Review Process: The process consists of the following steps:

1. Preparation by the chair and faculty in the department of a self-study.

2. Review of the department by an Academic Council subcommittee, and preparation of a document describing the results of the review.

3. Written response by the department to the report of the Academic Council subcommittee.

4. In-depth discussion between the Council and the department chair.

Self-Study: Departments are asked to specifically address the following:

a. The major directions in the field represented by the department.

b. The department's position in the field in terms of interests and coverage.

c. Department's role in both graduate and undergraduate programs of the School and the University.

d. Faculty recruitment, promotion and retention, including the department's experience regarding women and underrepresented minorities.

e. Graduate student recruitment and retention, including the department's experience regarding women and underrepresented minorities.

f. Interactions at the research level with other departments in the School and in the University at large.

g. Interactions at the teaching level with other departments in the School and in the University at large.

h. Assessment of the quality of teaching and advising in the department.

i. Overall reputation and quality of department and comparisons with similar departments at other institutions that are highly regarded.

j. Departmental strengths.

k. Departmental weaknesses.

l. Future directions.

The body of the self-study report should be limited to a reasonable number of pages, e.g., ten single spaced, but a limited number of appendices should be accepted. Faculty CVs should not be included. This would serve to limit the amount of time departments would feel compelled to devote to this part of the process.

Academic Council Subcommittee Review:

The Council will have in its possession all recent statistical data concerning the departments to be reviewed and the departmental self-study documents. Faculty members, graduate students, and undergraduate students should be interviewed, and facilities should be investigated. It is recommended that the subcommittee meet separately with tenured and non-tenured faculty and make itself available to faculty members who request individual meetings. The draft reports should be given to the chairs. The following motion was approved by the Academic Council on April 19, 1995 (and modified on May 6, 1998):

"Departmental self-study reports and the final report of the subcommittee of the Academic Council shall be made available to all members of the department. Confidential personnel issues should be confined to separate communications to be shared only by the Council and the department chair."

At the end of each academic year, the Deans will present a list of suggested departments to be reviewed by the Council, and the Council will decide which departments and other academic units will be reviewed in the following semester. Departments will be notified by the Dean during the summer and asked to prepare a self-study. Early in the Fall semester, Council members will be apprised of the Deans' views on departments up for review.

September/October: Deans' presentation to Council.

October 1: Self-study due.

First Academic Council meeting in October: Self-studies completed and passed on to Council subcommittees. Council reviews of departments commence.

Mid-December: Subcommittee reviews completed and passed back to departments, with department's comments to be returned early January.

Mid-January: Academic Council discussions with Chairs.

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Last updated 18Nov02 by dgips@jhu.edu