercises in their courses wherever appropriate.
1.  The department has access to a computer lab and five fully-functioning electronic technology classrooms in Farrell Hall.
2.  The department encourages faculty to introduce computer-based activities into the classroom and as a part of homework assignments.
3.  Some members of the department require computer literacy of their students in order to complete course requirements.

B.  Encourage students to conduct computer-driven research studies to help them accomplish their field experience objectives and job ambitions.
1.  This is integrated into advisement, course requirements, and independent study projects.

Goal 4.  Expand and emphasize the ethnic studies program as a campus-wide diversity educational opportunity focusing on the social, political, economic and cultural experiences and aspirations of ethnic minorities in our service region, nationally and globally.
A.  Increase the breadth and effectiveness of multi-cultural and diversity education.
1.  Hire an additional faculty member whose expertise will allow the program to offer additional courses in the field of African American Studies or Chicano Studies, and to increase the number of introductory course sections offered.
2.  Encourage current faculty to explore the option of teaching in this area.
3.  Continue to add new content courses in ethnic studies.
4.  Encourage more students to participate in foreign exchange/education options.
5.  Reestablish the LINK Project.  This winter quarter study abroad opportunity overseen by our department provided social service and Law and Justice majors with an immersion in the cultural world view from which most Mexican immigrants in Washington State originate.  The program increased Spanish proficiency and made our graduates more attractive in the social services and law enforcement/corrections job markets, where bilingual (Spanish-English) capability is preferred by many employers.
6.    Develop similar programs with other international opportunities for faculty and students.
B.  Provide assistance and consultation to university efforts to infuse multiculturalism into the curriculum.
1.  The faculty members participate in discussions across the curriculum whenever possible.
2.   We infuse our curriculum with information (and guest speakers) obtained from campus-wide events related to multiculturalism.
3.   Continue work in support of the emerging Native American Studies program and a dialog for shared service courses and Ethnic Studies faculty.
4.   Continue work in support of the emerging Latin American Studies program and a dialog for shared service courses and Ethnic Studies faculty.
5.    Chair of department is reassigned 50% to the President’s office, where she uses her expertise to increase diversity and inclusion on campus.
C.  Encourage linked classes and learning community concepts in combination with other disciplines, including English, history, business, art, and education to further the diversity goals of the university.
1.  Ethnic studies courses fulfill diversity requirements for several outside majors.
2.  Faculty participate in the American Indian Studies Program, which is an interdisciplinary program in the true sense.  The core courses are taught be faculty from three different departments in at least two colleges.  The goal is to look at Indian issues from a multitude of perspectives.
D.  Increase mentoring and other related services to minority students.
1.  Minority staff and faculty are actively involved in mentoring minority students on campus, and in recruitment and retention efforts.

Goal 5.  Expand sociology offerings at the CWU Center campuses.  Sociology offers a small number of courses at the Yakima, Lynnwood, Pierce, and Des Moines facilities.  Enrollment suggests more courses could be offered.
A.  Hire additional full-time sociology faculty member with a generalist background capable of offering courses in the fields of criminology and deviance, social psychology, organizations, and disenfranchised groups.  The advising workload of the one TT faculty member can be shared ensuring student success.
1.  This  allowed  us to offer courses at the three Westside Centers in a more predictable pattern (classes would not have to be cancelled at the last moment because an adjunct either decided to quit, could not be located, or proved to be ill suited to the job). 
2.  The quality of the courses offered  are more easily supervised with a full-time faculty member offering all classes as opposed to the hit-and-miss experiences encountered with multiple adjunct faculty.

B.  Work more closely with YVCC and CWU’s departments offering degrees at the Yakima Center to determine what other role our department might play at this Center.
1.  The number of sociology courses offered could likely be expanded and course options broadened through a more coordinated dialog between the various parties.
2.  Consider the possibility of pairing our minor in Ethnic Studies with the YVCC Chicano/Chicana Studies.

3.  Provide documentation of continuing program(s) need including reference to the statewide & regional needs assessment

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2010-2011, the nationwide growth for jobs in Sociology is growing and will continue to grow until 2018.  Jobs in sociology are growing on average faster than all other occupations.  This is primarily a result of the incorporation of social research into other fields.  Many of the jobs advertised for BA degrees in sociology have much more specific titles and come from a variety of areas.  For example market analyst, research assistant, writer, policy analyst, health education, management, media, community and social service.  These jobs will grow from 9000 in 2008 to 10,900 in 2018.  The median income for sociology jobs is 68,570.  The middle 50 percent income ranges from 51, 110 to 92, 220.  The lowest 105 make 40,720 and the highest 105 make 122, 130.  Of course, this varies by geographic area.

In general, those jobs in Washington State follow the same pattern. (See table below). According to the Employment Security Department Labor and Market Economic Analysis, jobs in sociology will be increasing statewide and regionally.
Occupation

Washington  State

Eastern Washington

Growth Employment Projection:
Child, Family Social  1.7 3,480 1.8 73
Community/Social Service 1.4 3,188 1.1 44
Corrections 0.4 8,574 0.5 1,141
Employment, recruitment 3.5 6,100 3 31
Human Resources 0.6 8,506 1.3 66
Interviewers 2.5 5,597 2.4 138
Management Occupations 0.7 162,461 0.8 3,657
Media 0.8 22,638 0.4 519
Probation 0.5 3,075 0.5 200
Social /Community Service 1.4 3,369 1.7 65
Social/Human Service 2.1 10,047 1.8 283
Social Science Research Asst 1.1 978 0.6 122
Substance Abuse Counselors 2.6 2,758 1.1 300

2 .Describe the relationship of each department/program(s) goal to relevant college and University strategic goals.  Explain how each relevant strategic goal(s) for the University and college are being met within the department.
3.Identify what data was used to measure (assess) goal attainment
4. Describe the criterion of achievement (standard of mastery) for each goal.
5.  Describe the major activities that enabled goal attainment.

University Mission
Central Washington University's mission is to prepare students for responsible citizenship, responsible stewardship of the earth, and enlightened and productive lives. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni serve as an intellectual resource to assist central Washington, the state, and the region in solving human and environmental problem

The Department of Sociology and its curriculum are central/essential to the mission of the university: 
1.  We offer unique courses and programs that provide students with essential skills and education needed by employers in both the private and public sectors.  The LINK Program (currently on hiatus due to the staffing shortages previously described), Ethnic Studies, and Social Services Program (the only non-counseling service-based program on campus) are examples of programs no one else on campus offers.
2.  We support general education for all students.  The university would not be able to offer a rounded liberal arts education without a Sociology Department any more than it could do so without a Biology, Philosophy or English department.  Sociology provides coursework essential to the creation of a well-rounded/critically thinking liberal arts graduate.  We impart the sociological imagination to other majors through general education, service coursework, and when students enrolled in other majors decide to pursue sociology as a secondary major (or as a minor).
3.  We provide service-course offerings beyond basic and breadth requirements.  We offer courses required by other majors (some examples are:  Law and Justice, Family Studies, Gerontology, and Education) that would not otherwise be available to these students and programs.  Moreover, we offer all students the ability to study issues of personal interest they cannot find in other departments (for example, courses on race, social class, deviance, social groups, social change, and institutions are the mainstay of the sociology curriculum and are not available elsewhere).

CWU Goal I: Provide for an outstanding academic and student life on the Ellensburg campus.

The sociology department supports this goal in the following ways:
1. We have had success in making good citizens who are able to critically participate in society. 
2.  We have a good record of placing our students in jobs related to the discipline upon graduation. 
3.  We have a good record of our graduates (who apply) gaining admission into graduate and professional schools.
4.  SEOI results, informal student comments, and responses to questions on exit and post-graduate surveys indicate not only a high degree of student satisfaction with our courses and programs, but student grades in the capstone course indicate our graduates perform capably (in terms of sociological knowledge) in comparison to graduates from other schools across the nation.
5.  The department is extensively involved in promotion of undergraduate research projects.  This is observed through the high number of our students who take part in internships and independent studies projects.
6.  We have had a viable department-sponsored student organization (the Sociology and Social Services Club) during a majority of the study period.  The existence of this organization is indicative of student commitment and investment in the discipline and department outside of the formal- classroom context. 
7.  We encourage students to attend professional meetings; sociology majors have presented papers in student sessions, and some having served in the discussant role.
8.  An analysis of professional service records indicates a highly active and engaged faculty that stays current with the discipline.  Obvious proof of this being the percentage of department members who have been granted (or been qualified for) merit pay increases and/or promotions and tenure over the past decade.  These university-sanctioned mechanisms clearly gauge individual and departmental productivity.
9.  The department is efficient when measured in terms of the cost of the production of student credit hours.
10.  The faculty updates and revises current offerings in response to changes in societal trends; students would not take our courses if they were not relevant to the current era’s needs and demands.  Stealing from a catch phrase of the automobile manufacturers:  “This is not your father’s (mother’s) sociology.”
11.  The faculty offers new courses and revises existing courses in response to changes in societal trends (particularly globalization); this generates new enrollment.

CWU Goal II: Provide for an outstanding academic and student life at the university centers. In addition to extending improvements on the Ellensburg campus from Goal I to the centers, the following sub-goals are proposed for Goal II.

We now offer a BS Social Services degree at the Pierce Center.  With the addition of the new faculty member  students have consistent access to a sociology faculty advisor who is current on department curriculum and policy, and who could oversee internships, co-op ed., and field experiences.  In addition, we offer a multitude of courses for the Interdisciplinary Studies Major, Social Sciences.  We also are offering a 45 credit Sociology Major on-line to not only to contribute to student success at the Centers, but to reach other place bound students.
CWU Goal III: Develop a diversified funding base to support our academic and student programs.
1. Students enrolled in sociology and ethnic studies courses have come from throughout Washington State, the Pacific Northwest, from outside the region, and from other nations (particularly Japan).  We believe our graduates are our best ambassadors when it comes to student recruitment.  Those who have had a positive experience when pursuing a minor or major in sociology, social services, or ethnic studies do indeed encourage family members and friends to attend CWU. 
2. Sociology participates in the Cornerstone Program in two high schools (Chelan and Shelton).  This program allows introductory sociology courses carrying CWU credits to be offered by approved instructors in high schools located in areas where participation in the state-wide Running Start program is impractical (schools situated in locations too remote from universities and community colleges).  Data suggests these students are more likely to attend college upon graduation, and CWU’s name recognition among Cornerstone participants may increase CWU’s ability to recruit these students. 
3. Department faculty members are involved in research activities that extend well beyond our locale.  Dr. Appleton’s multi-year voting survey,  Dr. Cleary’s policy research with Native American Indian tribes concerning issues such as education, gaming and federal grants, Jack Dugan’s research on prison/jail inmates,  Dr. Xiao’s comprehensive study of Chinese family structure, values and child-rearing practices, Dr. Pichardo’s studies of social movements and political activism, Dr. Hennessy’s analysis of women on welfare, and are all examples of department activities which raise awareness of the role of CWU plays in our state and region. 
4. Our faculty is involved in student retention through advising and instruction (each in her or his own way assists students having difficulties in mastering coursework).  In addition Dr.’s Cleary and Pichardo have been highly active in both the recruitment of and retention of disadvantaged (minority and lower-income) backgrounds, and have also been involved with many university committees and workshops concerning student recruitment and retention. 
5. Jack and Andrea Dugan, provided an endowment for Sociology students to participate and present their research at a local, regional or national level. 

CWU Goal IV: Build mutually beneficial partnerships with industry, professional groups, institutions, and the communities surrounding our campus locations.
1.  Faculty members participate in regional agencies by providing social scientific skills and technologies (for example, faculty are involved in Life with Dignity Organizations, serve with the local planning commission, airport authority, and KCAC/Hope Source, and participate in the guardian ad litem program).
2.  The department places students in cooperative field internship programs in social service agencies throughout the community, region and state.  Similarly, graduates are employed in community service private and public sector positions statewide.
3.  Faculty members and students engage in applied social policy research endeavors that are designed to increase efficiency and efficacy of community organizations and state agencies.
 
CWU Goal V: Strengthen the university's position as a leader in the field of education.

1.  Although we do not participate directly in the production of K-12 educators (several years ago sociology was removed from the state’s approved K-12 educational emphasis areas), many students who major in education take sociology and ethnic studies courses either as required or elective preparatory coursework for entrance into an education major, or as a part of their general education requirements. 
2. Faculty serve on the education departments diversity committee
3.  Several of our faculty members have served as outside representatives on graduate orals exams, and as members of master’s thesis and project committees for students pursuing graduate studies in education.                                                                                                                                                   4.  Dr. Pichardo currently offers SOC 425 Sociology of Education which is an elective course of interest to education majors as well as those enrolled in our programs.

CWU Goal VI: Create and sustain productive, civil, and pleasant campuses and workplaces.

1.  Of all academic disciplines, sociology has the longest history and tradition of championing the rights of the oppressed and disenfranchised.  Every faculty member in the department is firmly committed to the ideals of equality and freedom of expression.  Individual faculty actively advise and support students who believe they have suffered from uncivil or unequal treatment on campus and seek appropriate institutional channels to address and resolve these issues. 
2.  Our department has both sponsored and participated in workshops and speaker programs promoting awareness of diversity concerns surrounding ethnic, gender, racial, religious, and sexual orientation. 
3.  Department faculty members serve on the Faculty Senate, university ad hoc and standing committees which bring individuals together from across campus to engage in discourse.

II. Description of degree programs and curricula
A. List each degree program (undergraduate and graduate) offered in department by location, regardless of state or self support. Include minor and undergraduate certificate program(s). (See Sample Table 2)

Undergraduate Programs
We have seven undergraduate programs.  Four of these lead toward bachelors degrees, and three of the programs are minors.

Bachelor of Arts in Sociology:  This is a 60 credit hour major that is intended for students who plan to attend graduate school in sociology or a related field or who plan to enter the private or public sector workforce in entry-level positions upon graduation.

Bachelor of Arts in Sociology:  This is a 45 credit hour major comprised of the core elements of sociology which requires further specialization in order to graduate in the form of a second major or a minor in another discipline (e.g., Law and Justice, Family Studies, Psychology, or our own Ethnic Studies).  It is one of our most popular majors for students with specific areas of personal interest or specific career goals.  As of fall 2011, this degree is now offered on-line.

Bachelor of Science in Sociology: This program was deleted in 2007.   This is a 75 credit hour major that requires additional theory, statistics and methodology coursework, and an individual research project.  It is intended for students who plan to attend graduate school in sociology or who plan to work in an applied sociological setting where research, data analysis, or program evaluation skills are needed.

Bachelor of Science in Social Services:  This is a 60 credit hour major intended for students who plan to attend graduate school in social work or counseling or who plan to enter the private or public sector workforce in entry-level human and social services occupations upon graduation. This degree is offered both on the main campus and at the Pierce Campus.

Sociology Minor:  Students enrolled this minor are often pursuing 45 credit hour degrees in other university departments and because of their own career goals or personal interests.  The minor constitutes a “bare bones” exposure to our discipline and requires 25 credit hours of sociology coursework. 

Social Services Minor:  Students enrolled in this minor are often pursuing 45 credit hour degrees in other university departments and because this program meets their own career goals or personal interests.  The minor provides a “bare bones” exposure to the social services field and requires 30 credit hours of sociology coursework.

Ethnic Studies Minor:  Students enrolled in this inter-disciplinary minor are often pursuing 45 credit hour degrees in other university departments (sociology and social services majors may elect this minor) because this program meets their own career goals or personal interests.  The minor affords students the opportunity to develop an awareness of and appreciation for the dynamics of racial and ethnic diversity in our society.  This minor is applicable to students who plan to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation or who plan graduate studies in a wide range of disciplines.

Sample Table 2 (Section II, A.)
Programs Offered in Department

Degree Program Delivery Location(s) Instructional Staff # Students in Major  # Degrees Awarded
  Faculty FTE Grad Assist.
FTE Yr
1
2006 Yr
2
2007 Yr
3
2008 Yr
4
2009 Yr
5
2010 Yr
6
2011 Yr
1 Yr
2 Yr
3 Yr
4 Yr
5
BA Sociology 60 credits Main Campus 12.3 0 37 38 35 41 62 56 15 15 18 26 32
BA Sociology  45 credits Main Campus 12.3 0 66 48 58 78 90 95 27 28 31 34 44
BA Sociology  45 credits On-line 11.6 0 - - - - - - - - - - -
             
BS Social Services Main Campus 12.3 0 26 25 21 28 55 70 8 9 8 13 25
Pierce/Des Moines Campus  0          
             
             
             
Minor Programs Delivery Location(s) Instructional Staff # Students in Minor  #Minors Completed
  Faculty FTE Grad Assist
FTE Yr
1 Yr
2 Yr
3 Yr
4 Yr
5  Yr
1 Yr
2 Yr
3 Yr
4 Yr
5
Ethnic Studies Main Campus .6 0 60 60 49 54 58     
Sociology Main Campus/On-Line;  12.3 0 58 73 95 88 119     
Social Services Main Campus   0          
Sociology Centers   0 62  59 83 97 90     
   0           
   0          
   0          
Certificate Programs Delivery Location(s) Instructional Staff # Students in Program  # Cert. Completed
  Faculty FTE Grad Assist
FTE Yr
1 Yr
2 Yr
3 Yr
4 Yr
5  Yr
1 Yr
2 Yr
3 Yr
4 Yr
5
            
B. Provide a table that lists courses, location, and faculty and student number for the following:

Sample Table 3 (Section II, B.)
Courses, Contributions, Locations

Contributing area Delivery Location Instructional  Staff  #  Students
General Education Courses Location(s) Faculty FTE
Grad Assist. FTE Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5
SOC 101 Main Campus  7     
SOC 107 Main Campus 7     
SOC 305 Centers/On-Line 1     
ETS 101 MainCampus 2     
           
Professional Education Courses Location(s) Faculty FTE Grad FTE Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5
           
Service Courses Location(s) Faculty FTE Grad FTE Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5
SOC 346 Main Campus/Centers 3     
SOC 352 Main Campus/Centers 2     
SOC 366 Main Campus 1     
SOC 326 Main Campus 1     
ETS 373 Main Campus 1     
ETS 471 Main Campus 1     
SOC 338 Main Campus 1     
SOC 380 Main Campus 1     
ETS 350 Main Campus 2     
ETS 351 Main Campus 1     
SOC 348 Main Campus 1     
SOC 356 Main Campus 2     
SOC  357 Main Campus 2     
* All Sociology courses are approved for the Interdisciplinary Studies – Social Sciences Major
1. General Education contributions
a. courses delivered
b. location
c.  instructional staff
d. number of students
General Education contributions
The Sociology Department is actively involved in General Education and takes great pride in introducing our discipline to almost 800 students per year.  As previously mentioned (see page 6, IC.1.2), we consider our discipline and course offerings to be firmly rooted at the core of a traditional liberal arts education.  Our participation in the General Education program is not simply a mechanism from which to recruit potential majors or to inflate our total enrollment statistics (although our participation in the General Education program certainly does fulfill these latent functions).  Rather, we consider this to be our best opportunity to create better citizens by sharing our knowledge about life in industrial societies; only a small number of students who take introductory-level sociology and ethnic studies courses will take additional classes.  It is within our (entry-level) general education courses that most students will learn about the social structure of society (social groups, institutions, norms, values), the reasons for (and problems inherent in) social stratification and social inequality, how social diversity and social differentiation may both complicate and yet enrich our lives, how and why social problems emerge and what can be done to minimize their impact upon individuals and society, what forces generate social change and stability in society and what impact do these forces have on our lives, and what is the difference between common-sense understanding regarding social life and knowledge based upon sound social scientific research and statistical analysis? 

Sociology offers the following general education courses:  SOC 107 Principles of Sociology, SOC 101 Social Problems, SOC 305 American Society, and ETS 101 Ethnic Awareness.  Enrollment in these courses averages 45 students per section and average 18 sections per academic year.

2. Professional Educators contributions
a. courses delivered
b. location
c. Instructional staff
d. Number of students

The state dropped the certification in sociology in 1998 therefore we do not offer coursework leading to teacher certification.  In the prior self-study and during the course of the current self-study, ETS 101 Ethnic Awareness and SOC 365 Minority Groups have, however, been identified by CEPS as approved pre-professional courses required to fulfill the socio-cultural requirement.

3. Service Course delivery
   a. Courses delivered
   b. Location
c.  Instructional staff
d. Number of students

As previously mentioned, a key dimension of our contribution to the university comes in the form of service coursework taken by students pursuing other majors.  On the main campus approximately one-quarter to one-third of the students enrolled in the following courses are taking the courses as an elective or required component of another program of study:  SOC 325 Aging, SOC 343 Child Abuse, SOC 344 Juvenile Delinquency, SOC 345 Deviance,  SOC 346 Criminology, SOC 352 Punishment and Corrections, SOC 349 Law and Society, SOC 356 Sex Roles in Society, SOC 357 Sociology of Families, and SOC 365 Minority Groups.  In addition, all of our Soc courses are used in the Interdisciplinary Studies Major – Social Science.  Although we find a broad array of majors represented in our classes, the greatest number of such students come from Law and Justice and Family Studies.  It is due to our involvement with on-line learning that we were granted one of the FTNTT positions, which we hope to turn into a tenure track position.
Graduate Programs
The department has not been allowed to offer a graduate program, although some of our faculty members participate in the Individual Studies graduate program and serve as members of thesis and doctoral committees.  Two of our faculty members are participants in the Public Administration Master’s Program specifically designed for international students. One of our faculty members is active in the Resource Management Master’s Program.

C. Required measures of efficiency for each department for the last five years
1. SFR (FTES/FTEF) disaggregate data
2. Average class size; disaggregate upper and lower division and graduate courses

E. Describe currency of curricula in discipline.  How does the curriculum compare to recognized standards promulgated by professionals in the discipline (e.g., state, national, and professional association standards)?

In 2004 the American Sociological Association’s Task Force on the Undergraduate Major outlined 16 recommendations for effective liberal arts curricula in sociology.  The following sections of the report addresses curriculum issues.

Recommendation 1: Departments should develop a mission statement, goals, and
learning objectives for their sociology program and make them public, especially
to students.

The department of sociology has developed a mission statement and set of department goals (previously addressed in this document).  Our Student Handbook is posted on our department web page (Student Handbook) and is available to anyone with internet access and it includes both a general description of our department’s conceptual framework and our learning objectives. 

General Department Information
Through its curriculum, the Department of Sociology provides opportunities for students to understand the major conceptual and methodological tools used by sociologists and others to understand society.  Students will be encouraged to:
• see society as a social construct—the result of day-to-day behavior of human beings
• grasp the relationship between history, society and the individual's own life
• realize that social patterns are tools for the accomplishment of human ends and are not necessarily unalterable facts of life
• develop the ability to observe critically and analyze social phenomena
In providing these intellectual skills, the Sociology major is relevant to a wide variety of academic and occupational pursuits.  Majors will develop skills of analytic thought and practice which will provide a foundation for personal growth, post-graduate education, and entrance into many public and private sector occupations.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Central Washington University and the Department of Sociology are committed to producing high quality graduates for entry into service-related and other forms of employment.  One way to accomplish this goal is to insure that our graduates are able to communicate various aspects of the Sociological Imagination effectively.

We have identified several assessment outcomes to accomplish these tasks.  Briefly, we want to know how well our students can:

1. Describe and analyze the world in sociologically imaginative ways by identifying and/or demonstrating the linkages between individual experience and social issues both theoretically and in practical applications.

2. Comprehend the world beyond the single dimensionality of any cultural world view, recognizing the value of other cultural perspectives, and understanding the relationship between power and perspective.

3. Understand and recognize the ubiquitous and changing forms of social inequality (specifically race, gender and class) at institutional and individual levels in the U.S. and in global society, and their consequences of exclusion, exploitation, and oppression, as well as privilege, to particular groups. .

Recommendation 3: Departments should require introductory sociology and a
capstone course in sociology as well as coursework in sociological theory,
research methods, and statistics for the sociology major.

We do not require SOC 107, Introductory Sociology as a prerequisite but do require it all three majors.  We found that if we require SOC 107 as a prerequisite there was an increasing number of students responded by delaying declaration of their major or minor in sociology or ethnic studies.  Ironically, students who did not seek an advisor—and therefore were unaware of this entrance requirement—were more likely to actively pursue a course of study with the department.  However, the consequent lack of early and consistent advisement resulted in a number of other problems (students misinterpreting the catalog, failing to take courses in the proper sequence, failing to take key courses when they were offered, etc.).  We require a capstone course for all sociology majors. All of our bachelors programs satisfies the final component of this recommendation.  All students must take SOC 350 Social Theory I, SOC 363 Methods of Social Research, and SOC 364 Data Analysis in Sociology .

Recommendation 4: Departments should infuse the empirical base of sociology
throughout the curriculum, giving students exposure to research opportunities
across several methodological traditions, providing repeated experiences in posing
sociological questions, developing theoretical explanations, and bringing data to
bear on them.

The general department description and learning objectives noted above direct students’ attention toward the importance of the practical application of the sociological imagination and social scientific methodologies in our curricula.  Beginning with SOC 107, Principles of Sociology, these themes are reinforced throughout a student’s career with the department.  In our methodology and statistics sequence, students design a research proposal and carry out a research project.  The data collected in this activity is analyzed as a part of the requirements of the statistics course.  The core theory course requires students to read, analyze and critique original (English translations when applicable) manuscripts.  A majority of our courses require library and/or internet-based reading and research which reinforce critical thinking/inquiry skills.  Oral presentations and group projects as included in a number of courses.  An examination of contemporary media coverage is often integrated into the classroom, both as a mechanism to show the currency of sociology and the particular course’s topical knowledge base to students, and as an additional means of reinforcing the distinction between information based on opinion and questionable data with that of scientific assertions and generalizations based upon concrete data gathered through the scientific method. 

Recommendation 5: Departments should structure the curriculum of required
major courses and substantive elective courses to have at least four levels with
appropriate prerequisites. At each succeeding level, courses should increase in
both depth and integration in the major while providing multiple opportunities for
students to develop higher order thinking skills and to improve their written and
oral communication skills.

Our sociology programs begin with SOC 107, Principles of Sociology and the Ethnic Studies program begins with ETS 101 Ethnic Awareness.  A majority of sections of these two introductory courses (the same can be said for the non-required SOC 101 Social Problems course) are taught by full-time members of the department.  In 107 students are provided with the fundamental history, theory and methods used by the discipline.  These skills are reinforced in the topical area or content courses that students are allowed to take thereafter.  The same is true for ETS 101, it serves as the baseline for a more in-depth analysis of the roles race and ethnicity have historically played, and continue to play, in our society; the course also introduces students to fundamental concepts, theories and research methodologies used in the discipline. 

The demographic realities the department has to deal with makes us to some extent at odds with the philosophy behind this recommendation.  While in an ideal world students would be flocking to major or minor in sociology, social services, and ethnic studies early on in their college experience, the reality at CWU is quite different.  As previously indicated, a majority of our majors come from two populations:  transfer students from community colleges, who have A.A. degrees already; and, students at CWU who have first encountered sociology, and become enamored of the field, fairly late in their college careers.  Thus, a majority of our students decide one of our programs is their ideal match as juniors and even seniors.  Requiring any additional 100 and 200 level courses would actually impede progress towards graduation. for most of our students since such course credits would not be counted in the total hours required for graduation.  Graduation requires a minimum of 60 upper-division credit hours and a total of 120 lower-division hours of which 60-80 hours are consumed by general educational requirements.  Therefore it would be a waste of our faculty resources to offer a wide array of 100 and 200 level courses.

Also, since we are a small department, which has been gradually downsized over time, each faculty member must of necessity offer a wide array of courses in order to do justice to our discipline.  In our department, CWU’s 36 hour instructional load means each faculty member will offer 7 to 8 courses per year.  This teaching load will include an average of six different course preparations spanning four or five sociological disciplines.  The breadth of courses also ensures that each faculty member is able to teach at least some courses in the areas of their own research foci, both to stay current in the field, and , lacking a pool of graduate students, to interest and recruit juniors and seniors who might then have some preparation to enable them to participate in on-going research.  As a result a number of our courses are routinely offered only once per year, or even only once every two years or so.   Students who want these courses must take them when they are offered.  This further restricts the practicality of placing all courses into a structured sequence.  Because of the unique needs of our students, then, we employ a three-tiered structure composed of 100, 300 and 400 level courses. 

The department offers three lower-division courses (which are included in the General Education program):  SOC 101 Social Problems, SOC 107 Principles in Sociology, and ETS 101 Ethnic Awareness.  The expected baseline of knowledge for those pursuing a major or minor in sociology is provided in SOC 107 Principles of Sociology.  This course (or its equivalent) provides students with the basic conceptual, analytical, theoretical and methodological tools used in 300 level classes (the same can be said for ETS 101 Ethnic Awareness which provides Ethnic Studies minors with the underpinnings necessary to take 300 level ETS courses and pursue a minor in that field).  SOC 101 Social Problems is similar to SOC 107 and ETS 101 in terms of degree of complexity and demands placed upon students, but lack the strong emphasis on many key sociological concepts, theory and methods found in SOC 107.  Therefore, at the current time, SOC 107 and ETS 101 constitute cornerstone or gateway courses for those planning advanced study in each discipline.   SOC 101 has customarily targeted students seeking to fulfill general educational requirements; although they will often prepare students sufficiently to take on 300 level courses they do not provide as great of depth on theory and methodology. 

300 level courses are more demanding (for example, assigned reading materials are more sophisticated and complex, and the expectations for performance on exams, papers and presentations is more stringent compared to the four 100/200 level courses.  As suggested above, 300 level courses presume students have mastered the general foundations of sociology and the sociological imagination (or of Ethnic Studies) in their lower-division course(s) and are now ready to pursue a more specialized topic within the discipline in greater depth based upon the skills acquired at the introductory level.   Similarly, 400 level courses require more effort and work on the part of students than do 300 level courses and typically draw upon conceptual, analytical, theoretical and methodological foundations covered in junior-level courses.  Within the range of 300 level and 400 level courses there are logical course sequences (some of which is evident in the catalog and some of which is not).  Sequencing is communicated to students through advising.  For example, through advising students learn they are expected to take research methods first and statistics second, that one cannot take the second theory class without taking the first, and that even though you might technically be eligible to take all 300 level courses as soon as one is a sophomore at CWU, some are clearly best left to the junior year after one has had the opportunity to take several other courses and had ample opportunity to hone their   

Recommendation 6: Within this four-level model, departments should also
structure the curriculum to include one (or more) content area or substantive
sequences which cut across two or more levels of the curriculum. Departments
should design sequences to develop students’ skills in empirical and theoretical
analysis along with their knowledge about one or more specialty areas within
sociology.

Portions of our current curricula are organized along these lines.  Therefore it appears we meet this standard. 
1. Ethnic Studies requires students to take ETS 101 Ethnic Awareness and either ETS/SOC 354 Minority Experience of SOC 365 Minority Groups.
2. Sociology majors must take SOC 107 Principles of Sociology and ten hours of 300 level sociology coursework prior to taking SOC 350 Sociological Theory.
3. Social Service majors must take SOC 107 Principles of Sociology and ten hours of 300 level sociology coursework before they can take the required SOC 460 Community Structure and Organization course.

Recommendation 7: Departments should structure the curriculum to develop
students’ sociological literacy by ensuring that they take substantive courses at the
heart of the discipline as well as across the breadth of the field.

With the exception of the minor in sociology (which simply requires any 20 hours beyond SOC 107), all other programs under the Sociology Department’s domain meet this recommendation.
 
In addition to the four core courses, all sociology bachelors programs require students to complete at least one course in each of the following key content areas:  Deviance and Social Control, Social Differentiation and Inequality, Social Structure and Institutions, and Social Change and Global Issues.  This format enables each student to specialize in one area of sociology while still being compelled to immerse themselves in broader aspects of the discipline at the 300 and 400 levels.

The social service major allows students to specialize in one area of sociology (12 credit hours are assigned for this purpose) while requiring a sequence of courses in five broad areas content areas of sociology specifically linked to social and human service provision:  Practice area, Analytic area, Macro considerations in social services, Social organization area, and Contemporary society area.

The minor in social services requires students to take a combination of practice, macro, and social organization courses, while allowing students to seek 16 hours of elective coursework in sociology.

In addition to three core courses offered exclusively by our department, the minor in ethnic studies requires students to take four emphasis area courses (many of these have been selected from among the routine offerings of other departments).   The emphasis areas are:  General Ethnic Concerns, African American, Hispanic American, Native American, and Asian American.  Students may take a maximum of two courses in any single emphasis area.

Recommendation 8: Departments should structure the curriculum to underscore
the centrality of race, class, and gender in society and in sociological analysis.

This has been addressed.  Social inequality is clearly the heart and soul of the Ethnic Studies program.  In sociology these topics are grouped under the Social differentiation and inequality content area, and in social services the Contemporary society area reflects these concerns.  Beyond these obvious manifestations, race, class and gender are addressed in virtually every class we offer from the introductory through senior levels. 

Recommendation 9: Departments should structure the curriculum to increase
students’ exposure to multicultural, cross-cultural, and cross-national content
relevant to sociology.

The Social change and global issues content area draws students’ attention to this concern as do courses which target cross-cultural awareness and diversity concerns (SOC 385 Comparative Sociology, and all courses in Ethnic Studies).  It should be mentioned that virtually every course we offer (from the specialized upper-division content area courses mentioned above down to the introductory level) is infused with components addressing multiculturalism, cross-cultural and cross-national issues. 
 
Recommendation 10: Departments should structure the curriculum to recognize explicitly the intellectual connections between sociology and other fields by designing activities to help students integrate their educational experiences across disciplines.

In addition to the 45 hour B.A. in sociology and the minors in sociology, social services and ethnic studies which are clearly intended to facilitate such cross-pollination of disciplines our department also provides service courses for other disciplines.  As previously indicated, those majoring in Law and Justice frequently take criminology, corrections, delinquency, deviance, law and society, and child abuse from our department; Family Studies majors often take Family, Child Abuse, and Sex Roles in Society; and Communications and Sociology cross-list a mass media course.  In   We routinely accept other department’s statistics and research methods courses as equivalencies to ours, and sometimes encourage our students to take electives outside our department as part of their sociology or social service major if that best serves a student’s needs and goals.

E. Effectiveness of instruction - Describe how the department addresses the scholarship of teaching with specific supporting documentation including each of the following:
1. Departmental teaching effectiveness – report a five-year history of the “teaching effectiveness” department means as reported on SEOIs, indexed to the university mean on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

Quarter Department Mean University Mean
Fall 2006 4.71 4.47
Winter 2007 4.33 4.33
Spring 2007 4.34 4.33
Summer 2007 4.69 4.43
Fall 2007 4.24 4.30
Winter 2008 4.45 4.33
Spring 2008 4.51 4.35
Summer 2008 4.96 4.42
Fall 2008 4.58 4.32
Winter 2009 4.50 4.31
Spring 2009 4.56 4.36
Summer 2009 4.84 4.46
Fall 2009 4.41 4.33
Winter 2010 4.41 4.34
Spring 2010 4.33 4.33
Summer 2010 4.79 4.53
Fall 2010 4.34 4.32
Winter 2010 4.41 4.34
Spring 2011 4.31 4.36
2. What evidence other than Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEOI) is gathered and used in the department to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction?

Teaching effectiveness will be assessed through quantitative and qualitative indicators generated from CWU’s (SEOI) Student Evaluation of Instruction survey …and through peer evaluation of instruction based on syllabus review and direct observation in the classroom setting….
When making personnel decisions (annual review, tenure, promotion, and merit), the department personnel committee and the department chair will base their recommendations will draw upon these two sources of information along with any other data the candidate wishes to submit to judge whether he/she has:
a) successfully demonstrate one’s ability to be sensitive, motivating and supportive of students in a non-threatening and collaborative manner;
b) stimulate student thinking about current issues from a variety of different perspectives in support of the mission and goals of the department and institution by maundering student research, internship supervision, and individual study; and
c) contribute to the overall quality and character of the sociology program by proposing new courses and redeveloping current ones.
d) Evaluation: the Sociology faculty member shall be evaluated on the basis of presentation of material, guidance and discussion, ability to communicate to students, ability to stimulate their interests, and inspire students to advance their knowledge beyond the requirements of the class. In addition, the faculty member’s effectiveness in advising students on academic matters shall be considered. The ability to communicate knowledge and to stimulate new insights in students should be one of the most important criteria for judging teaching competence.

1.1 SEOI Administration Procedures
Each full or part-time faculty member will administer the SEOI survey in every course taught at the University with an enrollment of at least 5 students (anonymity of response is more likely to be compromised when the enrollment falls below 5).  When practical, each faculty member will arrange for a member of the secretarial staff to administer the SEOI survey during the last two weeks of instruction for any academic quarter (or at the time of the final examination).  Should a member of the secretarial staff not be available at the desired time, faculty members may arrange to have a student distribute and collect the survey forms.  This student must return the completed surveys directly to the department secretary.  Faculty members may not be present in the classroom when surveys are being completed, and completed surveys may not be turned over to the faculty member.
The department secretarial staff will take responsibility for the verbatim transcription of the qualitative comments section of the SEOI, and ensure that the appropriate university office tabulates the quantitative section.  One copy of the qualitative and quantitative results will be returned to the faculty member, another will be retained in the department records. 
Adopted 3/02/04

1.2   Peer Evaluation of Instruction
Rational:

In order to provide comprehensive feedback (complementary to SEOI) to individual faculty, the department has developed this peer evaluation of instruction instrument. This instrument includes peer review of syllabi and classroom observation of teaching (see Appendix II). It is intended for professional development and growth and for internal use only. It is anticipated that each evaluator will provide a summary of the findings.

Methodology:

The Department of Sociology conducts peer review of instruction on two levels.  First, both qualitative and quantitative SEOI survey results and course syllabi are reviewed by the chair of the personnel committee and department chair as one means of assessing instructional performance.  Second, department faculty members are encouraged to pair up into dyads composed of members who offer similar courses to review syllabi.  With the exception of non-tenured tenure-stream faculty who must allow annual direct observation of their instructional performance, this dyad also has the option of conducting direct observations on classroom performance.  It is expected that the parties will engage in a dialog consisting of constructive feedback on instructional style and course logistics.  Through this exchange of information it is anticipated that the faculty will enhance their classroom performance.
(rev. 5/17/05)
There are many styles of effective teaching.  The pedagogical choices a faculty member makes are influenced not only by his or her distinctive skills and preferences, but also by the content and objectives of his or her courses.  Consequently, the procedure assumes that effective instructional practices vary, not simply from one instructor to another, but even from one class session to another.  No instructor would be expected to engage in all of the behaviors in any given class session; some are mutually exclusive, and others might be inappropriate to the learning objectives for that particular session.

General Education and Required
Sociology/Ethnic Studies Courses  Lecture Service learning/Civic Engageement Faculty directed discussion Seminar-student directed discussion Teaching experience Empirical Research Class project oral presentation Class project written assignment Collaborative learning (group projects)
SOC107 Principles of Sociology x  x   x x x x
SOC101 Social Problems x  x    x x  x
SOC205 American Society x  x     x x
SOC301 Intro. to the History of Social Service Agencies x x x      x
SOC307 Individual and Society x  x     x x
SOC310 Social Service Methods and Casework x  x     x 
SOC320 Death and Dying x  x   x  x 
SOC325 Aging x x x  x  x x  x
SOC326 Demography of Contemporary World Pop.
x  x     x 
SOC327 Sociology of Health x x x    x x 
SOC331 Sociology of Sport x        
SOC338 Political Sociology x x     x x x
SOC340 Social Interaction x  x      
SOC343 Child Abuse x  x       x
SOC344 Juvenile Delinquency x  x     x 
SOC345  Deviance x  x     x 
SOC346 Criminology x  x     x x
SOC348 Women and Crime x  x    x x x
SOC349 Law and Society x  x     x 
SOC350 Social Theory I x  x  x x x x x
SOC351 Sociology of Work x  x     x 
SOC352 Punishment and Corrections x  x    x x  x
SOC354 Minority Experience x x x    x x  x
SOC356 Sex Roles in Society x  x x  x x x x
SOC357 Sociology of Families x  x     x x
SOC362 Social Movements x      x x  x
SOC363  Methods of Social Research  x  x     x 
SOC364 Data Analysis in Sociology x  x   x  x 
SOC365 Minority Groups x  x   x x x x
SOC367 Sociology of Religion x  x   x x x 
SOC370 Social Change x  x    x x x
SOC373 Social Groups x  x    x x 
SOC375 Sociology of Conflict x  x x    x x
SOC380 Social Ecology x x x   x x x  x
SOC382 Sociology of the Future x       x 
SOC385 Comparative Sociology x  x      
SOC386 Seminar on Racism x  x x   x x x
SOC388 Women in Management x  x   x x x x
SOC415 Urban Sociology x  x    x x
SOC425 Sociology of Education x  x     
SOC442 Social Welfare Policy x  x     x x
SOC445 Social Inequality x  x    x x x
SOC450 Social Theory II x  x x x x x x
SOC459 Organizations x  x   x x x
SOC460 Community Structure and Organization x x x x    x x
SOC464 Applied Data Analysis x  x     x x
SOC490 Cooperative Education  x x   x  x
SOC492 Sociology Teaching Experience x x x x    x x
SOC494 Research Practicum  x       x
SOC495 Sociological Research  x   x x  
SOC496 Individual Study x x x x x x  x 
SOC497 Honors Thesis   x x x x  x
ETS101 Ethnic Awareness x  x     x x
ETS311 The Asian American x  x   x x x 
ETS312 Asian American Identity and Personality x  x     x x
ETS321 Survey of African American Studies x  x     x x
ETS350 Survey of Chicano Studies x  x     x  x
ETS351 Contemporary Chicano Issues x  x     x  x
ETS352 Chicano Social and Psychological Perspectives x  x     x  x
ETS354 Minority Experience x  x     x x
ETS371 Survey of American Indian Studies x  x     x  x
ETS373  American Indian Authors and Publications x  x     x  x
ETS403 American Ethnic Literature x  x     x  x
ETS471 Issues in American Indian Education x  x     x  x
ETS472 American Indian Profiles x  x     x  x
ETS490 Contracted Field Experience x     x  x
ETS496 Individual Study x x x  x x  x

3. Effectiveness of instructional methods to produce student learning based upon   programmatic goals including innovative and traditional methods – examples   include:
a. Collaborative research between student and faculty
b. Inquiry-based, open ended learning
c. Use of field experiences
d. Classic lectures
e. Lecture and inquiry based guided discussions
f. Service learning or civic engagement
g. Other innovative methods (e.g., online integration)

Each faculty member has broad discretion/freedom to choose their own instructional style and course format; however, these pedagogical approaches are routinely reviewed by other faculty.  Our courses run the gamut from those dominated by lecture, to those combining lecture and discussion formats, to courses which require group projects, activities, and presentations, to seminars in which either the faculty member or the students takes the lead in driving discussions.  The structure of our majors and minors is such that by the time a student has completed a course of study he/she will have experienced most faculty members associated with the department and an array of instructional and grading formats (se also section II.C, page 26f). 

As previously mentioned, from the introductory to senior level learning exercises, examination, and/or research activities designed to increase students’ critical thinking skills are integrated into our courses, and a number of courses emphasize political discourse, and opportunities for community activism and involvement.  The most obvious example of this is the co-operative education field placement course.  Those pursuing the 60 credit hour B.A. and B.S. in sociology are encouraged (but not required) to engage in a field-placement learning experience in the community.  The social services major requires not only a formal field placement learning component at the end of one’s studies, but it also requires 40 hours of volunteer fieldwork in the SOC 310 Introduction to Social Services course.  This is intended to increase the likelihood that students who choose this major know the real-life expectations of this field before they invest much time and energy in the major.  We don’t want them getting to the end of their second year of studies only to discover “this is not what I thought I was signing up for.”  Those engaged in field placements often use these learning opportunities as a springboard to employment and long-term volunteerism.  Occasionally, opportunities for students to become involved in political discourse at the university or community level arise and students are encouraged to pursue these opportunities as well.

The department routinely posts fliers and faculty routinely announce to their classes salient on-campus events, workshops and speakers that might afford extra-curricular learning opportunities to students.  A few allow extra-credit for participation or require participation in these activities as a part of their overall course grade.  Our department’s faculty also sponsor a number of undergraduate research activities each year which constitute out-of-class learning opportunities.  These options include the following courses:  SOC 494 Research practicum (this course is limited to qualitative research projects), SOC 495 Sociological research, and SOC 496 Independent study

The sociology department encourages undergraduate research in its independent study, sociological research, and research practicum courses in which student research projects are guided by faculty members.  Civic engagement and service learning are fostered in classroom presentations and exercises.  Service learning experiences are encouraged as a requirement or elective component of some classes, and through elective or required field placements (co-operative education placements with public sector agencies and private businesses).  Classroom pedagogy in the department includes a range of styles and options from traditional lecture courses to those including a combination of lecture and discussion, to much more free-flowing seminars with open-ended learning approaches driven by student interest and direction. 
 

The Sociology Department has been active in on-line and hybrid course development.  In Fall 2011 the department expanded the 45 credit major to an on-line format.  Students can now obtain an Sociology major on the main campus and on-line.  Faculty are involved in the assessment of course content ensuring that the on-line courses are quality courses.  In addition, faculty are involved in training other faculty to create both on-line and hybrid courses.  All of our faculty use some form of Blackboard in the some of the courses. 

F. Degree to which distance education technology is used for instruction.
1. ITV
The department teaches some courses using distance education.  Often this is the only cost effective way to reach students at the centers.  Currently we have a social service course, SOC 310,  Methods SOC 364, and Statistics SOC 363  using  ITV.  Faculty have found this method of instruction to serve students, who otherwise would not be served and for courses that are difficult if not impossible to teach completely on-line.
Online
We currently have a new on-line 45 credit Sociology major.  In addition, we teach several on-line courses throughout the year for the Social Services majors at the Pierce Center and the IDS majors at the Centers. We have an on-line Sociology minor.  These courses are taught both by full time and part time faculty.  Some of the faculty teach hybrid courses when it is appropriate for their course.

G. Assessment of programs and student learning
1. List student learner outcomes for each graduate and or undergraduate degree program and note how the outcomes are linked to department, college and university mission and goals.
a. Describe the specific method used in assessing each student learning outcome.  Also specify the population assessed, when the assessment took place, and the standard of mastery (criterion) against which you will compare your assessment results.  If appropriate, list survey or questionnaire response rate from total population (e.g., alumni, employers served).
Students are expected to demonstrate critical thinking skills.  Outcomes include the ability to identify underlying assumptions in theoretical models and arguments, distinguish between arguments based on empirical evidence and those based on opinion.  These outcomes are related to CWU goals 1 & 2 to maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life.  The goal is also related to 1 & 2 of providing and outstanding academic and student experience.  It relates to the department goal of offering a sociology program that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving skills.  Critical thinking skills provide a foundation for the acquisition of knowledge and as such are the heart of the academic experience.  This goal was selected for assessment because the department wanted to know whether students were acquiring and applying critical thinking skills in course assignments. This was evaluated through the coursework in Social Welfare Policy (Soc 442), Sociology of Work (Soc 351), and Sociology of Families (Soc 357) using a critical thinking rubric adapted from the Washington State University Critical Thinking Project 2002-2003.  In SOC 442, student prepared a policy portfolio, in SOC 351, students were assigned essays demonstrating critical thinking. Our goal is that minimal level of mastery is 90% of sociology majors meet the standards established in the critical thinking rubric.

Critical Thinking Rubric
Strong Weak
Identifies and summarizes the problem/question at issue(and/or the source’s position i.e., the position of the author Identifies the main problem and also recognizes more nuanced aspects of the issue Does not identify issue, is confused or represents the issue inaccurately
Identifies and assesses conclusions, implications and consequences Identifies and discusses conclusions, implications and consequences based on context, assumptions, reasoning, data and evidence Fails to identify or logically discuss conclusions, implications and consequences in relation to context
Identifies and assesses the key assumptions (or underlying theory) relevant to the issue. Identifies and questions key assumptions, values, ethical dimensions or underlying theory that shape or direct an argument, issue or research. Does not identify the assumptions, theory, ethics, values that underlie the issue, or does so superficially.
Idenfies and assesses the quality of supporting data/evidence and provides the additional data/evidence related to the issue. Examines the information provided, questions the accuracy, relevance and reliability of sources.  Cleary distinguishes between fact, opinion and value judgements Merely repeats the information provided, taking it as truth, or denies evidence without adequate justification.  Does not distinguish between fact opoin and value judgements
Identifies and considers multiple perspectives and positions that are important to the analysis of an issue Identifies and considers multiple perspectives and positions Deals only with a single perspective and fails to discuss other perspectives

Students will be able show knowledge in substantive area of sociology. Outcomes include the ability to summarize existing knowledge, current questions and important issues in one substantive area of sociology, and to suggest specific policy implications and research and theories in one area was also assessed through the courses Soc 442 in Fall 2007, Soc 351 in Winter 2008 and Soc 357 in Spring 2008, through written assignments evaluated using a critical thinking rubric. Soc 442 students compiled a social policy portfolio, Soc 351 students wrote 3 essays identifying shared themes and key concepts linked to specific course content areas, and Soc 357 students were assigned essays evaluating media depiction of specific course content areas.  Students evaluated in each class who were department program majors were respectively 10 in Soc 442, 15 in Soc 315, and 12 in Soc 357. Minimal level of mastery is 90% of sociology/social service majors earn a passing grade on these assignments.
Student Learning Goal #2: Students are expected to communicate effectively. Outcomes include the ability to express sociological ideas in a clear and coherent manner, make oral presentations focused on course content in group settings, and read professional-level sociological reports with understanding. These outcomes are related to CWU goals 1 & 2 to maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life.  The goal is also related to the college goals 1& 2 of providing an outstanding academic and student experience. It relates to the department goal of offering a sociology program that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving skills. Effective communication skills are an integrate part of a liberal arts education. This goal was selected for assessment because the department wanted to know whether students were acquiring and applying communication skills in course assignments.  . Student Learning Goal #2 was evaluated through the course work in Soc 365 (Minority Groups) and Soc 445 (Social Inequality) in Fall 2008 and Soc 352 (Punishment and Corrections) in Winter 2009. In these courses, all students were required to make oral presentations in class drawing upon their notebook papers. The following presentation rubrics were used to assess students’ performance.

1). Defines objectives for class presentation
2) Uses class time efficiently
3) Demonstrates enthusiasm for the subject matter
4) Communicate clearly and effectively to the level of students
5) Explains important ideas simply and clearly
6) Demonstrates command of the subject matter
7) Responds appropriately to student questions and comments
8) Encourages critical thinking and analysis

Students’ presentations were evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest). More than 90% of the students met the standards established in presentation rubrics.

Student Learning Goal #4: Students are expected to demonstrate competence in sociological theory. Outcomes include the ability to describe the role theory in building sociological knowledge, compare and contrast major theoretical orientations, and explain how theirs reflect the historical and cultural context of the times and cultures in which they were developed. This goal is related to CWU goals 1 & 2 to maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life.  The goal is also related to the college goals 1& 2 of providing an outstanding academic and student experience. It relates to the department goal of offering a sociology program that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving skills.  This goal was selected for assessment because the department wanted to know student’s level of competence in sociological theory and their ability to apply theory in analyzing social problems. . Student Learning Goal #4 was assessed in Soc 350 (Theory I) in Fall 2008. All students enrolled in Soc 350 were Sociology or Social Services majors. In assessing students’ competency in sociological theory, we looked for evidence that they could compare and contrast major theoretical orientations. In particular, they were expected to be able to: a) analyze differences between conflict theory and structural-functional theory in explaining the major changes from the European feudal system to western capitalism; and b) identify differences between conflict theory and structural-functional theory in the role of religion in the development and maintenance of American capitalism. In their essay exams, students compared Marx and Weber on these issues. The grading rubrics include degree of comprehensiveness of explanations, accuracy in identifying elements, accuracy in connecting time lines, and providing clear, logical causes and effect relationships.

After taking Soc 350, students should be able to explain how theories reflect historical/cultural context of times and cultures in which they were developed. Students responded to short essay questions in identifying assumptions and concepts utilized by Marx and Weber in their accounts of the development of modern capitalism. A set of exercises were also assigned to help students develop hypotheses based on each of Durkheim’s four types of suicide that could be empirically tested using data on contemporary groups. In both written exercises and essay exams, students were graded on accuracy in defining concepts, identification of key variables, and rationale for expected relationships between variables. Minimal level of mastery is 90% of sociology/social service majors earn a passing grade on the course.

Student Learning Goal #5: Students are expected to recognize and use different methods of sociological inquiry and data analysis. Outcomes include the ability to identify, compare, and contrast the major methodological approaches and techniques for analyzing data, design and carry out a social research project, be aware of ethical issues in research, and demonstrate basic computer skills necessary to find, create, apply, and communicate sociological information. This goal is related to CWU goals 1 & 2 to maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life.  The goal is also related to the college goals 1& 2 of providing an outstanding academic and student experience. It relates to the department goal of offering a sociology program that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving skills. This goal was selected for assessment because it is one of the core areas in the discipline. Student Learning Goal #5 was assessed in Soc 363 (Social Research Methods) in Winter 2009 and Soc 364 (Data Analysis) in Spring 2009. Both are required courses for Sociology and Social Services majors. In Soc 363, pop quizzes and exams were utilized to ascertain students’ comprehension of the various methodological approaches and techniques. In addition, students were required to complete a multi-stage research proposal. Evaluations of the research project was completed by determining the suitability of the research method(s) as well as the persuasiveness of the justification the student provided for choosing the methodology or methodologies. Soc 364 emphasizes statistics analysis. Class exercises and assignments were developed to determine students’ ability to understand and interpret key concepts in empirical research such as frequency, cross-tabular data, central tendency, measures of dispersion, probability, sampling, and confidence interval. Students completed an in-class group assignment on hypothesis testing. Other assignments required students to calculate, organize, and present data. More than 90% of the students performed satisfactorily or better in their ability to recognize and apply different methods of sociological inquiry and data analysis.

Student Learning Goal #8: Students are expected to integrate the knowledge and skills learned in the social services program with life goals and career interests. Outcomes include participation in extra curricula and service activities that elicit positive social change, application of sociological perspective in real world, professional experience, and acquiring practice skills through individually contracted field experience with social service agencies. This goal aligns with CWU goal 4 and college goal 5. It also meshes well with the department program goal #4: participate in the life of the university, local community, and professional organizations through service. Student Learning Goal #8 was assessed in Soc 460 (Community Structure and Organization) and Soc 490 (Cooperative Education), both are required courses for social services majors. Soc 460 has a focus on the structure, organization and activities of community organizations that promote positive social change.

Student Learning Goal #3: Students are expected apply a sociological perspective by describing the similarities and differences between sociology and other social sciences, identify the contributions of sociology to understanding social reality, define key concepts and apply key sociological concepts. These outcomes are related to CWU goals 1 & 2 to maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life.  The goal is also related to the college goals 1& 2 of providing an outstanding academic and student experience. It relates to the department goal of developing students’ interest and involvement in social policies and community service organizations that elicit social justice and social change. This goal was selected for assessment because the department wanted to know whether students were acquiring and applying the sociological perspective to their communities and daily life. Student Learning Goal #3 was evaluated through the course work in the senior seminar class SOC 489 in Fall, Winter and Spring quarters 2009-2010.   This course is required of all those majoring in sociology.  A rubric was used to assess the extent to which students were able to apply a sociological perspective to a current social problem.  In this case students were asked to assess the current economic crisis from a sociological perspective. Students were to answer the following question: The United States is going through a financial crisis unprecedented since the Great Depression of the 1930’s.  This crisis has broad implications and ramifications.  Looking at this from a sociological perspective, how would the central ideas of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber direct our attention to different aspects of the crisis and shed light on it. Students’ response to this question was assessed on a pass/fail basis.  More than 90% of the 44 students that were assessed  Fall, Winter and Spring quarter met the standards established in the take home essay exam rubric.

Student Learning Goal #6: Students are expected to show knowledge in substantive areas within sociology. Outcomes include the ability to summarize existing knowledge, current questions, and important issues in at least one substantive area within sociology and to suggest specific policy implications of research and theory in one area This goal is related to CWU goals 1 & 2 to maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life.  The goal is also related to the college goals 1& 2 of providing an outstanding academic and student experience. It relates to the department goal of offering a sociology program that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving skills.  This goal was selected for assessment because the department wanted to know student’s level of competence in the substantive areas within sociology and their ability to apply theory in analyzing social problems.
Student Learning Goal #6 was assessed in the Senior Capstone course SOC 489.     Evidence used for the assessment of student knowledge in the substantive areas of sociology included the use an essay exam question, which asked students to answer essay exam questions in two substantive areas. A grading rubric was designed to address the extent to which students were able to define and apply key sociological concepts in specific substantive areas. Students were able to choose two questions from a series of question from different substantive areas. Student responses to those questions were assessed using a rubric designed on a pass/fail basis. Minimal level of mastery is 90% of sociology/social service majors earn a passing grade on those two questions. More than 90% of the 44 students that were assessed Fall, Winter and Spring quarters met the standards established in the take home essay exam rubric.

2.   List the results for each student learning outcome.
a.  Provide results in specific quantitative or qualitative terms for each learning outcome.
b. Compare results to standards of mastery listed above.
c. Provide a concise interpretation of results.
Students are expected to demonstrate critical thinking skills.

Students overall performance in the evaluation of critical thinking skills was overall good.  Ninety percent of students in Soc 442 met the criteria in the critical thinking rubric used to evaluate the portfolios, earning a grade of C or better.  Ninety five percent of majors in Soc 357 met the criteria used to evaluate the assignment earning a grade of C or better.

Students will be able show knowledge in substantive area of sociology

Students in Soc 442 met the criteria in the critical thinking rubric used to evaluate the portfolios, earning a grade of C or better.  Ninety five percent of majors in Soc 357 and 95 percent of majors in Soc 351 met the criteria used to evaluate the assignment earning a grade of C or better.  The critical thinking rubric used in evaluation addresses substantive areas as well as critical thinking skills per se.

Students met or exceeded departmental goals in the outcomes assessed: critical thinking and writing skills and substantive knowledge. 
This evaluation was limited to students in courses of only three areas in sociology. Other areas should be included as well as assessment in the future should include students in a Capstone course that is limited to majors.

Sociology Department is pleased with the results of student learning assessment. Students’ work and performance was overall very solid. In all the courses that were assessed for learning outcomes, 90% or more students met or exceeded departmental standards and earned a passing grade. All department majors graduated with GPA at or above 2.25. In addition, through a diverse range of hands on activities students engaged in service to their local communities and also abroad. They applied the knowledge they gained in the classroom to the practical activities of their particular coop educational experience in a community organization. These service activities linked the university, community and agencies within the surrounding community.

The Sociology Department is pleased with the results of student learning assessment. Students’ work and performance was overall very solid. In the assessment of these two learning outcomes 90% or more students met or exceeded departmental standards and earned a passing grade. All department majors graduated with GPA at or above 2.25. In addition all graduating seniors were able to apply the sociological perspective and showed substantive knowledge in sociology as indicated in the responses to the essay questions.

3. Based upon the results for each outcome listed above describe:
a. Specific changes to your program as they affect student learning (e.g., curriculum, teaching methods.

b. List specific changes related to assessment process if any.

We were pleased with the result of the assessment of these student learning outcomes. To better assess students learning outcomes in the future, the department has added a senior capstone seminar to the core curriculum for both sociology and social services majors. The new course was approved by the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee in Winter 2008 and will be offered to the department graduating seniors in Fall 2008. It is our plan to assess more student learning outcome areas in the Capstone course.  Our assessment data confirmed that we offer a strong academic program and students are doing well in their coursework. Social Services majors are socially active and engaging through their service to the community. We will continue offering high quality courses to serve our majors as well as students in other disciplines. For some of the student learning outcomes a variety of assessment measures were utilized. However, faculty members teaching the same courses used different evaluation measures. There is a desire that we develop a common set of rubrics for the same course. To collect student learning data from indirect measures, the department has added a senior capstone seminar to the core curriculum for both sociology and social services majors. Seniors are required to enroll in the course the last quarter before they graduate. The new requirement takes effect Fall 2009. We offered the course this past year as an experiment, but did not have time developing assessment rubrics for students work and assignments. We plan to complete assessment rubrics for the course this coming year. Our assessment data confirmed that we offer a strong academic program and students are doing well in their coursework.  We will continue offering high quality courses to serve our majors as well as students in other disciplines.  The department assessed two student learning goals primarily through the senior seminar course, taught by different faculty members in fall, winter and spring. The primary measure for outcomes #3 and #6 was a departmental assessment exam that was taken by all graduating seniors.  It would be beneficial to use a variety of assessment measures in the future, which could include the portfolio in which students submit work from other courses, focus groups, and the exit interview. We developed common measures for the Senior Seminar course, including common rubrics and common course requirements used by the diverse faculty who teach this course.  

CWU Student Learning Outcome Assessment Plan Preparation Form

Department ____Sociology_________________________
Program ___________Sociology/Social Services___   ___

Department/Program Goals Related College Goals Related University Goals Method(s) of Assessment  Who/What Assessed  When Assessed (term, dates) Criterion of Achievement
1. Offer a superior sociology program that emphasizes critical thinking and problem solving skills. Goals 1 & 2: Provide for an outstanding academic and student experience  Goals 1 & 2: Maintain and strengthen an outstanding academic and student life
Goal 5: Achieve regional and national prominence for the university Required completion of ETS Major Field Test by graduating seniors
Successful performance in capstone class
Seniors enrolled in capstone course (required of all graduating seniors)

fall, winter, and spring quarters 90% of students receive a B or better on final essay exam in Capstone course.
90% of students enrolled in capstone course obtain a passing grade
2. Develop students’ interest and involvement in social policies and community service organizations that elicit social justice and social change. Goal 5: Build partnerships that support academic program quality and student experiences, including those with private, professional , academic, government, and community-based organizations Goal 4: Build mutually beneficial partnerships with the public sector, industry, professional groups, institutions, and the communities surrounding our campuses.
Civic engagement and service learning assignments
Student internships
Participation in student clubs and organizations
Volunteer service Reports and/or presentations from students who participated in these assignments or functions
Students enrolled in cooperative education courses
fall, winter, and spring quarters 30% of majors participate in service learning or community service
90% of students have satisfactory performance evaluations from worksite supervisors and staff
3. Support faculty scholarship and professional development activities and student research  Goal 4: Develop a diversified funding base to support curriculum and academic facilities, student and faculty research and scholarship Goal 3: Strengthen and further diversify our funding base and strengthen infrastructure to support academic and student programs. Conferences and workshops
presentations
Publications, awards, and grants
Students research proposals and papers Faculty and student participation in local, regional, national, and international conferences, workshops, and other venues
Ongoing/all year round 90% of faculty participate in development activities each year (conferences, workshops, trainings, forums, etc.)
50% of upper division classes require term papers or research assignments
30% of students participate in research activities (conferences, posters, class presentations, etc.)

4. Participate in the life of the university, local community, and professional organizations through service

Goal 7: Create and sustain productive, civil, and pleasant learning environments
Goal 6: build inclusive and diverse campus communities that promote intellectual inquiry and encourage civility, mutual respect, and cooperation
University, college, community, and professional organizations committee service
Sponsorship of campus and/or community events
Department faculty
Sociology majors
Fall, winter, and spring quarters
90% of faculty perform committee service
Department participates in campus and/or community programs/events each year
5. Offer a variety of sociology courses to General Education curriculum, interdisciplinary programs, and selected University Centers
Goals 1 & 2: Provide for an outstanding academic and student experience  Goals 1, & 2: Maintain an outstanding academic and student life
Number of courses contributing to general education and other disciplines
Students enrolled in these courses
Fall, winter, and spring quarters
Number of general education courses, service courses, and student FTE comparable to the number of faculty in the department

III. Faculty
A. Faculty profile – Using attached chart show faculty participation for mentoring student
research, professional service activities, scholarly activities including grant writing and teaching?  (Designate graduate or undergraduate publications or creative activities.)  (See Sample table 5)

B. Copies of all faculty vitae.

C. Faculty awards for distinction: instruction, scholarship, and service

D. Include in appendices performance standards by department, college and university.

Sample Table 5 (Section III)
Tenured and Tenure-track Faculty Profile

2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010  
# faculty
TT - T %  of faculty  #  faculty
TT - T %  of faculty  # faculty
TT - T %  of faculty  #  faculty
TT - T % of faculty  # faculty
TT - T % of faculty  5-yr total Annual avg % of faculty
* Scholarship Measures:  (Use categories applicable to your departmental & college criteria)
(e.g. peer reviewed articles) 2  2  2  3     
(e.g. abstracts/conference proceedings) 1  1      1   
(e.g. conference presentation) 4  5  5  6  5   
Other, etc. 1  5  2  4  3   
* Grants:   (Use categories applicable to your departmental & college criteria)
External             
      Funded  /  Unfunded            
Internal  1           
      Funded  /   Unfunded            
* Service measures:   (Use categories applicable to your departmental & college criteria)
CWU Committees 6  5  5  6  6   
State Committees 1  1  1  1  1   
Leadership & Service - Professional Organizations 2  2  2  2  2   
Community Service 4  2  1  1  1   
Other     1  1  1   
* Faculty Mentored Research:   (Use categories applicable to your departmental & college criteria)
Undergrad projects / SOURCE 7 100 7 100 7 100 7 100 6 100  
Graduate Committees – Supervising thesis/projects 1  1  1       
Graduate Committees – Participation thesis/projects 1  2  1  1  1   
Other            

A response to all four main categories is mandatory.
The details to support each category should be applicable to your department & college criteria.
The composition of the faculty changed a great deal between 2005 and 2010.

IV. Students – For five years
A. Student accomplishments (include SOURCE, career placement information, etc.).  List  students working in field; students placed in master’s or doctoral programs.

Name SOURCE Job Placement Master’s Program Doctoral Program Juris Doctorate
Jenny Whiteman   London School of Economics  Oklahoma State University
Nick Falone  Boys and Girls Club - AR  
Arlene Delgado  Associate Program Supervisor for School Age Program  
Midori Johnson Source   
Kelli Jacobson   MSW 
Toni Stallman   MSW 
Courtnie Martin  Placement   
Jess Lindquist Source Theft Prevention Specialist  
Kathy Younkin   Family Studies 
Anthony Peterson Source   
David Kim   Criminology (WSU) 
Kristina Bales   UW Tacoma 
Heather Gorden   Social Work (Walla Walla) 
Carrie Bland   MA Divinity 
Emily Williams   Public Administration (ASU) 
Brittany Vierra   Middle East and Islamic Studies (American University of Paris) 
Michelle Johnson   Sociology (Atlanta) 
Kevin Haydon   Water Resources (CWU) 
Joshua Parker   Psychology (CWU) 
Melissa Denner Source  Psychology (CWU) 
Sarah LaCombe  Matt Talbott Center Seattle  
Sarah Murphy  Outreach Coordinator Seattle  
Tyler Pendergast  Youth Program Alaska  
Jenelle Dean  Hope Source/moved to service agency in Seattle  
Brittany Lethgo  Activities Coordinator Retirement Center Auburn  
Arlene Delgado Source  MSW (Eastern) 
Midori Johnson Source   

.

B. Provide one masters project (if applicable); two will be randomly selected during site visit.  Available in either the library or through the departmental office.

C. Describe departmental policies, services, initiatives, and documented results for successful student advising.
We have a sound record of academic advising in the department.  Many students who decide to drop their original course of studies by switching to a program with our department have indicated our reputation for advising was a key consideration in their decision.  While all faculty members are required to take on advisees, we do not assign students to faculty members.  Rather students are expected to seek out the faculty member with whom they have the best rapport.  This means some faculty carry disproportionately greater numbers of advisees, and students may begin their advisement under the tutelage of one faculty member and move on to a second or a third as their needs and interests change.  The role of the faculty in advising is two-fold.  First to ensure that the student’s interests are best served through the pursuit of one of our programs as opposed to other academic units, and second, to guide the student through their chosen major or minor.  Advisement does not stop at the office door; faculty members also announce changes in course availability and make recommendations about other related courses with each class they offer throughout the year.   Department advising also extends to outreach activities; faculty have served as student organization and learning community advisors and resource contacts, we have never failed to be represented at transfer student orientation events and major fairs, or to meet with prospective students through the Campus Visitation Program.

For many students advising begins when they review the following section of our Student Handbook which is posted on our department’s web page (reproduced below).

DECLARING A MAJOR OR MINOR—Admission Policy

Once a student has formally registered for classes at CWU he/she may declare a major or minor in one of our programs.  Students are encouraged to declare a major or minor as soon as possible and certainly before they have earned 100 university credit hours.  Coursework planning is important to avoid delays in completing graduation requirements.

Declaration Forms for programs in Sociology, Social Services, and Ethnic Studies can be obtained from the department office or the web page and must be completed and signed by a Sociology Department advisor.

Steps in declaring a major or minor

• Select a Sociology Department advisor (See "Selecting an Advisor" below).  If you do not have a preference, the department will assist you in locating a faculty member to help you with your major or minor declaration.
• Meet with your department advisor to discuss your academic and career goals.  The advisor will help you select a program of study that most closely matches your academic and career goals (you may change your major or minor at a later date by submitting another declaration form). 
• Once you have selected the specific program you plan to pursue you should complete the declaration form and have your advisor sign it.  Note: if you leave the catalog year portion of the declaration form blank you will automatically be enrolled under the current year’s catalog requirements.  Therefore, if you wish to utilize a previous year’s catalog you must indicate this on the form. 
• Submit the completed form to the Department Secretary for processing.
Selecting an Advisor
If you have contemplated pursuing a course of studies with the Sociology Department, it is very important to discuss your academic and career goals with an advisor affiliated with our department.  Any Sociology Department faculty member may be selected as an advisor, and you may change advisors at any time.  This person can assist you in deciding whether one of our programs (or a program offered elsewhere on campus) is really the best option given your career and academic goals.  If it is determined that your interests and goals can best be served through our curriculum, the advisor will suggest the most appropriate major (or minor) to enroll in.  You will also be provided with information regarding the specific requirements of the major (or minor) and guidance as to when you should take certain courses.
While students are only required to see an advisor when a major or minor is first declared, it is recommended that you to consult with your advisor on a quarterly basis, and certainly at a minimum once per year.  This faculty member may have important information to pass along about changes in course scheduling; opportunities for extra-curricular activities; or other information which might affect the quality and efficiency of academic progress.  During general advising and in classroom announcements, students are reminded to obtain a CAPS report at the close of their junior year and to have it reviewed by their advisor to assure smooth progress in meeting all graduation requirements.
CHOOSING COURSES: WHAT AND WHEN?
The next section of your handbook lists course requirements for the various majors in sociology. (You can find the same thing in your University Catalog).   Knowing what courses you must take to complete a specific major is only the first problem in completing your studies efficiently and productively. We would like to discuss some other things for you to consider.
Most courses are taught only once each year. Because of the extensive range of courses we offer, combined with limited faculty to teach each course, most courses are offered once a year.  This is especially true of many upper-division (300-400) courses. This is a vital consideration when planning your major or minor with the department.  You must plan ahead!  Seeing your advisor on a quarterly basis is a good way to ensure successful progress in your chosen major or minor.  For additional aide and course information, the Sociology department prints a course schedule for the up-coming quarter. The schedule is posted outside the main office and is posted on this website.
Some courses have prerequisites. Be careful to note in the catalog whether a course requires you to complete another course(s), have a certain class standing, or to have a specific number of credits in sociology, before you are allowed to register in it.
Courses may be taught in a sequential pattern. Although some courses do not have formal prerequisites, it may not be wise to take them before taking other courses. The background content gained in one course may be invaluable when taking the next course in the sequence. For example, it would be advisable to take “Introduction to Social Services” before taking “Social Welfare Policy.” Your advisor and the course instructors can assist you with course planning.
Because of course prerequisites, course sequencing, and because a particular course may only be taught once each year, it is essential that schedules be planned early in the major.
Approved Electives for Sociology Majors:
All upper-division courses taught within the department (those with either a SOC or ETS prefix) constitute approved electives in sociology. 
With the prior approval of your advisor and the department chair, in certain (unusual) instances an upper-division course taken from another academic discipline may be accepted as an elective for the major in sociology; outside courses are not permissible for the minor in sociology.  In order to exercise this option a student must address the rationale for including the proposed course with their advisor before enrolling in the course and secure the advisor’s signature on an Approved Electives form (it can be obtained from our main office).  Your advisor will then discuss this with the department chair to obtain her/his approval.
Approaches to choosing electives:
• Consider the relevance of the course to your occupational goals.
• Consider how the course might contribute to your personal growth.
• Discuss the course with your advisor.
• Discuss the course with the instructor.
• Go to the University bookstore and review the course textbook(s).
• When in doubt, take a course from an instructor you have not had. Each instructor has a unique, individual perspective.

D. Describe other student services offered through the department including any    professional societies or faculty-led clubs or organizations and their activities.

The department routinely posts fliers and faculty routinely announce to their classes salient on-campus events, workshops and speakers that might afford extra-curricular learning opportunities to students.  A few allow extra-credit for participation or require participation in these activities as a part of their overall course grade.  Our department’s faculty also sponsor a number of undergraduate research activities each year which constitute out-of-class learning opportunities.  These options include the following courses:  SOC 494 Research practicum (this course is limited to qualitative research projects), SOC 495 Sociological research, and SOC 496 Independent study. 

In addition, the department sponsors a Sociology Student Club (has sponsored brown bag seminars and a peer advisement program) and the Alpha Kappa Delta (sociology honors society).

V.  Facilities & Equipment by location

A. Describe facilities available to department and their adequacy (program delivery location, size, functionality, adjacencies, lighting, ventilation, finishes, plumbing, electrical outlets, etc.).  Describe anticipated needs in the next three to five years.

The department is located on the fourth floor of Farrell Hall.  There is no ceiling on the fourth floor and as a result it is often cold in the winter, so faculty and staff must bring heaters to keep warm enough to work.  In addition, the restrooms are not vented and tend to be loud, which is often a distraction for faculty, staff and students.  The classroom and conference room on the fourth floor are loud and it can be difficult to teach class, students can’t hear and faculty members cannot hear.  The walls are beige and boring, which impacts student learning. The department has a small Computer Center (lab) located in Farrell Hall 420.   The department needs adequate venting in the restrooms and a ceiling installed throughout the fourth floor.

B. Describe equipment available to department include program delivery location and its adequacy (office furniture, instructional fixtures, lab equipment, storage cabinets, specialty items, etc.)  Describe anticipated needs in the next three to five years.

The facility has eight PC’s and one printer.  No student assistants are assigned to the lab by CSS.  Some of the PC’s need to be updated in the next three to five years.

C. Describe technology available to department include program delivery location and its adequacy (computers, telecommunications, network systems, multi-media, distance education, security systems, etc.).  Describe anticipated needs in the next three to five years.

The facility has eight PC’s, one printer, and various software programs (SPSS, Practice Graduate Records Exam, etc.).  The network systems are slow.  There is a need to update software programs to participate in research. 

VI. Library and Technological Resources by location

A. Describe general and specific requirements for library resources by program and location that assist in meeting educational and research objectives. Indicate ways in which the present library resources satisfy and do not satisfy these needs. Describe anticipated needs as to the next 5 year period.
Comprehensive library resources are essential to the ability to carry on productive roles as educators and scholars.  Academic and applied research is facilitated by having access to archives containing both current and historical social scientific journals, a broad range of government and organizational records and reference materials, academically-oriented books, and media holdings (ranging from microfilm collections to videotapes/disks and data sets).  Similarly, a well maintained catalog of holdings is essential to the instructional process in order to prepare students to be more informed and literate citizens.  The budget cuts experienced by this institution in general, and the library specifically, have compromised its ability to meet the needs of both faculty and students in the sociology and ethnic studies disciplines.  The staff of the library seems sufficient in size to meet our needs and they have clearly been innovative in attempting to adapt to stressful funding circumstances.  Perhaps most notably they have opened up the lines of communication between departments and the library.  In sum, we appreciate and praise their efforts to meet the needs of the department and overall institution.  However, due to the funding constraints placed upon the library we have lost access to a number of journals and continuing reference sets over the period under review (exacerbating prior declines in library holdings), and the acquisition of new books and media has not kept pace with changes in the sociological and ethnic studies’ knowledge base.  Early on in the five-year period under review the department did not feel that it was adequately consulted when cuts were made in holdings related to our discipline, this communication gap has been rectified.  Prior library staff and managers seldom spoke with departments about their decisions, nor did they seem overly concerned with the impact their actions might have on instruction and scholarship.  Journals were discontinued based upon a cost-savings model without regard to department need (without consultation subscriptions to less essential journals were retained while subscriptions to more critical journals were not), and older journals, data sets, and bulletins were discarded in the interests of increasing storage space for more recent materials (thereby losing a wealth of historical information pertinent to our discipline).

The expansion of interlibrary loan programs and electronic holdings has been used to fill some of the dearth in local resources.  While interlibrary loan programs inarguably provide us with access to materials we might not otherwise have and our faculty have found these resources to be quite useful, these programs are not equivalent to having a comprehensive adequately-funded library on our own campus.  Interlibrary loan complicates and lengthens the academic process.  One cannot as readily obtain the information in a timely fashion.  While we have found the research staff to be highly skilled and we have been quite impressed with the expansion of library search engines, it is more complicated and time consuming to order materials through interlibrary loan than it is to pick them out of one’s own stacks.  Moreover, the art of perusing the stacks searching for “just the book or study you were looking for” has been increasingly lost as we have been more and more reliant on interlibrary loan to make up for inadequate up-to-date holdings.  Due dates have necessarily needed to be shortened with shared resources, and many documents and media are simply not included among the list of items libraries are willing to share off site.  Electronic subscriptions have not replaced many of the lost journals, and electronic journals and photocopies received from interlibrary loan seem cold and impersonal (the computer screen and copy paper are clearly no replacements for the feel of a book or journal and being able to appreciate how many of one’s colleagues and students have pondered the same material as evidenced by the wear on the pages).  The loss of paper copies of journals also inhibits our B.S. majors (and others) from browsing the breadth of issues covered under a given area of study (for example, gender studies or organizational analysis) since focusing on specific topics in a computer search doesn’t convey how the field has developed or is organized.

Having said this, the department utilizes the library in the following ways:
1.   Faculty conduct research and prepare lecture and other course materials utilizing library holdings and interlibrary loan
2.  Faculty assign research projects and papers to students that requires the utilization of library resources
3.  Students conduct research and write thematic papers based on library holdings and materials received via interlibrary loan
4.  Faculty and students use the assistance of computerized library data bases and the library research staff to facilitate the acquisition of the above materials
5.    Our department’s library representative  works closely with library staff to order texts, journals, and media resources within the funding parameters provided by the library
6.  The library liaison to sociology  assists faculty members with library resource utilization on an individual level as well as addressing a department meeting on library resources and the types of assistance he can offer us
7.  Faculty assign reserve readings for classes which are housed in the library
8.  Faculty utilize media resources (videotapes/disks which are purchased by and housed in the library
9.  Faculty have occasionally arranged library tours and invited library staff to provide class lectures on library resources and search procedures.
B. Describe the information technologies faculty regularly and actively utilize in the classroom. Describe anticipated needs as to the next five year period.
Faculty regularly use the computers in the classrooms for presentations.  These are old and need updating.  Many times this technology takes 10-15 minutes to turn on and so if the computers are turned off so class time is often wasted waiting for the technology.  There are no document readers etc. in the classrooms in Farrell and these will need to be updated.  The technology in the classroom needs updating.

C. Describe technology available to department and its adequacy. Describe anticipated needs as to the next five year period.

The technology available to the department primarily is the teaching technology in the classroom, which is described above.  The faulty is in need of research support, such as, recording instruments for focus groups and other qualitative data collection.  

Once the department has completed the above sections, there will be a planned departmental retreat where the last three sections will be discussed.  The results of that discussion will be added to the self-study document.  These sections are among the most important and will be the basis for academic planning by the department.

VII. Analysis of the Review Period

A. What has gone well in the department and each degree program(s)?

1. Explain accomplishments of the past five years.
1. The sociology curriculum was substantially revised. 
a.  We strengthened the core requirements for the 45 and 60 hour B.A. degrees in sociology making these two programs more rigorous and competitive in the marketplace. 
b.  We continued to revise the four key content areas to reflect the strengths of our faculty and changes in the discipline.
c.   The faculty have resurrected past courses which were not being taught (Organizations, Sociology of Education, Demography, Comparative Sociology, Sociology of Conflict, Sociology of Sport, Urban Sociology) and created new courses (Globalization, Immigration).
2. The department has maintained diversity among its faculty.
3. During the period under review a supportive work environment at the department level continued and grew. This synergy has provided us with the foundation for a culture of teaching and collegiality.
4. During a period of decreased instructional resources and enrollment growth, we were actually willing and able to accommodate more students.  We increased the diversity of our offerings by shifting resources and faculty agreed to accept larger class sizes to meet student demand.  (an increased workload of 33% per class).  To address class size issues when instructional resources and enrollment stabilizes we set enrollment caps for upper division courses at 36, which is more conducive to student learning.
5. Our attrition rates have gone down.  Though some of the improvement is certainly unrelated to our actions, our emphasis on student advisement and curricular planning has contributed to student success and retention.
6. We have been able to utilize summer profits to help meet critical needs.
a.   Summer profits generated by our department have allowed us to purchase laptop and desktop computers for department members making up some of the deficit in university-supplied computer technology.  These funds have also allowed us to purchase books, computer programs, instructional videos, etc. that we would otherwise not have had.  
b.  This revenue stream has also allowed us to (minimally) support faculty in professional travel and research.
c.   This revenue stream has also provided fund for faculty to buy material needed for research endeavors.
d.    This revenue stream has also provided support for dwindling state support for goods and services budgets.

2. How have accomplishments been supported though external and internal resources?
1. As previously stated, summer profits have been critical for the department’s professional development, scholarship and technology.  We plan to continue to use summer money to upgrade and increase faculty technology and research with matching university/college funds. 

B. What challenges exist for the department and for each degree program?

1. Explain major challenges of the past five years.
2. List likely causes of each challenge as supported by documented evidence.

        a.  We continue to lack a graduate program and dedicated social scientific survey research facility which are necessities when competing for external research grants.  The department has made requests to college and administrative officials for such a facility.  Although we would like to offer a graduate program, we lack the instructional resources to field one. 
        b.  We have attempted to fund scholarship through our summer profits.  However, this source of funding is inadequate and we have experienced challenges when attempting to locate other internal funding mechanisms.  Currently one must apply for internal funds at multiple locations (the college, the Faculty Senate, and multiple university levels) in order to maximize opportunities for CWU support.  Presuming a coordinated procedure and clearinghouse for internal support for research could be developed (we do not know whether it is possible to cultivate the interest or funding to take on such a Herculean task), a streamlined process would no doubt prove beneficial to all faculty and departments.
2.    We would like to put more energy into sustaining a student culture in the department. 
3.     Electronic facilities are needed in all classrooms.
4.    Create a physical environment that supports teaching, research and thinking by reducing noise and temperature fluctuations in the classrooms and offices.  Most faculty members are forced to use supplemental heaters in their office in order to feel comfortable.
         a.  These changes have been repeatedly requested but they have been ignored/denied.
5.     The Ethnic Studies Program will require further expansion in order to meet the needs of our students, region and state.
        a.  We plan to request additional faculty (with appropriate specializations) in subsequent years.
6. Employ and retain qualified adjunct faculty on the Ellensburg and extension campuses.
        a.  This has proven to be a difficult process.  Ellensburg lacks a large population base and, as a result, there have been times during the past five years where we have been authorized to employ adjunct faculty but could not find them.  Westside candidates are reluctant to relocate without a full-time annual contract.  Similarly, contracts for adjunct and contractual (FTNT) faculty come out too late in the spring to retain them due to their need to ensure employment, income, and living arrangements in a timely way.  It is only minimally easier to locate suitable adjunct faculty at the centers.  Perhaps the university needs to reconsider the pay rates for part-time instructors.  Continuity and knowledge of programs are concerns with part-time faculty

C. What past recommendations from the previous program review have been implemented?

1. How has each recommendation been implemented and how have the department and degree programs been impacted?
2. Which recommendations were not implemented and why?

D. Make a comparison between the last program review and where the department is now.

  1.  How have the advances been supported (e.g., internal and external resources)? 
  2. Are there still outstanding, unmet needs/challenges from the last program                 review?   What has the department done to meet these challenges?
First, the department would like to stress that its faculty found the program review process to be time consuming but in the end a highly useful activity.  The department had previously expressed the desire for an external review of its programs, but without a university wide mechanism it simply wasn’t going to occur.  Dr. Ted Wagenaar’s evaluation of the department was largely accepted as both valid and utilitarian.  Second, the department considers the response to program review to be an on-going process.  Adjustments or corrections in course can not be made instantaneously; action plans are evolving efforts which will no doubt continue until the department’s next program review cycle.

1. Program Goals and Student Learning Outcomes
In response to Dr. Wagenaar’s and Dean Miller’s recommendations, department faculty spent a significant amount of time in the past two years revising and expanding program goals and developing a comprehensive assessment plan.  During the 2006/07 academic year, department faculty studied ASA guidelines on student assessment planning.  The outcome was a draft version of a more comprehensive set of program goals as well as student learning outcomes.  At the close of spring quarter of 2007, however, it was widely recognized that the department had been a bit too enthusiastic in that effort and both lists had then become too long and complicated.  It was determined that one of the first tasks of the 2007/08 academic year would be to narrow the lists down a bit.  During the fall quarter of 2007/08 academic year, a more realistic set of program goals was adopted in light of the faculty specialties and department resources.  A new assessment plan was also put in place.  We have continued to implement our assessment plan. Please see our assessment plan and year end assessment report for details.

2. Assessment Tools
The department likewise discussed the need to improve upon the evaluation strategy employed in its assessment plan.  While the MFAT provides some useful information it does not appear to be a sufficient tool in and of itself.  The department discussed the effectiveness of the MFAT, given that it tests on areas we do not offer and the costs to our students.  As a result of those discussions we eliminated the MFAT and instituted a senior essay exam and portfolio.  To this end, we institutied a capstone course, in which students take the exit exam and produce a portfolio.  The department discussed the ways in which a revitalized the graduating senior survey might be used as another measurement tool.  Post-graduate surveys were discussed as a means of collecting information, but it was determined that these would require a university sponsorship given the overall cost and historically low response rates.  Similarly, we discussed using a course embedded approaches.  

3. Curriculum Revision
Several curriculum changes occurred in response to the program review recommendations.  First, both Dean Miller and Dr. Wagenaar recommended curricular reform; specifically a lack of a statistics requirement in the 45 hour B.A. program and, given low enrollments, the necessity of the 75 hour B.S. program.  In spring 2007 the department voted unanimously to require statistics in all sociology programs.  Paperwork was submitted the fall of 2008 and the new requirement was to be in effect at the beginning of 2008/09 academic year.  The new tenure track hire in the areas of statistics will enable the department to offer the statistics course each quarter and meet students demand for the course.  The faculty spent a great deal of time discussing the merits of the B.S. program.  It was finally determined that it should be retained before other curriculum changes take place.  After further discussion the B.S. program was eliminated.

Second, a new senior capstone course was added to both sociology and social service programs, providing graduating seniors an opportunity to reflect upon their educational experience in the department and prepare for the transition from CWU to life after college.  The seminar requirements include a portfolio, self assessment paper, resume/vita, job/graduate school search assignment, and an essay  test.  It is our hope that the senior portfolio will also assist the department in student learning assessment.

Third, Cumulative GPA for department majors has been increased to 2.3, higher than the university requirement.  We have made curriculum changes to revive the honors in sociology program.  Major changes include: a 3.5+ cumulative GPA, 10+ credits in sociological research work, completion of a research project, and a public presentation.

Fourth, faculty members have continued our discussion on revising the existing categories of courses. During the faculty retreat in spring 2008, we began to map out areas of concentration/specialization within sociology degree program.  This work is continueing. In addition, the department has been discussing ways in which we can strengthen the social service B.S. degree and the justifications for and Bachelor of Science degree as opposed to a Bachelor of Arts.

4. Department Visibility
The department remains at somewhat of a loss regarding the challenge or call to increase the department’s visibility and reputation on campus raised by Dean Miller and Dr. Wagenaar.  Many of the faculty members have participated on university committees and presentations; the department customarily exhibits one of the highest student-to-faculty ratios on campus (especially in upper-division courses through its service coursework).  Perhaps what is necessary is to revitalize some members of the department who tend not to contribute to these efforts and doing what does not come natural to this particular mix of individuals—bragging about and circulating our accomplishments.  However, we did begin to promote the sociology program by bringing speakers to campus and co-sponsoring university wide programs such as Symposium Without Borders and Natural History Mead Film and Video Festival.  Some faculty members are receiving media attention surrounding Occupy Wall Street and social movements.  We developed a FB page and have ** friends, which suggests that maybe we are becoming more visible.  The chair of the department works half time as the inclusivity coordinator (CDO) for the President’s Office, which may also help to increase our visibility on campus.

Category VIII. Is the single most important category in the self-study document.

VIII. Future directions

A. Describe the department’s aspirations for the next three to five years.

1. Over the next three years we would like to see continued growth in faculty resources with the hope of achieving critical mass.
a. Due to university-wide and department enrollment growth (complicated by the department’s inability to fully adapt to downsizing) the department requires a faculty base on the main campus sufficient in size to meet its instructional demands if it is to maintain superior academic programs.
b. Expansion of faculty resources would similarly provide the foundation for shared research interests and greater specialization within the department, increasing research opportunities and revitalizing extant faculty in this arena.
2. Over the next three years we want to retain the strong interdependent relationship between Ethnic Studies program and Sociology. 
a. This program is at the forefront of the department’s commitment to diversity, and we are the only campus unit with faculty load (instructional duties) directly assigned to this program. 
3. Given 1 and 2 above, over the next five years we wish to continue to increase the course offerings in ETS and Sociology to meet student needs.
4. Over the next three years we plan to review the Social Services program.  While the department revised its Sociology and Ethnic Studies programs during the current period this important programmatic task was delayed by hiring difficulties associated with a faculty position critical to the program.  Now that Cheri Johnson (MSW)  has joined our ranks this applied sociology program will be evaluated and restructured to better mesh with changes in student and employer needs as well as our current mix of faculty .  We plan to review various accredidation standards to see if they mesh with our programmatic goals for the Social Service Program.
5. We would like to continue to develop on-line and hybrid courses, programs and co-curricular events.
6. Within the next five years we would like to obtain the resources necessary to reestablish the LINK study abroad program in Mexico and further develop similar programs in China, Africa, and Europe.  These cultural immersion program not only increased students’ understanding of ethnic diversity and social variation, but it increased their employment potential with social service and law enforcement agencies working with Hispanic populations, in the case of Mexico, and other student groups as our international student population grows. We would also like to explore the possibility of creating additional comparative opportunities for our students in Canada and among subcultural populations within America to enhance students’ awareness of diversity. 
7. Throughout the next three to five years we intend to continue our efforts to foster civic engagement and political responsibility among faculty and students alike.
8. Given the wide array of courses each faculty member teaches we would like to increase our ability to attend conferences, workshops, and training sessions addressing these issues to better prepare us as teachers.
9. Each year we hope to further enhance our ability to use technology in the classroom.
10. We would certainly like to continue to attract and serve the interests of a vibrant diverse student population.  Maintaining diversity among the ranks of our faculty and staff is a vital component in this endeavor.
11. Within the next three years we hope to reinstitute the department colloquy as a platform to bring outside experts to campus as well as a forum for our faculty to address issues confronting American and global society.  This would not only enhance the knowledge base of students and faculty, but it could serve as a platform for faculty and student interaction within and across departments and colleges.
12.  Within the next five years we hope to investigate and determine whether we have the support to offer a Social Justice MA program.
13.  Within the next 3-5 years we hope to develop a diversity/inclusivity social justice center.

B. In this context, describe ways the department or unit plans to increase quality, quantity, productivity, and efficiency as a whole and for each program.  Provide evidence that supports the promise for outstanding performance.
1.The department sees itself as already being at the peak of its efficiency for its size. 
a.  Our faculty typically offer seven to eight course sections and six distinct course preparations per year. Often faculty offer new and exciting courses, which also means that there are often new preps.  As we begin to offer an on-line major, faculty are becoming experts in on-line delivery and preparing new courses. The fact that the department’s instructional resource base is rather small, and the breadth of our discipline is quite large, further complicates our work roles.  Our course preparation (and delivery) will typically be spread across three to five unique fields within sociology and ethnic studies.  Therefore, our faculty must be prepared to offer courses in quite disparate subjects.  This increases the time it takes to prepare (i.e. reading and background research) for our instructional assignments compared to those who have fewer preparations or whose disciplines have narrow or overlapping content areas.  In addition, one FTTT faculty is reassigned 50% to the President’s Office and another FTTT faculty member is on leave, the classes that they teach then have to be taught by someone else in the department, which often constitutes another new prep.

2.     In the past we had a vibrant student organization; currently we are having difficulty maintaining student interest in this organization.
3.     We recognize that we are experiencing role strain:  our energy and time have been sapped by increased committee work and larger classes, and this has negatively impacted research agendas.  We are committed to finding greater balance in our professional lives and a reduction in this role strain.
4.     Sociology and social services majors score above the mean on the MFAT exam.
5.     Our students are encouraged and given the opportunity to develop and conduct their own research projects.
6.     Our students are placed in graduate and professional programs at respectable levels.
7.     Our faculty are active in their professional lives outside of teaching.

C. What specific resources would the department need to pursue these future directions?
1. We need to develop a data base to track our students’ progress after graduating.
a.  Completing this self-study has shown us that we know very little about the lives of our graduates after they leave campus.  We need to secure support for this project.
2.   The university must provide funding for installing ceilings in Farrell Hall to make faculty more comfortable. 
3.    The university must provide funding for technology in the classroom and in department offices.
4.    We need to locate resources to cover the cost of travel, per diem, and honoraria in order to build a functional speaker series.   
5.    The department would appreciate a greater understanding of the competing demands we face:  the dilemmas of ensuring quality teaching over the broad array of courses that need to be taught in this discipline, and conducting research within labor intensive data gathering methodologies in a department without a graduate program.

D. What do you want us know that is not included in this self-study.

IX.  Suggestions for the program review process or contents of the self-study?