VI. Planning, Assessment, and Resource-Allocation System

The College's planning, assessment, and resource allocation system begins with the campus Mission Statement and the Comprehensive College Plan. From these basic documents, each of the major administrative divisions and their departments outline specific goals and objectives, both current and long range, to meet the overall goals and objectives of the CCP. Each division conducts assessment activities appropriate to its goals, objectives, and areas of responsibility. College-wide resource allocation occurs largely through the President's Cabinet, which includes the Vice Presidents of all divisions, who are responsible for resource allocation within their divisions.

Beginning with revisions to the Mission Statement and Comprehensive College Plan, the College has strengthened its integrated planning, assessment, and resource-allocation processes since its re-accreditation in 2003. Though the visiting team had no formal recommendations with regard to the College's planning, assessment, and budgeting efforts, the College has improved its linked processes.

A. Overview of Planning, Assessment, and Resource Allocation

The Institutional Assessment Plan, or IAP, (Appendix 6??), recently revised and updated, provides the comprehensive framework of the planning and assessment process for the College. Each division has its own planning process and its own goals and objectives in support of broader College goals. These goals and objectives are revised and updated annually to reflect the current needs of the campus as derived from the assessment experience of the past year. Departments and divisions make required adjustments or changes in emphasis to meet divisional and campus-wide goals and objectives. These adjustments, when appropriate, include the next steps or events required for change as well as the schedule and timeline for accomplishing the changes.

The format for the Divisional Annual Report (Appendix 5??) has evolved as a focal point for the College's planning, assessment, and resource allocation efforts over the past five years. The most recent revision, dated April 17, 2007, reflects the questions that the divisions are asked to respond to in a comprehensive annual report to the President due at the end of July. To meet the requirements of the format, each division and its departments must engage in planning, assessment, and resource allocation requests. The assessment effort rests on the data and analyses developed by the campus and each division. The data and analyses range from broad general information to very specific items, often unique to the division and its departments. Resource allocations or re-allocations are made based on the analyses.

On a regular basis, the College uses surveys of current students and alumni, including the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Student Opinion Survey (SOS), a six-week survey of new freshman, a decliner survey for students who were accepted but did not enroll, a survey of why enrolled students leave the College, and alumni surveys of all graduates one year after graduation. Individual program areas, including the Departments of Education, Economics and Business, Music Industry, Human Ecology, and Philosophy and the Division of College Advancement, have used alumni surveys of graduates that have been away from the College for at least three years.

The College's database provides other information and analyses important to the assessment process, including attrition and retention rates of various student cohorts; time to degree for various student cohorts; and college success of students in terms of GPA, retention, and time to degree relative to entering high school GPA and SAT scores. Each division internally and the President's Cabinet college-wide consider such analyses in resource allocation or re-allocation.

B. Examples of Resource Allocation Based on the Use of Assessment Results

All major divisions of the College use the four outcomes assessment processes (described above) for planning, assessment, and resource allocation. Each division has a planning process that satisfies its unique role. The following are examples of how the Divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Development, Finance and Administration, and College Advancement use assessment to evaluate progress toward goals and objectives, modify programs, and allocate resources.

1. Division of Academic Affairs

In addition to the four outcomes assessment processes, the Division of Academic Affairs has relied upon program accreditation information, the programmatic assessment process, and its annual planning process. The planning process focuses on identifying faculty staffing needs and on meeting equipment and instrumentation requirements to support the departments and programs. The newly implemented Academic Departmental Annual Report will become an increasingly important tool in the planning, assessment, and resource-allocation process.

The annual reviews in the Division of Academic Affairs also incorporate feedback from the programmatic review process, which requires an extensive and intensive assessment of academic programs every seven years. The review process includes activities such as a self-study, a SUNY Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes in the Major Summary Report, a completed SUNY Program Data Summary Table, and a detailed report of external reviewers.

The faculty recommendations included in the self-study and recommendations of the external reviewers are part of the inter- and intra-divisional planning and become part of annual planning in Academic Affairs. The annual staffing assessment and planning process considers the needs of each academic department and program. Arriving at changes in resource allocation requires extensive consultation within departments and among departments, using enrollment trends and forecasts and demands arising from curriculum changes that enhance student learning.

a. Examples of Resource Allocation in Academic Affairs, Based on the Use of Assessment Results

The following are some examples from the Division of Academic Affairs that demonstrate the use of assessment results to affect program and College goals and objectives, assessment and planning processes, and resource allocation/budget decisions:

• In the Division of Science and Social Science, the College invested $249,811 in 2005-06 and $222,689 in 2006-07 to maintain modern and appropriate equipment and instrumentation, based on analyses of faculty recommendations and an inventory.

• To help meet the College's diversity and inclusion goals and objectives, a tenure-track position was allocated to the Africana and Latino Studies Department in 2006-07 through a joint appointment with the Philosophy Department and another in 2007-08 through a joint appointment with the Women's and Gender Studies Department.

• From 2003 to 2007, programmatic assessment and curriculum evaluation influenced decisions to add at least one tenure-track position to each of the following departments: Anthropology, Biology, Biology and Biological Field Station, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Earth Sciences, English, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics, and Physics and Astronomy.

• Based upon programmatic assessment and curricular evaluation, the Human Ecology Department, in its Food Service and Restaurant Administration program, implemented several changes in curriculum and added a second faculty position.

• Discussions regarding the College's retention rate which took place in the Division of Student Development and on the Enrollment Management Committee (EMC) were initially driven by examining retention data and subsequent graduation data. The freshman-to-sophomore retention rate was next analyzed (as national research shows it to be a main driver of an institution's eventual graduation rate) and was disaggregated to identify subgroup retention rates, including the retention rate of African American, Latino, Asian, and Native American (AALANA) students. It was determined that the College's freshman-to-sophomore retention rate (60.6%) was far below those of similar public four-year institutions within and beyond SUNY with freshman-to-sophomore retention of AALANA students lagging even more. As a result of this assessment of retention data, the Division of Student Development created a First-Year Experience Office and an Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, in which was imbedded an AALANA mentoring program. These initiatives have resulted in an overall institutional increase in freshman-to-sophomore retention to over 82%, with AALANA retention now mirroring the overall freshman-to-sophomore retention rate.
• In analyzing data and through a discussion of best practices regarding the recruitment and retention of high-achieving students, it was determined that increased student engagement was a highly effective tool to attract and retain high-achieving students. In response, the Retention Sub-Committee of the Enrollment Management Committee developed a proposal (approved by the committee and later endorsed and funded by the President) that the Student Travel for Excellence Program be created. This program, since its inception in 2005, has supported the attendance at academic or co-curricular leadership conferences of over 200 students (accompanied by faculty or staff mentors), and feedback from students and faculty indicates that the program has made a significant contribution to student engagement on campus.
• In response to student survey data, the Hunt College Union changed hours of operation, proposed a new use of the Oneonta Lounge (high-tech game room), and changed the meeting location of the Leadership Institute. In response to a traffic and reservations study, the College Union requested additional janitorial service and supplies.
• In response to student survey data, the Health Center changed its hours of operation and added a Saturday clinic. Following a review of referrals to and from the Counseling Center, the Health Center added a psychiatric specialist.

• Based on analysis and employee evaluation of a new SUNY web purchasing system installed in 2006, the division added a half-time position to the Purchasing Office and transferred responsibility for contract administration to the director. The changes have enabled the staff to continue to meet the office goal of processing requisitions within a three-day period to maintain customer satisfaction and support College operations.
• Based on input from students that shows an increasing desire for web-based transactions and card-based payments, the division assigned additional computer support to the Student Accounts Office. The office enhanced web capabilities that impact financial transactions, implemented a web-based clearing process for students to select financial aid options and recalculate bills, and implemented an electronic signature process to approve payment of certain charges. The division transferred responsibility for collection of students' telecommunications payments from the Telecommunications Office to the Student Accounts Office, thereby eliminating a peripheral cash location and streamlining payment options for students. A coordinated effort by several offices in the division has enabled students to use funds from their voluntary campus debit card to pay telecommunications bills on campus and to make purchases from several merchants off campus.
• In support of the College's efforts to increase diversity in faculty and staff, the division committed funding to a number of efforts related to recruitment through the Employee Services area, which is coordinating efforts with the Office of Equity and Inclusion. For example, the Employment Opportunities Office has begun using a group-advertising firm to place its postings; all faculty postings have been listed with the National Minority Faculty Identification Program; and sessions were offered for College personnel to foster discussions about recruitment strategies for hiring faculty and staff from underrepresented groups.

• Responses to recent alumni surveys indicated a desire for more electronic communications and online alumni opportunities, particularly among young alumni. Analyses of College data and research on philanthropy also indicated the need for more involvement of young alumni in programming. Therefore, the division has dedicated a staff position in the Alumni Office to development and coordination of programming for young alumni, such as the Young Alumni Council and Young Alumni Programs. The position is also responsible for the recently established College at Oneonta Alumni Online Community (www.oneontaalumni.com), a new young alumni newsletter, and e-mail correspondence with targeted groups of young alumni.
• In response to positive feedback from students and faculty in a survey of participants in the Student-Faculty Program for Research and Creative Activities and also in response to the positive contributions to its image that the College has garnered through the program, the division worked with the College Foundation to increase funding for the program. The program has grown in recent years from approximately 60 student-participants to over 100.
• Based on national research in philanthropy, analyses of demographic data on alumni, and increased expressions of interest in planned giving by constituents, the division established the position of Director of Gift Planning in 2007 to increase gifts to the College through estate planning. Several additional new endowed scholarships have since been established through estate planning, and the division has implemented a new option for charitable gift annuities.