Belated wishes for a happy and productive Spring semester!  Yes, I know it’s already mid-term.  In these irregular blog postings it’s sometimes hard to keep them as up-to-date as I would like.

The Academic Leadership Team (ALT) had its first off-site meeting on 29 January 2013.  We discussed a number of topics that I think are of interest to everyone.

First, Charlie Noyes, our Director of Public Safety, led a training session on responses to an active shooter situation on campus.  He presented a short training video recommending “Run, Hide, Fight,” in that order.  The ALT engaged in an intense discussion about how best to protect both oneself and our students.  The training will be rolled out to all faculty through department meetings.  There will also be training forthcoming for the rest of the Wentworth Community including adjunct faculty, staff and students.

I thank all of you for your hard work over the past 18 months on curricular review and revision.  All of the departments and programs successfully completed submission of their new curricula to the Institute Curriculum Committee before the end of 2012.  Most of the new curricula have been approved both by the ICC and the provost.  There are only a few that are still under discussion because they proposed significant changes in both the way we teach and the schedules we use.  I’m confident that those will be finalized this semester.

There was a brief presentation to the ALT by Chuck Hotchkiss regarding the work and recommendations of the First Year Seminar Committee.  Again, thanks to everyone involved in this endeavor.  The team included representatives from both the Academic Division and the Student Affairs Division.  There will be significant changes in FYS next year that should make it more focused and responsive to our students.  One of my goals this year is bring academics and student life closer together.  The more integrated we can make the total student experience at Wentworth, the greater the chance of success for our students.  The best college experiences include everything that students do, not just their time in the classroom.

A new year is always a good time to review the activities of the past year, and the ALT accomplished quite a bit in 2012.  Without going into details here, the list includes:

• formulation of new guidelines for curricula with respect to semester credit hours and contact hours
• review and revision of all of our curricula
• revision of class structures with respect to “lecture – lab/studio – contact” hours
• completion of a comprehensive review and revision of the graduation requirements
• initiation of aligning academics and co-op more closely together
• revision of the residency requirements
• discussion of scholarship scenarios to promote understanding, equity and uniformity
• elimination of the Sophomore Writing Assessment Test
• initiation of a new curriculum and course structure for Humanities and Social Sciences
• a review of the “new” academic calendar and revisions
• discussion of the Faculty Federation Agreement in preparation for contract negotiations
• updates and revision of First Year Seminar

 It was a busy year for the ALT!

Finally, we’ve reached the topic of the title of this blog entry.  The ALT spent most of the January off-site reviewing how we evaluate scholarly and/or creative activities.  The purpose of spending so much time on this (We also worked on it at the November 2012 and February 2013 off-sites.  More on that later.) is to make the evaluation process as consistent and equitable as possible.  With 16 chairs and 4 deans, training is required to make sure that we’re all on the same page.  The development of a shared understanding not only of what activities fit the definition of scholarly and/or creative activity, but how they fit within the faculty evaluation rubric, is extremely important.  The approach used was a “group grading exercise” where over 120 examples were evaluated by each ALT member.  The examples included work associated with the ranks of professor, associate professor and assistant professor, and work that could be graded superior, exceeds expectations, satisfactory, needs improvement, and does not fulfill.  This was done to insure that all possibilities were covered.   The ALT individual evaluations were then discussed first in small groups, and then by the ALT at large.  This exercise helped the ALT develop more consistency and commonality for the evaluation process.  The grading results have been collected and collated, and were used as input for additional training and an even more detailed process at the February off-site.  I’ll write more about that next week.

Wentworth continues to progress and improve at an amazing rate.  This is due to all of you and all of the hard work that you continue to pour into making Wentworth a better institution of higher learning and a stronger community.  Thanks!

and best regards,

Russ