Revised: 5/08/03

A&L Indicators of Quality

Performance measures to be tracked longitudinally by department/school as appropriate. Three-year pilot project, beginning January 2002; the reporting year is the prior calendar year unless otherwise specified. Due date for the reports is August 1.

Counts of students and faculty are to be taken at the quarter of the fall semester unless otherwise specified. For these indicators (TS) faculty count both tenure system faculty and continuous fixed term faculty.

Both the requested numbers and appropriate documentation should be provided. Numbers for the non-option questions should be provided on the spreadsheet that can be obtained via the link at the end of this document.

1) Faculty publication/performance rate

a. Books (in areas covered by academic programs offered or jointly offered by the College of Arts & Letters) published by major presses; number of books per tenure system (TS) faculty ("major" understood to mean university presses or other presses, e.g. Norton, that are nationally recognized as publishers of high quality volumes in arts and humanities fields; each unit to determine which presses are to be considered "major" and whether to count co-authored volumes; edited volumes not counted in this measure). Provide the number of (TS) faculty, the number of books, and the number of books per (TS) faculty. Also either provide the criteria utilized or a list of those presses that count as "major presses."

b.   Articles (in areas covered by academic programs offered or jointly offered by the College) in peer-reviewed, highly selective journals (for which the selection process and acceptance rates are known); number of articles per TS faculty (each unit to determine, in light of known acceptance rates, what is to count as "highly selective"; each unit to determine whether and how to count co-authored articles). Provide the number of (TS) faculty, the number of articles, and the number of articles per (TS) faculty. Also either provide the criteria utilized or a list of those journals that count as "highly selective."

c.   Exhibitions or performances of national or international prominence (where the selection process is known); number per TS faculty. Please provide the number of (TS) faculty, the number of exhibitions or performances, and the number of exhibitions or performances per (TS) faculty. Also provide the criteria utilized to determine "prominence."

d. and e., optional.  Up to two additional measures of publication/performance rate (in areas covered by academic programs offered or jointly offered by the College), to be determined by each unit.

2) Graduate student placement and awards

a.   Percentage of graduate (terminal) degree recipients moving into TS positions in first year after graduation; in TS positions in the fifth year after graduation. (Determined by date on which position begins and length of time before that date that degree was received.) List the number of graduate degree recipients and the number holding TS positions for both the first and fifth years as well as calculating the two percentages.

b.  Percentage of graduate (terminal) degree recipients in non-TS academic positions in the first year after graduation; in non-TS academic positions in the fifth year after graduation. (See parenthetical remark in 2a.) List the number of graduate degree recipients and the number holding non-TS positions for both the first and fifth years as well as calculating the two percentages.

c.  Percentage of graduate (terminal) degree recipients in non-academic positions but in work areas related to disciplinary training, in first year after graduation; in non-academic but discipline-related placements in fifth year after graduation. (See parenthetical remark in 2a.) List the number of graduate degree recipients and the number holding non-academic positions for both the first and fifth years as well as calculating the percentage.

d.   Number of awards and fellowships (external to the unit) won by graduate students. Also provide the number of different graduate students winning awards. Each unit to determine how "awards" is to be defined, e.g., whether a publication or acceptance of a conference paper or invitation to perform or exhibit work should count, and how the quality of the venue(s) can be demonstrated.  Please supply the criteria used to determine what counts as an "award."

3) Funding awards

a.  Number of grant applications submitted to external granting sources (including federal agencies, state agencies, foundations, and other peer refereed funding sources) via Contracts and Grants and on which an individual holding an academic appointment in the unit is formally listed as PI or co-PI, or equivalent (e.g. project director) as required by the funding source. Number of applications awarded funding.

b.   Number of dollars awarded via the contracts and grants process. Also the number of dollars expended.

c.  Number applications for external fellowships made by TS faculty as well as number of those awarded. These are to be individual fellowships that are awarded via competitive processes, e.g., ACLS, NEH, etc., for which the selection process is known and involves peer review. These are not grant applications that need to be submitted via Contracts and Grants.

4) Diversity of faculty and students

a.  Number and percentage of TS faculty who are women. Number and percentage of (self identified) members of each protected class minority (as covered by MSU's affirmative action and diversity guidelines). The fall semester faculty count should be used. Please provide the number of faculty and the number of faculty in each category as well as calculating the percentage.

b.  Number and percentage of undergraduate student majors in each of the following categories: out-of-state, international, women, or minorities (as above). Use the quarter of the fall semester count of students. Provide the overall number of students and the number of students in each category as well as calculating the percentage. For minority students please report on each protected class minority separately.  

c.  Number and percentage of graduate students who are out-of-state, international, women or minorities (as above). Provide the overall number of students and the number of students in each category as well as calculating the percentage. Use the quarter of the fall semester count of students. For minority students please report on on each protected class minority separately.     

5) Undergraduate program initiatives and measures

a.  Number of majors including primary, additional, and second degree majors. This is to be reported for both the end of spring semester (SIS frozen end-of-term) and at quarter-term fall semester. (For example, the data set for the first year will include end of spring 2001 and quarter of fall 2001.) Provide the total as well as broken down by primary, additional, and second degree majors.

b.  Number and percentage of regularly scheduled (courses with set days/times/room, i.e., not independent study or thesis supervision) undergraduate sections taught in interactive learning format. (A class section involving "interactive learning" is understood to mean one in which students receive substantial feedback on writing intensive assignments including comments on multiple drafts; work one-on-one or in very small groups on research, performance, or other creative endeavor with at least one tenure system faculty member; interact orally with the instructor in each class period; or are involved in service activities.) A TS faculty member -- not a GA -- is to be providing the interactivity on a regular basis. Provide the information on a semester by semester basis and break the counts down by subject code. Provide the total number of regularly scheduled sections for each subject code taught by TS faculty in the unit and the number taught by TS faculty on an interactive basis. This is an instructor based measure so all subject codes taught by faculty whose teaching assignments are determined in the unit should be included. It is not restricted to the subject codes administered by the unit.

c. Number and percentage of non-regularly scheduled sections (independent study, thesis supervision, etc) at the undergraduate level taught by TS faculty from unit that demonstrably involve interactive learning on an ongoing basis. A TS faculty member -- not a GA -- is to be providing the interactivity. Provide the information on a semester by semester basis and break the counts down by subject code. Provide the total number of non-regularly scheduled course sections for each subject code taught by TS faculty in the unit and the number taught on an interactive basis by TS faculty members. This is an instructor-based measure so all subject codes taught by faculty whose teaching assignments are determined in the unit should be included. It is not restricted to the subject codes administered by the unit.

d.   Percentage of majors who graduated during the year who have participated in Study Abroad at some time during their undergraduate program at MSU. Provide the count of graduates and the number of students participating in Study Abroad as well as calculating the percentage. Please base this on A&L supplied data rather than data supplied by ISP.

e. Number of undergraduate students applying to national competions for post-baccalaureate awards. Number of awards won. Number of students winning awards.

f . (optional) Job placement data on the most recent past calendar year's graduating undergraduate students.

Two links are provided here. The first is to an EXCEL spreadsheet that can be used to provide the numeric portion of the requested information. Please make entries only in the gray shaded areas. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate the requested ratios and percentages -- indicatorstemplate.xls. The second is to a set of instructions to be used in conjunction with the Indicators workbook of data which is available to departments in their file space on the share drive -- instructions.doc