Antioch College Self-Assessment Report (2002 Accreditation)

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Page 1 Antioch College A Campus Self-Study 1852-2002 150 Years of Innovation in the Liberal Arts Prepared for The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association Reaccreditation Visit Summer 2002 Page 2 Page 3 iii WHAT IS A LIBERAL ARTS EDUCATION AT ANTIOCH? A liberal arts education is an academic course of study that is intended to offer students a general knowledge of the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. It emphasizes the development of intellectual skills and enables students to take courses in a number of disciplines. Students develop an understanding of their particular area of interest only after gaining a broader understanding of how all these areas compliment each other. There are eight main features that distinguish an Antioch education: an interdisciplinary education; flexible general education requirements; a required cross-cultural experience; oral language proficiency in a second language; the opportunity for a global education; a tripartite education; and a senior seminar that requires students to develop a senior project that will propel them into the field of their choice. Antioch’s distinctive vision of a liberal arts education is realized in three interrelated education arenas: the academic curriculum, the cooperative education program, and the campus community structure. The general education program provides students with a broad-based education in the liberal arts and sciences. It is a flexible program, requiring students to complete six courses from the eight majors offered, one of which must include either Physical Sciences or Environmental and Biological Sciences. With the possible exception of those students specializing in education or sciences, there is ample opportunity to take elective courses beyond those that fulfill general education or major requirements. The cooperative education program, alternating terms of study and work, provides life and work experiences that develop independence, confidence, self-motivation, and enhances classroom knowledge. Learning through experience is valued at Antioch. The campus community structure offers students significant responsibility for the social, cultural, financial, and policy issues that govern college life. Antioch students are expected to reach beyond conventional learning and receive a global education. There are numerous opportunities to work and study abroad. Antioch Education Abroad takes students to India, Japan, Europe, West Africa, and Brazil. The cross-cultural experience places the student in an environment where learning is accomplished through active interaction with a different culture, either within the United States or abroad. In addition to this, Antioch students are expected to be orally proficient in a second language. This ability allows students and graduates to interact effectively and responsibly in the world, to sharpen their values and life philosophies, and to understand the experiences and cultures of others. Our students interact with their professors on a personal and individual basis. Classes are generally small and interactive and students receive narrative evaluations rather than grades. These evaluations address the strengths and weaknesses of each student in the hopes of offering them ways to continue to improve their own work and enhance their learning environment in the future. An Antioch education culminates in the production of a senior project. Graduating seniors work closely with their faculty advisor and peers in their chosen field during senior seminars to pull together a body of work on a topic within the student’s major. Antioch focuses on helping their students become problem solvers while maintaining a global and cross-cultural perspective. After graduating, students are able to pursue graduate education or enter the field of their choice armed with an education that has helped them to think critically and read and write analytically. Page 4 iv ANTIOCH COLLEGE Overview Founded: 1852; first class entered 1853. Motto: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” Horace Mann, in his1859 commencement address. Size: 661 students in 2001-2002 (60% female/40% male) Students of Color: approximately 13% Transfer Students: approximately 25% of new students each year transfer in from other colleges and universities. Average Class Size: 12 students Student-Faculty Ratio: 9 to 1 Faculty: 67 faculty in 2001-2002, 84% hold the Ph.D. or the highest degree in their field. Degrees Awarded: Bachelor of Arts; Bachelor of Science Geographic Diversity: 80% of students come from outside Ohio; top five states of geographic origin are: Ohio, California, New York, Massachusetts, and the Washington, D.C. area. In all, 47 states and 10 countries are represented in the current student body. Schedule: year-round trimester calendar of four month terms in Fall and Spring with a three month Summer term offering intensive block courses. Special Features: Community Government, Cooperative Education, Community Service, and Antioch Education Abroad. Special Recognition: in the 2000 and 2001 National Survey of Student Engagement Antioch was among the top small liberal arts colleges in the country for Level of Academic Challenge, Enriching Educational Experiences, Active and Collaborative Learning, and Student Interactions with Faculty. The Franklin and Marshall study on the Baccalaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients ranks Antioch College in the top 20 in undergraduate institutions whose graduates go on to complete the Ph.D. Page 5 v INTERDISCIPLINARY MAJORS & CONCENTRATIONS ARTS Dance & Theater Music Visual Arts CULTURAL & INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES African/African-American Studies Communications: Film, Video, Photography & Print Journalism Education Studies Environmental Studies Peace Studies Women’s Studies ENVIRONMENTAL & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Biology Biomedical Sciences Environmental Sciences Geology & Environment HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY & RELIGIOUS STUDIES History Philosophy & Religious Studies LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, & CULTURES Literature Creative Writing French German Japanese Spanish PHYSICAL SCIENCES Chemistry Mathematics Physics SELF, SOCIETY & CULTURE Psychology Sociology Anthropology SOCIAL & GLOBAL STUDIES Economics Political Science Management International Studies Environmental Policy SELF-DESIGNED MAJOR ANTIOCH EDUCATION ABROAD Antioch in Germany Antioch in Japan Brazilian Ecosystems Buddhist Studies in India Buddhist Studies in Japan Comparative Women’s Studies in Europe Europe in Transition African Art & Culture in Mali GREAT LAKES COLLEGES ASSOCIATION PROGRAMS ABROAD IN AFRICA, JAPAN, MEXICO & SCOTLAND AFFILIATE STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS Jerusalem Program Mexico Spain France OFF-CAMPUS STUDY PROGRAMS IN THE US Environmental Field Program Cross Cultural Field Program GLCA: New York Arts; Oak Ridge Seminar; Philadelphia Center; Newberry Library Page 6 vi Faculty Chart & Interdisciplinary Programs 2001-2002 ARTS (7 faculty: 3 tenured, 4 tenure-track) Dance & Theater Music Visual Arts CULTURAL & INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES (11 faculty: 5 1/2 tenured, 3 1/2 tenure-track, 2 visiting) * African/African-American Studies Communications: Film, Video Photography, & Print Media Education Studies & Teacher Licensure Environmental Studies Peace Studies Women‘s Studies ENVIRONMENTAL & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES (4 faculty: 2 tenured, 2 tenure-track) Biology Biomedical Sciences Environmental Sciences Geology & Environment HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY & RELIGIOUS STUDIES (3 1/2 faculty: 2 1/2 tenured, 1 tenure-track) History Philosophy *** Religious Studies LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, & CULTURES (6 faculty: 5 tenured, 1 tenure-track, 1/2 time visiting) ** Literature Creative Writing French German Japanese Spanish PHYSICAL SCIENCES (6 faculty: 4 tenured, 2 tenure-track) Chemistry Mathematics Physics SELF, SOCIETY & CULTURE (No Concentrations) (3 1/2 faculty: 1 1/2 tenured, 2 tenure-track) Psychology Sociology Anthropology SOCIAL & GLOBAL STUDIES ( 6 faculty: 3 tenured, 1/2 tenure-track, 2 1/2 visiting) * Economics Political Science Management International Studies Environmental Policy ANTIOCH EDUCATION ABROAD (3 1/2 faculty: 1 tenured, 5 œ at 1/2 time) * Antioch in Germany Antioch in Japan Brazilian Ecosystems Buddhist Studies in India Buddhist Studies in Japan Comparative Women‘s Studies in Europe Europe in Transition COOPERATIVE EDUCATION (7 faculty: 3 tenured, 4 tenure track) LIBRARY (3 faculty: 1 tenured, 1 tenure track. 1 visiting) * designates one full-time faculty in the Administration ** designates an additional 1/2 time visiting for 2001-02 (paid with soft money which may not be available in the future) *** designates one philosophy faculty member retiring at the end of 2001-02 Page 7 1 Table of Contents Preface: What is a Liberal Arts Education at Antioch? iii Antioch College Overview iv Interdisciplinary Majors & Concentrations v Faculty Chart & Interdisciplinary Programs 2001-2002 vi Mission Statement 3 Introduction 3 1. Summary of Changes Since 1993 4 2. Self Study Process 5 3. College History 1852-2002 6 4. Future Directions 14 Criterion 1: The institution has clear and publicly stated purposes consistent with its mission and appropriate to an institution of higher learning. 17 Criterion 2: The institution has effectively organized the human, financial, and physical resources necessary to accomplish its purposes. 1. Administration 27 2. Faculty 29 3. Student Services 34 4. Physical Plant 36 5. Olive Kettering Library 38 6. Glen Helen 42 7. Technology 48 8. Finance and Administration 49 9. Development and Alumni Relations 50 10. Admissions and Financial Aid 52 Criterion 3: The institution is accomplishing its educational and other purposes. 1. Academic Program Overview 55 2. Assessment Process for the Academic Program 56 3. Evaluation versus Assessment 60 4. The Eight Interdisciplinary Majors 61 Arts 62 Cultural & Interdisciplinary Studies 62 Environmental & Biological Sciences 63 History, Philosophy & Religious Studies 64 Literature, Language & Culture 65 Physical Sciences 65 Self, Society & Culture 66 Social & Global Studies 67 Page 8 2 5. Self-Designed Major 68 6. The Center for Cooperative Education 68 7. Academic Calendar and the Summer Term 78 8. General Education 80 9. Antioch Education Abroad 82 10. Community 86 11. Great Lakes Colleges Association Assessment Review 91 12. External Measurements for Assessment 96 A. National Survey of Student Engagement 96 B. Additional Selected External Measures 99 Criterion 4: The institution can continue to accomplish its purposes and strengthen its educational effectiveness. 1. The Strategic Plan 1996-2001 101 2. Current Planning: A Focused Approach 103 3. Priorities for 2002-2003 104 4. Institutional Assessment Outcomes 105 Criterion 5: The institution demonstrates integrity in its practices and relationships. 107 Appendices 1. Further Reading on Antioch College 2. College Retention Summary 1991-2001 3. Summary of Physical Plant & Technology Improvements 4. General Education Survey Questions & Results 5. Community Government Structure 6. Faculty Governance Structure 7. Assessment at Antioch: It’s All About Student Learning! 8. Assessment: Planning, Management, Support 9. Organizational Charts for the College 9a. Antioch College 9b. Academic Area 9c. Student Services 9d. Glen Helen Ecology Institute 10. Audited Financial Statements of Antioch College for FY 1999-00 and FY 2000-01 (Provided separately in the University Resource Room) Page 9 3 Antioch College Mission Statement Antioch College is a distinctive national liberal arts college, which has recruited students from throughout the country since the 1920‘s and has played a major role in the development of Cooperative education, community governance and international education. The primary mission of Antioch College is to empower students: the academic curriculum provides students with a broad liberal education that challenges their values and perspectives as well as increases their knowledge, ability to question, and general intellectual consciousness about themselves and the society in which they live; the Cooperative education program provides life and work experiences which develop independence, confidence, and self-motivation; and the community structure offers significant responsibility for the social, cultural, financial, and policy issues that govern college life. Students are expected to reach beyond conventional learning. With classroom and co-op faculty and within the context of the curriculum, they plan their own education, reflect upon their experiences, and, as a result, change their perspectives. The goal is for Antioch students to become intelligent experimenters, informed risk-takers, creative thinkers, and courageous practitioners. Antioch College encourages its students to have a balanced respect for all of life œ self, others, society and the earth. Empowered by their education, students are encouraged to empower others. INTRODUCTION In his 1996 book, Colleges That Change Lives, Loren Pope starts his chapter on Antioch College by stating: Antioch is in a class by itself. There is no college or university in the country that makes a more profound difference in a young person’s life, or that creates more effective adults. None of the Ivies, big or little, can match Antioch’s ability to produce outstanding thinkers and doers…For decades this yeast of American higher education…has produced higher percentages of future scientists and scholars than any Ivy League university except Princeton 1 Pope’s praise for Antioch College was confirmed in the results of both the 2000 and 2001 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning. The first study was released Fall 2000 and the second in Fall 2001. In the first study, the college ranked first of 276 institutions in two of the five categories: “Level of Academic Challenge” and “Enriching 1 Loren Pope, Colleges That Change Lives, Penguin Books, 1996, p. 130. Page 10 4 Educational Experiences.” In the second study, the College received the top rank among 470 colleges and universities for “Enriching Educational Experiences.” In both 2000 and 2001, the College ranked in the top ten percent in the categories of “Active and Collaborative Learning” and “Student Interactions with Faculty Members.” In 2001, the College had advanced to the top 10% for “Supportive Campus Environment.” The NSSE provides a strong external measure of the College’s success in meeting its mission and offering a truly valuable undergraduate education with a primary focus on student learning. The Antioch College education is perhaps best understood as a journey weaving together the three fundamental aspects of our unique curriculum: classroom study; cooperative education; and community engagement. Sometimes called the “three C’s” or the “three legs of the stool,” the interplay of classroom study, cooperative education, and community involvement are designed to bring together theory and practice into a dynamic interchange in which experience and critical reflection form the basis of student learning. Student learning is the central focus of Antioch College’s mission and the student is the center of the curriculum. This self-study will seek to examine how well Antioch College is currently fulfilling its educational mission. Standard measures of student success are perhaps not as obvious as in other institutions because our students receive no grades (Antioch uses a credit/no credit, non-graded evaluation system to respond to student work), and we do not require test scores for acceptance. Instead some of the measures we use to assess how well students meet our learning objectives include the following formal processes: 2 1. Narrative evaluation of student achievement – each student receives a narrative evaluation in each course each term. 2. Student evaluation of instruction (SEI) – each faculty is evaluated by students in each course each term. The SEI combines narrative statements and scoring of faculty as teachers and advisors. 3. Student success in graduate programs (according to the Franklin and Marshall study on the Baccalaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients Antioch College ranks in the top 20 in undergraduate institutions whose graduates go on to complete the Ph.D.) and professional schools (notably medical and law); 4. External sources such as the NSSE Reports; 5. Alumni success and feedback 3 1. SUMMARY OF CHANGES SINCE 1993 Since the last visit of the NCA in 1993, Antioch College has undergone significant changes which will be summarized here. Some of the most obvious changes were to the physical plant and include the renovation and re-opening of four historic buildings in the center of campus: South Hall, Spalt International Center, the Pennell House, and the Weston Building. Two of these buildings were condemned and one was slated to be destroyed prior to the conclusion of the last Capital Campaign. Less obvious changes to the physical plant include wiring the campus for technology, air conditioning the Main Building and many of the residence halls, along with other major renovations in residence halls. Serious needs remain for 2 Examples of narrative evaluations, faculty SEIs, and the full text of the 2000 and 2001 NSSE Reports will be available in the Resource Room. 3 See Dawson Professor of Cooperative Education and Professor of Psychology Dr. Patricia Linn’s “Lifespan Study of Cooperative Education” on the lifelong impact of cooperative education on Antioch College graduates. Material on her research will be available in the Resource Room. Page 11 5 improvements to the Theater, Science Building and Library as well as ongoing work in residence halls. (See Criterion 2 Physical Plant, Technology and Olive Kettering Library ) In 1996 the College changed from a quarter to a trimester calendar adding a summer study term on campus. The summer term has had some success in the design and delivery of special “Summer Institutes” (The Peace Institute; Documentary Institute; Music Institute; Writing Institute; Entrepreneur Institute, and Performance Institute); as well as an ambitious roster of courses taught in an intensive block format (three blocks of eighteen days each). The College revived its long-standing tradition of summer theater, “Shakespeare Under the Stars,” as the outdoor amphitheater was updated and re-opened. Despite these innovations, the summer term remains under-enrolled. (See Criterion 3 Academic Calendar and the Summer Term ) Beginning Fall 1996 the College also implemented a newly re-designed liberal arts curriculum by re-conceptualizing over forty discreet majors into eight interdisciplinary majors as well as revising the general education requirement to increase its flexibility and allow for greater student choice. A number of new international programs have been initiated in Japan and West Africa through Antioch Education Abroad and new opportunities developed for students to work as well as study abroad. (see Criterion 3 The Eight Interdisciplinary Majors, General Education and Antioch Education Abroad ) There have been increases in student retention resulting from improved student services. Specific improvements include the creation of an Academic Support Center, the increased availability of computing centers for students to work, the addition of the Center for Community Learning to coordinate opportunities for service learning, the re-conception of health services into the Counseling, Health & Wellness Center, and the addition of a part-time Health Advocate to work closely with students to identify and serve their needs. (See Criterion 2 Student Services ) Other changes since 1993 include the integration of assessment processes as part of the College’s ongoing work to critically examine its effectiveness in delivering a quality undergraduate education combining study and work experience. Antioch College is a dynamic environment in which change is undertaken frequently with the spirit that risk-taking and innovation can bring positive results. Recent high rankings by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) attest to our vigorous educational project. (See Criterion 3 External Assessment ) 2. SELF STUDY PROCESS The self study process at the College involved multiple constituencies over a five year period beginning in 1997. Colleagues from the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) were brought to campus to conduct a review of the College curriculum to meet Antioch University requirements for ongoing assessment and in preparation for NCA. (See Criterion 3 GLCA Assessment Review ) Preparation for the GLCA Review involved all academic units and was led by the College President and Dean of Faculty. The College Assessment Committee, which began working in 1997, also played a central role in collecting assessment data and shepherding the academic program through a coherent assessment process. (See Criterion 3 Assessment Process for the Academic Programs and Appendices 7 & 8) College Professor Dr. Steve Schwerner was asked to assume a leadership role in the self study. He attended a series of conferences sponsored by the NCA throughout the self study process. He chaired the College Self Study Committee, which was a subcommittee of the Assessment Committee, of which he was also a member. He met regularly with the College President and Dean of Faculty to keep them apprised of the self study and request necessary Page 12 6 materials. He was also a member of the University Self Study Committee and maintained close connection to Paul Ewald who chaired it. Associate Dean of Faculty Dr. Ann Filemyr was recruited to help compile material and write the self study. Material was gathered from the Dean of Admissions, Dean of Finance and Administration, the College President, the Dean of Faculty, the Dean of Students, Director of Antioch Education Abroad, Director of the Academic Learning Center, Director of Community Learning, Director of Cooperative Education, Director of the Physical Plant, Director of Development, Director of the College Library, Director of Technology, the College Assessment Committee, the Office of Institutional Research, and the Academic Program Committee. Ann Filemyr, Paul Ewald, and Steve Schwerner met with Karen Kietzman when she visited the campus in summer 2001 to discuss the self study. This meeting was beneficial and resulted in the history section of this document as she explained the importance of providing a clear introduction to the history of Antioch College, its mission and goals. The first draft was completed by December 2001 and circulated to the University Self Study Committee, the College President, Deans and Directors and the wider the College community. Feedback received from the University Self Study committee by January formed the basis for careful revision and restructuring of the document. The Self Study Committee consisted of the Director of Institutional Research, Dean of Students, Director of Cooperative Education, a Community Manager and a student, in addition to Associate Dean of Faculty Ann Filemyr and College Professor Steve Schwerner. They met weekly throughout the 2001-2002 year to read and revise each section of the self study. The second draft was completed by mid-May and given to the College President, Dean of Faculty, Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, and the University Self Study Committee for comment. Feedback from these constituencies was integrated into the final draft. Public notice concerning the College self study and upcoming NCA review was placed in the Yellow Springs News , the campus newspaper, the college web site, and given to alumni attending the annual alumni retreat in July 2002. A copy will be made available to the campus community by being placed on reserve in the Library. A copy will also be given to the College archive, Antiochiana . In addition, the Office of the Dean of Faculty and the Office of the President will have copies available. 3. HISTORY One of the remarkable aspects of the College is its tremendous sense of a singular vision stretching back to its founder and continuing into the present. Each decade the College has launched new educational initiatives and innovations to continually refine and reshape student learning while preserving the three fundamental aspects of an Antioch College education: classroom study; cooperative education, and community engagement. A brief historical overview is necessary to introduce Antioch College’s legacy and its long-term commitment to innovation in American higher education. The challenges facing the college in the 21 st century are better understood in light of its history. Beginnings: Horace Mann & The Founding Vision Antioch College was founded in 1852 by two protestant sects, the Unitarian Association and the Christian Connexion. For their first college president, they selected Horace Mann, perhaps one of the most famous people of his time, known as a brilliant public speaker, an eloquent defense attorney (in 1848 he defended the sea captain Daniel Drayton in a landmark test Page 13 7 of the Fugitive Slave Laws) and an outspoken anti-slavery congressman. Mann championed such causes as temperance and proper care for the insane as well as abolition, but he received his greatest acclaim as a pioneer of American public education. Massachusetts had formed the first State Board of Education in 1837, and appointed Mann its first Secretary. He wrote about the conditions of Massachusetts’ common schools in The Common School Journal and his twelve monumental Annual Reports on Education. By 1850, as America’s most recognizable educational reformer, Mann had become a natural candidate for college president. Attracted by Antioch’s non-sectarian and coeducational principles, he accepted the unanimous election to the presidency of Antioch College on September 17, 1852. That same day the Sub-Committee of Antioch College elected a faculty. Of the six inaugural faculty positions, four were bestowed upon Christian ministers, the other two to Mann’s niece and nephew, Rebecca and Calvin Pennell. Rebecca Pennell who began teaching in 1853 was the first female college professor in U.S. history given equal status and equal pay with her male colleagues. Her home on the campus has been renovated and includes a plaque to her as well as housing various student and community activities. According to College archivist Scott Sanders: The curriculum formed at the onset was as progressive as any of the day. It emphasized the sciences, history, and literature over the classics (though Latin and Greek were required, elective courses could be substituted for advanced classical language). Other modern elements included courses in Didactics (teacher training), required physical education (for male students only) and a rudimentary form of independent study. Moral and ethical instruction was provided as well as the development of oratorical skill. 4 Horace Mann led the College from 1853 until 1859 when his health failed. Sanders writes: Though he scarcely possessed the strength, Mann ascended the college platform one last time at the commencement of the class of 1859 to deliver the Baccalaureate Address. Harried as usual, he had not quite completed the speech. … then closed with the most fateful and stirring words conceived in an entire lifetime of legendary oration: I beseech you to treasure up in your hearts these my parting words: Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity . It was the last public statement Horace Mann ever made.” 5 A succession of acting presidents followed. The College had increasing financial difficulty. It closed from 1881-82 and re-opened but continued to struggle. By 1919 the Board was strongly considering selling the College. Unitarian representation had shrunk to one seat on the board by this time and the Unitarian Association appointed its lay vice president, Arthur E. Morgan, to look after its interest. He soon emerged as the next innovative leader for the College. 4 Scott Sanders, unpublished paper, “Establishing the Faith: Horace Mann and the Redemption of Antioch College,” 2000. 5 ibid. pg. 15 Page 14 8 Arthur Morgan & Cooperative Education 1920-1936 The second educational visionary to lead Antioch College, Morgan’s vision built upon Mann’s idealism, but Morgan added a new pragmatism. Based on a plan requiring students to combine work with classroom learning already in place at the University of Cincinnati Engineering Department, Morgan created a new approach to liberal learning. All students in all majors would alternate work experience in the world with classroom experience on the campus. This combination of Liberal Arts with Cooperative Education remains one of the unique features of an Antioch education today. Antioch still has the most extensive Cooperative education program of any liberal arts college. Morgan enthusiastically promoted the college and his new vision for undergraduate education. In 1921 the College reopened to its highest enrollment yet, 203, and by 1927 rose to over 700. The alternation of work and study meant that only half the students were on campus in any term which allowed a small number of faculty to serve both student bodies. Another aspect of Morgan’s vision involved his interest in the practice of community. He believed in the importance of democratic, economically self-reliant, small communities full of actively engaged citizens. Under his leadership the college began to experiment with campus governance structures. As an extension of his commitment to community, he also encouraged invention and an entrepreneurial spirit. Three of the most important businesses in Yellow Springs began on the campus at that time (Vernay Laboratories; Yellow Springs Instrument Company; Morris Bean, Inc.). He invited the Samuel Fels Foundation to begin its landmark longitudinal study of human development in a nearby farmhouse. Morgan supported the creation of a model for outdoor and environmental education by using the 1000 acre gift of Glen Helen, a nature preserve, donated to the College by a wealthy Antiochian of the 1860s who knew Horace Mann. Preparing Citizens: Algo Henderson & Community Engagement 1934-1948 Algo Henderson assumed the presidency after Morgan. He built on Morgan’s interest in community as a site for learning and developed what he called a “laboratory in democracy.” (See Criterion 3 Community ) This innovation emphasized the role of students as co-participants with administrators, faculty, and staff in public decision-making processes in order to prepare them for future participation as active citizens in a democracy. Thus by the late 1930s and early 1940s, the third leg of the Antioch College “stool” was fully articulated. An Antioch education now fully combined the three C’s: Classroom, Co-op, and Community. This remains the basic vision and structure of an Antioch College undergraduate liberal arts education. Expansion 1948-1973 The period following WW II realized an enormous influx of college students attending on the G.I. Bill. During this period the College matriculated several prominent future leaders in a variety of fields, including: management (Warren Bennis); literature (Mark Strand); the law (A. Leon Higginbotham); the sciences (Stephen Jay Gould); civil rights (Coretta Scott King); politics (Eleanor Holmes Norton); anthropology (Clifford Gertz); and even television (Rod Serling). The student body grew from 450 prior to WW II to over 2,400 by 1973. Beginning in 1954, with strong support from president Samuel Gould (later architect and first chancellor of the State University of New York system) Antioch Education Abroad (AEA) set standards for cross cultural and international education, founding the first study abroad program in the country. This innovation expanded the classroom to other countries. The success Page 15 9 of this innovation can be seen in its tremendous impact on higher education in the U.S. Today most colleges and universities incorporate study abroad programs into their curriculum at least as an elective option for their students. Antioch College was the first to build on what it already knew about the power of experiential learning through cooperative education to recognize the value of student learning outside the classroom. The first international program was in Besancon, France in 1957-58, followed by programs in Germany and Mexico. Currently nearly 40% of Antioch students participate in one or more of the AEA programs. AEA has sustained national leadership as evidenced in Greg Tannen and Charley Winkler’s book, Student’s Guide to Best Study Abroad Programs, where Antioch College was rated second among the top 25 study abroad programs in the country. Another important innovation to begin in this period and continue to the present is the use of narrative evaluations in place of grades to serve as a measure of student achievement. Beginning in 1969, Antioch students receive a written narrative evaluation for every class each term. These narrative evaluations include detailed responses by faculty to student work. From general education through field and elective courses, independent studies, and the senior project, students are given faculty feedback identifying their strengths and areas needing improvement. Copies of each narrative are also given to the student’s academic advisor for use during advising. The narrative evaluation becomes part of each student’s transcript. Antioch was one of the most studied colleges in the United States during the 1950’s and 1960’s, a period in which the study of higher education came into vogue. 6 The college helped found and is an active member in two educational consortia: the Great Lakes College Association (GLCA); and Southwestern Ohio Consortium for Higher Education (SOCHE). The College was the prime mover in the establishment of The Union of Experimenting Colleges and Universities, which has evolved into the Union Institute and University. Antioch College helped establish and provided leadership for the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) helping to found the first consortium addressing experiential education in the U.S. CAEL is now a national organization. Antioch College Vice President Morris Keaton was its first President in 1974. Beginning in 1963, with the acquisition of the Putney Graduate School of Education in Vermont, the college embarked on an expansion that quickly grew into a loose network of 35 campuses, clusters, and field centers by 1975. This expansion was predicated on the idea that educational opportunities should be made available in the communities where people lived and worked, in contrast with the idea of traditional college-age students leaving home to attend residential liberal arts colleges. This expansion sought to educate students from a wider range of ages, socio-economic backgrounds, geographic locations, and to serve not just the educational needs of individuals but the educational needs of communities. Most of these centers were located in densely populated urban centers, rather than the small town location of the original campus in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This enormous expansion resulted in the name change to Antioch University in December 1977, and ultimately to the present structure of the university. The university grew out of initiatives taken by the College. In 1965 with funds from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Antioch Program for Interracial Education (APIE) was launched. It provided 100% of tuition for matriculating students in the 6 See for example, Burton Clark, The Distinctive College, Aldine Publishing, 1970;Nevitt Sanford, ed., The American College, John Wiley & Sons, 1962; and Philip E. Jacob, Changing Values In College, The Edward Hazen Foundation, New Haven, 1956. The Carnegie Foundation funded a study of general education at Antioch College from 1955-1960. Page 16 10 program. APIE was a broad-based admissions program designed to bring in socially and economically disadvantaged students who demonstrated ability but lacked preparation for college. As the ‘’60s progressed, APIE students became increasingly radicalized and the program was renamed New Directions in1969. The students took on greater leadership in recruitment, counseling, and other aspects of the program. An academic component, The Institute for the Solution of Social Problems, led by a group of politically progressive faculty and students, continued the Antioch College mission of addressing social issues as part of a liberal education. Hard Times 1973-1985 In Fall 1972, HEW, under the Nixon Administration, announced major cuts in federal financial aid. This would have had a devastating effect on the College’s achievements in cultural pluralism, had it happened. The College would not have been able to cover the over one million dollars in federally funded financial aid that the federal government proposed to cut. According to former Antioch College president Jim Dixon, the cuts appeared to be directed specifically toward minority students. Faculty and students opposed the cuts and demanded that if the federal financial aid was cut that Antioch find the resources to allow New Directions students to remain enrolled. Though the federal cuts did not go into effect, the discontent led to a series of student and staff strikes in 1973, which successfully closed down the school for six weeks. Student enrollment dropped dramatically from the college’s largest student enrollment in 1973 of 2,470 to 475 by 1985. Drops in enrollment led to faculty cuts, departments were closed and some tenured faculty terminated. The faculty in 1972-73 (including faculty in administration) was 215, but by 1979-80 it had dropped to 96, a reduction of over 55%. This led to more student departures. The downward spiral hit bottom in 1979 when the College was unable to make payroll and an agreement with Greene County allowed the faculty to keep teaching while receiving unemployment benefits. This period came to be known as the “payless paydays.” The College’s endowment had been used as collateral against borrowing to start the satellite campuses. When these debts were not kept current, the endowment suffered serious losses. This meant that less was available to help cover the Antioch Tuition Grant, an important college scholarship (See Criterion. 2 Admissions & Financial Aid ). The expansion of the College into the University thus had a devastating impact on the College’s finances. The administrative head of Antioch College changed at least seven times in the period between 1974 and 1987 under Antioch University President William Birenbaum. This lack of stability in leadership at the College led to declines in the physical plant and all levels of operations. For much of this period, the office of the Antioch University President was not even located in Yellow Springs. Despite the severity of these problems, the College faculty and staff remained steadfast in serving the educational mission. The College managed to keep its footing and continue to offer its unique educational model of classroom, cooperative education, and community throughout this difficult period. Page 17 11 Rebuilding & Reclaiming the Vision: 1986-1996 In 1985 the Board of Trustees hired Alan E. Guskin as the new president for Antioch University. Guskin then assumed the leadership of Antioch College in 1987 combining the roles of university and college leader from 1987-1994, at which time he separated the two roles and hired a new college president, James Crowfoot (1994-1996), as Guskin assumed the role of university chancellor until 1997. Guskin’s initial effort was to continue the process of closing centers, a process that began under the Birenbaum Administration. All centers of the university that were not financially solvent were closed. This reduced the university from the 35-plus centers started up during the 1970s to only five by the late 1980s. Guskin asserted that without a strong college the university could not succeed. An effort to rebuild the college was undertaken with an ambitious capital campaign that succeeded in raising $50 million dollars for student scholarships, physical plant, academic curricular support, debt reduction, admissions, and unrestricted college operating funds over the period of time from 1986 to 1993. 7 Three historic buildings in the center of campus that had been closed were renovated and re-opened: South Hall, Spalt International Center, and the Pennell House. Under Guskin’s leadership, the College faculty set about to revise their curriculum to serve the needs of the 21 st century. The faculty implemented two new innovations as general education requirements for all students: oral proficiency in a second language, and a cross- cultural experience, which could be either international or domestic. These new requirements updated the mission of Antioch College to prepare students for effective citizenship by recognizing and building into the general education program the increasingly multicultural nature of the U.S. and the increasingly global environment in which students would live their professional and personal lives. These requirements were instituted in 1991. A grant from the Knight Foundation supported the effort to “incorporate international issues and perspectives into courses and infuse the entire curriculum.” Faculty received professional development funds for travel, research, and course development. The Knight grant funded four faculty trips abroad: Japan, 1992; West Africa, 1993; Mexico and Cuba, 1994; and a trip to Malta to present papers at the International Peace Research Association Conference in 1995. All faculty interested in participating were included. The West African trip brought together 20 students and 7 faculty traveling for 4 weeks in Senegal, The Gambia, and Cape Verde. Antioch College students under the direction of theater faculty wrote and performed a play at the Peace Studies conference in Malta. Faculty initiatives for international research projects were funded and new courses were designed, including: SGSM 221 Management Theory & Practice in Global Perspective, LLCJ 170 Fundamentals of Japanese Language, Literature, and Culture, and others. The faculty also recognized the importance of a number of new interdisciplinary fields and filled new faculty positions: Women Studies (Fall 1991); African/African American Studies (Fall 1991), Peace Studies (January 1991) and Environmental Studies (Fall 1993). These positions represented an institutional commitment to interdisciplinary perspectives. A grant from the Lilly Foundation in the early 1990s supported diversity initiatives on campus. The faculty voted on a new general education program which would require general education courses to address “race, class and gender” across the curriculum. The Lilly grant also supported a variety of diversity initiatives on campus aimed at “reducing the burden of 7 See Capital Campaign Final Report in Resource Room Page 18 12 adaptation for students and faculty of color.” One new field program focused on domestic issues of culture and diversity. Entitled the, “Cross Cultural Field Program,” it took Antioch students to rural Black communities in the southeast to support academic study of U.S. culture as a site of power, oppression and change. This program ran every other year beginning in 1991 and continuing through 1993, ‘95, ‘97 and ‘99. Budget constraints in 2001 have temporarily halted this program. This period of rebuilding and growth required a great deal of participation on the part of college faculty, alumni, board members, staff and students to bring stability and renewed vision to the mission of Antioch College. The Strategic Plan 1996-2001 Robert Devine, Professor of Communications and former Dean of Faculty, became Acting President in 1996 and served until September 2001 becoming the 19 th President of Antioch College. Under the combined leadership of Devine and Vice President/Dean of Faculty Dr. Hassan Nejad (Professor of International Relations and Political Science), the College undertook a strategic planning process that incorporated all sectors of the college community through focus groups, and discussions in community, department and faculty meetings. 8 This document received a great deal of support and helped achieve consensus on the immediate needs of the College as well as future goals and objectives. A primary goal was to increase the student body to 800 by 2000. In addition, the Plan required annual indicators of progress in order to measure clearly the accomplishments made toward the goals. Each year, “Indicators of Progress,” were compiled by the leadership in each unit of the College. 9 The MacArthur Foundation awarded the College $750,000 over three years, 1996-1999, to support the implementation of the strategic plan. (See Criterion 4 Strategic Plan ) In the mid-1990s, the faculty redesigned the academic program into eight interdisciplinary majors (see Criterion 3). They also revised the academic calendar. In Fall 1996, the College moved from a quarter system to a trimester system changing the length of each term from 12 weeks to 15 weeks in order to have fewer alternations of work and study per year. They also reduced the total number of required cooperative education experiences from six to five to accommodate the new calendar. The new calendar returned the college to year-round study and an active summer term. (See Criterion 3: Academic Calendar and the Summer Term ) The College expanded its reach into the Miami Valley to become once again a regional source of culture and intellectual activity. Theater Professor Louise Smith received $52,000 for a Campus Diversity Cultural Resource Initiative award through the American Festival Project and the Ford Foundation for two years, 1996-98. The three thrusts were diversity through arts programming; arts across the curriculum, and campus-community dialogue. Thirty events were held on and off campus in two years. These funds helped build greater alliances with off-campus community groups. Service has become central to our curriculum. In 1994, the College, with support from the Bonner Foundation, joined with colleges and universities across the country to incorporate service into its curriculum. Antioch awards new students with involvement in community service Bonner Scholarships funded by the Bonner Foundation. In 1998, the College matched this with its own scholarship program, Community Responsibility Scholars, and founded the Community Learning Center. Students are placed in off-campus community centers and after-school 8 The Strategic Plan and accompanying documents will be in Resource Room. 9 See Resource Room for most recent measures of progress from fall 2001. Page 19 13 programs. The Director of the Springfield Urban League has said that their after-school program would not exist without Antioch student participation. The faculty has also begun to incorporate service learning into their classes. In Spring 2001, Antioch College sponsored a one-day intensive training on service learning as a component of academic study, and 20 College faculty joined faculty from surrounding institutions of higher learning to revise their courses to incorporate service. Three faculty have received small grants from Ohio Campus Compact to support service learning. The Community Learning Center has a Director, an Assistant Director, and two fulltime VISTA volunteers to provide support to faculty and students involved in service. Over 50% of all Antioch students are directly involved in service. In addition, plans are in place to expand the Community Responsibility Scholarship fund and involve up to 80% of all Antioch students in service next year. (See Criteria 2 Student Services and Admissions and Financial Aid ) Recent Events: Spring 2001-Spring 2002 Student retention had increased and so had recruitment but not enough to support the target enrollment of 800 identified in the Strategic Plan. Tuition shortfalls and unexpectedly high costs for heating fuel drove the College budget into a deficit in the 2000-2001 academic year. The addition of depreciation to the College’s budget at the June 2001 Board Meeting resulted in certain College budgetary requests being embargoed and others denied by the Board of Trustees. At the October 2001 Board meeting, the Trustees took a proactive role in asking the College to address its financial deficit and submit a three year budget plan to contain costs. Chancellor Jim Hall was made Acting President after Bob Devine’s departure September 30. Hall chaired a committee of faculty, staff, and students to make financial recommendations to the Board. Administrative consolidation across the three Yellow Springs units (Antioch College, Antioch McGregor, and Antioch University) was proposed for Human Resources, Technology Services, the Business office, and the Office of Administration & Finance. A tenure buy-out to encourage early retirement was included in the proposal. The serious impact of depreciation on the College’s 2001-2002 annual budget became the subject of much concern. Before 1987, most universities did not report depreciation on their academic buildings and equipment because depreciation is not an expenditure of resources. In 1987, Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement Number 93, “Recognition of Depreciation by Not-for-Profit Organizations” (FASB 93), required that colleges and universities report depreciation in general-purpose external finance statements. Because Antioch did not have the accounting detail available to immediately reflect depreciation, the University’s audited financial statements do not reflect depreciation until 1990-91, at which time accumulated depreciation related to prior years was recorded along with the current year depreciation. Between the time Antioch began reporting depreciation and 2000-01, depreciation was budgeted on a university-wide basis. During 2001-02, the Financial Stabilization Task Force of the Board of Trustees reviewed the way depreciation was budgeted and concluded that depreciation should be budgeted at the campus level. As a result, the revised 2001-02 budget moved depreciation from the university-wide account and added it to the budgets of the campuses and other operating units. Depreciation in the College’s 2001-02 adjusted budget was $2,930,000. This nearly $3,000,000 increase in the College’s budget led to an examination of the entire College budget in Fall 2001. Depreciation is $2,885,195 in the budget proposed for 2002- 03. Page 20 14 In a variety of ways, the University provides support to the College and has for many years. It is difficult to say exactly when this support began. For much of the University’s history, it operated without segregating the campuses in a consistent way, if at all. For a time the College and the University Administration were operated as a single unit. As a result, the history of support for the College is unclear. The University Administration was separated from the College Administration in 1994. Since then the amount of support is well documented. The support comes in the form of budgeted assistance and unplanned assistance, as when the College experiences an operating deficit. In 2001-02, the original budget called for the other campuses to provide the College with $706,945 in direct and indirect support. If the College experiences an operating deficit in the current year, the total level of support will increase by the amount of the deficit. In 2000-01, direct and indirect support for the college, including a cash basis deficit of $1,202,557, totaled $1,825,256. The proposed 2002-03 budget calls for direct support of $600,000 and assumes that there will be no cash basis deficit. In Fiscal ’03 in addition to the direct subsidy of $600,000 from the university, the College will not be required to maintain a reserve fund and will be permitted not to pay $600,000 into depreciation. This represents a total contribution of 1.2 million for Fiscal ’03 from the university. (See University Self Study for additional detail) The Board approved the consolidation plan at its February 2002 meeting, and implementation began immediately. New College President Joan Straumanis arrived amidst consolidation. Some College positions were eliminated as College services were relocated under university authority. Offices located in the historic main building of the college were closed (specifically the office of Human Resources and the offices of Administration & Finance). The elimination of an African American male as Director of Technology Resources and the Latina Director of Community Learning stimulated concern over affirmative action. Susan Lee, Director of Multicultural Affairs, was asked by President Straumanis to serve as an Employment Equity Officer in March and resigned her position in July. Despite these difficulties, Commencement 2002 was an upbeat affair. The graduating class once again expressed their gratitude to the College for the opportunity to take part in a unique educational enterprise. Graduate Melissa Petro stated from the podium, “I have learned to run at life not from it. I have learned to say good-bye, to move on, and to return. I am no longer afraid of change. I have become skilled at leaving.” 4. FUTURE DIRECTIONS Current concerns on campus include: uncertainty over the newly consolidated units capacity to adequately serve College needs; loss of faculty in tenure-track positions due to retirement and resignation; student recruitment and retention; persistent questions regarding the structural relationship between the College and the University. Despite the concerns noted above, the greatest needs of the College are financial. The Strategic Plan in 1996 clearly identified this and called for a Campaign to build up the College’s endowment. At its June 2001 Meeting, the board voted to move forward with this campaign. One year later (June 2002) lead gifts and pledges have brought the campaign total to $23 million in gifts and pledges. The College alumni continue to support the College generously and in significant numbers (see Criterion 2 Development ). The purpose of the capital campaign is to provide support for currently unfunded aid (the Antioch Tuition Grant) in order not to cripple the operating budget each year by providing unfunded aid to students. Financial Aid is now meeting Page 21 15 full documented need for all accepted students. An outside assessment of our Admissions effort in January 2002 determined that it is necessary to provide this level of aid in order to make the college accessible and competitive in attracting students in an increasingly competitive market. Our closest competitors provide this level of assistance to admitted students. This effort must increase enrollment in order to be considered successful. (See Criterion 2 Admissions and Financial Aid ) Upon arriving at the College, President Straumanis immediately launched three new short-term Commissions (Admissions, Co-op, and the Change Institute) to strengthen important functions and form the basis for appeals to foundations and agencies. She has brought new leadership for grantsmanship. Two grant-writing workshops for faculty and staff were held Spring 2002. The Change Institute has already received $10,000 from the Vanguard Foundation of California. The Carnegie Foundation has expressed interest in a proposal combining cooperative education with the Change Institute to build democracy through training citizens for public involvement. Two FIPSE proposals were submitted in May. One on Technology Learning Circles was invited for final consideration, and the other was on the Change Institute. The Cooperative Education program has submitted two proposals to the Midwest Instructional Technology Center to create a searchable web-based job list useful to both Antioch and other institutions of higher education. The College will know by fall whether any of these opportunities will receive funding. (See Criterion 4 Current Planning and Priorities for 2002-03 ) In addition to fiscal solutions, it is clear that Antioch College must strengthen its national image. Recent gains in this regard include the highly favorable ratings given to Antioch in the NSSE Studies (see Criterion 3 External Assessment ). National visibility is key to the College’s future vitality. The College continues to be recognized as a leader in cooperative education, however, it also must continue strengthening the Co-op program. Admissions surveys of each year’s entering class indicate that the majority of our students select Antioch College because of the combination of liberal arts with cooperative education. This unique feature requires all students to alternate work and study on a regular ongoing basis throughout their undergraduate education. The College’s cooperative education program represents applied liberal learning through active engagement and critical reflection. (See Criterion 3 Center for Cooperative Education ) This unique aspect of our educational model has survived the enormous changes in the economy over the past 80 years and continues to be a viable and exciting aspect of our educational program. Co-op will continue to be fundamental to the future of Antioch College. Antioch College has a long history of innovation and accomplishment despite limited fiscal resources. In 2002 the College celebrates its sesquicentennial not with great pomp but by continuing to do the work of providing an exceptional education to undergraduate students. Page 22 Page 23 17 Criterion 1: The institution has clear and publicly stated purposes consistent with its mission and appropriate to an institution of higher learning. Antioch College’s mission is clearly stated at the front of the college catalog, in the introduction to this document, in the Survival Manual given to all entering students as part of the College’s orientation, and in the new faculty and adjunct handbook. 10 Our mission statement is vital to our assessment process as each aspect of our program is reviewed in relationship to its ability to address the mission of the College. The mission clearly expresses the values of the college and these have been consistent for much of its history. Many would summarize Antioch College’s mission with the words Horace Mann stated in his last address, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” The graduating class each year recites this in unison; alumni from every decade share this quotation as the common ground of their identity as Antiochians. A recently painted mural seen as one drives into Yellow Springs from the south on Route 68 features it as does a marble obelisk on the front lawn of campus. Administrators, faculty, alumni, students, parents of students, staff employees and residents of the town all consider this quotation to be the basis of Antioch College’s mission. Mann’s admonition underlines the idea that an undergraduate liberal arts education should be used for the betterment of others, lead to the improvement of society and social conditions, and enable individuals to act in such a way as to leave a legacy for future generations. This purpose has remained relevant over a century and a half of changing norms in the definition and purpose of higher education in America. Antioch’s distinctive program continues to be recognized as outstanding for its quality of undergraduate education. In the 2000 and 2001 Carnegie and Pew sponsored National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the College received the highest ranking among all colleges and universities studied for “Enriching Educational Experiences.” (See Criterion 3 External Assessment ) Assessment of the Mission Each aspect of the mission will be examined in terms of how the College is realizing its purposes through the delivery of its programs. The italicized sections are quoted from the mission statement. Goal 1 . The academic curriculum provides students with a broad liberal education that challenges their values and perspectives as well as increases their knowledge, ability to question, and general intellectual consciousness about themselves and the society in which they live. The goal of general education at the College directly addresses this aspect of the mission. As stated in the College Catalog, the purpose of our general education program is: “to provide students with a broad-based education in the liberal arts and sciences and is intended to challenge students’ values and perspectives as well as increasing their knowledge, ability to question, and general intellectual consciousness about themselves and the society in which they live.”(page 24, 2000-2002 College Catalog) The mission is thus embedded in the general education program. General education requirements at Antioch College include a distribution element (six classes 10 The Survival Manual and Adjunct Orientation handbook will be in the Resource Room. Page 24 18 from among the eight majors – one course must be from the sciences) and a cultural element (oral proficiency in a second language and a cross cultural experience). All students fulfill these requirements. (See Criterion 3 General Education Assessment ) In Fall 1999 the Dean of Faculty appointed a General Education Committee to review the program, which had been in place since 1995, and make recommendations to the faculty. The committee included faculty from a wide variety of disciplines as well as students. They worked together for two years bringing various proposals forward and sparking much discussion about the meaning of general education within a liberal arts college. The faculty made only one minor change in the requirements to allow students greater room for elective courses. They reduced the total number of general education courses from 8 to 6 and decided to remove the special “g” designation used to identify particular courses used for the general education program. Now any course within a major can be used to satisfy the distribution requirement of the general education requirement. Assessment of general education has subsequently become a task of the Assessment Committee. Goal 2: Students will demonstrate familiarity with and critically examine theories of culture, power, oppression, social inequality and social change. This aspect of the mission is realized in multiple ways through the three “C’s” of the Antioch education: Classroom, Cooperative Education, and Community. How each of these addresses this aspect of the mission will be addressed briefly here. (See also Criterion 4, Priorities 2002-03, which describes the proposed Center for Collaborative Change.) Many individual courses at Antioch address issues of social inequity as part of the academic program. For example, courses such as Post Colonial Literature, Social Stratification, The Civil Rights Movement, Feminism and Ecology, Women and Minorities in Management, Gender and the Moving Image, Theory and Practice of Environmental Justice, and others which address issues of power, oppression, and agency for change. In addition, specific academic programs provide a thorough analysis for the study of power, oppression, and change as part of their educational goals. Academic programs that have made this explicit include Education Studies, Women Studies, Peace Studies, Environmental Studies, Communications, African/African American Studies, Literature, Self, Society and Culture, and Social and Global Studies. In this manner, students involved in classroom study will be able to demonstrate familiarity with and critically examine theories of culture, power, oppression, social inequality and social change . 11 Through cooperative education students may be placed in social agencies and become directly involved in the social service sector of society. Co-op sites which specifically address issues of power, oppression, and change include (but are not limited to) homeless shelters, food pantries, domestic violence shelters, headstart programs, immigration programs, urban and rural development projects, organizations serving low-income communities, gay/lesbian communities, Native American communities, or other communities lacking political power. Co-op also places students in a number of international social service jobs, including orphanages, third world development projects, and youth programs. By working with communities outside of the student’s own experience, knowledge is gained directly from those whose life experiences and life chances may be different from the student’s. This challenges pre-conceived notions and stereotypes, creates opportunities to deepen awareness of social conditions, and serves as a 11 Student papers, media documentaries, and research projects, which demonstrate this learning will be available in the Resource Room. Page 25 19 catalyst for new questions and new avenues of academic inquiry when the student returns to campus to study. 12 The third leg of the educational program is student involvement in Community. At Antioch College we mean a number of different things by Community, some of which are on- campus activities and others are off-campus projects in the surrounding area. On-campus activities include student participation and leadership in the structure of decision-making at all institutional levels, and student leadership in shaping our cultural and intellectual life through planning campus events, conferences, and film series. Off-campus activities include student involvement in service as organized by the Community Learning Center. Service sites include adult literacy programs, after-school tutoring programs, Springfield Urban League youth activities, low-income housing and public schools. 13 The proposed Center for Collaborative Change seeks to formally recognize the power of the Antioch Education to create leaders for social change. 14 Through community engagement both on and off campus, cross-cultural experiences, cooperative education, and classroom study, students are challenged to reconsider their values and perspectives as well as increasing their knowledge, ability to question, and general intellectual consciousness about themselves and the society in which they live. They are encouraged to join with others in forging constructive solutions to social problems. As former college President Algo D. Henderson and Dorothy Hall observed in 1946, “The point of the Antioch experiment was to produce men and women who could be practical agents of change.” Goal 3. The Cooperative Education program provides life and work experiences which develop independence, confidence, and self-motivation Since the 1920s cooperative education has been part of every Antioch College student’s education. The co-op department in its recent assessment process has reiterated the centrality of the work experience in an Antioch College education. (see Criterion 3 for co-op assessment.) Work is central to the mission of Antioch’s Cooperative Education Program. By working for an employer, students are placed in direct mentoring relationships. They can build job and personal skills including self-efficacy. They are held accountable for their work and help shape job responsibilities. They provide service and have meaningful, relevant experiences in authentic contexts. Cooperative education work experiences, when planned and paired with opportunities for reflection and reconsideration, can lead to: adaptability, tolerance for ambiguity, the discovery or affirmation of purpose, understanding the nature of work, making a difference, finding a balance between freedom and responsibility, and the valuing of and facility for lifelong learning. Co-op assignments across students’ four years place them in multi-racial, multi-cultural settings where stereotypes and prejudices are quickly challenged and hopefully replaced by positive personal experiences for both the employer and the student. Other areas of new knowledge (secondary to working for an employer) may include discovering what new locations have to offer, living in new communities, and self-sufficiency in living independently. Co-op supports these learning outcomes, but work is the central component of co-operative education. 12 Co-op papers and projects demonstrating this learning will be available in the Resource Room. 13 Community service projects demonstrating this student learning will be available in the Resource Room. 14 See documents on The Center for Collaborative Change in the Resource Room. Page 26 20 Goal 4 . The community structure offers significant responsibility for the social, cultural, financial, and policy issues that govern college life. Community is one of the truly unique aspects of an Antioch education. The GLCA review team (see Criterion 3 GLCA Assessment Review ) attended the weekly Community Meeting and was most impressed by student engagement in the college community. They state in their assessment report: “students continue to be a significant strength of the College.” Students were found to be “engaging, involved, and capable.” They also found that while not uncritical of various aspects of the college, students were “clearly advocates for the College.” They were highly impressed by the level of student responsiveness to a problem presented during the community meeting they attended. They said, in part: “Moreover, the students were engaged in caring and doing something about their own community. It seems that in this respect Antioch’s claim that its community is part of the educational experience of students is clearly supported. The students we heard were articulate and thoughtful, demonstrating their analytical skills as well as their moral compass in the context of their community.” 15 (page 6) In addition to the weekly Tuesday afternoon community meeting, students participate in all committees with faculty and staff. Most decisions at Antioch are made by committee. The most important of these committees is the Administrative Council (AdCil) which makes recommendations to the President in the areas of budget, faculty and administrative personnel decisions (including tenure), use of college facilities, and policies that govern the administration of the college. Although a recommending body, decisions made by AdCil usually have the force of legislation as they are almost always followed by the President, who is responsible for setting the AdCil agenda, chairing AdCil meetings and participating actively in all AdCil decisions and processes. AdCil and the President have the opportunity to work out differences and achieve consensus around the AdCil table in the Main Building Conference Room every Tuesday morning. Except for deliberation on personnel cases, these meetings are open, and anyone can attend and participate in the discussion of vital policy and budgetary issues. In turn, AdCil members recognize the President’s responsibilities to the Board of Trustees and the university governance structure, i.e. the University Leadership Council. Therefore, AdCil members rely on the President for information about what is going on at the top level of the institution, which needs to inform their decision-making. It should be noted that the democratic process is slow. Deliberation can give rise to dissension. Students are extremely well informed on the Antioch campus and are unafraid of voicing their opinions, sometimes loudly. Faculty, students, and staff are engaged in difficult institutional decisions routinely. These opportunities for engagement are seen as ‘teachable moments” in which differences can be aired and compromises achieved. This elaborate process of internal governance is part of the educational mission of the institution. (See Appendices 5 & 6 Community Government Structure and Faculty Governance Structure ) The structure of community life at Antioch College provides ample opportunity for students from a range of backgrounds and interests to come together and become involved in the cultural, intellectual, social, and political life of the College, thus fulfilling the educational mission to offer students significant responsibility for the social, cultural, financial, and policy issues that govern college life . (See Criterion 3 Community Assessment ) 15 The full GLCA Report will be in Resource Room. Page 27 21 Students continue to be actively involved in every level of institutional decision-making from faculty hiring to tenure, from budget cuts to program development. With this level of responsibility, students learn how to function as contributing members of a vital and engaged community. After graduation they carry this momentum forward, making contributions in their professional lives and communities. One measure of the College’s success in meeting the goal of the mission statement can be seen in the fact that seven alumni of the college have been named MacArthur Fellows (Debra Meier ’54; Mark Strand ’57; Virginia Hamilton ’57; Stephen Jay Gould ’63; Sylvia Law ’64; Lisa Delpit ’74; Wendy Ewald ’74). This is a higher percentage of alumni than at any other college or university. Goal 5. Students are expected to reach beyond conventional learning. With classroom and co- op faculty and within the context of the curriculum, they plan their own education, reflect upon their experiences, and, as a result, change their perspectives. This goal is achieved through close mentoring relationships between students and their academic and co-op advisors. Each student is assigned two faculty advisors upon arriving – one co-op advisor and one academic advisor. The academic advisor provides information and direction regarding the student’s classroom study, including the major field, general education requirements and academic progress. 16 The co-op advisor provides orientation to the requirements of cooperative education and works closely with the student for job placements and critical reflection on work experiences. Students cannot register for either study or work without the advisor’s signature. Both advisors sign the student’s degree plan approving the total course of work and study and taking responsibility jointly for each student’s educational program. Both advisors must also support a student’s desire to change sequences, i.e. switch a scheduled work term to study or vice versa. Both advisors are responsible, along with the student, for determining the progress of each student’s education. Advising at Antioch College is labor intensive for both academic and co-op faculty, though their advisory roles differ. For example, students with their co-op advisor identify specific learning objectives for each co-op experience. A student’s learning objectives may include such things as: “become comfortable with public speaking” or “become better organized” or “increase skill in time management” or “learn to live on a budget.” For cross- cultural co-ops, learning objectives may include: “communicating with co-workers and clients in a second language” or “learning to teach English as a second language” or “learning to function effectively in another country.” These learning objectives reflect what the student and faculty agree are appropriate in the work and living context of the planned co-op. This directly addresses the College’s mission to help students reach beyond conventional learning by articulating learning clearly and applying it to life situations. 16 See Faculty Advising Handbook in the Resource Room. Page 28 22 Students gain credit for co-op by completing 15 weeks of work and by documenting and reflecting upon their experience. This documentation is reviewed by their co-op advisor. Students may document their experiences in a variety of ways. It could be a long reflective paper; a public presentation on campus to other students and faculty; a photography exhibit with explanatory text panels or a video diary. 17 Before credit is awarded, the student must schedule a crediting session with the co-op advisor. In a face-to-face meeting between the student and Co- op advisor, they discuss the learning which occurred during Co-op. In this way the co-op faculty member actively engages the student in critical reflection upon lived experience, thus fulfilling the mission to help students plan their own education, reflect upon their experiences, and, as a result, change their perspectives. Goal 6 . The goal is for Antioch students to become intelligent experimenters, informed risk- takers, creative thinkers, and courageous practitioners. There are many examples of students emerging as leaders both on the campus and beyond it. The Environmental Field Program (EFP), a long-standing academic program in place for over twenty years, regularly provides for students to assume strong leadership roles. This program emerged in the 1970s to place students into the field for intensive environmental study. It once ran multiple times each year but currently occurs only in the summer term. As a field- based course, students travel for nine weeks to a specific region of the U.S., Mexico, or Canada. Recent trips have retraced the Trail of Tears from western North Carolina to Oklahoma; examined the Texas-Mexico border and the impact of the maquiladoras ; traveled down the Mississippi River from Cincinnati to New Orleans; and explored the Canadian Pacific Northwest with a focus on First Nations. In this 16 credit summer academic program, students enroll in four 4 credit courses (one in the Physical Sciences; one in the Environmental Sciences; one in Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies; and the fourth is designed by the student leaders working closely with faculty – it could be in History; Sociology; Spanish; Anthropology, or another field). These courses may serve as either general education, field, or elective credit. Upper class students and recent graduates apply to lead EFP. They write a proposal, and with faculty assistance, design the specific requirements for each of the four courses. They may initiate new course offerings as well. Once hired, the EFP leaders (generally two co-leaders) spend a year preparing to lead the trip. The student leaders recruit and select student participants; refine course descriptions and course requirements; research contacts for the trip who will serve as field experts in science, industry, education, and community organizing in the region they plan to study. They compile a course packet for readings and define assignments. The student leaders plan the entire itinerary (including camping locations for all overnight stays) and conduct a planning trip to meet with experts in the field who will be the course consultants. The College faculty do not travel with the program, only the student leaders serve in this capacity. Faculty along with the EFP student leaders provide orientation sessions for the participants before they leave. Then the student participants and EFP leaders leave for their intensive summer field-based education. EFP leaders are responsible for all aspects of the trip, including managing the budget, coordinating all aspects of site visits and consultant meetings, supporting student work and completion of assignments, coping with the unexpected in terms of weather, road conditions, and solving problems as they arise. One faculty member, Dr. Tom Ayrsman, serves as the EFP coordinator and is available if needed. However, the success of EFP 17 See Resource Room for examples of student documentation of learning over co-op. Page 29 23 depends on the student leaders demonstrating how well their Antioch education has prepared them to be intelligent experimenters, informed risk-takers, creative thinkers, and courageous practitioners . EFP is among the College’s most successful field-based programs. One outcome of EFP is that students who participate in it are among those with the highest rates of retention. New student leadership emerges out of each trip, as a participant from one year often applies to be a leader in a subsequent year. 18 Students who become community managers also demonstrate their achievement of this goal through their leadership on campus. Community managers are elected by the entire community (students, faculty, staff, and administrators) to serve for one year. Community managers may run as individuals, in a partnership, or as a collective. Their duties include coordinating all aspects of student-initiated campus-based events, hiring the Community Government (CG), shaping the political, cultural, and social climate of the campus, and managing a budget of several hundred thousand dollars. The budget of Community Government is the largest pool of discretionary funds on campus. The budget is built from Community Government fees, which are paid by all community members, i.e. students and college employees. These funds support the campus newspaper ( The Record ) the campus coffee shop (the C-Shoppe ) and most campus events and activities, and all student groups. (See Appendix 5 Chart on the Structure of Community Government ) The community manager is often a recent graduate or upper class student who has been involved in other aspects of community leadership, such as serving as editor of the campus newspaper, before running for this office. These leaders are directly involved in allocating resources and serving on major committees. They are also involved in dispute resolution, addressing issues of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation as they arise within the community, and setting the agenda for and running the weekly community meeting. These student leaders are among the most important public figures on campus. Their actions and decisions are highly visible and have a direct impact on the student body. One final illustration of a student becoming an intelligent experimenter, informed risk- taker, creative thinker, and courageous practitioner can be seen in the leadership of one young woman, Megan Weber. In summer 2000 she enrolled in a developmental psychology course in the third summer block entitled, “Early Childhood: Migrant Headstart,” with Professor Pat Linn. This course incorporated a service learning component in which students worked in a Headstart program serving the children of migrant workers in the nearby agricultural town of New Carlisle. Megan Weber was raised in that town. She had attended school there. Yet she had never noticed the migrant camps next to the cornfields or the seasonal population of mostly Mexican workers. Her education had not included an analysis of the challenges facing the local farm economy or the increasing use of cheap migrant labor. Her life was changed by encountering this new knowledge. However, her learning did not stop there. As a Bonner Scholar who was required to give a certain number of community service hours to a community-based organization, she began to work in the Headstart program. But this was not enough. She saw and felt the need to bridge the gap between the town of New Carlisle, which she knew, and the Latino/a immigrant population. She combined her academic study with volunteer service as a Bonner Scholar, and with the support of Antioch faculty and staff she founded a 501c-3 nonprofit organization to serve this community. With help from Alicia Pagan, 18 See resource room for more on the Environmental Field Program. Page 30 24 former Director of Antioch College’s Community Learning Center, she wrote a proposal and received a grant to underwrite the start-up costs of this new organization. While still an undergraduate student she used a co-op term to become the first executive director and put together a Board of Directors which members of the migrant community, leaders in New Carlisle and Antioch College faculty and administrators. Megan organized a board retreat, and with help from Dayton’s Center for Non-Profit Resources, the fledgling organization defined its mission and named itself Del Pueblo, Inc. It officially began operation one year after Megan had first learned of the needs of the migrant community in her hometown through a service learning course at the College. Megan Weber graduated with a degree in Education Studies in summer 2002. Goal 7 . Antioch College encourages its students to have a balanced respect for all of life – self, others, society and the earth. Empowered by their education, students are encouraged to empower others. Environmental awareness and action is perhaps the area showing the greatest growth in student empowerment over the past five years and can serve to illuminate this goal. Antioch College was one of the founding institutions of the National Association of Green Educators (NAAGE) 19 and one of our Environmental Science faculty serves as the President of this fast- growing academic organization. Antioch College hosted the national conference of NAAGE in summer 1999 and has had both faculty and students attend each biennial gathering since its inception in 1995. In fall 2001 in response to student interest, the administration appointed a “Budget and Environmental Manager” in the office of the former Dean of Administration and Finance. The manager was an Environmental Studies graduate who as a student had started to conduct an environmental audit of the college in order to find ways to save costs and improve environmental practices by reducing energy consumption and increasing recycling and re-use. The campus community was shaken by the elimination of this new position in March 2002 under consolidation. Greencil began in spring 2000 as a new campus committee with a specific charge to “lighten the college’s footprint on the Earth.” Greencil emerged out of a class assignment in spring 1997 in the course, Theory & Practice of Ecology. The idea was developed through another student’s senior project in 1999 and implemented through student leadership. Students active on Greencil today bring proposals to “green the campus.” These proposals are reviewed and where feasible are implemented. This is a perfect example of students acting on their values “to have a balanced respect for all of life – self, others, society and the earth” and to use their education to “empower others.” The two students who first conceived of Greencil have both graduated, yet today this committee exemplifies community learning by bringing students, faculty, staff, and administration together to address environmental concerns and make improvements in our community. Since 1997 the College has worked with a neighborhood organization, the Southwest Montgomery County Environmental League (SMEL). SMEL was organized to oppose the placement of a landfill in a middle class, African-American neighborhood. The College’s garbage is trucked to this landfill. College students and professors have worked on a video documentary about this issue, written articles, led field trips to the landfill and attended legal 19 The acronym has one more letter A than the title so as not to be confused with another organization, NAGE. Page 31 25 hearings. They have assisted neighborhood activists by conducting research and providing documentation. Six faculty in different programs, including: Sociology, Political Science, Media Arts, Journalism, Environmental Studies, and Environmental Science have incorporated this issue into their classroom teaching. In Fall 2001, Assistant Professor of African/African American Studies Jahwara Giddings received a service learning grant from Ohio Campus Compact to link his Introduction to African American Studies to this neighborhood organization. His students conducted a neighborhood health and nuisance survey. In spring 2002, an Environmental Studies class held a fundraiser on campus and raised over $300 to help SMEL pay for legal fees in their ongoing legal battle with the landfill. This is just one example where “empowered by their education students are encouraged to empower others.” A final campus-based example of Antioch College living its ideals is the restructuring of the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) to report directly to the College President in order to provide leadership on increasing campus diversity. Students organized in spring 2001 to insure a new OMA Director would be hired despite a campus-wide hiring freeze. Students conducted a petition drive, attended Administrative Council meetings, and drafted a letter quoting the Strategic Plan goal: “to build a college free of racism and other forms of oppression, intolerance and bigotry. All departments and operational units are responsible for improving the climate of civility, respect, trust and social justice on campus.” This effort was led by a multiracial coalition of students who defined diversity broadly to incorporate issues of race, class, gender and sexual orientation. Students redefined the mission of the office to “facilitate college-wide efforts to build a campus climate that celebrates diversity and differences while fostering positive community interactions. It also endeavors to engage the entire Antioch community (students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents and alumni) in an effort to counter racism, bigotry and patterns of discriminatory behavior, through curricular and co-curricular programs.” The mission clearly expresses the values inherent in an Antioch College education and continues to shape our educational goals and illuminate our future directions. Page 32 Page 33 27 Criterion 2: The institution has effectively organized the human, financial, and physical resources necessary to accomplish its purposes. The basic structure of Antioch College is traditional with the added component of a rather complex committee structure to insure wide democratic participation in all decision-making processes. This chapter will provide an overview and brief assessment of the administrative structure, the faculty, student services, financial and physical resources of the College, and admissions policies and procedures. (See Appendices 9a-9d for Organizational Charts: Antioch College, Academic Area, Student Services, Glen Helen Ecology Institute ) 1. ADMINISTRATION The College has one President who reports to the Chancellor. The Chancellor reports to the Board of Trustees. University policy is set by the Board based on recommendations made through the University Leadership Council (See University Self Study). Since the college’s academic program and faculty structure is unique, the College has a separate set of Board- approved policies governing its faculty. 20 The College also negotiates four different union contracts: International Union of Operating Engineers Local 20 (represents 1.5 boiler operators); United Plant Guard Workers of America Local 122 (represents 5 security guards); United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America Local 767 for staff and United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers Local 767 for production and maintenance workers (UE 767 represents approximately 75 members). 21 The College has one Vice President who is also Dean of Faculty. There are two other deans: Dean of Students and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid. They report directly to the President. The other offices and operations reporting directly to the President include the Director of the Glen Helen Ecology Institute and the Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Employment Equity. Technology Resources reported to the College President until February 2002 when this unit was consolidated and now reports to McGregor President Barbara Danley. Another change resulting from consolidation was the elimination of a College Dean of Administration and Finance. This function is now filled by the Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance and CFO of the University. Each Dean is responsible for the operations of his/her area, including budget. The President and Deans are members of the Presidential Staff Group (PSG). Other members include the OMA Director and Glen Helen Director as they both report directly to the President. 22 At the June 2001 Board Meeting College President Robert Devine announced his resignation. He stepped down from the presidency on September 30, 2001. Other leadership resignations followed. The Dean of Students announced it would be his final year. In January 2002, the Dean of Administration and Finance announced her departure at the end of that month. The Director of Multicultural Affairs resigned in July. Following Devine’s departure, the Board appointed Chancellor Jim Hall to serve as Acting President. The Board sent one candidate, Dr. Joan Straumanis, to campus for an intensive day and a half of meetings and interviews in early October. AdCil compiled feedback forms from 20 .See Resource Room for Antioch College Faculty Personnel Policies. 21 See Resource Room for copies of union contracts. 22 .See vitaes of all top administrators in Resource Room . Page 34 28 community members who had had a chance to meet the candidate and wrote an official endorsement of this candidate to the Board. She was hired by the Board and officially began February 1, 2002 as Antioch College’s 20th President and the first woman to serve in this position. She attended her first Board meeting in February and arrived on campus amidst a process of administrative consolidation in which separate units in Antioch McGregor, the University, and the College were being combined and positions eliminated. Consolidated units include: Human Resources, Technology Services, and the Business office, and Administration & Finance. College staff in these areas were either terminated or re-assigned to university offices. Some employees chose to resign rather than be re-assigned. A new Dean of Students, Dr. Patricia Whitlow, begins August 1. A search to replace the Director of Multicultural Affairs will begin soon. Assessment of Administration The new administrative structure is just beginning to take shape and its success (or failure) remains to be seen. Can any lessons be gleaned from the past in terms of maximizing success for this new leadership team? Between Fall 1995 and Summer 2001 there was a period of stability in the leadership of the College. This period of administrative stability was very beneficial to the institution and has probably been one of the most important contributing factors to improving retention among both students and new faculty. From 1990-1995, in the period immediately preceding six years of stability under former President Devine, the College had struggled with turnover in the following leadership positions: three different deans of students; two different deans of faculty; two different presidents; two different deans of admissions; and three different deans of finance and administration. There was as much or more turnover in directors and associate deans during this period (three different directors of co-op; three different directors of Human Resources). To what was this turnover attributable? Or perhaps of more importance, what were the attributes of the period of stability that followed? If we compare the period of stability with the period of instability we might note the critical role of strategic planning and community building undertaken in the early days of Devine’s administration. A comprehensive planning process, which involved all segments of the community, informed a five-year strategic plan. This built a sense of solidarity, of common purpose and common aims, and a wide consensus of what next steps were central to invigorate the College and launch it into the next century. The strategic plan was implemented in 1996 along with a curriculum re-structuring and a new calendar. The enormous amount of institutional work that led to these changes brought the campus community together in the act of re-visioning the College. All of this enthusiasm was fueled by the mantra, “800 by 2000,” an enrollment goal that would allow the College to flourish. When this enrollment goal was not met by fall 2000, the resulting budget shortfall required that some staff positions be eliminated in spring 2001. A mandate to temporarily lay-off some staff or reduce others from full to part-time was also announced. Two tenure-track faculty searches were halted (Early Education and Psychology). The search for a new Dean of Faculty was also aborted and Dean of Faculty Hassan Nejad was asked to continue in this role rather than return to the faculty as he had intended. Faculty and others responded to staff lay-offs by voluntarily making monetary donations to the College directly out of their paychecks to restore some Union staff workers to fulltime employment. A Union representative informed the College Page 35 29 that this was the first time in the Union’s history that non-Union employees had responded in this manner to save Union positions. One year later in spring 2002, administrative consolidation resulted in another cycle of staff reduction. However, the administrative consolidation has brought the budget into acceptable range, to the point that the faculty searches halted in 2001 will restart in fall 2002. Currently 11 tenure track faculty searches are planned for fall 2002. President Straumanis’ approach to strategic and long-term planning is to look closely at specific needs and write fundable proposals, which she will take to appropriate foundations and agencies. This focused approach to planning will be explored in Criterion 4. The new administrative structure is just beginning to take shape. An assessment process needs to be put into place to help determine its success. 2. FACULTY The Antioch College faculty is actively involved in the college community and deeply engaged in the delivery of a student-centered liberal arts program, which includes cooperative education and cross-cultural experience for all undergraduates. Since the last NCA review, the faculty has seen a great deal of turn-over among newer faculty and a consistent effort to hire in the positions vacated and rebuild the faculty. In 1996-97 and 1997-98, the College had a total of 56 faculty positions (including four part-time); out of these nine were non-tenure track and/or filled with adjuncts. In 2001-02, the faculty included 67 positions, of which seven were co-op faculty; four were library faculty; five were AEA faculty who lead study-abroad programs in Japan, India, Brazil and Europe (these faculty only offer one course per year on campus and are not responsible for academic advising); three faculty were part-time; and five were full-time administrators with faculty status who may contribute at least one or two courses per year to the academic program. Of these 67 faculty, 44 hold the Ph.D., 12 hold terminal master degrees (seven arts and communications faculty hold the M.F.A., four library faculty hold the M.L.S., and one co-op faculty member holds the M.S.W.) The remaining 16 faculty hold an M.A. or M.B.A.. Antioch College faculty hold assigned rank. In 2001-02, the faculty included 22 full professors, 16 associate professors and 29 assistant professors. Of these seven are visiting assistant professors and two are visiting associate professors. ) 23 (See in preface: Faculty Chart and Interdisciplinary Majors, 2001-2002) Since Fall 1996, the Dean of Faculty, Associate Dean of Faculty, Dean of Students, and College President all held faculty appointments and taught courses as well as serving as administrative leaders. President Straumanis does not hold a faculty appointment and will not be teaching. Former President Devine has re-joined the faculty and will resume teaching summer 2003 after his one-year sabbatical. Former Dean of Students Dr. Scott Warren will assume his role as a tenured faculty member immediately following a fall 2002 sabbatical. This will leave only the Dean and Associate Dean of Faculty as administrators with faculty appointments. A number of faculty changes are currently taking place. In spring and summer 2002 three pre-tenure faculty resigned; three tenured faculty retired; and two faculty requested a one-year leave of absence. In addition, the out-going Associate Dean of Faculty will be on sabbatical fall and spring terms and the out-going Director of Co-op will be on sabbatical spring term. The College will hire five faculty (Chemistry; Environmental Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology) on limited term contracts to cover curriculum needs during 2002-2003. The 23 See Resource Room for faculty vitaes and records of professional development. Page 36 30 College also intends to conduct 11 tenure-track faculty searches beginning fall 2002 to fill vacancies. Curriculum Design and Delivery The College faculty has responsibility for all aspects of curriculum design and delivery. At the time of the last NCA visit the College had 23 majors. Since that time the faculty redesigned the academic program into eight interdisciplinary majors which range in size from four to eleven faculty responsible for the delivery of the major. One position is assigned to two majors (the Environmental Studies position is a joint appointment in the CIS and SGS majors). All majors are structured around common introductory courses, methods courses, and the capstone experience (senior project). Some of these majors are further subdivided by concentrations, and some of these concentrations have defined foci. For example, a student in the LLC major (Literature, Languages and Culture) must select from one of the following concentrations: Literature, Creative Writing, German, French, Spanish, or Japanese. If the student selects the Creative Writing concentration of the LLC major, s/he must then select a focus in either Fiction or Poetry. (See Criterion 3 for a thorough discussion of the academic program) In addition, to the eight majors, their concentrations and foci, a student may elect to graduate with a Self-Designed Major (SDM). The Self-Designed Major must be initiated by the student and supported by two classroom faculty advisors. The student must clearly state the purpose of combining fields of study and propose a senior project, which clearly integrates the two (or more) fields. This then must be approved by the Self-Designed Major Committee (consisting of four faculty and two students) which reviews all SDM proposals. 24 (See Criterion 3 Self Designed Major ) The purpose of this curriculum design is to acknowledge the shifting boundaries and increasingly interdisciplinary nature of academic endeavor, to consolidate and maximize faculty resources to cover a well-rounded liberal arts education, and to offer a range of appropriate specializations to prepare students for graduate or professional study. For example, Antioch College provides a pre-med track within the sciences, and teacher certification within the Education Studies program. Through collaborative planning and support, the faculty have been delivering the range of programs promised in the catalog. Faculty Workload Faculty Personnel Policies (p. 13-15) define faculty work load, criteria for evaluation and promotion of classroom, co-op and library faculty. 25 . In brief, classroom faculty are expected to teach six courses per year including participation in Senior Project Seminar; they are expected to offer two courses per trimester in addition to the Senior Project Seminar and one summer block course (an 18 day intensive course) in the summer session. They are expected to provide not more than 5 independent studies per spring and fall terms and not more than 2 independent study courses over the summer term. They are expected to advise not more than 20 students. In addition they are required to remain professionally active in college consortia and academic organizations beyond the campus as well as serving on not more than two campus committees per term, though special ad hoc committees and/or search committee membership may mean some faculty serve on three to four committees per term. They are expected to make specific 24 See Resource Room for examples of self designed major proposals. 25 See Resource Room for Faculty Personnel Policies. Page 37 31 contributions to their interdisciplinary major as well as general contributions to the liberal arts curriculum and intellectual and cultural life of the college. In addition, to the explicit requirements stated in the policies, the Dean of Faculty’s office expects each faculty member to be a visible contributing member of the community; to teach a minimum of four days per week and to hold posted office hours not less than four hours per week outside of class time. Exceptions to these expectations can be made if warranted through negotiations with the Dean of Faculty. The Dean will consider issues of personal health, professional commitments, or an exceptionally heavy committee leadership responsibility in granting an exception. The workload for co-op faculty and library faculty is described differently (see FPP p. 14 and 15 respectively). The work of faculty members in the Center for Cooperative Education is evaluated with reference to broadening and deepening the learning of students during those parts of their Antioch careers when they are scheduled to work. Each co-op faculty member advises between 95-110 students. Co-op advisors are responsible for credit conferences to reflect with students on student learning over co-op and credit student co-op experiences. In addition, each co-op faculty member is responsible for a geographic region of the U.S., and one co-op faculty member is responsible for all of the international co-op placements. Co-op faculty develop relationships with new employers as part of new job development and maintain continuous relationships with existing job supervisors. They help prepare students for specific jobs in their regions and assist students in job placement. They may remain in contact with students while on co-op through email and phone as well as conducting site visits. Support of the academic program is the primary mission of the College Library. Library faculty carry separate and distinct responsibilities for access to services and materials, organization of resources, and instruction in the use of bibliographic tools and technology. The library faculty is expected to perform a certain number of hours per week in the library serving student and faculty needs in regard to library materials and overseeing all functions within the library. Faculty Review Reviews of faculty are conducted on a regular schedule throughout a faculty member’s pre-tenure career at Antioch. They are reviewed every two years and usually at the time of their third review are considered for tenure. These reviews are conducted according to the provisions and criteria spelled out in Faculty Personnel Policies, which have been formulated and adopted by the College faculty and approved by the Board of Trustees. Decisions on contract renewal, tenure and promotion in rank are not administrative, but involve the deliberations of (a) the Faculty Personnel Review Committee comprised of five faculty, two students, and two additional faculty members in tenure cases (b) Administrative Council (AdCil) comprised of faculty, students, staff and administrators; and in some cases, (c) an appeals board of faculty peers. (See FPP pgs. 6-17 for detailed explanation of review process and review critieria.) In summary, the review process involves three separate groups of faculty, students, and administrators deliberating on each case time. These groups operate democratically, outside of administrative channels, using clearly specified policy guidelines, procedures and criteria, with safeguards at every level. There are very few exceptions to this carefully conceived and methodically implemented review process. Those exceptions which have occurred in the past ten years have generally been a result of one of the following: 1) faculty or administrators hired with tenure; 2) administrators hired with faculty status and later given tenure outside of the process described above. In each of Page 38 32 the three or four circumstances over the last decade in which the regular peer review process was not followed, faculty generally oppose the decision (to award tenure) regardless of the merit of the individual faculty member. Faculty express a great deal of trust in the review process and generally oppose the very few exceptions in which faculty have been granted tenure outside of the ordinary review process. Faculty Sabbatical & Retirement Each fall and spring term one to three faculty may be on sabbatical. The Sabbatical Leave Policy offers a single term every seven years for faculty who have tenure to focus on professional development activities. (see Faculty Personnel Policies) Retiring faculty often take their final term as a sabbatical. The Executive Committee of the Board passed a one-time tenure relinquishment proposal in February 2002 for faculty over 60 with at least 12 years of service. As many as 12 faculty were eligible; seven negotiated and signed contracts. Their retirements are staggered: two in 2002 and five in 2004. An additional retirement negotiated a year prior is also in 2002. Two faculty retired in 2001. This means that over a three-year period (2001-2004) ten senior faculty have exited or will exit the institution. The impact on the curriculum is not yet clear. It is expected that all of these positions, with the exception of one, will be filled. Two of them have already been filled (Dance and Cooperative Education) by new tenure-track faculty who began fall 2001. Faculty Retention Each year pre-tenure faculty may choose to leave the institution for a variety of reasons, and older faculty may retire. The effort to keep faculty positions filled becomes part of the on- going workload of the remaining faculty. For example, a concentrated effort to fill vacant tenure- track positions was undertaken in the 1997-98 academic year and 13 new tenure-track faculty began fall 1998. Of these, only seven remain. The 50% retention rate for new faculty could be improved. This issue should be addressed critically and creatively to halt the revolving door of pre-tenure faculty. Strategies to support new faculty already undertaken by the Dean of Faculty’s office include: mentor program pairing up new faculty with older faculty outside of their department; year-long orientation program with bimonthly meetings; reduced advising and committee responsibilities in the first year; support for individual faculty professional development. The turn-over of new faculty combined with more retirements in the next few years is a source of concern for all faculty. In spring 2002, AdCil approved 11 national tenure-track faculty searches to fill vacated positions pending budget allocations. If 11 searches go forward next year and each search includes 3 faculty then at least half of the faculty on campus will be involved in the hiring process in addition to their regular committee load. This becomes part of the burden on faculty load as search committees are time-intensive and demand great levels of community participation. Faculty Assessment Challenges facing the faculty include the effort to deliver the unique academic program to a wide variety of students within the College’s limited resources. This has been exacerbated by recent events. For example, fall 2001 a hiring freeze halted two faculty searches which had not been completed the year before due to budget limitations. The two academic programs Page 39 33 impacted (Education and Psychology) are popular and attempting to deliver our student-centered curriculum with adjuncts is difficult. Hopefully, these two positions will be filled for fall 2003. Faculty did not receive the full scheduled salary increase in 2001-02 and most are keenly aware of the growing income gap between Antioch College faculty and other GLCA faculty. The annual 2% increase was honored, however, the more significant increases which the faculty received in 2000-2001 as part of a three-year salary adjustment process was halted after the first year. These adjustments were proposed by the Faculty Salary Committee and supported by the former President. The Board approved the first year of increases but not the second. Though the College faculty has gained a gender balance, a perception persists that there is a pattern of salary inequity by gender. President Straumanis has determined to investigate this thoroughly next year. She is planning to ask the Faculty Salary Committee to assess whether such an inequity does in fact exist, and if so, she plans to address it. In addition to salary concerns, faculty staffing remains an issue. In 2002-03, four full- time faculty either have a one-year sabbatical or have taken a one-year leave (the former President; the former Associate Dean of Faculty; Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Associate Professor of Anthropology.) Two of these positions will be filled by adjuncts and two will be filled by one-year replacements. Two faculty have a one-term sabbatical (the former Dean of Students in the Fall and the former Director of Cooperative Education in the Spring). Two pre-tenure faculty resigned Spring 2002 and took positions elsewhere, and two other faculty will retire Summer 2002. Two of these positions will be filled by one-year replacements in 2002- 03. The result of these changes means that in the 2002-03 academic year, the College will have fewer fulltime faculty to serve students and cover the needs of the curriculum than in 2001-02. However, many of these changes are short-term as faculty on leave are expected to return. Other concerns for staffing focus on the proposed tenure-track searches. Some faculty are nervous that the 11 searches approved to go forward next year may not actually be filled due to budgetary constraints. Aside from the difficulties of being in a chronically under-resourced institution, the primary challenge facing College faculty is the issue of time. In addition to delivering the classroom and co-op requirements, most faculty are also deeply engaged with the life of the community. Generally for faculty, community involvement is structured through committee work. Many of these committees do the kinds of institutional work, which in other colleges may be done by professional administrative staff. Other committee work involves the intense interaction involved in the multiple levels of open democratic decision-making which brings administrators, faculty, staff, and students to sit together and deliberate on policy decisions, including budget and personnel decisions. The time involved in participating in these kinds of community-building activities can be very demanding for faculty as they are expected to provide leadership on these committees. Additionally, many faculty feel the Summer study term fails to attract sufficient students and should not be a required part of faculty workload. (See also Criterion 3 GLCA Assessment Review and Academic Calendar and the Summer Term ) The sabbatical policy only allows for one term off every seven years and no pre-tenure sabbatical. It is often suspected that it is the workload (which translates into a lack of time to pursue professional development) and not the low pay, which drives younger faculty to search for other employment options. If one does not continue to publish, exhibit new work, and in other ways remain viable as an academic professional, then both the institution and the individual suffer. Antioch College offers reimbursement to faculty who present at professional conferences and offers grants through the Faculty Fund Trustees to pursue larger projects. In this Page 40 34 case, it is not necessarily a lack of resources which prohibits advancement but time. Greater flexibility for faculty to make special arrangements to pursue research and/or creative work would boost morale. For example, a few faculty have been successful in negotiating with the Dean to have a summer off in order to complete a book or documentary film. Despite these limitations, the Antioch College faculty continues to make significant contributions to their fields through publishing, speaking, performance, exhibition, leadership, and innovation. 26 (See also Criterion 3 Center for Cooperative Education and Additional Selected External Measures of Assessment ) 3. STUDENT SERVICES The work in the Student Affairs Division is guided by a vision of what the College represents, and what students can rightfully expect to experience when they come to Antioch. The vision is of a small, residential, academic community where the pursuit of learning (both inside and outside the classroom), the development of a sense of community, and the multidimensional growth of the individual are reigning principles. This vision is enhanced by the view of students as free, moral agents in the world, willing and able to take responsibility for their intellectual and social lives. The vision is further expanded by the expectation that students will experience a great degree of integration and mutual reinforcement of their learning in the realms of classroom, Cooperative education, and community life. The Resources and Services of Student Affairs The role of the Student Affairs Division is to provide a variety of resources and forms of support, both formal and informal, as students undertake their journey through the worlds of experiential, community, and classroom liberal learning. The Student Affairs Division consists of the following offices and operations: the Academic Support Center; the Community Learning Center; the Office of Campus & Residence Life; the Counseling Center; the Wellness and Health Center; the Sexual Offense Prevention Policy Office; and the Office of Campus Security. (See organizational chart in appendix.) Each of these offices is dedicated to the proposition that students are engaged in learning beyond the boundaries of classroom and Cooperative education, and each office endeavors to assist and support students in their process of self-discovery, personal growth, communal living, and academic success. 27 The director of each office is charged with needs assessments to determine whether they are indeed meeting the educational and personal needs of students. Since the last NCA visit, there have been significant changes made in both the organization and the priorities of the Student Affairs Division to respond to some of the shortcomings noted in previous assessments of student and community life. Student Affairs is working to develop better and more frequent needs assessments for all programs and services. The Counseling Center maintains excellent records of the substantial numbers of students who make use of what it has to offer in the areas of counseling, wellness, and sexual offense prevention. The Academic Support Center is completing plans for a new and enhanced needs assessment mechanism. But there is room for improvement. 26 See Resource Room for faculty vitae and records of professional activities. 27 See Resource Room for the mission statements and descriptions of services each office provides, as well as the resumes of the personnel who carry out those missions. Page 41 35 Multiculturalism and Community Learning Both multiculturalism and community service and learning have been made the two highest priorities of efforts in Student Affairs. To that end, a new Office of Multicultural Affairs with its own full-time director was opened in Fall 1998. The efforts of that office were moved to the very center of community life and located in the main administration building. Furthermore, the office was reorganized in 2001 to report directly to the President in order to underscore the institution-wide jurisdiction of the office, as well as to establish its central priority for the educational mission of the College. The Director has led the effort to complete a new Racial Discrimination Prevention Policy. Secondly, five years ago a new, full-time position of Director of Community Learning was established to solidify efforts to place community learning and service at the center of campus life. Service programs include the Antioch Literacy Corps and the Bonner Scholars Americorps Leaders program funded by the Bonner Foundation. In January 2001, as part of consolidation, faculty member Dr. Cheryl Keen was appointed as Director. The director not only oversees the Bonner Scholars community service program, but also directs our recently created Community Responsibility Scholars program (which now has its own coordinator) and currently includes more than 150 scholarship recipients. Next year the Community Responsibility Scholars will be expanded to include 300 scholarship recipients as this program is being used as a recruitment strategy by Admissions to meet 100% of student need. The Director of Community Learning also oversees two VISTA volunteers, both funded by outside sources. One VISTA volunteer serves as the Service-Learning Coordinator, funded by the Ohio Campus Compact program, who works directly with faculty to provide resources for the integration of service-learning into the curriculum. The other VISTA volunteer, funded by the Bonner Foundation, works closely with the Bonner Scholars Program placing students in community service. Now entering the third year, the growth in the number of courses that incorporate service- learning components into their syllabi indicates a new integration of classroom and community. For the first time, the fall 2002 new student orientation will incorporate service into orientation activities. The goal to expand the culture and ethic of community service on campus is being met. Campus Climate and Morale During the past five years there have been significant efforts to improve sagging student morale and a campus climate of general dissatisfaction. First and foremost, those efforts have involved a concentrated effort to re-build bridges of trust and respect between students and the Student Affairs staff. In particular, the Dean and Associate Dean have spent substantial time reaching out to students with an attitude of trust, respect, and civility. Over time that effort has paid off by a palpable boost in morale and a climate of greater civility. The success of those efforts can be seen in the quality of discourse in community meetings as well as in dramatically improved retention rates. In sum, the approach has been to bring back a sense that the College does indeed care about our students, and that all staff are in partnership with them in making their personal and social lives as rich and rewarding as possible. Academic Support Three years ago the Academic Support Center opened with its own director to provide increased services in the areas of tutoring, study skills, learning and physical disabilities, and general support for student needs in the realm of academic success. That office has been used by hundreds of students every year since its creation, and has contributed to the increased retention the College Page 42 36 has experienced. In 2001, an Assistant Director of Academic Support was added to extend our support to students. 28 Retention Perhaps one of the best measures of the effectiveness of efforts in Student Affairs is the dramatic improvement in student retention rates. While retention is not solely the result of the changes made in Student Affairs over the past five years, there is certainly a strong connection in that regard. Overall retention rates have improved continually since 1995 to an all-time Antioch College high of 87%. (See Appendix 2 College Retention Summary 1991-2001 ) From a new student attrition rate six years ago of 34%, we have seen substantial reduction in attrition to a mere 12% in 2001. In other words, the retention of new students has soared from 66% six years ago to a remarkable 88% in 2001. The 2001-2002 academic year was a difficult one due to budget deficits and consolidation. The impact of this on retention will not be known until we have the figures for fall 2002 enrollment. Crime Statistics and Reporting Antioch College is required to report on a regular basis to the Office of Postsecondary Education. A quick survey of reporting from 1997-1999 indicates a decrease in liquor law violations (24 in 1997 to 6 to 1999), the same number in drug law violations, (9 in 1997, none in 1998, 9 again in 1999) and burglary (16 in 1997 up to 19 in 1998 and back to 16 in 1999). These are the numbers reported to local law enforcement officials and recorded in local crime statistics. 29 Assessment of Student Services Leadership transition is at the forefront. A new Dean of Students is begins August 1. A search to replace the Director of Multicultural Affairs will begin soon. It is the intention of the President that next year the Dean of Students office will conduct an assessment of retention efforts and propose new initiatives to strengthen retention. Student Services staff must sustain the gains that have been made as they assume new initiatives. They must develop better and more frequent mechanisms for assessing the needs of students and evaluating their effectiveness in meeting these needs. Continued pressure from limited resources invariably results in stress on an organization, and that stress can manifest itself in creating tensions in the fabric of community life. This is particularly true in the realm of a culture of respect, civility, and trust. It is important that those tensions are not allowed to undermine the tremendous successes witnessed since the last accreditation report. Student Services staff are fully prepared to, and excited about, rising to the challenges. Perhaps one of the most central keys to meeting those challenges is to continue to be aware of them and face them squarely. 4. PHYSICAL PLANT Significant campus renovations and improvements have occurred since the last NCA visit. Residence halls and academic buildings have been renovated and re-furnished, upgraded with telecommunications capabilities and network access, and equipped with improved heating and cooling systems. Parking lots and walkways have been improved, roofs have been repaired and replaced, exterior lighting has been improved and expanded, landscaping has been updated and 28 See Resource Room for a detailed assessment of the Academic Support Center. 29 See Resource Room for most recent crime statistics. Page 43 37 windows and gutters have been replaced. Many of these improvements have been funded by bonds issued by the Ohio Higher Educational Facilities Commission and from donor gifts. Since the last accreditation visit, the College has spent nearly $10 million in renovations, improvements, infrastructure and technology. Major renovations have occurred in South Hall, which now incorporates the Center for Cooperative Education, classrooms and meeting spaces, the Academic Support Center, Computer Labs, faculty offices, and the Herndon Gallery. Other major renovations have occurred in student residential areas, including Birch Hall. The library and gymnasium roofs have been repaired, the outdoor amphitheater restored, the main building and two residence halls (Mills and West) have been air conditioned. While some of the capital projects were involved with continuing the effort to address the neglect of the campus during the late 1970s and early 1980s, a number of the initiatives were aimed at improving the quality of educational delivery and building a solid foundation for the College’s efforts to build enrollment. What follows is a summary of improvement projects from 1993-2001 and their costs: Student Residence Halls. $3,172,715 The College completed full renovations of two of the campus residence halls, encompassing a total of 160 beds and made improvements to several others. Corry Hall had been closed for a number of years, and a full renovation, including the addition of an elevator, transformed the building into the Spalt International Center, with residence halls designated for students studying Spanish, French, Japanese and German, offices for the Antioch Education Abroad program, and classrooms for language study. Birch Hall, a Saarinan project from the 1940s was completely renovated, restoring its original style and furniture and adding air conditioning. North Hall, one of the three original Antioch College buildings, underwent a face-lift including new windows, a new entry way and lighting. The College also air conditioned Mills and West Halls, and purchased new furniture for several halls. Student Spaces and Social Spaces. $361,252 A number of improvements were made to the Antioch Student Union and adjacent Inn (now used as a social, conference and gathering space). A second floor renovation created the student Dance Space, rest room facilities were added to the ground floor, the Bruce McPhaden Conference room was fully renovated making it appropriate as a conference center, carpets and drapes were replaced in the Inn space, and improvements were made to Curl Gymnasium. Academic and Administration Buildings. $3,292,935 Historic South Hall was completely renovated in 1994, after being vacant for 20 years, and was transformed to house our Cooperative Education Department, a two-story gallery and public lecture space, computer labs, classrooms and faculty offices. The College also reclaimed its outdoor Amphitheater, a facility that had fallen into disuse in the 1980s, and a fully renovated facility was began hosting summer Shakespeare productions in 1998. Roofs were replaced on the Olive Kettering Library, Weston Hall, the Theater and the Science Building, and the HVAC system in Antioch Hall was fully replaced. A substantial amount of classroom and lab furniture and equipment were replaced, some ADA improvements were made, and several additional ADA renovations are scheduled through the College’s most recent bond issue. Page 44 38 Infrastructure, Grounds and Support. $1,510,428 A number of infrastructure projects involved reclaiming and restoring the campus and reversing the neglect it had experienced during difficult times. The College converted its power plant to burn natural gas, removed a number of PCB transformers, paved drives, walkways and parking lots, made landscaping and lighting improvements, and generally continued to improve the infrastructure of the campus. In order to support the innovative learning initiatives brought forward by the faculty in its new summer academic program, the College acquired a small fleet of vans to support academic field work. Assessment of Physical Plant A thorough assessment of the physical plant was conducted under former President Devine. The “Facility Condition and Assessment Survey, 4/6/1999” guided decision-making and priorities, resulting in the “Antioch College Campus Facility Planning 1999-2001” document. 30 This assessment guided institutional decisions in determining which projects to give top priority. General maintenance and campus upkeep has improved as a result of increased attention and staff productivity. Although the College campus has been improved, there remains deferred maintenance that must be prioritized very soon. All building roofs need to be on a replacement schedule, all electrical and lighting systems must be upgraded, 80% of the windows on campus need to be replaced, and only two buildings on campus have adequate ADA accommodations. Plans for Summer 2002 to make the Main Administration Building wheelchair accessible are underway and include a new elevator on the South side of the building. The College campus, although much improved, does not have efficient or environmentally sound mechanical or heating systems, and many buildings do not meet modern educational requirements. These deficiencies need to be addressed sooner rather than later and must be included in an updated campus plan. Work completed by the College Renovation Task Force has been submitted to the Board of Trustees and to the Facilities Committee of the Board. Plans cannot move forward without additional funding and Board approval. In the 2001-2002 academic year, students began complaining of illnesses which some linked to mold exposure in the dorms and to sewage back-ups in residence halls. Tests conducted in Spring 2002 resulted in recommendations to vacate some of the residential halls. Major renovations are required in Spalt and some of the residence halls to remove potentially toxic exposures from certain molds and bacteria. This work is scheduled to be completed summer 2002. 5. OLIVE KETTERING LIBRARY The mission of the Antioch College Library is to provide strong support to the academic program of the college, providing access to research materials, study and gathering space, and reference service to students, faculty, and administrators. In addition, the College library supports Antioch McGregor students, faculty, and staff, and provides access to electronic research resources to Antioch Los Angeles, Antioch Santa Barbara, and Antioch Seattle campuses. The College librarians are also cognizant of their value and responsibilities to others: residents of Yellow Springs who appreciate access to an academic library, libraries worldwide which cooperatively share materials, and members of shared catalogs in OPAL and OhioLINK, as well as visiting scholars who travel here to use the College’s unique historical and manuscript collections. 30 “Facility Condition and Assessment Survey, 4/6/1999” and “Antioch College Campus Facility Planning 1999- 2001” can be found in the Resource Room. Page 45 39 Human resources The library currently has three full time professional librarians including the director and five support staff. Part-time student workers and up to three co-oping students assist with circulation, shelving, and minor clerical duties. Librarians have full faculty status and participate in the governance of the college in the same manner as classroom and co-op faculty. Support staff are highly committed to the endeavors of the college and take their positions seriously. The Antioch College Library is strongly service oriented. Librarians and staff go to considerable lengths to offer as much one on one assistance as possible, providing more than seventy-five hours of reference service a week, including evening and weekend coverage. They assist patrons at all levels of library learning from checking their patron records to assisting them with advanced research techniques and resources. Librarians are also available to assist with other needs, such as access to audio-visual media, and support staff are available for interlibrary loan assistance and audio-visual needs on the weekend. Antiochiana, the Department of Archives and Special Collections, which is housed in the library, is staffed with one full time archivist and one part-time curator. Though most heavily used by visiting scholars, the archivist also provides curricular support through class presentations and primary source exercises. Reference service is always available during open hours, which increased from 12 to 35 hours in 1996 with the hiring of a full time archivist. Like the library, the staff of Antiochiana is strongly service oriented and provides a high level of research support to its users. Librarians also provide bibliographic instruction by request of classroom faculty and also for the McGregor individualized masters program. Bibliographic instruction is utilized regularly by faculty in all areas. Classes are structured according to the classroom faculty’s expectations of student performance and the class’s general needs. The library faculty recognizes that in order to fully address the information literacy needs of a liberal arts college, library orientation and basic searching skills must be a fundamental part of every student’s experience. This could include online, interactive library skills. We hope to implement such a program in the near future. In the background, the library faculty and staff make great efforts to ensure the integrity and accessibility of the collection and resources. They strive for a high standard in cataloging and have been members of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) since its beginning. Serial holdings are also included in OCLC’s Union List of Serials. Videos are catalogued so that they are easily found and selected by our patrons and the plan is to start adding music CD’s to the online catalog shortly. The interlibrary loan department continues to be a source of great pride. We are net lenders in OCLC’s ILL system and generally maintain a 24 hour turn-around time for requests. We also take advantage of journal exchange programs, duplicate periodical services, and online dealers to fill gaps or replace issues for journal titles of significance in our collection. We meticulously prep our periodicals for binding to ensure their accuracy for future research. We schedule classes in our AV rooms, set up AV equipment for classes and community events, and videotape several events every year. We frequently accept rush orders for books and videos from the classroom faculty and have them available in our reserve circulation collection within just hours or a few days. Physical resources The library building is approximately 44,300 square feet. Study carrels are located along walls of the lower floor of the library and tables and chairs for singles and groups are provided on the first floor along the windows. The building also includes two audio visual rooms which are used for both library instruction and regular class sessions and support the use of overhead, slide, and multimedia projection, video and 35 mm film viewing, and audio tape, long play record, and Page 46 40 compact disk listening. Two additional viewing stations for the use of video-tape viewing are located on the first floor. Technology staff reside on the second floor as well and include a heavily used computer lab with a second lab on the main floor. Both computer labs support Internet access and word processing. In addition, there are six public access computers on the main floor dedicated for academic research. The library also houses the offices of Antiochiana, whose presence is more of an extension of the library than a separate entity. Nearly a century old itself, Antiochiana contains an array of primary source materials—artifacts, manuscript collections, photographs, official records and publications—available for scholarly research. Its most important historic collections are the papers of two former Antioch presidents: Horace Mann (1853-1859), the founder of public education in America, and prominent flood control engineer, Arthur Morgan (1920-1936). The library’s research collection consists of more than 320,000 volumes including an extensive bound periodical collection. Our book collection has notable strengths in the subject areas of African American studies, women’s studies, gay and lesbian studies, Marxist studies, and art and photography books. We currently receive more than 900 journal titles in print. The Antioch College Library continues to have one of the region’s better collections of alternative press periodicals. We also have an impressive collection of long-play recordings, a small collection of music CD’s, and a growing number of videotapes and DVD’s. Like most academic libraries, we face the problem of shrinking budgets and increasing expenses. Through the generous gifts of Mari and James Michener bequeathed in the latter part of the 1990s, the library has been able to maintain a strong level of curriculum support through collection development. While our growth in terms of number is less impressive, we have been able to purchase extensive reference sets and other important items that might have been otherwise neglected because of their expense. Stepping into the library, it can be immediately recognized there is critical need of a new building or a massive renovation and addition. The collection has more than outlived the building which was built with the intention of an addition by 1976. Besides serious space concerns for staff, study, and the collections, the library simply needs modernization on every level. The college’s renovation task force, with input from the larger community, did determine that the library should be placed at high priority for renovation. We believe that the administration and board will support this conviction and aggressively pursue funding in the capital campaign. Electronic resources In 1998, the Antioch College Library was pleased to provide online access to the catalog. As a charter member of the Ohio Private Academic Library (OPAL) consortium, Antioch went live in September of that year. The library also purchased the acquisitions, cataloging, circulation, and serials modules of the Innovative Interfaces, Inc. system. Training sessions were attended and shortly thereafter, all of our staff were successfully utilizing these modules. We are now in the process of moving toward the Millennium editions of the Innopac software. While the electronic modules do not alleviate workload, they do aid our tracking of purchases, ease cataloging between OCLC and OPAL, and provide patrons with more detailed information regarding books on order, reserve materials, periodical holdings, a review of their own records and renewal capability. The OPAL consortium joined the Ohio Library Information Network (OhioLINK) in January 1999. In addition to bibliographic searching, our students, faculty, and administrators may use the catalog to initiate book and video requests from any of the 79 OhioLINK institutions directly by computer. Through the support of OhioLINK and with moneys from our budget, the library provides access to more than 100 electronic research databases including indexes, abstracts, reference works, Page 47 41 electronic books, and full text periodical literature. The majority of these databases can be used from sites outside of the library. Many of them are easily accessed on campus seamlessly through Internet Protocol recognition, and from sites off campus through OhioLINK’s remote authentication process. Among these databases is OhioLINK’s growing Electronic Journal Center (EJC) which provides the complete full text of included volumes and issues from premier publishers and societies in all academic areas, but with particular strength in the hard sciences. Since early 2001, we began the process of adding the McGregor School and the university campuses in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Seattle to the electronic database subscriptions we receive through OhioLINK. With the assistance of Ohionet, we are now including all of their patron records in our database so that they not only have on campus access to approximately 90 research resources, but access from off campus sites as well. This is a tremendous help to the long distance, working, and commuting population of these campuses. Library Assessment The Olive Kettering Library continues to be one of the most vital resources of the university. Space and staffing limitations have not kept it from growing and moving forward with technological advancements. Librarians provide excellent service to all of their constituencies, participate fully in consortial endeavors, and look for ways to improve access to information in all formats. However, the building is old and outdated and the College must move forward with concrete plans to preserve the physical collection and find ways to guarantee access to electronic resources for future researchers. With the addition of the online catalog, membership in OhioLINK, and the acquisition of excellent online research databases, great strides have been made in the last five years in fulfilling the mission to fully support the academic program of the college. While the college’s administration has made great strides in increasing the number of tenure track faculty, the library has suffered from insufficient staffing in recent years for a variety of reasons. Currently, the library would be considered fully staffed with four full time librarians covering the major library areas of administration, collection development in all formats, technical services, reference services, interlibrary loan, library systems, and bibliographic instruction. However in the past five years, with limited adjunct assistance, the library has operated most of the time with no more than three full time librarians, and for approximately 20 months of this period, with only two full time librarians. It is imperative that the faculty be restored to four full time librarians in order to provide the excellent service which the College expects and needs. The library faculty has conducted a number of surveys in 2001 and 2002 to increase our data base on current usage and collect community-wide feedback on how to improve. Results of the first survey indicated that our community needed to be made more aware of the number of electronic resources to which we currently have access. Subject guides based on the college’s academic area were developed and displayed at the circulation desk. Copies were also made available for the taking. Each academic area department chair also received a copy of their area’s guide in hope that this would better inform the faculty themselves and to also let them know that students had access to such guides in the library. The first survey also indicated students’ perceptions that the book collection is out of date. The Director currently performs the bulk of selecting new books. Therefore we agreed that the library faculty should collectively make more of an effort to select materials we believe will support the curriculum and the general interests of our faculty. Additionally, we will encourage newer faculty to order materials not just for their classes, but materials that would generally support student research interests as well. Page 48 42 6. GLEN HELEN Glen Helen is a 1000-acre reserve and education center located adjacent to the campus of Antioch College. Owned by Antioch University and operated by the Glen Helen Ecology Institute, nearly all the land was given to Antioch College between 1929 and 1938 by alumnus Hugh Taylor Birch as a living memorial to his daughter, Helen Birch Bartlett. Glen Helen is nearly two-thirds forest, representing a unique oak-mixed forest community. The balance is managed meadow and planted prairie, streams and wetlands – a diversity that provides varied habitats for many species of animals and birds. Geologic features include valleys carved by glacial melt water, talus slopes, ledges, cascades, and the Yellow Spring—from which the neighboring village gets its name. The U.S. National Park Service in 1965 named Glen Helen a National Natural Landmark, recognizing that this site “possesses exceptional value in illustrating the natural history of the United States of America.” The Society of American Foresters in 1982 designated Glen Helen as an outstanding example of a vegetative community dedicated for scientific and educational purposes. In addition, a 2.6-mile stretch of the Little Miami River, a designated State and National Scenic River, flows through the Glen. Glen Helen is principally an educational reserve, but through education seeks to address enhanced teaching, outreach, and research opportunities. Originally created out of a desire to preserve and protect the natural area for the recreational and aesthetic enjoyment of the community, it was also the wish of its benefactor that it serve as an outdoor living laboratory for the Antioch College community. Therefore, Glen Helen simultaneously serves as a field laboratory where scientists and students are able to study natural functioning systems and where the general public can gain a greater awareness and deeper appreciation for nature. Recognizing the general public-higher education interface, Glen Helen seeks to incorporate many of the general principles of community nature centers – rooted in education, conservation, and recreation, yet through its higher education roots, Glen Helen’s purpose extends beyond that of a traditional nature center and nature preserve, beyond simply preserving habitat. Unique in its urban/suburban setting, its affiliation with higher education and its relationship with the local community, Glen Helen serves a unique community and has a special purpose. In 1946, the first Director of Glen Helen, Ken Hunt, was brought to the Glen in order to bring focus to the College’s use of this impressive resource. Dr. Hunt was quick to recognize that in addition to its value as an ecological research and field station that the Glen had tremendous potential to offer students of all age groups environmental education opportunities in the broadest sense. Under his stewardship, Glen Helen developed visionary approaches to environmental problems and issues. Despite limited funding, during 1946-1973 Glen Helen established itself as a leader in addressing the human relationship with nature by creating and establishing unique programs such as the School Forest (high school service program), the Trailside Museum, and the Outdoor Education Center. All programs were student-based providing opportunities for Antioch students, K-12, and adults. While subsequent years saw an increase in public environmental education programs, higher education based research and other academic efforts diminished. In addition, Glen Helen now faces decades of deferred maintenance of its physical plant, and unmanaged and high volume use of Glen Helen by the recreating public, providing little or no economic benefit to the operation. Approximately 100,000 day visitors pass through the Glen annually. Page 49 43 Facility Administration The current administrative framework for Glen Helen was developed in recognition that an enhanced level of cooperation and coordination was needed between Antioch College, Glen Helen and the local community. This framework includes the Glen Helen Board of Overseers, the Glen Helen Ecology Institute (GHEI), and the Glen Helen Association (GHA). Antioch University’s Board of Trustees believes that Glen Helen can be best managed in a manner consistent with the mission of the University through a “resource board” (Board of Overseers) to oversee its operations, programs and activities. This Board is perpetual, unless its charter is rescinded by resolution of the Antioch University Board of Trustees. The purpose of the Glen Helen Board of Overseers is to: (1) establish policies; (2) develop long-term plans; (3) provide oversight of operations and programming; and (4) fund raising. In 1996 the Glen Helen Board of Overseers created the Glen Helen Ecology Institute (GHEI), representing the synthesis of the various programs of Glen Helen. Serving a constituency in western, southwestern and central Ohio, the GHEI reaches more than 55,000 people each year with a wide variety of residential, day-use, and off-site education programs. Approximately 24,000 of those receive direct contact with GHEI staff. The administration of the GHEI and Glen Helen is best described as a cooperative partnership between the GHEI, Antioch College and the local/regional community represented by the GHA. The GHA, began in 1960, is a “friends of” organization governed by a board of trustees with an elected President. Through this cooperative-collaborative relationship, Antioch provides an educational context for the Institute’s work, extensive in-kind services, and faculty status for the Executive Director and adjunct status for current and future teaching staff. The GHEI, in turn, provides Antioch with the opportunity to reach a larger constituency of people with its unique educational mission and programs. This audience, then, is given access to a regional nature and environmental education facility. The GHA, working on behalf of the GHEI and Glen Helen, provide a mechanism for enhanced citizen interest and support and provide additional resources beyond that which is typically available to the GHEI. This cooperative relationship and role as “friends” has provided the initiative for several citizen science monitoring programs including a floristic survey, frog and toads monitoring, and stream water quality monitoring. Staffing of GHEI Core Program Staff: Permanent full-time staff currently includes the Executive Director, Outdoor Education Center Director, Outdoor Education Assistant Director, and Raptor Center Director. Part-time program staff includes the Assistant Director of Administration (3/4-time), Volunteer Coordinator (1/2-time), and Property Manager (1/2-time). Executive Director (Administrator & Faculty member): Serves Antioch College as director of the program mission, liaison to Antioch College and University system as faculty member; and is responsible for the overall management of the Institute and its associated programs and provides leadership to and supervision of all Institute staff. Outdoor Education Center Director: The Director of the Outdoor Education Center is responsible for the direction, management, and coordination of all aspects of a year-round, residential center for environmental education (at the OEC) and provides support to other related environmental education programs for the GHEI. Raptor Center Director: The Director oversees the Center’s raptor rehabilitation efforts and overall care of all Raptors, and development and delivery of related education programs. Page 50 44 Other key staff includes the Assistant Director of Administration: manages the GHEI office and provides budget support, and overall assistance with the management of the GHEI and its associated programs. The Outdoor Education Assistant Director: responsible for all aspects of the naturalist internship program, and coordinates and oversees the daily operation of the summer “EcoCamp” program, a summer day and overnight camp program (5-16 year olds) focusing on the natural environment. The Volunteer Coordinator: works collaboratively with the GHA, and is responsible for the recruiting, training, and supervising volunteers in all aspects of the GHEI and GHA. The Property Manager: through the utilization of best management practices and current professional and technical knowledge in natural resource management and facilities management, provides for the management, restoration, and monitoring of the nature preserve. This person works directly with the Executive Director. Additional Support Staff: Core programs and staff are supported by the Glen Helen Crew (maintenance staff person), OEC Office Manager, OEC Cook, and naturalists and administrative interns. The naturalists and administrative interns are approximately 10 students/semester, who train and work in the Glen as part of its Outdoor Education Center naturalist training program. The naturalists receive extensive training in environmental education, and nature center administration while conducting environmental education programs for regional schools as part of the OEC’s residential program. Glen Helen Volunteers: Program volunteers have been an integral part of Glen Helen since its inception. The volunteer program has largely been an informal program using volunteers on an as needed basis to aid in all aspects of the Glen’s operation. Over 200 people volunteer at the Glen annually. In 2000, the GHA provided the GHEI with funds to support a part-time volunteer coordinator to build a more formal program. Volunteers assist in the daily operation of the Glen Helen Building, provide staff support for public events, maintain hiking trails and facilities, and other projects as needed. These dedicated individuals are essential to the Glen’s services in support of its programs and for the general public Buildings/Facilities & Structures Glen Helen Building : The administrative offices for the GHEI are located in the 3,000 square-foot Glen Helen Building (GHB), which is situated on the northwest edge of Glen Helen. Built for Antioch University by the Vernay Foundation in 1973, the building is a memorial to the late Sergius Vernet, founder of Vernay laboratories in Yellow Springs. The GHB serves as headquarters for the GHEI, and as a program facility for college and public classes and programs. Throughout the year lectures, films, workshops, and exhibits are scheduled in its 200 seat-capacity auditorium, conference rooms, and display area. Many of the programs are open to the public at no charge. The GHB contains a small reference library focusing on the regions biota and natural history. The library contains technical journals, field guides, and regional and area maps. It further serves as a clearinghouse for regional environmental concerns. Materials are available for either day-use or short-term borrowing by students, educators, researchers, and members of the general public. A current initiative between the GHEI, Village of Yellow Springs, and the Greene County Environmental Coalition calls for the modernizing of the library’s materials and the installation of a computer system and collections database. Trailside Museum and Visitor Center : Established in 1952, Trailside Museum is a 1,400 square-foot visitor center located at the west entrance to Glen Helen. This facility, with the combined efforts of Antioch students, faculty and staff, was built using native materials from Glen Helen. The museum offers interpretive displays, live animals, maps, exhibits, guidebooks Page 51 45 and literature designed to enhance a visitor’s understanding and enjoyment of Glen Helen. During the year Trailside staff conduct educational programs and interpretive hikes for the public and to about 3,000 students. The Outdoor Education Center : The OEC, a 20 acre campus containing 9 buildings and structures, first opened for school groups in 1956. Built with staff labor and several thousand hours of volunteer help, this facility was a pioneer in the movement to provide residential, outdoor education opportunities for the western Ohio area. The OEC offers naturalist-residence program training for more than 20 graduate and upper-level undergraduate students each year. Through this naturalist program, more than 3,000 school children and adults come to live and learn in the Glen’s natural environment. The OEC partners with the Ohio Public Schools to provide Life Science and Earth Science Curricular support for up to 104 students-in-residence for a four and half-day stay for elementary and middle school grades. The OEC goal is to provide a hands-on educationally challenging and rewarding discovery experience. Overall, students and their teachers are provided an immersion discovery education in a 1,000-acre outdoor classroom. In 1977 the OEC was designated a National Environmental Study Area by the National Park Service. Lodge – Date of Construction: 1956; Square Footage: 4,250; Current Use: cafeteria, meetings, and classroom. Roost – Date of Construction: 1957; Square Footage: 1,800; Current Use: offices; laboratory, and intern housing. Administrative Office – Date of Construction 1950’s; Square Footage: 796; Current Use: office for the Outdoor Education Center. Cedar Center Dormitory – Date of Construction: 1956; Square Footage: 2,992; Current Use: 36 bed dormitory and classroom. Hickory Dormitory – Date of Construction 1957; Square Footage: 1,620; Current Use: 32-bed dormitory. Sycamore Dormitory – Date of Construction 1957; Square Footage: 1,620; Current Use: 32-bed dormitory. Craft House – Date of Construction: 1950’s; Square Footage 1,040; Current Use: classroom. The Raptor Center : Located at the Outdoor Education Center, began in 1970 because of the staff’s concern for the plight of native birds of prey. At the Center injured and orphaned raptors are rehabilitated for return to the wild. Permanently handicapped birds are used to educate people about the important role raptors play in the ecological balance of nature. An American bald eagle, turkey vultures, six species of owls, four species of hawks, and one species of falcons (all native to Ohio) are permanent residents on educational display, some of whom make visits to Ohio schools. The Raptor Center maintains cages, office, and intern housing in the Roost. Through on-site and outreach programs the Raptor Center reaches more than 25,000 people annually. Other buildings/facilities in Glen Helen: Hugh Taylor Birch House – Date of Construction: 1935/36, Square Footage: 9,251; Current Use: intern/visiting scientist housing and rental unit. Farm House – Date of Construction 1920’s, Square Footage: 2,238; Current Use: intern housing. Clayton House – Date of Construction 1930’s; Square Footage: 2,278; Current Use: intern housing. Gate House – Date of Construction 1935/36; Square Footage: 1,026; Current Use: rental unit. Page 52 46 Mill Run Cottage – Date of Construction: 1920’s; Square Footage: 688; Current Use: staff housing. There are additional smaller facilities either providing support or not currently in use. Research/Training Projects the Last 5 Years: 2001-2002. Beth Krisko. Vegetation Types in the Glen Helen Reserve. Institute of Environmental Sciences, Miami University, Master’s Thesis; sponsored by the Glen Helen Ecology Institute. 2001. Erik P. Rothacker. Systematic study of the orchid tribe Triphoreae. Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, Ohio State University. Dissertation research to include the collection of Triphora trianthophora (Orchidaceae) used as part of a systematic study of the orchid tribe Triphoreae. 1999. Ann Gayek and M.F. Quigley. Does Topography Affect the Colonization of Lonicera maackii and Ligustrum vulgare in a Forested Glen in Southwestern Ohio. Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio State University. Master’s Thesis. Article in Ohio Journal of Science, 101 (5):95-100, 2001. 1995-Present. Tom Ayrsman. A Study of the Anatomy and Morphology of Woody Plants in Glen Helen Nature Preserve: Using Digital Imagery and Photomicrography. Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Antioch College. Undergraduate Research 2002. Alysha Burmester. Potential for Prairie restoration in the Glen Helen reserve. Glen Helen Ecology Institute sponsored project through the Antioch College Cooperative Program. 2001-present. Matthew J. Demeter. A comparison of tree diversity and density among ridge- community forests and valley community forests at Glen Helen Nature Preserve. Biology, Department, Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio. 2001. Christine Bacon. A Winter Botanical Survey of the Genus Quercus : From the Geologic Past to the Present, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. 2000. Karen Campbell. A Preliminary Woody Vegetation Analysis Comparing Disturbed and Undisturbed Riparian Forest Sites Along Yellow Springs Creek Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio 2000. Jordan Kreutter. Limiting a Point Source Pollutant through an Installed Wetland: Tertiary Treatment of Yellow Springs Wastewater to Remove Phosphorous before Release into Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Yellow Springs, Ohio 2000. Diana Fodor. A Preliminary Study of the Impact of Amur Honeysuckle, ( Lonicera maackii ) on Woody Plants, and the Seed Bank of Woody Plants in Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio 1998. Ellen Ralston. A Preliminary Survey: Gramineae of Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Yellow Springs, Ohio Summary of the Most Significant Research and Training the Last 5 Years Significant Research: The most significant research has occurred in the area of floristics including an ongoing floristic survey, which to date has identified over 700 vascular plants in Glen Helen and an assessment and inventory of Glen Helen’s plant communities. This study was undertaken to aid the development of a long-term land management plan for Glen Helen. Vegetation was field surveyed, and associations were mapped and characterized based on Page 53 47 existing vegetation and total floristic composition. Sixteen associations were identified and mapped. Names were provided according to dominant, diagnostic, and common species for near- natural associations, and for those undergoing successional development. Associations were identified according to the recently established Nature Conservancy’s National Vegetation System. Naturalist Training Program: Through the GHEI OEC academic internships are offered in residential, environmental education for graduate and undergraduate credit. Students both national and international, spend a semester (approximately 15 weeks) at the Glen Helen receiving naturalist training and simultaneously gaining experience by providing environmental education programs to regional schools. Approximately 20 students attend the program each year. Antioch College Cooperative Education: The idea of learning from experience pervades an Antioch Education. Antioch’s co-op program is based on the idea that many off-campus experiences contribute to a student’s education. The alternation and integration of work and study have been the primary force shaping the unique character of Antioch since the introduction of the Cooperative Education program in 1921. The GHEI participates in this program through multiple co-ops at the OEC, Trailside Museum and in the reserve. A minimum of two Antioch College students participate in this program each semester receiving extensive training in environmental education, natural resource management, and other aspects of the GHEI’s operations. A recent Antioch co-op student worked on a plan for the establishment of a small educational/teaching prairie in the Glen Helen Reserve, and another developed an environmental education after school program for the local elementary school, Mills Lawn. Courses Over the past 5 years, 15 Antioch College courses have utilized Glen Helen for at least a portion of their class (field or laboratory work) and typically have had a class project or assignment specific to Glen Helen. Many of the listed classes are taught every other year (OE=GHEI Outdoor Education, EST=Environmental Studies, ENVS=Environmental Sciences, BIO=Biology, GEOL=Geology): OE: 580/380 – Outdoor Education Methods; 584/384 – Natural History; 586/386 – Outdoor School Administration; 590/390 – Outdoor School Principles and Practices Seminar EST: 260 – Ecological Design; 215 – Campus Ecology; 115 – Introduction to Environmental Studies; 250 Environmental Journalism BIO/ENVS: 130 – Plants & People; 235 – Field Botany; 255 – Plant Biology; 258 – Restoration Ecology; 268 – Conservation Biology (field study entitled “The Effects of Hiking Trails on the Movements of Forest Arthropods”). ENVS: 350 – Terrestrial Environments; 370 – Vegetation Analysis and GIS; 110 – Environmental Science (laboratory) GEOL/ENVS: 140 – Earth’s Surface Environments (laboratory); 165 – History of Earth and Life (laboratory); 325 – Groundwater and Environment (laboratory) In addition, a number of regional institutions of higher education regularly use Glen Helen for environmental field activities for various classes. These include: Wittenberg University (Springfield, Ohio), Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, Ohio), Cedarville University, (Cedarville, Ohio) and Wright State University (Fairborn, Ohio). Page 54 48 7. TECHNOLOGY In Spring 2002 the staffing and delivery of technology services at the College changed. Formerly Technology Resources reported directly to the College President and included three fulltime specialists. Tech Resources was centrally located on the second floor of the library. Presently Tech Resources is consolidated and reports directly to McGregor President Barbara Danley. Total staffing is nine positions. Staff are currently located in three different offices: one at the College; one at McGregor, and one in the University offices. The decision to consolidate these services was driven by the need to reduce the College budget in order to offset projected budget deficits. Since the last NCA visit, computer labs are located at multiple sites on the campus, including: the fourth floor of South Hall next to the Academic Support Center; the first and second floor of the library; additionally all classroom and administrative buildings are now wired and the following residence halls: Birch, Spalt, Mills. The library is online and accessible from faculty offices and student dorm rooms. The Student Union is also wired and student groups have been provided with computers as well. What follows is a brief summary of major technology improvements and their costs. Technology Infrastructure. 1,067,853 At the time of the last NCA review, the College had no significant technology infrastructure in place. Antioch’s limited resources in the area of information technology were contributing significantly to the difficulty that Antioch was experiencing in attracting and retaining students. The College adopted a technology Infrastructure plan to address campus needs, and with the help of a MacArthur Foundation grant, began to move the College forward. The Olive Kettering Library was fully automated and put on line through OhioLink, providing faculty and students access to academic holdings across the state. More than one-half of the College’s academic and residential buildings were wired and networked, providing the backbone and switching for a comprehensive campus system, and several T-1 lines were added. The College now coordinates most of its fiscal, registrarial, admissions and student services through an integrated DataTel system. The phone switch and the campus pbx system were upgraded, and individual room phone lines, data ports and cable ports were installed in over half of the students’ rooms on campus. Significant network upgrades were made, and the College’s servers were upgraded and relocated to improve the campus infrastructure. Computer Technology. 272,262 In the early 90s Antioch College was far behind the curve in building computing support for both academic and administrative functions. At the time of the last NCA review there was a single 9-station lab in the Olive Kettering Library, many were without desktop computers, and the standard desktop for those with computers was a Macintosh Classic. Since that time the College has added five computer labs, has provided all student organizations with computers, has networked and upgraded all faculty and staff desktops considerably, The labs provide a 9/1 student-to-computer ratio. Technology Assessment There is no doubt that the technological support at Antioch College needs to be improved. The need for adequate computers and support is paramount. During the past three to four years, the College has attempted to bring faculty into the College with new computers on their desktops – Page 55 49 ordered to specification by the 25-30 faculty hired in that time. While we clearly have been catching up, the technology build-up has not been sufficient, and the College needs to continue to upgrade faculty computing across the board. However, it is important to take stock of what we have in this regard. In 1996 the standard desktop at the College was a Mac Classic, only a handful of faculty were networked, the Library was not online, there were very few computer labs or facilities on campus and we had the equivalent of one full-time person in Technology Resources. After investing nearly three million dollars in the College’s technology infrastructure, nearly two thirds of the campus is now wired. The library is on line, faculty are networked, five public computer labs have been put on-line, campus desktops have been upgraded, and the campus infrastructure is managed by a staff. We have made tremendous progress in a short time but need to sustain the effort. Since the Technology Resources office was consolidated in Spring 2002, it is too new to assess whether this consolidated service can meet the needs of the College faculty, students, and staff in an on-going manner. A new initiative to develop “Technology Learning Circles” is currently underway. The planning process for this proposal brought together McGregor and College faculty and staff to discuss innovative new ways to work together and maximize resources. A preliminary proposal to FIPSE resulted in an invitation to apply for funds in May 2002. The College will know before September whether this new initiative will support purchasing new hardware and software as well as developing innovative and cost-saving approaches to media and information literacy and improving technology skills of students, faculty and staff. 31 8. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION Financial stabilization is the top priority of the current President. All of her efforts and attention are focused on working strategically with the Board of Trustees, the University leadership, the Development office, alumni, and the college administration to move the college toward greater financial security. Antioch College formulates budgets based on projected student derived revenues and donor gifts. The allocation of College expenses are determined by an AdCil appointed Budget Committee. The committee reviews recommendations from each program area through the various Deans and Directors. Allocations are prioritized based on strategic planning initiatives and action plans. The Budget Committee refers a budget proposal to AdCil. AdCil reviews the proposal and makes a recommendation to the President to accept or reject the budget. The President then submits the budget proposal to the University and the Board of Trustees for approval. The financial health of Antioch College is under constant review. Since fiscal 1991-1992, the College has experienced operating deficits four times in ten years. Each time the University has been instrumental in providing assistance to the College. We rely heavily on tuition driven revenues and donor generosity. Program funding, salaries and benefits, professional development, student activities, and recruitment funding are budgeted at a restrictive level. Changes to this process occurred in the 2001-2002 academic year as has been discussed earlier in this document (See History: Recent Events). In summary, following the October Board meeting, Chancellor and Acting College President Jim Hall formed a Financial Stabilization committee to re-do this year’s budget and include a three year projection of cost containment. Amidst controversy a proposal went forward for consolidation and elimination of certain College offices and College non-Union staff and administrators. After the departure of College VP Dean of 31 See Resource Room for Information Technology Infrastrucure Plan 1997-2001 updated May 1, 1999 and Campus Computer Hardware Inventory 10//15/01 as well as the FIPSE proposal on Technology Learning Circles. Page 56 50 Administration and Finance, Glen Watts, University CFO, assumed this role. The new president arrived and re-started the budget process with Glen Watts. The typical route of coming through committee did not occur until the budget had preliminary approval from the University Leadership Council. President Straumanis recognized and apologized for the irregularity of the process. AdCil committee members did approve the proposed Fiscal ’03 College budget after the prior preliminary approval of the University It was approved by the Board of Trustees at the June 2002 meeting. President Straumanis placed both the college and university budgets for Fiscal ’03 in the library as part of an effort to make budgetary information available. Additionally, the consolidation of Human Resources into the University was completed Spring 2002. The two African American women (one was the College Director of HR) both left under consolidation. The need for consolidation was driven by budgetary concerns and to date the focus of assessing the success of consolidation is to make sure that it does indeed save the College from bearing certain costs. In this regard, success should be easy to measure. Assessment The College is establishing new patterns of working more closely with both the University and Antioch McGregor. Consolidations in human resources, technology resources, and financial management have all been completed. Though the process of consolidation during Spring term 2002 was a difficult one for many members of the College community, there is clearly an effort to make it work. Both the Dean of Faculty and the President’s offices report professional and prompt service from the newly consolidated units. As part of planning and future assessment, the College President intends to initiate a Commission to focus on increased collaboration between university campuses beginning Fall 2002. (See Criterion 4 Priorities for 2002-2003 ) 9. DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS One of the most critical of the overarching goals of the Antioch College Strategic Plan was to build the endowment, particularly in the area of financial aid. Each year, Antioch College provides between $3.2 and $3.6 million in unfunded aid from its operations budget in order to make the College affordable to its students. This annual commitment accounts for the most significant disequilibrium in the College’s financial situation and undermines the College’s long-term fiscal health. To address this paramount need, the College recognized the central role of building a healthy endowment to fund necessary student aid. This was a priority of the Strategic Plan. During its February 2001 meeting, the Antioch University Board of Trustees approved a proposal from Ketchum, Inc. to move forward with a feasibility study for an endowment and capital campaign. Funding for the feasibility study was provided by a private donation for that specific purpose. In April and May of 2001 a team of senior campaign consultants from Ketchum, Inc., working with the College’s Development and Alumni Relations office and Board leadership, conducted a planning study to assess the feasibility of conducting a major campaign for Antioch College. The consultants interviewed 67 participants who were identified as critical to the success of a proposed campaign. Findings from this study, as well as Ketchum’s recommendations, were presented to the Antioch University Board of Trustees at their June 2001 meeting. 32 On the basis of positive response to the feasibility study, Ketchum recommended moving forward with the planning 32 See Resource Room for “A Special Study and Report on the Fundraising Potential of Antioch College,” May 2001, Ketchum, Inc. Page 57 51 stages for a major campaign. The Trustees overwhelmingly endorsed the recommendations of the study team, and also approved retaining Ketchum, Inc. as campaign counsel for the College. Recommendations included: 1. Proceed immediately with plans for a $100 Million campaign. 2. Strengthen, revise, and expand the case statement. 3. Create a campaign steering committee. 4. Begin an awareness and cultivation program. 5. Expand the prospect pool. 6. Strengthen the College’s development infrastructure and team. 7. Solicit the Board of Trustees. 8. Explore joint fund-raising with the university campuses. 9. Include planned gifts in the endowment total. 10. Develop and adopt a campaign timetable. In collaboration with the Ketchum Team, the Development and Alumni Relations office at the College have been moving forward. The campaign plan, budget, and timetable are completed. Identification and evaluation of prospects, with a focus on identifying top prospects, is underway. The prospect list has grown to 600 as of May 2002. Numerous events are being planned to cultivate top prospects, especially alumni. Several successful gatherings have already taken place. The new president is taking an active role. A Campaign Steering Committee is in place and the volunteer leadership is a capable and dedicated group that has been meeting monthly since October 2001. In addition, a national Advisory Committee of ten nationally prominent individuals have agreed to serve in this capacity. Campaign leadership has been identified, including the immediate past Chair of the Board of Trustees, and the immediate past President of the College. The Development office has begun to build the infrastructure necessary to meet both short- and long-term fundraising goals of the College. The Steering Committee has begun to work on refining and expanding the Case for support in conjunction with consultants Jan Krukowski and Company, who have been hired to produce the print materials for the campaign. 33 The process of soliciting past and present members of the Board of Trustees for lead gifts is nearly complete. According to the Campaign Status Report of May 24, 2002, 34 lead gifts and pledges to the campaign total $23,331,827, including a gift of $10.1 million for scholarship endowment, the single largest gift in the history of the college. The size of the College endowment has doubled with these early campaign gifts. Assessment The thorough assessment completed by Ketchum, Inc. resulted in “A Special Study and Report on the Fund-Raising Potential of Antioch College, May 2001.” The Board approved the capital campaign in June 2001 and since September 2001 the process has been moving quickly and efficiently toward a formal announcement. Critical to fundraising is communication and connection with College alumni and the general public. A team from Rice University School of Business will assess Public Relations needs and make recommendations to the College. The work is pro bono, and the expenses will be covered by the Mellon Foundation. 33 See Resource Room for “Making Change Happen: The Campaign for Antioch College,” Jan Krukowski & Co. 34 See Resource Room for copies of Campaign Status Reports to the Board of Trustees. Page 58 52 The College has received a grant of $50,000 to assist with administrative expenses in Development, Alumni, and Public Relations. These funds will provide the necessary resources for staffing and new initiatives in fundraising, alumni networking, and alumni volunteer coordination. The College is planning to increase the size of the staff by at least two full time positions within the next few months. The following positions are currently being hired: Executive Director for Development; Assistant Director for Development and Alumni Relations; Director of Publications; and a replacement for Director of the Annual Fund. A full day retreat in June 2002 brought together the Development and Alumni relations staff with the College President to discuss the role of the President in development efforts. President Straumanis is taking an active role in all aspects of college development as financial stabilization is her top priority. In the spring, she led a grant-writing workshop for faculty and she has been active in direct outreach to foundations, alumni and other potential donors. The case statement is nearly complete and will be published in fall 2002. There is a great deal of energy and excitement as development efforts are strengthened and the campaign moves forward. 35 10. ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID Since the last NCA review, the College has made structural and operational changes to respond to the changing market. The most significant has been the integration of the Admissions Department with the Financial Aid department and co-location within the newly renovated Weston Hall in the heart of campus. A Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, who reports directly to the President, leads the newly formed Office of Admissions and Financial Aid. The combined division was established to provide better customer service to both current and prospective students and families. Integrated recruitment and coordination between departments was a central objective of the re-organization. The Admissions and Financial Aid Office has a total of 14.5 FTE employees, with four employees in the Financial Aid area and 10.5 employees in the Admissions area with a plan to increase the staff by four fulltime positions over the next two years. In summer 2002 the Admissions office was re-organized and two Senior Associate Directors of Admissions were identified among the staff. 36 The division develops and executes annual operating and marketing plans with a goal of 316 new students. There is a clear correlation between recruitment success and investment in the admissions operations. The college has historically invested approximately $3,350 per matriculant. Budgets and action plans have been developed to rapidly expand the recruitment operations in order to increase new student enrollment by 100 students this year. The declining percentage of federal aid and movement of federal aid programs from grants to loans has contributed to an increasing reliance on institutional aid. In the College’s case, this institutional aid is mostly unfunded. The College awarded over $3.6 million in unfunded aid in FY ’02. Other institutions draw merit aid and other need-based grants from endowment earnings to compete for high quality students. Currently 90% of students receive some form of financial aid with an average unfunded tuition discount approaching $10,000 for entering students. The median household income of students receiving need-based aid (approximately 80% of all students) is just under $45,000. 35 See Resource Room for a copy of the campaign case statement and related materials. 36 See Resource Room for professional vitaes of all Admissions staff. Page 59 53 Beginning in spring 2002, the Board approved the expansion of merit-based scholarships through increasing the Community Responsibility Scholarship Program. 37 Two new levels were added for these scholarships, so that now a student may receive a $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000 scholarship. The total number of recipients will also increase from 75 to 180 for fall entrants. Additionally the Board approved a commitment to providing 100% of demonstrated need for all students. This represents a dramatic shift for the College financial aid program. In the past, the College did not meet 100% of demonstrated need as many of our competitor institutions do. This increase in the financial aid program will place Antioch in a competitive price position relative to our peer institutions. The College will provide this new merit-based and need-based aid through the increased endowment resulting from the capital campaign. It is hoped that this recent change will increase the incoming class for fall 2002 and beyond. In 2002-03 the College added $350,000 to the annual recruitment budget directly out of the college’s operating budget. These funds will be used to increase the staff and to upgrade recruitment efforts. The office will purchase new state-of-the-art recruitment software, increase the admissions staff by three fulltime positions and the financial aid staff by one fulltime position, increase postage, re-design the college’s web page to be more user-friendly and informative, and upgrade the quality of admissions materials. Admissions Qualifications Antioch offers a unique alternation of work and study that best serves students who are well- rounded, open to new experiences, intellectually inquisitive, and tolerant of different values and perspectives. The multiple demands inherent in Antioch’s program of academic work, cooperative education, and community participation are very rigorous. Students at the College need to be able to handle all of these demands in order to be successful. Admission to Antioch is offered on the basis of each individual student’s qualifications. It is important to us that each applicant for admission demonstrate his or her ability to benefit from and contribute to the total Antioch program. A strong high school or college record correlates with achievement at Antioch. Most applicants will have studied a foreign language, at least three years of math and science, and four years of English while in high school. Standardized test scores (either the SAT or ACT) are not required for admission to Antioch. Graduation from high school is also not an absolute requirement. Some of our students have been home-schooled or have pursued their education in an alternative manner. We look for evidence of leadership or participation in extracurricular activities, demonstrated use of a special talent, work or volunteer experience. Two professional Admissions Counselors will read each application for admission and assign a quality score from 1 – 100. The average of each score is then assigned to each student. Certain conditions will warrant a closer inspection of an applicant who is then sent to the Special Review Committee. This committee is chaired by the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid and includes two faculty members, the Director of Cooperative Education, the Director of Academic Support Services, and a member of the Counseling staff. This committee will review applicants whose GPA is below 2.5, who may need special services or advising, who are outside of the traditional college- age, or whose essays indicate an inability to write at college level. 37 See Resource Room for more on the Community Responsibility Scholars program. Page 60 54 Assessment of Admissions In 1997, the College began implementing a sweeping strategic plan, which set forth enrollment targets and qualitative improvements in academic programs, student services, facilities and capital campaign goals. The strategic plan called for a total enrollment of 800 students and a new student enrollment goal of 316 each year. The college currently recruits just over 200 students each year. We have not been able to increase our new student enrollment in order to increase our student body as projected. An outside financial consultant, Tom Clough, was hired in January 2002 to advise the Board about the future financial stability of the College. Clough focused on Admissions and conducted a thorough review of Admissions and Financial Aid. In conjunction with the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Clough presented his recommendations during the February Board Meeting. 38 The board adopted his recommendations, which led to the decision to meet 100% of demonstrated need and increase the merit-based scholarship program for the incoming class of Fall 2002 in the form of Community Responsibility Scholarships. President Straumanis focused on Admissions and formed an Admissions Commission in February 2002. The Commission report identified a number of key areas requiring immediate attention, including the college web page. These recommendations led to increases in the Admissions operating budget for 2002-03 as described above. 39 An audit of the Admissions operation was conducted in spring 2002 by outside consultant Harold M. Wingood. He focused primarily on the admissions process. His report identified a number of additional areas requiring attention. His first recommendation was to re-configure the staffing. This is now underway. His second recommendation was to upgrade the software and purchase the Internet version of The College Board’s Recruitment Plus. This is now being done. His report concludes, “Antioch College has powerful and distinctive market advantages. . . The Antioch story cannot be told in sound bites. It takes highly targeted appeals and a great deal of personal attention to reach the audiences who will respond favorably. . . The dean and his staff have done a remarkable job of keeping things together and making improvements. The work the College has begun with the Commission on Admissions is critically important and needs the continuing support of the Board and the President. I am convinced that Antioch has the potential to reach its goals.” 40 (page 10) 38 See Resource Room for Admissions and Financial Aid Report to February Board Meeting 39 See Resource Room for Admissions Commission Report. 40 See Resource Room for “Antioch College Admissions Audit,” April 24, 2002. Page 61 55 Criterion 3: The institution is accomplishing its educational and other purposes . All aspects of the academic program will be described and assessed and a detailed description of the assessment process of the academic programs will be presented along with questions for reviewers to consider. A variety of internal and external measures will be discussed in order to assess the College’s success in meeting Criterion 3. 1. OVERVIEW OF THE ACADEMIC PROGRAM The student is the center of an Antioch education. Each student has responsibility (with advisors) to shape their own education, and each component of that education is informed by the other parts of the student’s educational experience. Antioch College sees a student’s education roughly divided into three sections; the academic or classroom experience, the co-op experience, and living and working in the community (which includes service learning). Each aspect of a student’s education can be emphasized at any given time period, but all three go into her or his total experience. It is an Antioch cliché—but a truism—that no two students graduate with the same transcript. Each of the three parts of an Antioch education and their assessment will be described below. In order to graduate from Antioch College students are responsible for successfully completing the following requirements (Antioch College Catalog 2000-2002, p. 22-24, Summary of Degree Requirements): 107 academic credits: A major in one of the eight programs or a self-designed major (40-48 credits); The general education program (28 credits minimum). Demonstration of oral proficiency in a second language (0-10 credits). One cross-cultural experience demonstrating preparation for and critical reflection of an immersion in a culture other than one’s home culture of at least three months duration (may be satisfied through a study abroad program or through cooperative education). Physical education (4 credits) The balance of the credits can be completed through elective courses. Successful completion of five cooperative education experiences of a minimum of 15weeks (each worth 12 credits for a total of 60 cooperative education credits). The Majors Since the last NCA visit the college has revised it’s academic program to better reflect the colleges strengths as it moved into the 21 st century. In 1993 there were 23 majors organized into five study boards. In 1996, the academic program was re-organized into eight interdisciplinary majors that provide the academic preparation of the old majors (often through concentrations within the eight majors), but that permit the student more flexibility to permeate the perhaps artificial boundaries of standard disciplines. The eight interdisciplinary majors are: Arts Cultural & Interdisciplinary Studies Environmental & Biological Science History, Philosophy and Religious Studies Page 62 56 Languages, Literature and Culture Physical Sciences Self, Society and Culture Social and Global Studies 2. ASSESSMENT PROCESS FOR THE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS Recent History 1. Past Efforts The College had previously attempted to create an assessment program several times since the NCA report of 1993, which requested that the College focus on this in accord with the NCA’s then relatively new initiative that all institutions under its jurisdiction institute assessment programs. In particular, two previous efforts laid the groundwork for community-wide understanding of the need for and the purposes of a systematic assessment program. 2. The Current Effort The current assessment effort began in January 1999 with the creation of a new assessment committee, which was organized by Dean of Faculty Hassan Nejad and the chair of the new committee, Professor of Literature Eric Horsting. The committee was deliberately designed to be small rather than representative of all College constituencies. The idea was that the members would be specially chosen for their perceived ability to work in the best interests of the College, to work cohesively as a group, and to quickly develop expertise in a field not part of their professional training (with the significant exception of the Director of Institutional Research, who brought special skills and insight to the group). The assessment committee was designed to function effectively and efficiently as a highly-trained and focused committee that could act as campus-wide clearinghouse of assessment knowledge and could oversee the planning and implementation of a variety of local and global assessment programs. 3. Guiding Principles The assessment committee’s work was organized around a set of principles that was commensurate with our limited human and financial resources, which meant developing plans that would require the least amount of new effort, that would use already existing bodies and processes as much as possible, but at the same time would constitute legitimate and useful assessment processes designed according to the specific needs of the individual units. Efficiency and effectiveness became the assessment committee’s watchwords, and we returned to them many times. It is probably difficult for anyone outside the Antioch system to understand what “limited human resources” means to us. “Very limited” but “deeply committed” is probably the best way to put it. 4. Planning and Implementation Process The assessment committee began its work by educating itself through reading and discussion of selected documents, such as the NCA reports and documents from earlier attempts at creating an assessment program, as well as professional articles and monographs. We then educated our colleagues about what we had learned, and from there began to solicit from the local assessment units their first draft assessment plans. In the course of looking at some early drafts, the assessment committee drafted a set of general principles, which we shared in writing with each unit. We also offered them a detailed set of suggestions specific to their units. By April 1999, nearly all of the 13 local assessment units, which included the eight interdisciplinary majors, the Center for Cooperative Education, Antioch Education Abroad, the Self- Designed Major, the Library, and the Academic Support Center, had created a first draft assessment Page 63 57 plan, had received comments from the assessment committee, and had submitted to the committee a revised second draft. One of the important principles in helping the units create their plans was that each unit would define its goals and create its methods of assessment and feedback according to its own needs and abilities. That is, we recognized that assessing local units involved a rich diversity of goals and modes of learning, and so a diversity of assessment methods and feedback loops would be appropriate to those goals and modes. We also strongly endorsed the notion of each unit “claiming ownership” for local assessment and encouraged them to work creatively to ensure that their assessment work would become exciting opportunities for discussing teaching and learning. (See Appendix 7 Assessment at Antioch and Appendix 8 Assessment: Planning, Management, Support ) The committee consistently emphasized the necessity that each unit create a plan that: (1) assesses its distinctive contributions to Antioch’s mission and curriculum, (2) is perceived internally as a genuine tool for improving teaching and learning and not merely as an intrusive bureaucratic demand, (3) does not require excessive demands on personnel or resources, and (4) that contributes to an overall assessment program that is useful to the institution as a whole and constitutes a legitimate response to the NCA’s expectations regarding academic assessment. One important problem that the assessment committee encountered in the process of reading the drafts was a tendency to create overly-ambitious and complex plans that violated our core principle of human resource parsimony, and the committee frequently encouraged units to reduce and refine in order to create a realistic yet meaningful plan. As the assessment committee read the second drafts from each unit, we realized that they were developed enough to allow them to serve as working drafts; that is, each could be put into use and tested to see how well they worked. These assessment plans specify: (1) the unit’s most important objectives, (2) the mechanisms the unit will use to assess those objectives, and (3) a “feedback mechanism” that specifies exactly how the data collected will be used in the unit’s decision making. 41 The committee was heartened that, within a period of three and one-half months, we had achieved a generally shared sense of commitment among faculty to create a meaningful and legitimate assessment program and to take seriously the insight that talking about the effectiveness of our teaching is far more stimulating than most of the committee conversations we have at the College. The committee realized that the next step was to ask each unit to create a specific implementation plan that detailed the practical logistics necessary for the full implementation of their plans. Most units produced such a plan by September 30, 1999, and in the following months the assessment committee worked closely with the units to help them refine their implementation plans and to begin collecting assessment data. By January 1, 2000, nearly all units were collecting some data, and most had specific plans for fully implementing their assessment plans by the end of the Spring 2000 semester. 5. Recent Developments Andrew Carpenter, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, became chair of the assessment committee after Professor Horsting’s retirement in December 1999. By this time, the committee had been planning for several months the first of our programs of global assessment, a program for assessing general education. We also began discussing a second global program, which would be designed to assess the third leg of our curriculum, community. Understanding the role of general education and community in Antioch’s curriculum proved difficult, but after much discussion and 41 Copies of each unit’s assessment plan will be in the Resource Room. Page 64 58 consultation with faculty and students, the committee developed an assessment plan for general education, which we began to implement in March 2001. In the following months, the committee worked hard to develop and implement a plan to assess community. Assessment at Antioch: Goals, Problems, and Questions 1. Goals Our assessment work has been designed to allow us to, following the central idea of Edward O’Neil’s recent article in the AAHE Bulletin, “use accreditation for our own purposes.” Our overall assessment goal is well-stated in the NCA’s fourth criteria for accreditation: we wish to use structured and continuous assessment processes to help faculty learn how to work more effectively in order to accomplish the College’s academic mission and to strengthen the overall educational effectiveness of our academic program. In our view, we have made significant progress towards realizing the NCA goal of having in place a comprehensive academic assessment program that involves “structured assessment processes that are continuous, that involve a variety of institutional constituencies, and that provide meaningful and useful information to the planning processes as well as to students, faculty, and administration.” Specifically, we believe that our recent efforts have created a comprehensive assessment program that fully realizes NCA Stage I assessment implementation (initial stages of implementation), fully realizes Stage II implementation (continuing development that includes both “a shared understanding of the purposes, advantages, and limitations of assessment” and institution- wide valuing of student learning and its assessment) and that we currently have a strong basis for attaining within two years Stage III implementation (“maturing stages of continuous development”). In particular, we believe that the administration treats assessment as an institutional priority and has taken reasonable steps to help faculty view assessment work as a “way of life.” Increasingly students, faculty, and staff are viewing assessment as an important part of the College’s culture, and increasingly the academic units are coming to view their assessment work as a meaningful, continuous activity and not just a periodic “add on” or an obtrusive bureaucratic demand. Although we are pleased with our overall progress, important difficulties and unresolved issues hamper our movement towards full level III implementation. We are pleased that all 13 assessment units are collecting and interpreting data, and all are documenting specific ways that “feed back” assessment results into their own programs. However, the assessment work of some programs is much more robust and well-developed than that of others. In our judgment, even the worst “assessment laggards” have implemented a reasonable minimal assessment program that generates meaningful data. Most of the others are doing more than this, and some have relatively well-developed programs taking into account our severe resource limitations and the fairly brief duration of the current assessment effort. Another important goal is to fully develop and implement our global assessments of general education and community, which have been implemented on a trial basis. The assessment methodologies for both programs need to be refined, and the institution needs to decide who will be responsible for interpreting the data collected, and also exactly how it will be fed back to strengthen our effectiveness in these areas. We are proud that Antioch has taken on the challenge of assessing community as a vital aspect of our curriculum, but we remain daunted by the challenge of doing this effectively. This is another crucial short-term goal, which the assessment committee will focus on in future months. Over the medium-term, the College’s major assessment goal is to monitor and support implementation of the 13 local assessment programs in order to help our colleagues reach, as quickly Page 65 59 as possible, NCA level III assessment implementation. Our current approach focuses on (1) “selling” assessment as a valuable learning opportunity for faculty, (2) providing clear procedural and logistical guidelines for carrying out and documenting assessment work, (3) working with faculty leaders and the Dean of Faculty’s office to create clear administrative pathways for “feeding back” assessment results into our existing administrative and governance processes. We welcome specific advice from the NCA team for attaining these goals and also desire to hear whether there are additional strategies that may be even more effective. 2. Problems We believe that many of the problems we have faced and continue to face as we work on assessment flow from a single source: the scarcity of resources (financial, time, and personnel). This affects our assessment work in many ways, including: 1. The inability to fund in-service or professional development assessment opportunities for faculty; 2. The inability to provide financial incentives for faculty to learn about and implement assessment planning and activity; 3. The inability to provide financial incentives for faculty who are knowledgeable about assessment to make themselves available as a resource to others; 4. The inability to fund special administrative projects (e.g, summer stipends, departmental grants) to enhance assessment efforts; 5. The inability to fund administrative support to ease the logistical and administrative burden of implementing assessment There is not a specific operating budget designated for assessment implementation or for assessment-related professional development activities. Undoubtedly this makes it more difficult for us than it is for better-funded peer institutions to educate and motivate faculty so that we can reach stage III assessment implementation It is also challenging to create “no-cost” logistical and administrative processes that support the ongoing development of our assessment programs. One change resulting from assessment, which is being implemented Summer 2002, is the relocation of the Office of Institutional Research into the Registrar’s office where additional staff support can be provided. Assessment at Antioch: Assumptions and Methodologies (Appendix 7 illustrates several of these assumptions.) Fundamental assumption #1: Resource Scarcity . It is assumed that assessment at Antioch must take place with limited resources. Fundamental assumption #2: Grassroots, “Bottom-Up” Assessment Planning . In order for the faculty not to resent the burden of assessment work, it is assumed that each unit has the right to develop its own unique assessment plan that best meets its particular needs and circumstances. Fundamental assumption #3: Faculty Ownership of Assessment . It is assumed that the faculty’s assessment work must be designed to provide genuine opportunities for meaningful discussions about teaching and learning. While this work should also meet external standards, for example satisfying the expectations held by the NCA, the primary purpose of our assessment work is to help each other improve teaching and learning at Antioch. Fundamental assumption #4: Reaching NCA Stage 3 Implementation . It is assumed that a crucial goal of the assessment committee is to help each unit “internalize” strong assessment norms and “normalize” their assessment work so that the College’s assessment programs reach the third developmental stage of assessment implementation discussed by the NCA. Page 66 60 Methodological assumption #1: Guidelines For Assessment . Although the various assessment units possess great latitude in designing plans that best meet their own specific needs, each must create an assessment plan: (1) that assesses its distinctive contributions to the Antioch curriculum, (2) that will be perceived as a genuine tool for improving our teaching and learning, (3) that will not require excessive demands on personnel or resources, and (4) that contributes to an overall assessment program that is useful to the institution as a whole and that meets the NCA’s expectations for academic assessment. By enforcing these regulative norms, the assessment committee guarantees that the units all observe “good assessment practice” despite having been granted broad flexibility to plan assessment according to their own lights. Methodological assumption #2: Tripartite Structure of Assessment Plans. Each assessment plan specifies: (1) the unit’s most important objectives; (2) the mechanisms the unit will use to assess those objectives; (3) a “feedback mechanism” that specifies exactly how the data collected will affect the unit’s decision making. Methodological assumption #3: Implementation Plans . Each unit must also create implementation plans that specify the logistics and timing of implementing their assessment plans. Methodological assumption #4: Assessing Assessment . Each unit will, with the guidance and support of the assessment committee, be encouraged to streamline and focus their assessment work and to create effective “feedback loops.” As part of this process, each unit annually provides the assessment committee with a report that includes: (1) a complete copy of the latest version of their assessment plan; (2) for each goal in the unit’s assessment plan: (a) documentation of exactly which assessment methods the unit has used to assess that goal and (b) reflective conclusions about whether the unit’s assessment efforts with respect to that goal have been successful; (3) for each assessment method in the unit’s assessment plan: (a) documentation about exactly how and when the unit has used that method and (b) reflective conclusions about whether this method is appropriate for the goals(s) with which the unit’s plan associates it; (4) documentation of the ways that the unit’s assessment work has affected decision making both within the unit and within larger institutional contexts; (5) discussion of the logistics of assessment: (a) is the workload of the assessment plan realistic? (b) does the unit have in place good procedures and plans to ensure that it can carry out its assessment work in the years to come? Assessment at Antioch: Our Local and Global Assessment Programs Appendix 8 illustrates the structure of our assessment efforts: 13 local assessment programs, and 2 global programs, with oversight by the Assessment Committee and the Dean of Faculty’s office. 42 3. EVALUATION VERSUS ASSESSMENT Antioch College has a long tradition of evaluation that is embedded in its norms and practices. Antioch College practices two kinds of evaluation each term for each course. The faculty evaluates students using the narrative evaluation instrument. And students evaluate faculty using the student evaluation of instruction (SEI) instrument as described below. 43 Narrative Evaluation of Student Performance 42 Reports and results of assessment processes will be placed in files by unit in the Resource Room. 43 Sample narrative evaluations and student evaluations of instruction will be in the Resource Room. Page 67 61 Each student in each course receives a written narrative evaluation from faculty in every course (except PE) addressing their performance in the course, identifying particular strengths as well as indicating areas for improvement. We write evaluations even for students who do not receive credit. These narrative evaluations form the student’s transcript. Additionally, copies are given to the academic advisor. New faculty including adjuncts receive training in the writing of narrative evaluations and are encouraged to learn from older faculty mentors about the important function of the narrative evaluation in providing feedback to each student for every course. The faculty reviews the narrative evaluation process every few years in faculty meetings. This is a required part of the faculty workload, and it is more time-consuming than assigning grades. Student Evaluation of Instruction In addition to faculty evaluation of student performance, students evaluate faculty performance in each course. This is done for adjuncts, pre-tenure, and post-tenure faculty for every course every term. A standard form, the Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEI), is designed and approved by the faculty. The Office of Institutional Research carries out this task, compiles the results, and all of these become part of the faculty member’s permanent file. The faculty has access to their SEIs only after they have completed all of their narrative evaluations of student performance and submitted these to the registrar. This is to assure the highest ethical practices. The SEI provides faculty with an immediate feedback loop. They receive formal student feedback for every course. The faculty takes this feedback very seriously, and they use it to help them revise and redesign their courses prior to offering them again. This evaluative feedback is also taken very seriously in the personnel review process and serves as an indication of the faculty member’s success in co-op. The library, or the classroom, as well as identifying areas that need to be improved. The Difference Between Evaluation and Assessment Evaluation is based on an individual demonstrating his or her skills and abilities and being evaluated appropriately – the student evaluates the faculty’s capacity as an educator and the faculty evaluates the student’s capacity to demonstrate learning. Individual performance is the unit being evaluated. Assessment focuses on the ability for a program to meet its goals. The faculty have discussed the difference between evaluation of individual performance (theirs and the students’ individual performances) and assessment of the academic program. For assessment, each area was asked to clearly articulate its goals and then design an assessment plan, gather data, and reflect upon the data to determine whether the program is indeed meeting its goals. If not, then what needs to be changed in order to strengthen the capacity for the program to better meet its goals? Changes are made, new data is gathered, and another opportunity for engaged reflection follows to determine whether the changes made have had the intended results. The SEI and/or narrative evaluations can function as one source of data in a broader assessment plan. 4. DESCRIPTION AND ASSESSMENT OF THE EIGHT MAJORS Interdisciplinary Majors and Concentrations The process for academic program assessment has been described in detail above. A brief description of each major and a summary of assessment results from each major will be provided here. For much more detailed reports from each major, please see the Resource Room. Page 68 62 Arts Students majoring in Arts will focus on one of three concentrations: Visual Arts, Dance/Theater, or Music. In each concentration, the program is developed for depth, giving students the opportunity to develop skills and cultivate the awareness and understandings that will enable them to experience more fully and express more eloquently the human condition. The Arts major has been crafted to include both disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning experiences. The Arts program models the integration of experiential with critical and analytic ways of learning. The arts emphasize teaching students to recognize and take responsibility for their points of view in making, participating in, and viewing art. Students consider how they came to feel, think, and perceive in the ways they do, and how artistic structures influence and are influenced by psychological, social, political, and economic structures. To accomplish this, the Arts are presented in historical and cultural contexts, highlighting relationships among cultural, ethical, and aesthetic decisions, values, and artistic choices. The Arts program contributes to the community not only through its coursework, but also through the year-round scheduling of student and faculty exhibitions, performances, informal showings and workshops. In addition, the Arts program and the campus community are enriched through regular performances, exhibits, lectures, workshops and master classes by visiting artists. Arts Assessment Two new colleagues (Dance and Theater professors) joined the Arts area in Fall 2001 and found the discussion of assessment helpful in serving as an orientation to both the Arts program and to the College. Concrete outcomes from our ongoing assessment process include the elimination of one required course on the introductory level in the hope that through more careful academic advising we can orient students to choices that are more suited to each individual. Another result of assessment is the retooling of our syllabus for the Senior Project to more adequately reflect the goals we have for the major and for the projects. In reviewing the senior projects, we agreed that we need to strengthen the area of technical proficiency in our program. We hope that by creating a more formalized senior seminar, with more opportunities to show work-in- progress to peers, we will underline the need for practical and disciplined engagement. Out of the discussion of senior projects and syllabi from 2000, a new Intro-level course, Intro to Theater: Performing Community, was developed. This course attempts to address what assessment revealed as the need to orient students to the purposes of theater socially and historically. Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies offers concentrations in African/African-American Studies, Communications, Education Studies and Teacher Licensure, Environmental Studies, Peace Studies, and Women’s Studies. In addition, students can combine these areas to shape their own curriculum with an advisor. The CIS major and each concentration within it share a history of and commitment to critical approaches to teaching, learning, and practice (application). The CIS major teaches and encourages multiple ways of knowing and scholarship based on rediscovery, rethinking, and re- examining. The CIS concentrations also have in common a commitment to applied studies – to do something with what we teach and learn. This is as necessary to Education Studies and Communications, which prepare students to work directly in these fields, as it is to African/African- American, Environmental, Peace, and Women’s Studies, which all place a high value not simply on the accumulation of knowledge, but also on the actions of those with knowledge. Participation and Page 69 63 direct involvement with the critical issues of power, oppression, and change are combined with analytical studies in order to enable students to make the connections between knowing, being, and doing. Students participating in CIS learning activities have multiple opportunities to combine class- work, directed study courses, fieldwork, cooperative education, and other integrative projects to achieve their academic goals. Those goals might include, but are not limited to: preparation for graduate study, work in a variety of fields, further study in other cultural contexts, or pursuit of professional degrees. Cultural And Interdisciplinary Studies Assessment The Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies Major (CIS) has established three goals: 1. Students will demonstrate familiarity with and critically examine theories of culture, power, oppression, social inequality, and social change. 2. Students will place themselves in a position to test their knowledge using critical frameworks to reflect on their experience. 3. Each student will develop a senior project that represents an appropriate culmination of the student’s work in their area of focus. After a review of a sample of senior projects and cooperative education papers, faculty felt that there was not a consistent reflection of the goals being demonstrated by students in these areas. Individual courses in CIS were reviewed to determine how the courses needed to be revised to help students reach the goals of the major. Each concentration within CIS then made specific and unique changes in their courses to help students reach the goals of the CIS major. in some cases, the concentration identified specific assessment activities to measure student progress toward or achievement of the goals. For example, the African/African-American Studies concentration included the examination of the Afrocentric paradigm, its body of assumptions, theories, orientation to African and African American phenomena, and its relationship to other progressive paradigms such as Marxism, Critical theory and Post-modernism in classes at the 100, 200, and 300 level. At each level, students are assessed on their utilization of more and more sophisticated levels of analysis. At the 300 level, students are assessed on their individual research projects to determine whether it demonstrates the student’s ability to “critically examine theories of culture, power, oppression, social inequality, and social change.” By embedding the goals of the major into each concentration, and from there into each course and cooperative education experience related to the major, students will better understand the criteria against which their learning is being assessed. Environmental and Biological Sciences The Environmental and Biological Sciences major offers concentrations in Biology; Biomedical Sciences (preparation for medical school, veterinary school, and biochemical research); Environmental Science; and Geology and the Environment. New discoveries within the Environmental and Biological Sciences are occurring rapidly, yet many fascinating problems still await discovery and study. Antioch’s unique combination of cooperative work experience and classroom education prepares graduates who are ready for the rapid pace of change in the future of Environmental and Biological Science. Page 70 64 Environmental and Biological Sciences Assessment The 2000 assessment indicated that seniors were interested in having more interaction with senior project advisors as they were working on senior projects. Consequently in 2001, EBS faculty redesigned senior projects to ensure more frequent and more structured meetings with students working on senior projects. When 2001 seniors were asked to assess their education we no longer saw that our students were concerned with the amount of time we were spending on senior projects. EBS faculty conclude that our change was successful. Unrelated to EBS curricular changes, college- wide decisions have changed our senior project structure for 2002. Now all of the EBS faculty meet regularly with seniors to discuss senior projects. We feel that the new senior project structure will ensure that EBS students will receive plenty of personal attention to help them work on and complete their senior projects. Part of our assessment involves keeping track of graduates and graduate success. 44 The EBS faculty are impressed that our graduates have been successful in entering and completing a very wide variety of graduate and professional programs History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies The History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies major offers students the choice of a concentration in three areas: History, Philosophy, or Religious Studies. It seeks to serve students preparing for graduate studies in these areas; students planning professional studies like journalism, law, or management; and students seeking a solid liberal arts education. Because history, philosophy, and religious studies connect with many other disciplines in a wide variety of ways, the program also serves the needs of undergraduate students at all levels, even if they choose not to specialize in these disciplines. The major takes seriously the Socratic dictum: An unexamined life is not worth living. By so doing, it challenges received assumptions and cultural norms. It features a distinct and logical integration of the traditional programs of history, philosophy and religious studies. The major also serves students interested exploring a variety of themes in the humanities. The major respects and does not forsake the integrity of history, philosophy, and religious studies, but it does seek to fully exploit the inherently interdisciplinary nature of all three disciplines. History, Philosophy, Religious Studies Assessment In response to our assessment discussions, the department has fine-tuned its assessment procedures and instruments and has made two significant curricular changes: 1) to support history concentration goals Dr. Barbara Davis now offers a two-semester World History Course, and 2) to support Philosophy concentration goals new upper-level courses have been developed. We also identified a number of specific issues of concern. These include: introducing more non-Western perspectives into the history and philosophy programs; creating more opportunities for students to connect abstract philosophical ideas to their own lives; creating more opportunities for students to develop oral communication skills (in addition to reading and writing and critical thinking skills) and implementing a capstone seminar to facilitate interaction between HPRS majors. One philosopher retired in 2002, and the other one took a one-year pre-tenure leave. The half-time historian is planning to retire in 2004. The program is undergoing change and needs increased staffing. Searches for a new historian and a new philosopher are planned for 2002 to be filled by fall 2003. 44 .See Resource Room for summary of EBS graduates from the past 10 years and graduate degrees in progress. Page 71 65 Languages, Literature, and Cultures Students who major in Languages, Literature, and Cultures investigate, study, analyze, use and take pleasure in written and spoken forms of language and embark on an in-depth study of the culture in which a particular language is produced. This is as true for the study of English, in which students will learn something of its history and influence, as it is for a non-western language such as Japanese. Language is never learned in isolation from the lives of the people who use it as a first mode of communication. Students may choose to concentrate in Literature (in English), Creative Writing, French, German, Japanese, or Spanish. Some students with a major in Languages, Literature, and Cultures will be working primarily in what is for them a second language, while others will be working in their first language. In either case, as students develop or improve their linguistic skills, they increasingly address cultural elements through the study of literature. Many also take advantage of related Antioch Education Abroad programs in Europe, Mexico, and Japan, and the opportunities afforded by the cooperative education program to enhance their knowledge of other languages and cultures through the experience of living and working in other countries. Literature, Languages and Culture Assessment A major concern, which emerged from assessment work, was the unevenness of writing skills and the subsequent difficulty of designing pedagogically effective writing assignments, given the unpredictability of student preparation. Changes made to the required introductory course in the LLC major, LLC 112 Introduction to Multicultural Literature, include devoting a greater proportion of this course to basic writing skills, especially the organization of arguments, the composition of thesis statements, and the process of drafting and re-drafting papers. Physical Sciences The Physical Sciences major offers concentrations in Chemistry, Mathematics, and Physics. While it is possible to think of these as separate disciplines, they are interconnected in many important ways. The connections provide a rich environment for developing insight, creativity, and transferable skills. The major in Physical Sciences builds on these connections. Physical Science majors also complete two co-op jobs related to the major that build on and strengthen what they have learned in classes. Each student develops a portfolio of community-related science activities to include at least one program, activity, or special project in which they have played a significant planning or presentation role. Science fields are continually changing, as are job prospects for graduates in different fields, and students will be learning new ways of looking at things long after they graduate. The Physical Sciences major prepares students for the rapidly changing world they will face. Students who complete the program will have a variety of transferable skills that have been honed in classes, labs, co-op and community experiences. They will be grounded in the underpinnings of chemistry and physics, the fundamentals of differential and integral calculus, the basics of at least one computer language, and the vocabulary and methods that permit logical and creative problem-solving. They will have experience in learning to think critically and analytically, to produce a logical argument, to express themselves clearly, and to write and speak on technical topics. Page 72 66 Physical Sciences Assessment In Fall 2001, the Physical Sciences faculty reviewed our statement of Goals and Assessment Methods and made revisions. The decision was made to focus attention on the following two assessment methods: feedback from co-op employers on how students are performing on their major-related co-op, the questionnaire on Senior Projects, and standardized tests. We discussed with our new co-op faculty science liaison, Judith Schimpf, our plans regarding use of employer’s comments in assessing our goals. She made suggestions about how to get information in a timely manner, about which students are on science co-ops at any given time, and about how to get our specific questions answered by employers. She suggested that rather than try to append our questionnaire to the co-op employer questionnaire, we write a letter to the employer and ask for feedback directly. The letter and questionnaire was written and letters were sent out to seven employers, one of whom was in Germany. We have received four responses back, including the one from Germany. In addition to filling out the multiple choice questions, three of the four respondents wrote comments which will be very helpful. These responses came near the end of Spring term and will be reviewed at the beginning of Fall term 2002. Two faculty members completed a questionnaire about the presentations of the four students who gave senior project presentations at the end of the Spring term. We will discuss the results and comments at the beginning of Fall term 2002. Although we have had only one graduating senior take a standardized test in his/her discipline, we have decided to continue to give some kind of test that will serve to compare our graduates with a representative group. Given the stress of the final term, it has been difficult to find a suitable time for the standard long exam. We are looking into alternatives. Based on the one standardized test result that we have, we have decided to give students more experience in answering questions in that format, so that the results are more meaningful. For example, we will include, as part of regular testing, some short, timed tests with questions of the type asked on standardized tests. Self, Society and Culture The Self, Society and Culture major provides a framework for understanding behavior, culture, social structure, and change at the individual, local, and global levels. The SSC major examines the interdependent and interactive nature of behavioral, social, and cultural phenomena. The major facilitates student mastery of (1) the shared and divergent theories, methods, and assumptions of anthropology, psychology, and sociology; (2) the ways in which these three disciplines and others (history, cultural studies, women’s studies, lesbian and gay studies, and racial- ethnic studies) together help to illuminate the interactions among behavioral, cultural, and social phenomena; and (3) the ways in which different disciplinary lenses address the same behavioral, social, and cultural phenomena. SSC courses promote active, involved learning by calling upon students to observe and analyze social and behavioral phenomena and to apply theory and research to real-world cases. Introductory courses acquaint students with the disciplines of psychology, sociology, and anthropology, and supply an important foundation for understanding how to analyze social problems and how to instigate change in real-world settings. Because different students are preparing for different futures, SSC majors have the option of selecting intermediate and advanced courses that either: (1) emphasize a particular discipline; or (2) represent a cross-disciplinary mix within the Page 73 67 social and behavioral sciences. A research methods course acquaints students with the full range of approaches used in social and behavioral science inquiry. The SSC senior project seminar represents the capstone experience. Self, Society and Culture Assessment As a result of our senior project assessment and subsequent discussions, SSC has made several curriculum changes: 1. To incorporate a review of research methods into all of our introductory level courses. 2. To include an annotated bibliography assignment in many of our intermediate level courses in order to strengthen library research and literature assessment skills. 3. To orient the research methods course to third year students, so that this course provides the opportunity for students to link their SSC coursework and co-oping experiences with the development of their senior project. 4. To clarify our goals regarding senior project expectations for SSC students, we have developed a document outlining departmental guidelines for the senior project. 5. To develop a student assessment form with which students will be asked to demonstrate how they have achieved various SSC goals through their senior project work. 6. To clarify our expectations of SSC students beyond the senior project, we are also in the process of developing a student handbook for SSC majors. As a result of our overall curriculum review in conjunction with our assessment work, we have re-evaluated our course offerings, weeded out some courses that are not offered in regular rotation, and we have re-activated other courses which were dormant. In this way, our assessment efforts have allowed our planning and delivery of courses to be more deliberate, more attentive to our expressed objectives, and to be more consistent with our articulated assessment objectives. Social and Global Studies We live in a rapidly changing world. The international system is in a state of flux. The nation-state, which for over 300 years has been the primary force in international affairs, is being increasingly challenged by a startling variety of multinational corporations, human rights groups, environmental movements, professional organizations, and ethnic and religious associations that often play leading roles in defining and framing the global agenda. Interactions among these groups and individuals have made us aware that problems such as poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, and violent crime are not just local, national, or regional but, rather, global problems. They affect us all and require long-term, collective, and interdisciplinary approaches to understand and effectively address these problems. The Social and Global Studies major presents a critical analysis of global and domestic challenges and opportunities. In this analysis, three themes are central: development of social ideas and philosophies, comparative study of social change, and comparative analysis of organizations, institutions, and policies. These themes are addressed in introductory and intermediate courses and highlight an interconnected array of problems that become the focus of in-depth studies in upper- division courses. The concentrations offered in this major have a common theoretical and methodological base, as well as a common approach that emphasizes economic, social, cultural, political, demographic, and environmental interdependencies. Concentrations include: Political Science, Economics, Environmental Policy, International Relations, and Management Studies. Page 74 68 Social and Global Studies Assessment Four general areas of concern emerge as a result of our assessment discussions. They are: 1) process-related issues regarding the collection of portfolio materials to assess; 2) variability of student sets and methodological issues attending their assessment; 3) ideological rigidity and inflexibility of students; and 4) quantitative skill development. Courses which rely on quantitative skills (Microeconomics, Financial Management, and Accounting) need students to be better prepared. Courses which could introduce a quantitative element earlier in a students’ program include: Economic Growth and Development, International Economics, Latin American Development, and Marketing. Faculty who teach these courses have agreed to include a heavier emphasis on quantitative reasoning, interpretation, and analyses. Then through improved advising and stated prerequisites, SGS faculty can ensure students enter the more demanding courses with adequate skill and preparation. Faculty discussed the need to examine in greater detail the manner in which course and cooperative education site selection (by students) may reinforce and affirm dominant ideological pre-dispositions. How can we as faculty be more effective in helping students challenge structurally normative assumptions and prepare students to critically analyze, interpret, and argue these assumptions with analytic rigor and stylistic grace? Faculty in SGS are involved in discussing this concern. 5. SELF-DESIGNED MAJOR A Self-Designed Major is available for students with special objectives that cannot be accomplished within the eight majors offered at the College. To declare a Self-Designed Major, the student must submit a “Self-Designed Major Worksheet” to the Registrar’s office for approval by the Self-Designed Major Committee, at a time when there are at least two study semesters remaining before graduation. The self-designed major (SDM) is chosen by about 15% of our students. (SDM description and requirements are found in the 2000-2002 Catalog p. 23) Assessment of the Self-Designed Major No formal assessment of the self-designed major has yet taken place. However, this is a very popular option among our students and indicates a clear interest on the part of our students to design their own course of study regardless of our approach to academic disciplines. Our students are interested in multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches and find our academic structure irrelevant to some of their pursuits. They are interested in identifying their own intellectual and artistic passions. They then identify and work closely with specific faculty mentors. 6. CENTER FOR COOPERATIVE EDUCATION The Center for Cooperative Education at Antioch College delivers the co-op curriculum. Every student must fulfill the co-op requirement of five co-operative education experiences over the four years. The Center is located on the first two floors of South Hall and includes faculty offices, a meeting room, a resource room, and open files on co-op employers. Seven full-time faculty, two executive assistants, and a co-oping student work in the center. One faculty member serves as the Director of Co-op and another serves as the Dawson Professor responsible for research on and assessment of student learning through co-operative education. 45 45 See Resource Room for professional vitaes of co-op faculty and staff. Page 75 69 The co-op program places Antioch students in non-profit organizations, corporations, laboratories, hospitals, schools, government agencies, studios, and settlement houses. First jobs are usually at the entry level. Students test career choices, enter new fields of practice, explore new environments, learn basic skills, try different kinds of work, and discover what they do best. They also learn how to live independently, succeed on the job, work with others, assume responsibility, and understand organizations. It is required that one job be directly related to the student’s major academic field. (The Physical Science major requires that two co-op jobs be directly related to the major). Co-op employers are thoughtful and committed. Their supervision, personal interest, advice, and evaluations of student employees are indispensable to student success and growth, and they are regarded as Antioch field faculty. Since co-op employers have chosen to be part of an Antioch student’s education, these work experiences truly extend our classroom into the world. All co-op employers with a history of working with the co-op department have written agreements with the College and are advertised to students on the “Co-op Job List.” 46 We refer to these as the “list jobs.” We ask all first year students to work with at least three job list employers. Transfer students will have half of their co-ops with job list employers. On co-op jobs in scientific laboratories, art studios, computer facilities, and other settings, students encounter state-of-the-art equipment and practices beyond those that could be found on any college campus. Students sometimes arrange jobs on their own; these co-ops are called “own-plan co-ops,” which often are in the student’s home community. Students may also choose to work on campus or in Yellow Springs. Students multiply their options through co-op. They are not isolated on a college campus year-round and can explore a wide range of career options. Since the future of the workplace is uncertain we believe it is important for our students to learn how to do many things. Students often discover or affirm their life purpose through co-op. Students can test out a dream career they have always imagined with a real job in that field. If they are uncertain about what their passion is, moving into the world early in their education helps students discover what they love to do. Students also build their capacity through co-op. They learn how to adapt, how to work with different people, how to solve problems and how to discover problems to solve. Ideally students work in five different jobs in five different locations to build more skills and feel confident stepping into any new situation. Antioch aims to prepare students to live responsibly and effectively in a complex world. For over 80 years, Antioch has used cooperative education to enable students to live in environments that differ from the academic setting and to broaden their understanding of the world in which they live. Co-op fosters learning through a wide range of objectives related to work. The following learning outcomes have been gleaned from many conversations involving students, faculty and staff. These outcomes can be categorized in terms of their curricular and their meta-curricular dimensions. Students with their co-op advisors set particular goals and objectives for each co-op job that relates to the actual nature of the job. At the same time, there are sets of overarching learning outcomes that pertain to the co-op learning process as a whole. These are: 1. Having meaningful experiences: a crucial outcome is learning how to engage in meaningful work/learning experiences that have a profound effect on the transformation of one’s own life and consciousness. It is critical that co-op learning has the kind of meaningful transformative effect that the classroom is intended to have. 46 See Resource Room for copies of agreements with co-op employers and the most recent Co-op Job List. Page 76 70 2. Orientation to the world of work and service: the Co-op Program offers a real no-nonsense introduction to what it means to be part of the workforce. This objective includes developing job skills and a strong work ethic. 3. Learning other communities: learning how to enter and become accountable to new communities is another important learning objective. This means being sensitive to learning what other communities are about and how to be a responsible citizen with different cultural contexts. 4. Survival and life skills: negotiating adult life in a new environment takes new skills. This outcome involves learning to manage personal finances, find housing and transportation, adapt to a new environment, and take greater responsibility to manage one’s own life. 5. Personal growth: personal growth, particularly the development of greater independence in the world, involves an increased sense of responsibility for one’s own actions. In many ways, this entails learning how to balance the profoundly new measure of freedom and responsibility one finds in adult life. 6. Praxis: engaging in practical experience extends one’s theoretical learning in a way that both completes and informs the theory. Practical learning can help one make progress towards a particular career and/or more effective social and political change in the world. The dialectic of theory and practice is a critical dimension of co-op’s learning outcomes. 7. Connections and networking: co-op experiences provide the opportunity to learn to build networks in the world of work, and to develop networks of people to help one in future career development. Co-op also makes it possible to link work experience to academic experience. 8. Cross cultural experiences and learning: This outcome sets Antioch’s Co-op Program apart from others. As students engage in cross-cultural work and learning experiences, they develop the ability to move across various cultural borders with increasing ease and understanding. Students also enter new communities with the right kind of preparation and sensitivity to new cultural realities. 9. Exploration of the world: much can be learned through thoughtful and purposeful reflection on one’s lived experience while navigating oneself across the country or around in the world as students travel to and from co-op. Over the course of a four-year Antioch program, co-op work experiences may include many of the following dimensions: 1. responsible employment 2. career exploration 3. broadening and deepening of general education 4. the opportunity to work for social justice 5. community organizing or community service work 6. apprenticeships Co-op Preparation Several activities are available for students to prepare for their first co-op. Co-op faculty lead learning activities in four categories: Getting a Job, On the Job, Transition from Campus to Co-op and Quality of Life. 47 The faculty offers workshops on these topics several times in different formats and with different topics, which allow students to find a convenient time and suitable format for their learning. Experienced students co-facilitate many sessions, so new students can learn from their co- 47 See Resource Room for material on co-op preparation sessions. Page 77 71 op experiences. Students may want to attend all the sessions, or pick and choose which activities meet their needs. Attending at least one activity in each of the four categories is required before students may register for their first co-op. We cannot predict what will happen on any co-op – no one can – but we can help students build their capacity to handle whatever comes their way Getting a Job activities are designed to prepare students for their first co-op. They include: searching the co-op job list and using co-op employer files in the Center,, meeting employers who visit campus, learning to write a powerful résumé, developing skills for professional interviews, and thinking carefully and critically about what one learns through work. Transitioning from Campus to Work takes planning. Topics include: how to research the city or cities being considered, how to meet other students heading in the same direction, how to start building a support network in the new community, how to handle personal finances while living independently, and how to plan for future co-ops, including international ones. On the Job sessions help students become ready to enter a new work environment. Topics include: communicating clearly with a supervisor and co-workers, practicing teamwork skills, honing decision-making abilities, building tolerance for ambiguity, and becoming accountable to others by accepting responsibility for your actions in the workplace. Quality of Life on Co-op depends upon a myriad of factors. Topics addressed include: learning how to handle stress and fear of the unknown while staying healthy, learning how to find the balance between work and personal life and between risk and safety, learning to make connections with others and find support, a safety net, in a new community, and learning about maintaining relationships while handling transitions. Co-op Requirements To meet co-op degree requirements, students need to complete five co-op experiences and earn 60 co-op credits. Each co-op experience is worth 12 credits and students need 60 credits from co-o in order to graduate. 1. A co-op experience is a full-time job, but occasionally individual pre-planned projects may qualify for students who have credited a previous co-op work experience. Examples include being an artist or developing and opening a business. 2. Adequate planning and evaluation with a co-op faculty advisor are required. 3. A co-op experience lasts four months (a minimum of 15 weeks) and, if successful, results in 12 co-op credits after the student completes the reflective and evaluative phase of the crediting process with his or her co-op faculty advisor. 4. A required co-op paper or project is submitted at the end of each job, which is used to evaluate and credit the experience. 48 Pre-Antioch Crediting Procedures and Requirements Depending upon year of standing at entrance and work history, students may be able to earn pre-Antioch co-op credit toward the required five co-ops. A pre-Antioch co-op experience must be a full-time work-based experience for preferably four months but at least three months before entering Antioch. An acceptable work experience will be in-between graduating high school and entering Antioch. However, experiences during high school are acceptable if students participated in a work- based learning program or have had significant work experience within the sixteen months before entering Antioch. 48 See Resource Room for sample student co-op papers and projects used for crediting the co-op experience. Page 78 72 For first-year students, a pre-Antioch co-op replaces the fifth co-op that occurs following their graduation ceremony. Students must credit their pre-Antioch co-op before beginning their first in-residence co-op. First year students may credit one pre-Antioch, second and third year students may credit two pre-Antioch co-ops. No student may credit more than two pre-Antioch co-ops. Students must obtain documents from their employers that provide the dates of employment – the employer evaluation form can fulfill this requirement. Students must write a six-to-eight-page paper or do a project about their pre-Antioch experience that follows the guidelines provided by the Co-op Department. Students must have a crediting conference with their co-op faculty advisor. The 12 credits for pre-Antioch co-op will not be recorded on the student’s transcript until after completing the crediting process for their first in-residence co-op. Getting a Co-op Job Each trimester the Center for Cooperative Education publishes a list of co-op jobs, frequent supplements, special bulletins, and e-mail notices keep job information current. Students get more information about jobs by looking at files of reports from other students who have held those jobs in the past, by talking with upper-class students to get their views of their experiences on particular jobs, and by consulting with co-op faculty advisors. Co-op employers want and expect an Antioch student each term. As partners in the co-op program they rely on Antioch students to perform work and complete tasks essential to their organizational objectives. Only one student is recommended for each co-op job. Once that recommendation from a Co-op Advisor along with the student’s application letter and resume is sent to the employer, the student is expected to honor that act as a commitment to the employer. Most often the employer, after a telephone interview with the student, agrees to hire the student for the co- op term. Employers have made a commitment to Antioch College and Antioch students reciprocate. Support for Co-op Before students leave campus, they can meet with a co-op advisor and other students who will be working in the same area to exchange information and learn something about the region. Housing arrangements, possible roommates, and advice from upper-class students may result from these meetings. When out on a job, students are never completely isolated from Antioch. Other Antiochians often are working in the same city or community. Co-op advisors, alumni, parents of current students, the employer, or co-workers can all offer assistance if needed. If several Antioch students work in the same community, one may coordinate by keeping in touch with everyone, arranging gatherings, and serving as an emergency resource. Co-op advisors, during their periodic field trips to develop job opportunities, visit students on co-op. A toll-free number is available for students to use to keep in touch with the co-op office. Financial Aspects of Co-op All listed co-op jobs provide compensation. Some jobs provide room and board and a stipend. Others provide salaries or hourly wages. The College also provides students with a co-op transition stipend. The stipend amount varies for domestic and international co-op positions. Students must have a confirmation from the employer and be registered for the co-op by the registration deadline in order to receive the stipend. Although most students support themselves during job periods from their earnings, others sometimes choose internships that pay little or nothing because of the learning experiences they seek. Some undertake volunteer service projects, theater work, or apprenticeships. Students in such Page 79 73 situations usually take a second job to support themselves using previous experience such as childcare, food service, or office work. The marketplace determines salaries. They depend on the level of skill needed, type of organization, regional variations in pay scale, and other factors. By living economically, students may save some money toward incidental costs such as books and travel. Since pay rates and living costs vary widely, students should not expect to finance their education through co-op jobs. International & Cross-cultural Aspects of Co-op The cross-cultural experience requirement implemented in 1991 has greatly increased the need for international co-op placements. During the summer and fall terms of 2001, 85 students chose to co-op abroad. The rise in the number of students working overseas does impact our ability to place students with domestic job list employers. This means that we must create a solid job development plan that will effectively address the issue. Additionally, department members remain vigilant about international safety concerns. While monitoring every country all of the time is impossible, we remain informed about State Department warnings. On-site coordinators in Brazil and Kenya, two popular international co-op sites, are paid a small stipend to ensure that a local contact is on-call to help our student transition into the site and in case of emergencies. The world climate is uncertain; having consistent and reliable on-site coordinators in more locations would greatly enhance international co-ops. After Graduation By participating in the co-op program, students gain experience in a variety of work and living situations. This helps them with career planning by giving them real-world experiences upon which to base their decisions about the future. Graduates leave Antioch with a résumé detailing almost two full years of work experiences and knowledge about what they enjoy. They may have solidified their career objectives – perhaps confirming original choices and aspirations, perhaps finding new directions. In an era in which people change careers more and more frequently, learning to find these new directions becomes a critical skill. Recent Innovations in Co-op Two Antioch University Innovation Grants and funding from the estate of an alumnus have provided the department with funding and opportunities for innovations and program assessment. Innovations resulting from assessment include: 1. Bringing 12 job list employers to campus during the 2000-2001 year to do class and public presentations to help strengthen the College-student-employer relationship. The employers learned first-hand about the campus and classroom life that Antioch students leave to come to their work assignments. Further, employers were grateful about being invited to campus. One employer in particular has worked with Antioch students for more than two years and had never been to campus. She felt educated and enlightened by her visit. 2. During 2001-2002, co-op faculty will take some classroom colleagues on site visits to meet with employers and see students at work. The major goal is to deepen the understanding of classroom faculty to the power of co-op learning and help orient newer faculty to this aspect of the Antioch education. 3. Increasing the number of students taking job-list jobs by six percent. Co-op employers are the Co- op Department’s external audience; their needs must be met if we are to retain them as active Page 80 74 partners in educating Antioch students. This increase was a positive indicator of the success of bringing co-op employers to campus. 4. Creating an on-line searchable database for co-op list jobs remains a top priority. A recent proposal to implement this has been submitted. A co-op student recently rewrote the on-line co-op database interface. The interface makes searching the job list much easier. In an era where students have used the Internet for most of their lives, it makes far more sense to provide students access to the job list in such an easy to access format. 5. Beginning with the 2002 graduating class, we will write summary narratives that reflect student learning, development and challenges (successful and unsuccessful) during their co-ops. Narrative evaluations have never been written for students’ co-ops. These narratives will have many benefits for both the student and the Co-op Program and provide increased data for future assessment. Research in Co-op Dawson Professor of Cooperative Education and developmental psychologist, Dr. Pat Linn, has provided leadership in the research and assessment of cooperative education both at Antioch and nationally. Her research began in 1997 and consists of a study of the following two groups of Antioch college graduates: the “late career group” graduates from 1946-1955, and the “mid career group” graduates from 1976-1985. The central questions of her research are: How do students learn when they alternate between terms of study and terms of work? What do they learn? She has published her findings in a number of articles, including Learning that Lasts a Lifetime (AAC&U Liberal Education, Summer 1999 vol. 85, #3) and presented her findings in numerous conferences. 49 In addition, she has conducted two smaller scale studies with current students, which are currently being written up for publication. The first of these focused on a comparison of own-plans versus list jobs in terms of student learning outcomes and salary compensation. The second focused on a comparison of students who took part in work-based learning programs in high school versus those who did not participate in such programs and examines how these two groups utilize the resources of the Center for Cooperative Education to support their co-op learning. These studies have provided useful data for assessment. In 2001, Pat Linn presented on the panel, “From Research to Assessment,” at the Practice-Oriented Education Conference in Boston. She has made significant contributions to assessing cooperative education at Antioch College. She has received research awards from the Cooperative Education Association, the Midwest Cooperative Education Association, the Cooperative Education Division of the American Society for Engineering Education, and the National Association of Student Employment Administrators, the Antioch College Faculty Fund, and a two year $50,000 grant from the Pierson-Lovelace Foundation. The Pierson-Lovelace funds have paid for student research assistants, one of whom co-authored, A Lifespan Study of Cooperative Education Graduates: Quantitative Aspects, (Journal of Cooperative Education, Vol. 34, #3, 1999) In 2001, Pat Linn was named the Research Committee Chair of the national Cooperative Education Association. With colleague Dr. Cheryl Keen, Linn won a two-year $150,000 grant from the National School-to-Work Office and Oak Ridge Institute for Science Education for “Higher Education Institutions Partnering with High Schools to Expand Work-Based Learning.” Antioch College was one of nine co-op schools selected by the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Education to participate. Antioch partnered with six high schools, including one in Columbus, one in Cleveland, and two in Springfield, as well as with Clark State Community College in Springfield. 49 For a complete list of Pat Linn’s presentations and papers, see Faculty Indicators of Progress in the Resource Room. Page 81 75 The purpose was to help develop and strengthen work-based learning programs in the high schools by providing teacher education on work-based learning and share resources and strategies for work- based learning. Her leadership has supported co-op faculty colleagues to pursue research and writing initiatives. With faculty colleagues Dr. Adam Howard and Eric Miller she has completed The Handbook for Research in Cooperative Education and Internships which will be published by Lawrence Erlbaum in April 2003. In addition to Pat Linn’s work, Dr. Adam Howard has published 14 articles in the past five years on various aspects of education and student learning and has presented at numerous conferences. In spring 2002, he was asked to assume leadership of the Education Studies in the Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies major at the College. Co-op Assessment The Cooperative Education Department has been actively engaged in assessment since the mid-1990s. Assessment efforts began with the college-wide strategic planning process and continued with a series of departmental retreats designed to evaluate the co-op program and move the program forward. The most recent assessment efforts have been led by Dr. Pat Linn who chaired the Co-op Commission Spring 2002. 50 (See Criterion 4 Current Planning for more on the co-op commission) Assessment is an ongoing part of the co-op program. Co-op programs were designed in the first half of the past century to develop and support an industrial economy, and so are out-of-date in our post-industrial world. In a series of day-long retreats in 1999-2000 the department addressed this and other questions toward the goal of reaching consensus on how to define cooperative education for the 21 st century, what kind of program best suits the needs of today’s students, and how to deliver such a program. Much of what is included in this self study emerged from or was refined in those retreats. The most recent retreats focused on several issues that seem to have previously divided us. The foci of the more recent retreats include: 1. Re-establishing consensus within the department around our cooperative education program 2. Reconsidering our delivery methods and creating new educational opportunities that allow each faculty member to use her/his areas of expertise 3. Finding the correct balance of list jobs and own-plan jobs to assure we have predictable and reliable opportunities for students and enough students placed with list employers 4. Re-evaluating proposed changes mentioned in the co-op revisioning document The co-op faculty reviewed student learning and generated a list of “What enhances learning on co-op.” This list guided our thinking throughout many of our assessment activities. • expertise or mentorship • others’ high expectations of you • accountability • increasing sophistication of activities and outcomes • diverse work experiences • seeking new challenges • making comparisons 50 The Co-op Commission Report will be in the Resource Room. Page 82 76 • reciprocity • interdependencies • having supported experiences within new communities • having responsibilities to others • having a commitment to do a good job and do good work • predictable and reliable work • sustained engagement • reflection or reconsideration • risk and vulnerability • having meaningful experiences • having a sense of shared ownership in the program • the discovery that education is a process, not a product • viewing life through changing lenses Co-op faculty then asked, “What kind of co-op program is most likely to create the situations for learning outlined in our list?” We generated a variety of program models, and in the next retreat we discussed these models and agreed in general terms on one model. The discussion of models focused mainly on the difficult issue of “list” jobs versus “own- plan” jobs. A review of the contexts of co-op learning and our own experiences led us to agree that when we know and work for an extended time with employers, those experiences tend to push students to greater learning (often, but not always). The agreed-upon model remained an alternating program of work (5 terms) and study (7 terms) with students completing at least three “list” jobs—the other two might be “own-plan” jobs. We agreed not to specify that the list jobs should come first, as often first-year students may be better-served by creating a job in their home town for their first co-op. Co-op faculty noted that most opportunities to promote learning occur in a work situation in which the student is employed by a supervisor as part of an educational program. This led us to confirm that cooperative education is about work (versus travel or some kinds of creative co-ops previously approved by the department). This was an important point of consensus, and led to the development of a draft statement of the educational philosophy for the department, which is still undergoing revisions as we continually review our purpose and student learning outcomes. Working with an employer off-campus brings to our students a kind of accountability that the classroom just cannot provide. On co-op, it is not only about the student, it is about the employer and his or her needs. Further, when students work with employers who have a relationship with the College (list jobs) the work experience is likely to be challenging, educational, and rewarding, both monetarily and in term of student satisfaction. When a job is filled year round by students, we know that job is more likely to be a real job, with all the challenges and satisfactions that accrue rather than a tacked-on internship composed of mostly observing or learning to use the copy machine. From an outline of our ideal program, we moved to questions of implementation and started with preparation. Over a couple of meetings, we developed what we are calling a “curriculum of preparation,” for new students. Details of this are in the above section, which describes co-op preparation and integrates the changes that resulted from the assessment efforts such as: • Creating the learning outcomes • Establishing the co-op transition stipend • Developing more reliable alumni networks • Re-evaluating the pre-Antioch co-op crediting allowances • Re-establishing the importance of job list employers Page 83 77 • Developing the co-op preparation program • Presenting a clearer description of program expectations and outcomes Concerns which remain: 1. The final co-op for many students (about 40% of last year’s class) comes after commencement. This is a result of the assigned sequence of work and study given to these students when they enter the College. Improving the quality of crediting this co-op has become an important issue to address as students need not return to campus for a face-to-face conference with their advisor in order to credit this final co-op. We have tried email correspondence for reflection while the students were on the job. Now one member of the department has begun efforts to design an “on-line” method. On-line crediting will allow students and co-op faculty to engage in a meaningful exchange. One challenge for our computer-based initiatives is technical support and adequate education about on-line teaching for the co-op faculty. 2. Co-op faculty members juggle a variety of very different roles and believe that all of their varied roles are important. With as many as 80% of students on campus during the spring and fall terms a large percentage of faculty time is spent on individual meetings. This includes new and returning students with whom the nature of the meeting varies. Other roles include working with students on co-op, maintaining relationships with employers, working on committees, and being involved in the campus community, and, of course, being engaged in professional development. The co-op faculty are deeply involved in the forefront of both national and state co-op organizations. This leaves the question of what is a reasonable load for the number of advisees and the number of employers which each faculty member can reasonably serve? No matter how many group activities co-op faculty provide (such as the prep sessions discussed above), the bottom line is that students want and deserve one-on-one attention. There are seven co-op faculty, but the Director and the Dawson Professor both have reduced advising loads because of their other responsibilities. So that really nets the equivalent of six co-op advisors for the entire student body and all of our employers. The co-op faculty want to deliver a high quality educational program that assures high quality interaction for all constituencies, but this is difficult to maintain with such a small number of faculty. 3. The purpose of the summer study term was to begin to create a more equal number of students working and studying each term. The creation of the summer study term has not had this desired result. (See Criterion 3 Academic Calendar and the Summer Term and Criterion 4 Priorities for 2002-2003 ) The majority of students still prefer to co-op in the summer and study in the fall and spring terms. Having nearly 80% of students on-campus during the fall and spring terms is problematic for both co-op faculty and for employers. If employers cannot rely upon Antioch students to do the job, an employer will fill positions with full-time staff and these opportunities will be lost to Antioch students. This pattern diminishes the job list and weakens the College co-op program. A better balance between the numbers of students on co-op and studying must be reached. A review of this problem and an assessment of the calendar is planned to begin fall 2002. 4. Federal Work Study Program aid (FWSP) helps subsidize many jobs on the job list. The employer pays a percentage of the student’s wage and FWSP funds cover the balance. However, then non-FWSP students cannot find paid employment on the job list and do not choose list-jobs. This also weakens the Co-op program and must be addressed. Despite these challenges, our Co-op program continues to provide a national model. Co-op faculty are active members of local, regional, and national organizations that focus on cooperative education or experiential learning. Members of our department have won two national awards in the last year. Usually several of us are on the program at every national conference related to cooperative education. This national exposure has paid dividends in that reporters doing articles on Page 84 78 co-op call us, we are asked to consult on the national co-op research agenda, and co-op educators tell us that they consider Antioch to be a premier co-op program. Forecasts about the work world that current 18-22 year olds will encounter suggests that they will not climb career ladders in which one works for a single employer until retirement. Instead our students will need the skills of a free agent: to sell themselves to work as part of a team, to break apart and come together with another team to work for another employer, and so on. Most of the occupations our students will hold in their lifetimes have not been invented yet. What is required to prepare for such a future? Abilities like adaptation to change, working with diverse others as part of a team, self-management of career, tolerance for ambiguity, learning how to learn new things. What better way to prepare for such a future than to drop into five new cities and work five new jobs, hit the ground running, figure out what’s required and learn to match those demands with what you know you have to offer? When you couple the only co-op program that demands this level of varied work experience with a broad array of liberal arts classes and practice in self-governance, we would argue, as we do every day with prospective students and their parents, that there is no better preparation for a future where the only certainty is change. 51 7. ACADEMIC CALENDAR & THE SUMMER PROGRAM Since the NCA’s last visit Antioch College began a summer study term in 1997 in order to provide a more balanced schedule of work and study terms. Without a summer study term provided by the College, all students were expected to co-op during the summer and most of them returned to campus fall term to study. This created an imbalance in the numbers of students studying on campus and working off campus. One result of this imbalance was the impact on co-op employers. Since students work real jobs and make real contributions to employers, the employer needs a student to fill the position each term. With most students studying on campus fall term, there were not enough students working off-campus to keep co-op jobs filled. As a result, employers hired fulltime employees, and the College lost a number of excellent co-op jobs. The calendar was changed in order to provide a year-round calendar of study and work with equal numbers of students studying on campus and working off campus each term. After two years of considering various alternatives, the new calendar was approved by a vote of the faculty and began Fall 1996. It included a summer term in which faculty offered courses in a block format. Each summer block course meets for 18 days, approximately three and a half hours per day, five days per week. Students enroll in one course per block taking a total of three 5 credit courses over the summer months. All classroom faculty are expected to teach one summer course as part of their regular teaching load. This required faculty to redesign an existing course or design a new course suitable for the summer block format. The Dean of Faculty’s office provided a series of workshops on block teaching presented by Colorado College faculty. (Colorado College offers all courses year-round in a block format.) These workshops took place each Spring term beginning in 1997 and continuing each year through 2001. Most faculty took at least one workshop; many took more than one. Colorado College faculty also provided individual feedback to faculty on their course syllabi and course 51 The following materials will be made available in the Resource Room: copies of student co-op papers; employer evaluations; statements from long term co-op employers about the success of the program for both the employer and the student; sample file of a co-op employer as kept in the office; sample of a student file as kept by the co- op department; most recent job list. Page 85 79 design as well as working closely with particular programs, such as the sciences and literature, both of which were having greater difficulty adapting their courses to the block format. Programs which embrace block teaching and find it ideal include studio and performance based courses in the Visual Arts, Dance, Theater, Film, Video, Photography, and Creative Writing. Field-based courses also flourish in the summer block format because faculty can take students on extended trips (including a 21 day geology field trip to Canada) without interfering with other classes. The third kind of course, which succeeds in the intensive block format, focuses on a special topic or theme. At Antioch these summer block courses often make use of guest speakers and short field trips. A few examples of special topic courses are: Environmental Movements and Social Change, Buddhism in America, Gender and the Medical Establishment. Introductory survey courses designed to cover a wide range of material are less successful in the block format. This has been difficult for those academic programs which require students to cover a specified amount of material at the first level in order to advance to the second level, such as Chemistry I as preparation for Chemistry II. Literature courses designed to cover a wide range of material also struggle under the block format as students do not have time to do as much reading as they have in a semester-long course. The most successful summer academic programs took place under the auspices of the Summer Institutes. These intensive experiences brought together faculty and students with guest speakers, workshop leaders, lecture series, public readings, and films. Summer Institutes were initially funded by the MacArthur Foundation as part of implementing the strategic plan. Summer Institutes from 1997-2002 include: 1997-2002 Performance Institute mounts a new major stage production in the outdoor amphitheater each summer reviving an old Antioch tradition formerly called Shakespeare Under the Stars. (2-4 different courses) 1997-2001 Peace Studies Institute has had different themes each year, including: Globalization (2001); Peace & the Environment (2000); Peace Makers (1999); A Culture of Peace (1998), etc. (1-3 different courses) 1997-2001 Documentary Institute has different themes each year, including Prisons (2001); Eastern Europe (2000); Latin American (1999); (2-3 different courses) 1996-2001 Language Institute featured intensive language study in a range of languages (8- 10 different classes) 1997-2000 Music Institute (8-9 courses) 1997-2000 Entrepreneurship Institute (1 course) 2000-2002 Writing Institute featured visiting guest authors leading workshops in poetry; fiction; and non-fiction (3-4 different courses) 2000 and 2001 Leadership Institute (1 course for entering students only) Summer Term Assessment As part of future planning, the new President intends to begin a formal assessment of the current calendar. (See Citerion 4 Priorities for 2002-2003 ) The primary problem with the summer term is simply that we have not had enough students studying on campus. Each summer there has been at least one course with only one student enrolled. A few courses have been canceled due to lack of enrollment. The goal to increase the number of students studying on campus in the summer term has not been completely successful. In 1999-2000 a faculty/student Summer Committee conducted a formal assessment of the first two years of the summer term. They made suggestions to improve the summer academic term Page 86 80 by improving academic advising, increasing special topic summer courses, and changing the requirements for students seeking a sequence change in order to assure that students scheduled to study in the summer stay on sequence. These recommendations were presented to the faculty, adopted, and implemented by the Academic Program Committee and the Dean of Faculty’s office during the 2000-2001 academic year. Student enrollment for on-campus study in the subsequent summers (2001 and 2002) has shown some improvement. Outreach efforts by the Summer Program office in 2000 and 2001 resulted in attracting students from area high schools, as well as students from other colleges and universities some of whom then transferred into Antioch. The Summer Institutes have been particularly successful in attracting these students. However, in spring 2001 the summer program assistant position was eliminated and the summer program office was closed due to budget constraints. Funding for the Summer Institutes was cut substantially in spring 2001 and eliminated in Fall 2001. Three faculty worked together to continue the Writing Institute for summer 2002. The Peace Studies professor located other funds to bring at least one speaker to campus as part of a 2002 Peace Institute. The 2002 Performance Institute continued its summer outdoor theater by relying on box office support. However, the Documentary Institute and the others have stopped until additional funding can be identified. The president’s new Calendar Task Force will need to review the summer assessment data and determine answers to these concerns: Can the summer term be a viable academic term for all students? Should all faculty be required to teach in the summer? And perhaps most importantly, is the summer term supporting the co-op program as it was intended to do? What options and opportunities are there to re-think the summer? 52 8. GENERAL EDUCATION The General Education program at the College provides students with a broad-based education in the liberal arts and sciences and is intended to challenge students’ values and perspectives as well as increasing their knowledge, ability to question, and general intellectual consciousness about themselves and the society in which they live. The general education program explicitly addresses this aspect of the College mission. It is a flexible program requiring students to complete one course in six of the eight interdisciplinary majors, one of which must be in the Physical or Environmental and Biological Sciences for a minimum of 28 credits. Any course below a 300 level can serve as a general education course in a student’s degree plan. Since the last NCA visit the structure and the requirements for general education have changed twice. The first change was initiated in 1996 to match the new structure of the majors. Instead of requiring students to complete a total of 60 credits in general education, 20 credits (4 courses) in three areas: Social & Behavioral Sciences; Humanities & Arts; Natural Sciences (as was the case in 1993), students in 1996 would take 32 credits in eight courses; one in each of the newly created eight interdisciplinary majors. Each interdisciplinary major identified specific courses as general education courses and they were given a “G” designation. This was reviewed by the faculty beginning in 1999. In the 2000-2001 academic year, the General Education Committee made a number of recommendations to the faculty. After much discussion, the faculty voted on one of the recommendations. The result of this vote was the slightly 52 See Resource Room for Summer Program Committee Report; Summer Catalogs; Summer Assessment Reports from Office of Institutional Research; Summer Institute reports and materials; and Summer Block Teaching workshop materials. Page 87 81 modified distribution requirement in use today (explained above). The faculty reduced the total number of required courses to satisfy the general education requirement and eliminated the “G” designation. Driving this decision was the sense that the requirement should be increasingly flexible and allow maximum student choice while maintaining a commitment to breadth and allowing a wide distribution of course offerings to meet this requirement. General Education Assessment The Assessment Committee focused on the classroom aspect of the general education curriculum. However, cooperative education is also considered part of the general education curriculum at Antioch as it is required of all students and serves the broad goals of the liberal arts curriculum. (Co-op is discussed and assessed above.) General education at Antioch also requires students to complete oral proficiency in a second language and a cross cultural experience, The cross cultural experience is assessed under Antioch Education Abroad (see below) and under cooperative education (above). A comprehensive global assessment of the cross cultural experience requirement and the oral proficiency in a second language requirement has not yet occurred. In spring 2002, 88 graduating seniors were surveyed on the general education program. The total number of returned surveys was 35. Overall, the surveys revealed a very mixed response in regard to the quality, purpose and effectiveness of general education courses. They included a range of responses. (See Appendix 4 General Education Survey Questions and Results ) Affirmative responses concurring that the courses made significant positive differences in the students’ intellectual development included comments such as general education courses “made me a well rounded person,” they were, “intrinsic to my education at Antioch,” and, “they are very important to me and a liberal arts education,” or they, “contributed to my holistic development,” as well as, “I appreciated the opportunity to take classes outside my major,” and, “they provided important outside influence to my major.” Negative responses stated that these courses were a waste of time, they seemed like high school classes, they were too general, broad and lacked depth. Some students remarked that they simply sought out general education courses that immediately suited their interests (such as those that required less writing or those closest to their majors) and others said that their general education courses were far too different to compare. Finally, transfer students either took no general education courses or simply very few. These responses reflect that general education courses are quite heterogeneous. Often students parroted back the language of the course catalogue or the questions (such as yes, this course addressed issues of race, class and gender). What appears to be significant are the following percentages of students who agreed to strongly agreed with the following: 69% gen eds developed their written communication skills 68% gen eds developed their oral communications skills 68% the gen eds developed their critical analysis skills 74% the gen eds developed their knowledge from areas outside of their majors 55% gen eds developed their reading comprehension skills 72% gen eds developed their insights into questions and methods of fields outside own major 58% gen eds challenged their previously held values 73% gen eds broadened their perspectives about self and society 70% gen eds enhanced their ability to question their relationship to the larger social/cultural/political issues that affect their role or place in the world 62% gen eds enhanced their understanding of racial issues Page 88 82 56% gen eds enhanced their understanding of class issues 62% gen eds enhanced their understanding of gender issues 51% gen eds enhanced their understanding of the relationship between race, class and gender the Assessment Committee concluded that the general education program is meeting its stated goals and that the faculty are capable of continuing to provide the range of courses necessary to make this program vital and viable. (See also Criterion 1 Mission Statement, Goal 1 ) 9. ANTIOCH EDUCATION ABROAD Since the last NCA review, AEA has begun to incorporate the role of international program director with college faculty. These visiting faculty have renewable contracts as opposed to the one- time contacts issued in the past. They lead AEA programs but then return to campus, serve as members of academic departments, offer one course on campus per year, and participate in relevant academic committees. This design combining functions of an international program director with responsibilities of a College faculty member promotes more substantial integration of the program with the curriculum of the college, provides program curriculum with long-term stability, and better integrates the unique academic milieu of the college into the learning environment of AEA programs. 53 Seven AEA programs will be described. Five have been assessed and recommendations implemented. Brazilian Ecosystems The Brazilian Ecosystems program started in 1991. Initially, the program served students of Antioch College and students of the graduate Environmental Studies Program from the Antioch New England Campus. Since 1997, the field of environmental science has been the focus, and the program expanded its science field studies component. For all students accepted in the program prior course work in environmental science is required. In its evolution, the program strengthened its connection with the Environmental and Biological Studies Major and has become an integral part of the curriculum of this major. Dr. Suzanne Kolb fills a joint appointment with EBS and AEA and teaches one course on campus each year. At the same time, the program continues to serve both Antioch and non-Antioch students in environmental studies. Each year, approximately from 4 to 7 Antioch students participate. The majority of these students major in environmental sciences and courses completed on the program are part of their major curriculum. Annually, 5 to 8 students participating in the program come from other American colleges and universities including students from Carleton College, Macalester College, University of California Berkeley, and University of Georgia. The majority of these students were science majors, Assessment Assessment cycles were completed for 1999 and 2000. Faculty members in Environmental and Biological Sciences participated in the assessment process. They assessed samples of portfolios of student work, and in a conference with the program director and AEA staff, developed the assessment report. The recommendations of the assessment team became the guiding factors in further developing program curriculum and organization. Outcomes of assessment include: 1.) Orientation was reorganized. In addition to ongoing activities of cross-cultural orientation and 53 See Resource Room for AEA faculty vitaes and AEA assessment documents. Page 89 83 development of basic language skills, the program director increased the number of sessions and intensified the orientation to the academic work. This better prepared students for science fieldwork, which for some students is their first contact with this form of learning. 2.) The program director reorganized curriculum of the field exploration of the five ecosystems addressed by the program. Now site visits are organized around specific themes allowing greater integration of the fieldwork with the rest of the curriculum and with students’ internships. 3.) Assessment reports indicated a need for a change in organization of internships. Due to logistical difficulties in reorganization of old internship sites and development of new ones, the reorganization of the internships has been introduced gradually. Comparative Women Studies in Europe. Since 1975, Comparative Women Studies is one of the regularly offered programs of AEA. At its beginning, this program was designed by a group of faculty from the Great Lakes College Association and was expected to address the needs of not only Antioch students but also a diverse population of students from colleges and universities throughout the United States. To address the continuously changing agenda of women studies, the curriculum of the program keeps evolving. Many Antioch Women Studies majors participating in this program complete part of their major curriculum requirements through course work on this program. On average, each year 3 to 6 Antioch students participate. The majority of these students graduate in Women Studies. For other students, the program is an opportunity to address a combination of subjects in social and European studies. Approximately 11 to 23 non-Antioch student participants come from over 40 colleges and universities. In recent years, enrollment in the program has been unstable. Two major contributing factors have been: 1) continuous changes in appointments of the program director (until 2001 the director was appointed on a short-term non-renewable contract). This contributed to instability in the curriculum and pedagogical modality of the program. 2) continuous changes in the focus of women studies curricula in this country and AEA’s attempt to address these changes decreased clarity of the academic objectives of the program. Assessment Faculty members of the College Women Studies Committee and the AEA staff participated in the assessment process. Among the most urgent recommendations of the assessment team was stabilization of the position of the program director. Furthermore, the team recommended that the future program director should develop a plan for stabilization of the program curriculum. Responding to the recommendations, AEA appointed Stephanie Oxendale as program director for Fall 2001 and offered her a renewable contract. She will lead the program again in Fall 2002 and has submitted recommendations for changes to the curriculum and further adjustments in the organization of the program. Buddhist Studies in India The Buddhist Studies India Program began in 1979. During the last two decades, the program has gained a high national reputation for the originality of its comparative approach to the studies and practice of Buddhist traditions, its high academic standards, and the uniqueness of its immersion into the rich cultural environment of the center of Buddhism in BodhGaya. At the heart of the program is the desire to allow students to inquire into Buddhist Traditions from as many different points of view as possible. Western academic models are systematically used in the core courses, Page 90 84 while Buddhist philosophies are tested in the meditation course. Students are encouraged to examine their own cultural and intellectual assumptions as they pursue these studies in a challenging and supportive environment. The program has had one director for all of its years, Robert Pryor. This could be part of its success. He is also a member of the Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies program and teaches one class on campus each summer.. It attracts diverse populations of students and is highly competitive, typically the ratio of applicants to enrollees is close to 1 in 3. In the past twenty years, program participants have come from over 80 different universities and colleges in the United States and Canada. Assessment The assessment team included faculty from Philosophy and Religious Studies and Japanese Studies. They completed review of the assessment portfolios of the 1999 and 2000 programs and presented the results to the program director and AEA staff. Recommendations did not suggest any substantial changes in the curriculum or organization of the program. However, the assessment team stressed: 1) the need to enhance the role of this program in the curriculum of the College, and 2) the need to enhance documentation of the learning outcomes in language courses offered on the program. The program director subsequently modified documentation of Hindu language proficiency for students on the 2001 program. Buddhist Studies in Kyoto, Japan Buddhist Studies in Kyoto was developed and offered for the first time in 1999. The main objective of this program is to introduce students to the history, philosophy, and diverse expressions of Buddhism in Japan. Students also have the opportunity to study Japanese language, and to directly experience a variety of Buddhist meditative practices. Originally, the program was developed around the model of its “sister program” in India. Within the last three years, to accommodate needs of students and their special interests in traditions of Zen, Shingon, and Pure Land, and their fascination with contemporary life and culture of Japan, the program and its curriculum continue to evolve. Like the program in India, the Buddhist Studies in Kyoto enrolls predominately students from outside of Antioch College. Antioch student participation was limited to 1 – 3 students. HJowever, because of the growing interest in intellectual exploration of Eastern spirituality and philosophical traditions, the number of students attracted to this program is growing. Students from outside of Antioch have come from 39 colleges and universities, among them: Boston University, Colorado College, Kenyon College, Northwestern University, and Swarthmore College. Assessment Faculty in Philosophy and Religious Studies and Japanese Studies completed assessment of the 1999 and 2000 programs. After a review of the assessment portfolios and assessment conference with the AEA staff, the team presented its recommendations. The team indicated a need to: 1) enhance the orientation to the program; 2) address students’ interests in the contemporary culture and everyday life of Japanese society; 3) stabilize curriculum of the program. The assessment team recommended appointing a full time program director. Responding to the recommendations the following changes were introduced in 2000 and 2001. 1) a four day orientation session in California before departure to Japan. 2) curriculum changed and in place of required pilgrimage students are expected to complete an independent research project that involves a short study trip to the location of their own interest in Japan. Students’ preparation for the project and the field trip allow an opportunity to explore the links between the Buddhist traditions and the contemporary life of Page 91 85 Japanese society; 3) starting in 2001, the program director, Dr. Patricia Masters, was offered a full- time position and a renewable contract. She taught her first course on campus Summer 2002 and is developing a proposal for an Asian Studies concentration within the Social and Global Studies curriculum. Europe in Transition . Europe in Transition is one of the oldest among the AEA programs. Beginning in 1971 the program focused on comparative urban studies in Europe and was known under the name of “European Urban Term.” Since 1990, due to a substantial decline in Urban Affairs and historical changes in Europe, the academic focus of the program shifted toward study of contemporary issues of political, social, and economic transitions on the continent. In its evolution, the program strengthened its complementary relationship with the curriculum of the Social and Global Studies major. In the last five years, the program enrollment has been 10 to 15 students, 4-7 of whom are. Antioch students. For many of these students, courses completed on the program served to fulfill requirements in their major and build a foundation for their senior projects. In this way, the program plays an important complementary function to the curriculum of Social and Global Studies, Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies, as well as other majors offered by Antioch College. Assessment. The Europe in Transition program is based on assessment of portfolios of students’ work. The assessment team, composed of SGS faculty with the program director and AEA staff, made the following recommendations: 1) further clarify the academic focus of the program, 2) create better opportunities for student research and academic work , 3) enhance the quality of student evaluations by the program director. Responding to the recommendations, the following changes were introduced to the program in 2002. 1) The geographic focus of the program was concentrated on Central Europe (Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary). with a major part of the program based at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland to allow a residential site with access to libraries, computer facilities, and the opportunity for better consultation with the faculty of the University. 2) The program will extend involvement of the local faculty beyond the already existing structure of guest lectures, seminars, and site visits. 3) In addition to the director, local faculty will be involved in evaluation of student work completed on the program. The following three programs have not been effectively assessed yet: Tubingen University – Antioch College exchange program. The exchange program with Tubingen University is the oldest program offered by AEA. Over the last 42 years, the program has offered an opportunity for direct enrollment at the University of Tubingen and intensive immersion into German society for over 500 students. At present, the program is used predominately by students from over 20 universities and colleges outside of Antioch. Many of these institutions send their students on a regular basis and have developed long- term relationships with Antioch. Among them are Bennington College, Case Western Reserve, Cornell University, DePauw University, Goucher College, Kenyon College, and Northwestern University. Unfortunately, use of this program by Antioch students is quite limited. The advanced level of German language is the main obstacle. During the late 1990s, there were no Antioch students in Page 92 86 this program. Fortunately, in the last two years with improved student advising and improved language instruction by permanent German language TA, a few Antioch students have taken advantage of this learning opportunity and enrolled in the program. We hope this is a permanent trend. Kyoto Seika Field Study Program . This exchange program with Kyoto Seika University in Japan was developed in 1991 as an opportunity to study Japanese Language and Culture. The program is fully integrated with the Japanese Language and Culture program at Antioch and the director of the program is Dr. Harold Wright, Professor of Japanese Studies. Each fall 15-20 students from Kyoto-Seika University live and study at Antioch College; and each summer Antioch College students live and study in Kyoto, Japan. The development of direct and personal relationships between Antioch and KSU students stimulates students’ interest in the study of Japanese language and culture. The Mali Arts Program This new program was launched in Summer 2002 after several years of development with a College alumna. It focuses on the traditions and contemporary culture of Mali. The study of Malian culture and society will focus on the expressive arts and a stay in a pottery village will accompany time in larger urban areas. Intensive study of French language will also be required. 10. COMMUNITY Community involvement is the third part of Antioch College’s educational model. Students share in college decisions in remarkable ways unique in higher education. Every college committee includes students. Students are deeply involved in the hiring process of faculty and administrators through membership on search committees and on the Administrative Council. Students, along with faculty, staff, and administrators make recommendations on virtually all campus decisions including the granting of tenure, reappointment, promotion, and the College budget. (See also Criterion 1 The Mission Statement, Goal 4 and Goal 6 ) Community Government (CG) itself is unique. All members of the college community (students, faculty, staff, and administrators) are members. CG is led by students and is responsible for the political, cultural, and social life of the campus. Led by a Community Manager or Managers (CM), it is independent from the Dean of Students Office with its own budget and decision making powers. The CM(s) are either seniors or immediate graduates and are the administrators of CG. Community Council (Comcil) is made up of students, faculty, staff, and the Dean of Students, and functions as the legislative body of CG. 54 It should be emphasized that the extraordinary amount of responsibility given to students is based on an educational philosophy that dates back to the presidency of Algo Henderson in the 1930’s. It was Henderson’s belief that students must be given real responsibility as training for adult life rather than have the institution hope that responsibility is a byproduct of education and will somehow occur upon the student’s graduation. Governance is one aspect of Community Life at Antioch College that brings students, staff, administration and faculty together. (See also Appendix 5 Community Government Structure and Appendix 6 Faculty Governance ) 54 For greater detail see the student handbook, The Survival Guide, in the Resource Room. Page 93 87 Governance Antioch College has had a tradition of shared governance since the Presidency of Arthur Morgan in the 1920’s. Under Algo Henderson, who assumed the presidency (1933-1948) after Morgan, there was greater student involvement, so that now students participate in college decision making on virtually every level and at times in ways that are unique in higher education. Henderson listed the following objectives for what he called a “laboratory in democracy:” 1. To teach students good ethical attitudes in human relationships; 2. To make them habitually sensitive to the welfare of a community as a whole; 3. To give them motivation for the practice in creative participation in community life; 4. To teach them the techniques of the democratic method and of self-government; 5. To uncover the potential leadership abilities in a college group and through the graduated delegation of responsibility develop young people who can carry administrative and leadership responsibilities; 6. To teach them how to make effective use of the talents of other individuals and how to pool individual resources for group strength; 7. To teach these potential leaders in our complex modern society how to plan effectively for social action. How does Antioch College serve as a laboratory for democracy? Here multiple strategies are at play to bring students into the heart of policy, budgetary, staffing and other administrative decisions. First, most decisions are made by committee. The most important of these committees is the Administrative Council (AdCil) which makes recommendations to the President in the areas of budget, faculty and administrative personnel (including tenure), use of college facilities, and policies that govern life of the college. Although a recommending body, decisions made by AdCil have the force of legislation as they are almost always followed by the President. The Council consists of the President and the Dean of Faculty, four faculty members elected by the faculty, two faculty members and three students elected by the whole community, a unionized staff member elected by the union, and the community manager who sits without a vote. Although the membership has fluctuated slightly over the years 55 the faculty-to-administrator-to -student ratios have remained fairly consistent. Unique to Antioch College is the lack of a student government. Instead we think of ourselves as a community and all students, faculty, administrators, and staff are members of Community Government (CG). Community Government is managed each year by recent graduates or senior students who are elected through a community-wide vote to serve in this full-time paid position for one year. The Community Manager (CM) can be an individual or a collective hired to manage all aspects of community life (outside of the classroom) on the campus. They work closely with the Dean of Student’s office and student affairs staff, yet they are separate and administer their own budget made up of fees paid by all community members. The legislative committee of CG is Community Council (ComCil) which is responsible for making decisions concerning the social and political life of the campus. ComCil and AdCil are the two most important committees on campus, and of the two, students tend to be more involved in ComCil. ComCil consists of the Community Manager, seven students elected by the community, four non-students (faculty, staff, or administrators) elected by the community, one of whom must be a union member. In addition, the Dean of Students sits ex-officio without a vote. Through the use of 55 The fourth faculty member and the union seat have been added in the last fifteen years. Page 94 88 CG funds 56 ComCil and its committees also fund a good deal of the intellectual and cultural life of the college outside of the classroom. Both AdCil and ComCil have many standing and ad hoc sub-committees that deal with specific areas of campus activity. As in any organization the issues can range from the mundane to those of significant importance. For example, the Faculty Personnel Review Committee recommends to AdCil the re-appointment (or lack of it), promotion, and tenure of faculty members. Students sit with faculty on FPRC and have a “one person-one vote” status. Almost all AdCil committees have about the same student-faculty ratio as AdCil itself, and so students indeed have a significant voice. In addition to AdCil and ComCil subcommittees, there are a few committees that are appointed by both groups, i.e. the Community Standards Board, Greencil, and the Hearing Board of the Sexual Offenses Prevention Program. 57 . In addition to these administrative committees, there are committees that work on the academic program which are appointed by the Dean of Faculty. (For a full listing of DoF committees and their charges, see Resource Room) These include the Academic Policy Committee which oversees the curriculum; search committees for new faculty members, and many committees that oversee specific parts of the academic program such as the Environmental Studies Committee or the Women Studies committee. All of these academic program committees have student membership. Community Government also supervises many independent groups (usually exclusively students) of both a permanent and transitory nature. These student-led organizations are referred to as UIGs (Union of Independent Groups). They include a number of identity-based organizations, such as the Women’s Center, the Queer Center (serving gay, lesbian, trans, and “questioning” students), Unidad (serving Latino/a students and their allies), BAMN (By Any Means Necessary – serving all students of color). There are also values-based groups who focus on particular issues or interests as the basis for their organizing. The following values-based or action-based groups were active Fall 2001: Human Rights, Anti-Racist Action, Peace Action, Antioch Environmental Group, and the Science Interest Group. Most of these organizations hold weekly meetings, organize campus-based educational and cultural events, and inform community members about off-campus activities, rallies, demonstrations, and conferences, which address their concerns. A third area of community engagement and activity is in student-run Community Centers, these include: the Community Bike Shop, Silkscreen Studio, Darkroom, Alternative Library, Video-Editing suite, and Music Practice spaces. These locations provide gathering spaces, outlets for creative expression, and opportunities for working together informally. Each location has a budget and a student coordinator who is responsible for the operation of the community center. (See Community Government Structure Appendix 5) There are other locations in which students become deeply involved in the community aspect of campus life. This is through work study and cooperative education experiences on campus. Students may work in any or all of the following locations contributing to the daily operations of the College: the Wellness Center, Gym, Dean of Students Office, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Center for Cooperative Education, Community Government, the Library, Communications Facility, Theater, Admissions Office, or Housing Office. Students work in the residence halls as Hall Advisors or Hall Advisory Coordinators. Students run the campus newspaper, The Record , which provides a learning laboratory for students interested in print media and journalism. 56 Faculty and administrators as well as students pay a Community Government fee which is the major source of CG funds. 57 A full listing of AdCil and ComCil committees and their charges can be found in the Resource Room. Page 95 89 Finally, the faculty has its own organizational component. Faculty meetings are organized by the Faculty Executive Council (FEC) which consists of the Dean of Faculty and five faculty members elected by the faculty. Currently two faculty members of FEC also serve on AdCil. (See Appendix 6 Faculty Governance Structure ) Faculty meetings are generally open and often students will sit in, and sometimes they participate. The editors of The Record are even allowed to remain in closed faculty meetings though they are not allowed to report on the proceedings. Community Assessment How does community involvement serve student learning? The College’s system of shared governance and community life is as vital and pedagogically central as it has ever been. Administrative Council continues to make decisions regarding faculty and administrative personnel, budget, policy and direction for the College. Community Council continues to wrestle with the very serious issues of campus life and civil culture. 58 Our weekly community meetings continue to provide an example for engaged community building and problem-solving. Over half of our students are involved with community service in the surrounding community. For a small school there are far too many committees. Yet because of the tradition of shared governance faculty and students seem loath to let administrators take over the functions that these groups serve. There are clearly disadvantages to this system. The faculty complains of being overworked, in part because of heavy committee work, students complain that there is not enough time, and administrators complain about the length of time it takes to make a decision. Yet we are reluctant to give up this system, because for students it serves the educational functions spelled out by Algo Henderson (see above) and it speaks directly to the college’s mission. For faculty, although shared governance leads to a heavier work load, it provides the means for shared decision making on a meaningful level—and it models behavior the faculty values for students to not only observe, but to participate as full members in the academic community of Antioch College. Community involvement on campus is voluntary for students. It is not attached to credits earned toward graduation. One cannot “fail” community; they learn through both participation and observation. Whatever the level of personal involvement during the seven study terms of a student’s twelve enrolled terms (five terms are co-op terms and the student may live at some distance from the college during co-op), the student is immersed in a community context which includes residence halls, dining halls, meetings, activities, community projects, and service learning projects. This intense living/learning experience is difficult to measure, yet it is one of the measures in the NSSE report (see External Measures below) in which Antioch receives very high marks. In addition, the College has recently launched its own internal initiative to assess the community learning of students by measuring their voluntary involvement. Assessing Community Involvement Antioch College has seen community involvement as a part of the educational program of the college since the 1930’s when President Algo Henderson outlined his goals for what he called “a laboratory in democracy” (see above). We take great pride in the extent of student involvement in decision making on virtually every level of college life, but the institution has never assessed this dimension of our program. Late in the spring semester of 2001, the assessment committee launched the first effort to assess the community involvement of students. A small sample of students were surveyed during the summer semester and then a larger sample was surveyed during the fall of 2001. 58 Examples of AdCil and ComCil minutes will be available in the Resource Room. Page 96 90 In all, 124 students filled out the survey (96 upper-class students and 28 first-year students—this includes 23 students from the summer two of whom were first year students). The large number of upper-class students was a deliberate choice, since we were looking for cumulative behavior. Though far from perfect, this survey was a first attempt at assessing community behavior of students. 59 The most remarkable result of the survey was the fact that of the 124 students surveyed only two reported no community involvement and only five reported very minimal involvement. Some of the results from the upper-class students are: 49% have been involved in one or more on campus political/social group. 53% have provided community service for individuals or groups on campus. 53% have provided community service for individuals or groups off campus. 25% have served as hall advisors. 63% have organized off-campus trips (usually for social justice reasons). 57% have organized one or more campus events for the community. 30% have organized one or more campus publications. 29% have been published in a campus publication. 16% served on various college committees 14% report serving on Community Council. 11% of the upper class students in the survey have served on Administrative Council All but 2 students surveyed read campus publications. Most students attend community meetings sometimes or often. The results from the small number of first year students surveyed show a similar pattern, but with generally less involvement in positions that require the most experience on the campus, such as serving as a hall advisor or being a member of Administrative Council. The Assessment Committee reaffirmed the College’s learning goals for the “laboratory for democracy” (above) and based on the survey responses, the Assessment Committee makes the following observations about Community as a site for student learning at Antioch: 1. The large percentage of student involvement in community service both on and off the campus and the 25% who serve as hall advisors show real sensitivity to the “welfare of a community as a whole.” 2. The large number of students serving on college committees, writing in college publications, attending community meetings, and involving themselves in independent groups shows them learning “the techniques of the democratic method of self-government” and giving them “practice in creative participation in community life.” 3. The large number involved in political and social groups working for social change as well as the committee participation will work to “develop young people who can carry administrative and leadership responsibilities.” 4. The large involvement of students in both on campus and off campus social service and social change should “teach those potential leaders in our complex modern society how to plan effectively for social action. Antioch’s distinctive approach to shared governance, even with all of its challenges, continues to provide the best education in leadership and public citizenship that is available at the undergraduate level. For this reason, the proposed Center for Collaborative Change plans to build on this unique strength of the College. (See Criterion 4 Priorities for 2002-2003 ) 60 59 The raw data and a full statistical summary can be found in the Resource Room. 60 It is strongly recommended that the NCA Review Team plan to spend a Tuesday on campus in order to observe a Community Meeting, held every Tuesday at 3 p.m. in McGregor 113. Page 97 91 11. THE GLCA REVIEW TEAM In preparation for its review and re-accreditation process, Antioch College invited faculty members from our peer institutions in the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) to campus to conduct a review of the curriculum. Nominations were sought from GLCA Deans of Faculty. Names were submitted to the College Dean of Faculty Hassan Nejad who brought the names to the Academic Program Committee, which consists of all department chairs and academic program directors. Ultimately four faculty were selected: Dr. Lonnie Supnick, Psychology, Kalamazoo College; Dr. Carol Lasser, History, Oberlin College; Dr. Dave Powell, Chemistry, Wooster and Dr. Yvonne Williams, Political Science/Black Studies, Wooster. The College provided materials and responded quickly to requests from the GLCA review team in preparation for the campus visit. During October 1-4, 2000, the team visited the Antioch College campus to conduct a review as required by the Antioch University Academic Review Policy as part of “…the ongoing process of improving the quality and effectiveness of an academic program.” 61 Soon after the visit the team wrote: “All the members of the team have a deep respect for Antioch College both for its unique role in the history of private, liberal arts colleges and for its present accomplishments. As fellow members of the GLCA, we have various degrees of familiarity with some of Antioch’s difficult struggles in recent years. We who are more familiar with that history are tremendously impressed with the renewed strength, optimism and sense of purpose we found during our recent visit. Those of us who visited the campus only a few years ago see vast improvement now.” A brief note about why the College selected the GLCA for its review and not one of the Antioch University campuses may be in order since the university conducts internal reviews of its programs on a regular basis. Dean Nejad sought and obtained University Leadership Council approval to utilize liberal arts faculty from peer GLCA institutions to conduct the review on behalf of the Academic Deans’ Subcommittee of the ULC. The reasoning for this is based on shared characteristics with other GLCA institutions. To clarify, the College is the only campus within the university system to have the following: 1. full liberal arts curriculum, including a wide range of both BA and BS degrees; 2. residential undergraduate college serving traditional age student (18-22); 3. Cooperative education (this unique feature is not extensively shared with other GLCA or Antioch University institutions, though internship programs and similar experiential opportunities for student learning do occur); 4. faculty rank and tenure system; 5. a multi-building campus with historic buildings, grounds, and nature preserve; 6. community involvement and community learning defined as “third leg” of education (this unique feature is also not shared with either GLCA or Antioch University institutions); 7. greater fiscal similarity with other GLCA institutions. Despite these differences, what Antioch College does share with the other campuses of Antioch University is a commitment to a values-based education and certain ideological commitments to social justice. It may be true that the College’s culture is uniquely participatory when compared with the other university campuses; it has a deep commitment to democratic values and a longer tradition of progressive politics. Its institutional norms embed the values of democratic 61 A copy of their final report is available in the Resource Room. Page 98 92 on campus and participate into every aspect of decision-making on campus. The majority of the college students live on the campus participating in a wide range of community-based activities inside and outside of the classroom as part of their education. This is one of the major differences between a residential and a commuter campus; between proximity program delivery and a distance- learning model. Close human interaction in the classroom, as well as in committees and community meetings, makes joint engagement in learning the basis of the Antioch College educational experience. GLCA Review of College & College Response The team prepared and submitted a preliminary report by mid-December 2000. The Dean and President reviewed this draft and responded in writing. A final report was then submitted to the College on February 11, 2001, and has been made available to the College faculty, as well as to the University Leadership Council and the Dean’s subcommittee of that Council. Copies were given to department chairs, and they were asked to respond to GLCA comments on their own programs following departmental discussions. 62 Additionally, GLCA President JoEllen Parker was given the report and invited to make opening comments at the Fall Faculty Retreat in August 2001. A faculty panel followed her comments and presented faculty responses to the GLCA Report, which sparked lively discussion. The report makes 13 recommendations, and the College has responded appropriately to many of them as summarized here: 1. Review expectations of faculty. (See GLCA Review of Faculty and College Respone below) 2. Develop a clear and visible program of support for new faculty. The Dean’s office has been delivering a regular year-long program of new faculty orientation each year since 1997. New faculty are assigned faculty mentors outside of their departments. In addition, the department chair serves a mentor for new faculty in his/her department. New faculty are not given formal committee assignments, nor are they given advisees (Both of these suggestions are in the GLCA recommendations – it is clear that they did not know what is now being done). In some cases, there is no one else to advise an upper level student in an academic program. (For example, we have recently hired a new mathematician and the College only has one mathematician, so any math majors were assigned to work with her.) One problem for new faculty is that they are often the only one in their particular field and are located in an interdisciplinary context which may be very unlike their graduate school or university teaching experience. The College has not yet instituted a program of pre-tenure leave as recommended. 3. Commit more support to the sciences. New funds and new equipment have been forthcoming since this recommendation. 63 The Former College President, along with the Dean of Faculty, made numerous attempts to involve the science faculty in wider participation with national initiatives for science teaching by providing support for conferences. Budget cuts in the past two years have impacted the sciences, particularly the Environmental and Biological Science program, which has had significant reductions in their annual budget. Their budget should be restored. More still needs to be done to support the sciences. 62 See Resource Room for GLCA Review and responses from departments. 63 . See Resource Room for full response from the science program and update on equipment. Page 99 93 4. Increase technology support It is hoped that the newly consolidated Technology Services will provide greater support to all of the units and provide greater access for faculty and staff for both equipment and training. This is underway and ongoing. The recent FIPSE proposal for “Technology Learning Circles” would also directly support this need. (See Criterion 2 Technology ) 5. Internal review of co-op Co-op assessment is ongoing and has been re-emphasized in Spring 2002 with the creation of the Co-op Commission. (See Co-op Assessment above) The co-op faculty felt that the GLCA team did not fully understand the purpose of co-op in a liberal arts context. They felt that they had somehow failed to adequately explain to the GLCA team the centrality of co-operative education to the educational mission of the College. From that experience, the self-study process has made every attempt to clearly address the purpose of c-op in a liberal arts context. Since no other institution of higher education has a liberal arts co-operative education program, it is even more important that we at the College explain what we are doing and why. It is hoped that this document has better articulated co-op, its educational purposes, its challenges, and its centrality to the mission of Antioch. It was also instructive to hear JoEllen Parker discuss the perception of some classroom faculty that co-op “gets in the way” of a student’s academic life. She described how faculty in all- women’s colleges sometimes do not understand the significance of these institutions and compared that to classroom faculty at Antioch who do not grasp the significance of teaching in a co-op college. Her perception has helped us to understand that even some of our own colleagues do not fully appreciate the entire educational project at the College and focus on the classroom as the only location for student learning. Out of this came a recent innovation to include classroom faculty on site visits with co-op faculty to witness firsthand student learning over co-op. (See Recent Innovations in Co-op above) 6. Increase institutional assessment and focus less on departmental assessment. The primary focus of the Assessment Committee has been departmental or local unit assessments. (See Appendix 8 Assessment: Planning, Management, Support ). The Assessment Committee had not yet begun their two global assessments (global assessments included an assessment of the General Education Program and of Community). However, both the former and the current College President have conducted physical plant and technology assessment, assessment of the Development and Alumni Relations office, and assessment of the Admissions and Financial Aid operations. (See appropriate areas under Criterion 2) Since this activity has occurred outside of the jurisdiction of the Assessment Committee, it was not made visible to the GLCA team and some of it was not yet in place at the time of their visit two years ago. 7. Standardize collection and dissemination of critical information to dispel perception of secrecy and distortion. This problem may have reflected the faculty climate in Fall 2000 and may not be a persistent or chronic problem. It may also reflect a small group of faculty’s views and not be widely shared. However, it does seem that decision-makers (university leaders, college president, and AdCil members) have not had the same information in the past. This undermines participation. The new president is aware of this problem and is working to dispel the notion that important information is withheld by frequently updating the campus community about decisions being made at the university level through e-mail. Another example of her recent actions in response to this perception was to place the college and university Fiscal ’03 budget in the College library. Page 100 94 8. Plan the future of history as a discipline. The College is fully aware that History has been one of the weakest programs for a myriad of reasons. It is understaffed with only one and a half faculty. The half-time historian will be retiring in 2004. A search for a new historian is planned to begin Fall 2002 for a tenure track 20 th century historian. Another search will need to begin to replace the planned retirement of the half-time historian. 9. Rethink the eight majors. Discussion in the Academic Program Committee in the 2001-2002 academic year following this recommendation indicate the faculty may be willing to once again examine the structure of the academic areas. The current structure has been in place since 1996 and the faculty tend to redesign the curriculum every 6-10 years. Next year this process may begin in earnest. 10. Rethink the structure and purpose of the summer program. This is a critical issue. (See discussions under co-op above and in Criterion 4 Priorities for 2002-2003 ) It may be connected to rethinking the academic program more broadly. 11. Give additional support to the library. Absolutely! (See Criterion 2 Olive Kettering Library ) 12. Enhance efforts toward diversity. The team pointed out that the College is not living up to its aspirations in this regard. More needs to be done to attract and retain faculty and students of color. 64 With retirements and attrition over the past few years, the faculty has become less racially diverse than it was. This trend must be recognized and reversed. The Dean of Faculty has recommended that some of the upcoming 11 faculty searches be filled by faculty of color. Similarly, the diversity of the student body must also be increased. The Office of Multicultural Affairs and Employment Equity needs to be strengthened if it is to serve a critical function in increasing campus diversity. 13. Attend to critical health and safety issues relating to physical plant (unsafe and inhospitable dorms). This concern came to a head in spring 2002 when toxic molds and bacteria were found in the dorms and students were immediately evacuated. 65 Though there was ample space available in other dormitories, some students chose to live in tents on the main lawn for the remainder of spring term. Serious attention must be given to cleaning up these student living spaces and keeping them from this level of deterioration. Plans for rehabilitation are to go forward in summer 2002. (see also Criterion 2 Physical Plant and Appendix 3 Summary of Physical Plant and Technology Improvements ) GLCA Review of Faculty & College Response The GLCA Review team spoke of the Antioch Faculty as “well-prepared, productive and engaged.” They were impressed “with the level of professional scholarship, publication and participation exhibited.” They complimented the faculty on their dedication to the mission of the College, and how much time is given to students outside the classroom They pointed out that students expressed their access to professors and their one-on-one interactions with faculty as among the best things about the College. This is supported by the findings of the NSSE studies. (See External Measures below) 64 The Dean’s office with Institutional Research did a short study on faculty of color in 1999-2000 See Resource Room. 65 See toxicology report in the Resource Room. Page 101 95 The report of the GLCA team also makes several comments concerning faculty life. These are addressed here. (1)They found the faculty workload to be too heavy. Since the GLCA team visit in Fall 2000 the college has directly responded to this critical observation. The expectation that faculty teach six courses each year plus supervise intensive senior projects was acknowledged by faculty and administrators as too great a burden. Throughout the 2000-2001 academic year, the Associate Dean of Faculty working closely with department chairs and the registrar’s office, conducted a workload analysis and made a number of recommendations which were discussed in each department. 66 A variety of options were discussed for course reduction. Ultimately, the faculty agreed to maintain the six course per year course load requirement by recognizing senior project supervision as a course and asking faculty to work jointly with seniors in seminars to augment senior project supervision. By recognizing senior project supervision as coursework, the workload for classroom faculty was adjusted. However, this did not reduce the workload for cooperative education or library faculty. Faculty in these two areas maintain that the number of faculty must be increased in both the library and cooperative education in order to make the workload reasonable. Currently three fulltime librarians provide 75 hours of service per week, and seven cooperative education faculty provide advising and job placement to 650 students each term. Also the burden on faculty in heavily enrolled academic programs remains much greater than on faculty in under-enrolled programs. For example, the two faculty in Film and Video supervised ten senior projects in Spring 2002, whereas the two Physics faculty supervised no senior projects. The Dean’s office is well aware of the discrepancies in actual workload of individual faculty and more still needs to be done to make adjustments and provide equity. Additionally, the Dean of Faculty’s office has tried to consolidate some of the committees. The College reduced the number of committees in 1999 from over 30 to 18 and reduced the number of faculty members on many committees, thereby providing faculty with a little more discretionary time. However, complaints that the mission of some of these redefined committees was too broad resulted in another effort in Fall 2001 to review committee charges. This may or may not result in a total reduction in committee assignments. Most faculty serve on two committees each term in addition to teaching two courses, supervising independent studies, providing academic and co-op advising, and serving on senior project seminars with department colleagues and graduating seniors. (2) The GLCA team states: “the faculty need…support for their endeavors, not the least of which is a computer.” (p. 5) We know of only one faculty member without a computer and this is by his own choice. Since the GLCA visit, he has requested and received a computer in his office. There does need to be an upgrading of computers for many faculty, but the college has come a long way with limited resources and will continue to move forward in this area (see Criterion 2 Technology ). Specific software needs have not all been met, though efforts to upgrade software will continue. Everyone has access to the Internet and an email account provided by the college. (3) The team states: “The Antioch community also needs to recognize that faculty need time for their personal lives and ought not be on call 24/7, nor be expected to report their whereabouts on weekends, when they are not responsible for a co-curricular activity.”(p. 5) We know of no instance of faculty “reporting” their whereabouts nor any expectation that faculty are to be available 24/7. It is true that students expect and faculty provide a great deal of outside classroom time to students, 66 See Faculty Load Report in Resource Room. Page 102 96 and this has been recognized as much as possible in the workloads of the faculty, but we see no justification for the exaggeration the team expressed and frankly wonder how they arrived at this conclusion. The time expectations of faculty as expressed by the Dean of Faculty are: presence on campus four days per week with either classroom teaching or posted regular office hours (this allows for one day per week for professional development activities); participation in all faculty and department meetings; minimum of four hours per week academic advising during posted office hours not to be held during lunch, dinner, early morning or regularly scheduled meeting times. (4) The team states there are too few faculty to “be fully effective in the college’s curricular objectives.” Everyone at the College agrees it would be desirable to have more faculty in almost every area. However, the college’s student/faculty ratio is approximately nine to one and class size averages 12 with very few classes over 30 in any given semester. This is a very rich ratio, one of the best in higher education. Yet the College faculty maintain that to deliver its unique quality education and regain its reputation as a national leader in innovation, the faculty must be strengthened. How does Antioch College currently offer its curriculum with the small number of faculty that it has? A number of strategies are at play, which are not uncommon to small schools. Most, though not all, faculty make contributions to more than one program through the cross-listing of their courses. For example, a course on African American Writers can serve students in both Literature and African American Studies. The College has made a priority of hiring faculty who can contribute to its interdisciplinary programs and make broad contributions as needed. This requires flexibility and inventiveness on the part of the faculty to design new courses uniquely suited to make contributions across disciplinary boundaries. At times, it requires faculty to expand beyond their original expertise in order to learn new material and continue as active learners. Not all faculty are interested in these challenges. The other ways in which the small number of faculty deliver the academic program is through the resources of Antioch Education Abroad and Cooperative Education, both of which expand the college classroom beyond the campus and into the world. This is a critical component of the College experience and is not as visible to campus visitors who approach Antioch from the more traditional view that all learning takes place within the classroom. The number of full-time classroom faculty in 2001-2002 was 41. No one at the College is satisfied that this is enough, but the faculty, with limited adjunct assistance, is delivering the full range of courses required for graduation. All would agree that a larger number of faculty would be beneficial and it is hoped that next year’s 11 searches to replace faculty lost through attrition and retirement will help rebuild the College faculty. 12. EXTERNAL MEASURES FOR ASSESSMENT A variety of external measures show Antioch College to have a long history of accomplishing its educational goals. A. National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) project, supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts and co-sponsored by the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, is an annual survey of undergraduates at four-year colleges and universities. The survey is designed to assess the extent to which students engage in a variety of good educational practices. Conceived in early 1998, the purpose of the NSSE project was to focus on student assessment of their learning. A number of educational leaders and scholars have championed the Page 103 97 concept that the student should be considered the center of the educational enterprise for decades. Certainly this is the long-standing position of Antioch College. National assessment experts designed the NSSE instrument, The College Student Report , in such a way that most of its items represent student behaviors that are highly correlated with many important learning and personal development outcomes of the college. The first formal collection of national data was in spring 2000. The College Student Report was administered to 151,910 first-year and senior students who were randomly selected from electronic data files of 276 participating four-year colleges and universities, including Antioch College. Subsequently, in October 2000, “national benchmarks of good educational practice” were established and released based on aggregated results from NSSE 2000. 67 Moreover, in spring 2001, 321 four-year colleges and universities participated in NSSE 2001 and The College Student Report was administered to 177,103 first-year and senior students. Of the 321 institutions, 125 were repeat participants in both NSSE 2000 and NSSE 2001. The remaining number of institutions joined the NSSE project for the first time in 2001 and administered the survey to their students. The questions on the survey are about how and where students spend their time, the nature and quality of their interactions with faculty members and peers, and what they report to have gained from their classes and other aspects of their college experience. Those questions that focus squarely on the “teaching and learning” activities are then assigned to a five key cluster of activities that research studies report to be correlated and linked to “desired outcomes.” Further, the NSSE project, by annually collecting information directly from currently enrolled students who are at two key points in their undergraduate program, near the end of first year of college and just before graduation, is developing the national benchmarks of good educational practices. To that end, Antioch College takes pride in not only being among the top performing higher education institutions in the U.S. in the past two consecutive years but also for helping to establish certain national benchmarks. By receiving some of the highest marks in the nation, Antioch College has been cited as “an exemplar” for both freshmen and seniors in the NSSE 2000 & 2001 report. The College ranked very high in all benchmark categories, including the following: 1) High level of academic challenge due to: High number of hours students spend studying, reading, and writing outside the class. Higher order thinking skills and mental activities, as reported by the students. 2) Highly engaged and collaborative learning atmosphere, as demonstrated by: Making higher than the average number of class presentations. Frequently contributing to class discussions. Often participating in community-based projects. Working and collaborating with other students on class projects/assignments. 3) High level of personal and meaningful interactions between students and the Antioch faculty, such as: Students getting prompt feedback on their academic performance. Students working with faculty on research projects. Students working with faculty on other than course activities (i.e. various committees). Students talking with faculty about career plans. 67 See Resource Room for full NSSE reports for 2000 and 2001. Page 104 98 4) Exceptionally high levels of enriching educational experiences as evidenced by: Students’ exposure and involvement with other students of different religious beliefs, political opinions, values. Student interactions with students of a different race, ethnicity, economic, and social backgrounds. Students acquiring internship and field experiences. Students’ involvement in community service or volunteer work. Students’ foreign language coursework. Students ability to study abroad. Students’ option to do independent study courses or has a self-designed major. Students’ involvement in co-curricular activities. Students having a culminating senior experience. 5) Highly supportive and responsive campus environment by providing conditions that help students to: Cope with non-academic responsibilities (work, family, etc.). Thrive socially. Have supportive relations with their peers, faculty members, and administrative personnel / offices. Below is how Antioch College ranks, according to aggregate NSSE 2000 and 2001 benchmark results, and as reported by the students, in comparison to national range of institutional scores by percentiles for first-year and senior students: Benchmark Categories NSSE Ranking (470 institutions/155,000 students) 1. Level of Academic Challenge at Antioch College: 1 st yr. Students: Top 20% 4 th yr. Students: Top 8% 2. Active and Collaborative Learning at Antioch College: 1 st yr. Students: Top 5% 4 th yr. Students: Top 5% 3. Student Interaction with Faculty Members: 1 st yr. Students: Top 3% 4 th yr. Students: Top 2% 4. Enriching Educational Experiences: 1 st yr. Students: Top Institution 4 th yr. Students: Top Institution; (WOW! Antioch’s first-year & seniors set a new NSSE benchmark score in 2001) 5. Supportive Campus Environment: 1 st yr. Students: Top 5% 4 th yr. Students: Top 6% NSSE Summary In conclusion, the NSSE project team sums up Antioch College’s performance, “Antioch College takes advantage of its small size to foster high levels of student-faculty interaction in the classroom, in cooperative education, and in community involvement.” 68 (page 19) 68 See National Benchmarks of Effective Education Practice Report, November 14, 2001, in the Resource Room. Page 105 99 B. Additional Selected External Measures 1. The Franklin and Marshall study on the Baccalaureate Origins of Doctorate Recipients affirms that among 914 colleges and universities, Antioch College ranks 19 th , in absolute numbers, in the number of Ph.D. degrees earned by alumni. Given our small size, this ranking is truly exceptional. 2. Two Antioch Education Abroad programs were ranked in the top 25 international academic programs by Greg Tannen and Charley Winkler in The Students Guide to the Best Study Abroad Programs. 3. Antioch was recently singled out for praise by the John Templeton Foundation among its Colleges that Encourage Character Development. 4. The Bonner Foundation has awarded continuous support since 1994 and recently increased support through a community enrichment grant in support of our Bonner Scholars and Community Responsibility Scholarship program and a new VISTA position to begin Summer 2002. 5. Ohio Campus Compact has awarded the College a VISTA volunteer for the third year in a row for exceptional leadership in promoting service learning to classroom faculty. 6. Antioch College Biology Professor Dr. Jill Yager was awarded a year-long Fulbright to study in Mexico. 7. Antioch College Dawson Chair of Co-operative Education and Psychology Professor Dr. Pat Linn has been awarded numerous grants to study the impact of cooperative education on life-long learning. 8. Antioch College Theater Professor Louise Smith was awarded a Ford Foundation grant to increase cultural diversity through the arts and link on-campus and off-campus groups. Page 106 Page 107 101 Criterion 4: The Institution can continue to accomplish its purposes and strengthen its educational effectiveness. Since the last NCA review the College has carried out one significant planning process, the Strategic Plan, which was projected to span a five year period from 1996 to 2001. It will be reviewed briefly here. Then an overview of current planning will be presented. 1. THE STRATEGIC PLAN The College Strategic Plan was written during the 1996-97 academic year. The task force that wrote the plan was led former President Bob Devine and Academic Dean Hassan Nejad and had input from virtually every sector of the college community. The plan was written at a period of time when the college faced the following challenges: A. High attrition especially after the first year. B. Growing student dissatisfaction with aspects of the academic program, the co-op program, student services, and campus life. C. An inadequate endowment of 11 million dollars. D. Increasing costs to maintain the physical plant. E. A deeply felt need to improve multiculturalism, race relations, and other forms of diversity, understanding, and civility in the community. F. Financial problems and shortfalls that had resulted in two successive years with large deficits. G. Low morale across the campus. H. High turnover in the senior administration of the college. I. A highly competitive market for both students and faculty among selective liberal arts institutions. J. No comprehensive institutional plan with goals and objectives, and no clear direction for the college’s future. The Strategic Plan identified four over-arching goals for the College: 1. to increase enrollment to 800 by the year 2000; 2. to work on campus infrastructure and services to support the recruitment and retention necessary to increase enrollment; 3. to revise and strengthen the co-op program; 4. to begin to build the college’s endowment. The College received a three-year MacArthur Foundation Grant of $750,000 for 1996-1999. Funds to support planning implement many of the initiatives of the Strategic Plan. For the past five years, the Plan guided important decision-making in Admissions, Development, Administrative Council (AdCil), the President’s Staff Group, and in the offices of the Dean of Faculty, Dean of Students, and Dean of Administration and Finance.. 69 As part of the plan, new tenure-tack faculty were hired to fill positions vacated through retirement and attrition. Over the past five years the College has hired 32 new faculty members, including four Visiting Faculty positions in Antioch Education Abroad. This means that nearly half of the 67 faculty listed for 2001-2002 are untenured faculty (see faculty chart in preface). The hiring, mentoring, and orientation of these new faculty 69 See Resource Room for a copy of “The Strategic Plan 1996-2001.” Page 108 102 members has been a major undertaking of the Dean of Faculty’s office, with assistance from department chairs and senior faculty mentors. In addressing one of the strategic plan’s central goals to initiate “a community-wide discussion of the future of Co-op to better serve students’ needs and improve the quality of their educational experience,” AdCil appointed a co-op task force to review cooperative education, its past and its future. The co-op committee of the Strategic Planning Task Force met beginning in January 1997 and completed a working paper in March 1998 which redefined the fundamental learning objectives and preparatory needs for student learning over the co-op experience. 70 This year-long project ended with a new proposal for making changes in Co-op while simultaneously affirming the centrality of Co-op to an Antioch College education. (See Criterion 3 Center for Cooperative Education ) Assessment of the Strategic Plan The overarching goals of the strategic plan and an assessment of progress toward those goals are summarized here. (1) Increasing the enrollment of the College sufficient to cover fixed costs by increasing the recruitment effort and improving retention. The College set a goal of achieving an enrollment of “800 by 2000.” Progress: The College has increased enrollment primarily through dramatic improvements in retention of both new and continuing students. While recruitment efforts have not produced increases as quickly as projected, the allocation of additional resources has produced significant improvements in the last two cycles. Retention rates of 87% are the highest in Antioch College history. (See Appendix 2 College Retention Summary ) (2) Strengthening the academic program of the College. Progress: The faculty implemented an interdisciplinary curriculum and a year-round calendar. The College increased the number of faculty, the number of tenure-track positions, and increased faculty salaries by 18% while adding an additional $1 million each year toward the goal of strengthening the academic program. (3) Revisioning and strengthening the Co-op program. Progress: A year-long task force made recommendations regarding learning objectives and program directions matched to contemporary circumstances. The Co-op department has implemented a number of improvements, including: a) bringing co-op employers to campus for interaction with students, discussions and seminars, and b) implementing co-op preparation sessions. Dr. Pat Linn’s ongoing alumni research on the impact of the co-op experience on life-long learning continues to provide focus for the current work in the department. (4) Improving the physical plant of the College, upgrading facilities, renovating some residence halls, and building an information infrastructure. Progress: The College has renovated two residence halls and the Amphitheater, has made improvements to the Library and the Theater, has air-conditioned several buildings, improved paving and made facility repairs and improvements across campus, and has replaced a significant percentage of campus furniture and equipment. In addition, the College has wired two-thirds of the campus, put the library on line, networked the faculty, added public-access computer labs, and upgraded the technology infrastructure at all levels. (See Criterion 2 Physical Plant and Technology and Appendix 3 Summary of Physical Plant and Technology Improvements ) 70 See Resource Room for a copy of “Re-Visioning Cooperative Education at Antioch College,” March 1998. Page 109 103 (5) Improving student services and service delivery at all levels. Progress: The College has added an Academic Support Center, a Center for Community Learning, an Office of Multicultural Affairs, and a Health Advocate in its Wellness program, and has made strides (reflected in retention figures) to improve the campus climate. All offices of the College have endeavored to become more student friendly in the delivery of services. (See Criterion 2 Student Services ) (6) Building the endowment to a level that will address the central disequilibrium of unfunded financial aid. Progress: The College has increased the endowment from just over $11 million to over $23 million, and is in the preparation stages for a major campaign to address the endowment. (See Criterion 2 Development and Alumni Relations and Admissions and Financial Aid ) Annual “Indicators of Progress” were compiled and presented each year to the Board of Trustees, and made available through the President’s Office . 71 2. CURRENT PLANNING: A FOCUSED APPROACH Instead of a comprehensive strategic plan, President Straumanis intends to take a focused approach to planning. She has identified key areas of the College that will contribute to financial stabilization and has initiated intensive planning and evaluation in each of these. (See Criterion 2 Admissions and Financial Aid and Development and Alumni Relations for a detailed discussion of new initiatives and new staffing as the result of recent external assessments of these areas.) In her inaugural speech February 2002, President Straumanis announced the beginning of three Commissions. She asked each Commission to submit a full proposal to the community and to AdCil for approval by early April. 72 This short-term intensive planning process centered on three areas of the College: 1. Admissions Commission, chaired by Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Michael Murphy. 2. Cooperative Education Commission, chaired by Dawson Professor of Cooperative Education and Professor of Psychology Dr. Pat Linn. 3. “The Change Institute” or “Change Commission,” now called The Center for Collaborative Change, chaired by Loyd Professor of Peace Studies and World Law Dr. Patricia Mische. Straumanis invited community members to join one of the Commissions. Sign-up sheets were in the President’s suite and College and McGregor faculty, students, staff, adjuncts, faculty emeriti, co-op employers, local alumni and village residents all joined. Commission membership ranged from 12-18 members. Some commissions divided into subcommittees and task forces to develop specific ideas or strategies. The Co-op Commission also circulated a survey to 48 students for additional feedback. Each Commission identified key activities to advance the College mission through improving the delivery of programs; each identified specific tasks and steps required for implementation of new initiatives; and each clearly identified innovations which could be implemented with external funding support. Commission chairs made reports in Community meeting, in the Faculty Meeting, and to AdCil resulting in AdCil voting to approve most elements of the Commission proposals. These proposals included costs for specific projects and programs, many of which would require outside funds in order to move forward. President Straumanis has taken on primary responsibility to find funding. 71 See Resource Room for the annual Indicators of Progress. The most recent indicators were compiled Fall 2001. 72 See Resource Room for full commission reports and documents. Page 110 104 3. PRIORITIES FOR 2002-03 The President has identified the following priorities for 2002-2003. These include further development of the proposed Center for Collaborative Change, two new commissions, and new assessment initiatives. Each will be described briefly here. 1. The Center for Collaborative Change This new Center will enable participants to develop expertise in the history, theory, and best practices of social and environmental change. It will also create a new strategy for higher education to address the national call for increased civic engagement among students. Antioch has always been a place where students, faculty, staff and administrators have a commitment to social change. The Center for Collaborative Change will expand and strengthen existing capacities and structures to assure that students have the full range of understanding, experience, and skill needed to be excellent leaders and have the strengths needed to sustain their commitment over time. Participants will become involved in a combination of courses, workshops, community service, research projects, and on-the-job learning that will help them become more effective in advancing social justice, human rights, peace, and environmental sustainability. The program will be integrative and learner- centered, with students playing a vital role in planning and governance. The program will be optional and participating students will earn a certificate, which will be noted on their college transcripts. We anticipate that a majority of incoming Antioch students will seek such a certificate, an assumption confirmed by focus groups of current students. This distinctive program will address a major societal need – to increase the number of citizens who take responsibility to address issues facing our communities, the nation, and the world. It will serve a wide national constituency through collaboration with other colleges and universities, distribution of publications, conferences, courses, and workshops. Community Assessment will progress as part of the proposed Center for Collaborative Change with a focus on how the combination of community, classroom, and cooperative education can produce effective leaders. The college has applied for funding from FIPSE for a formal assessment by Zelda Gamson, college alumna and former member of the Board of Trustees, who will conduct this evaluation. 73 President Straumanis sees the Center for Collaborative Change as one of the most important new initiatives of the College. She has already raised $10,000 for new publications from the Vangaurd Foundation. She has a commitment of $50,000 from the Carnegie Foundation for planning and start-up. A proposal to FIPSE for implementation and evaluation has been submitted. 2. New Commisions President Straumanis has identified two new commissions to conduct an evaluation and assessment of current practices and make recommendations for new initiatives in the following areas: A. A new University-wide Collaboration Commission will be appointed to investigate opportunities for new joint initiatives. This is the focus of the July 2002 University Leadership Council (ULC) annual retreat. Many discussions have occurred in the biennial University Faculty Retreats to explore resource sharing and collaboration. This discussion now being taken up by the university leadership is a significant step toward improved relations across the university. One recent example of cross-campus collaboration is the joint FIPSE proposal on Technology Learning Circles, 73 Gamson and her colleagues in National Project IV: Examining the Varieties of Liberal Education, funded by FIPSE, describe an approach to assessment of liberal education that will be very useful. See their book, Liberating Education, (Jossey-Bass, 1984) Page 111 105 which if funded, will bring together the College and McGregor faculty, staff, and students to increase technological skill and knowledge. B. A Calendar Commission will be appointed to review the current trimester calendar and assess its educational effectiveness, specifically its impact on the co-op program. 3. Future Assessment Planning President Straumanis is planning the following assessment activities to begin Fall 2002: A. The Faculty Salary Committee will undertake an analysis and assessment of gender equity in faculty salaries. B. The new Dean of Students will conduct an assessment of retention efforts and make specific recommendations to improve retention. 4. INSTITUTIONAL ASSESSMENT OUTCOMES The following changes have occurred at the College as a result of assessment processes: 1. Under the direction of the former College President a thorough assessment of the campus facilities was conducted and resulted in the “Facilty Condition and Assessment Survey Report, 4/6/1999.” Priorities were determined and a range of physical plant improvements undertaken as outlined in the “Antioch College Campus Facility Planning Report 1999-2001.” (See Criterion 2 Physical Plant and Appendix 3 Summary of Physical Plant and Technology Improvements) 2. The Summer Academic Term on campus was launched summer 1997. Each year an assessment project was undertaken which included small focus group discussions of faculty and students, written responses to the summer study term questionnaire by faculty, and a separate written survey completed by students. The Office of Institutional Research compiled this data and the Summer Study Committee reviewed it in 1999-2000 and made a list of recommendations, which were implemented for summer 2001. These included improving summer academic advising, offering more unique courses and “Summer Institutes” to increase intellectual and cultural activities on campus over the summer, drawing on alumni resources for visiting faculty and guest lecturers, artists, and presenters. The result was improved numbers of students studying on campus in 2001 and 2002. (See also Criterion 3 Summer Academic Term) 3. Two different assessment outcomes were considered together to address one area of weakness identified by both the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) Review Team and by the assessment of the majors. The GLCA Review of the College curriculum in October 2000 identified the heavy workload of faculty as a problem. As a result the faculty entered into a serious year-long discussion of faculty load. This was combined with assessment discussions in the majors, many of whom used the senior project as an instrument to measure the success of the major at achieving its academic goals. The need to strengthen the preparation and execution of the senior project was clearly identified by assessment efforts in the majors. It was decided in April 2001 that in the 2001-2002 academic year, the sixth required course for all faculty would be a senior project seminar. Since all classroom faculty serve as senior project advisors anyway, this change allowed faculty to claim this work as part of their annual required workload. The senior project seminar also provided a structured framework to support faculty/student involvement in this important capstone activity for all students. (See Criterion 3 Great Lakes Colleges Review ) Page 112 106 4. In summer 2002, a restructuring of the Office of Institutional Research occurred as a result of assessing the functions of this office. New priorities were established in institutional research, which resulted in new hiring and a relocation of the office to work more closely with the college registrar. 5. The final area of change resulting from assessment is in specific courses within specific majors. At least three courses in three different majors have been specifically designed or redesigned as a result of assessment. The Literature, Languages and Culture major (LLC) redesigned the “Introduction to Multicultural Literacy” to more clearly address student writing and revision. The Arts Major introduced a new course, “Introduction to Theater: Performing Community,” to address theater history. The Social and Global Studies major identified a series of introductory courses which needed to emphasize quantitative reasoning to better prepare students for upper level courses in Economics and Management. (See also Criterion 3 Assessment of the Majors ) Assessment of Criterion 4 Antioch College can and will continue to accomplish its purposes and strengthen its educational effectiveness. The values and mission of the College remain strong and central to its future. The majority of the faculty, students, and staff remain deeply committed to the institution and to its future success. What is required now includes adequate funding, new sources of support, and a healthy endowment to offset unfunded tuition. The ability to attract and retain students continues to improve. The new president is deeply committed to financial stabilization and fundraising. All indicators point to success in raising new funds and increasing the student body. Page 113 107 Criterion 5: The institution demonstrates integrity in its practices and relationships. Antioch College has multiple internal and external constituencies with which it maintains formal and informal relationships on an ongoing basis. Those responsible for demonstrating integrity in College practices and relationships include the Board of Trustees, the University leadership, the College President, Deans and Directors, Faculty, administrative staff, Union staff, students, co-op employers, and alumni. Specific relationships in which we demonstrate integrity include: 1. The teacher licensure program at the College is assessed every two years by the State of Ohio and re-accredited by the Ohio Board of Education. The College has never failed to meet the state’s standards and continues to offer a range of licenses for Early, Middle and Secondary Education. 2. The College has written agreements of reciprocity and exchange with the following international programs and universities: Kyoto Seika University in Kyoto, Japan Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) Program in Morelia, Mexico Maseno University in Kenya Tubingen University in Tubingen, Germany International co-op employers on the co-op job list International site supervisors for co-oping students in Brazil and Kenya 3. The College has written and signed Articulation Agreements with the following local and national community colleges and two year colleges: Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, OH Clark State Community College, Springfield, OH Sinclair Community College, Dayton, OH Edison Community College, Piqua, OH Columbus State Community College, Columbus, OH Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College, Long Island, NY Owens Community College, Toledo, OH Terra Community College, Fremont, OH Fisher Community College, Boston, MA 4. Antioch College also has formal written agreements with the following off-campus sites in which students work and volunteer: All job list co-op job supervisors All off-campus sites in which students provide volunteer service 5. Since the last NCA visit the College has received grants from and made final reports to the following granting organizations and agencies: MacArthur Foundation Ford Foundation Knight Foundation Lilly Foundation Bonner Foundation Ohio Campus Compact Page 114 108 6. Antioch College is a member of the following professional organizations for institutions of higher education: Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) National Association of Green Educators (NAAGE) Southwestern Ohio Consortium of Higher Education (SOCHE) 7. Evidence of all College policies and agreements can be found in the following regularly published and readily available documents: Faculty Personnel Policies College Catalog – published every 2 years Course Schedule – annual planner published once a year and semester schedules published each term Course syllabi – approved by department faculty, department chairs, and the Dean of Faculty Orientation materials for new students, staff, and faculty Admissions materials Employee contracts Union contracts with Union employees Alumni materials including the annual Alumni Retreat and the alumni publication, The Antiochian Press releases Student Survival Handbook – published annually College Policies 74 Antioch College has always been committed to the highest ethical standards. The Honor Code applies to all community members (see Antioch College Catalog 2000-2002 p. 5; Antioch Student Survival Handbook 2000-2001 p. 4) and forms the moral basis for all other policies at the College: Antioch College Honor Code “Antioch College is a community dedicated to the search for truth, the development of individual potential, and the pursuit of social justice. In order to fulfill our objectives, freedom must be matched by responsibility. As a member of the Antioch Community, I affirm that I will be honest and respectful in all my relationships, and I will advance these standards of behavior in others.” Affirmative Action (Catalog 2000-2002 p. 13) The Affirmative Action and EEO statement incorporates the College’s anti-discriminatory statement. An Affirmative Action Committee is appointed by AdCil and assists in the implementation of both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the College Affirmative Action Plan . This plan was approved by AdCil in 1995. A member of the Affirmative Action Committee serves on each faculty hiring committee. Each faculty search presents an Affirmative Action Report to AdCil prior to offering the position to the selected candidate. The Dean of Faculty’s office oversees this process and provides a session on implementation of Affirmative Action to faculty search committee chairs. Recent faculty searches have been much more successful at increasing gender diversity than racial and ethnic diversity. 74 Examples of agreements and College policies will be available in the Resource Room or upon request. Page 115 109 Civil Liberties Code (Catalog 2000-2002 p. 13) Community Standards (Catalog 2000-2002 p. 14) For violations of Community Standards, any community member (including students, Union and non-Union staff, faculty and administrators) may bring any other community member to the Community Standards Board (CSB) for a hearing. CSB has the authority to weigh the evidence and make a ruling, which can range from a public apology to suspension or expulsion. CSB is the judicial body on campus to which students, faculty, staff and administrators are appointed by AdCil and ComCil to serve for one year. See Legislative Code in the Survival Guide 00-01 p. 110 for specific membership and specific charge to CSB. Drug and Alcohol Policy (Faculty Personnel Policies p. 34-38) As is required by the Federal Drug Free School and Communities Act of 1990, Antioch College prohibits the illegal possession, use or distribution of illicit drugs or alcohol to students and employees on its property or as part of any of its activities. Revised and approved by AdCil on June 11, 1996. See FPP for complete policy. Sexual Harassment Policy (Catalog 2000-2002 p. 15) approved in 1985 Sexual Offense Prevention Policy (SOPP) (Catalog 2000-2002 p. 15) approved by the Board in 1991; recent revisions approved by the Board in June 2002. The Sexual Offense Prevention Policy (SOPP) was initiated by female students Fall term 1990 as a result of their sense that the problem of date rape on campus was not being addressed in a consistently serious way by the College administration. Female students could bring these violations to CSB or to the Dean of Students but were not satisfied that their voices were being heard or that their needs were being addressed. They organized and drafted a college policy to clarify the difference between desired and unwanted sexual contact and to diminish the problem of date rape. The new policy was approved in 1991 and has been carefully revised every two to three years, most recently in the 2001-02 academic year. The cornerstone concept of the Sexual Offense Prevention Policy is verbal consent in which no means no and yes means yes. The most important initiative it outlines is one of education and prevention beginning with the orientation of each year’s entering class. It also designates a part-time SOPP coordinator who is a professional counselor and works closely with students in the educational component as well as in policy implementation. The SOPP coordinator is a member of the Counseling Center and Dean of Student’s staff. The policy is addressed during orientation for all new students and faculty. Statement on Faculty-Student Consensual Sexual Relations (approved by the faculty on May 8, 1990) “The faculty student relationship, however warm or caring, inherently involves disproportionate power and influence on one side and is thus liable to abuse. A sexual relationship between a faculty member and a student cannot only exploit this imbalance but also distort and inhibit the learning environment. For these reasons, it is the agreement of the Antioch College faculty that the sexual relationships between Antioch College faculty members and Antioch College students are unacceptable and constitute professional misconduct.” This statement is part of both new student and new faculty orientation. It is part of the Faculty Personnel Policies. In addition former Chancellor and College President Al Guskin made Page 116 110 explicit his interpretation that this policy also applies to all administrators and staff employed at the College. Racial Discrimination Prevention Policy (not yet completed) The Racial Discrimination Prevention Policy (RDPP) was initiated by a group of African American and Latino/a students as a result of a series of occurrences on campus in which they found themselves isolated in their efforts to address incidents of racism. Students of Color held an off- campus retreat in 1994 and brought back to the President and AdCil a number of concrete suggestions on how to improve the campus climate. Among the suggestions was the recommendation that the College adopt a specific policy and provide a structured orientation session on race and racism for all entering students. The Orientation Session began the next fall, but the policy did not get started until Spring 1997 when two students of color working in the Dean of Students Office began to draft it. The first Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs then took this project on as a committee task in Fall 1997. For two years various students, faculty, and the OMA Director discussed and drafted the RDPP. After his departure Summer 1999, nothing more was done until the President’s Staff Group on Multicultural Affairs picked it back up Fall 2000. Spring 2001 it was sent to the College lawyer and returned with numerous comments. Fall 2001 the new Director of Multicultural Affairs with a committee of faculty, staff, and students, began preparing it for community-wide discussion. Academic Complaint Policy (approved by AdCil April 2002) The most recent formal policy to be approved. This policy formalizes the process whereby students can grieve actions or decisions of faculty in regard to crediting and evaluation of their courses or cooperative education experience. Grievance Policies A range of policies and procedures exist as a means by which community members can express their dissatisfaction and grieve a decision, evaluation, or action taken by another community member or committee. Grievance often implies authority in which those with less authority grieve the decisions, evaluations, or actions taken by those with greater authority. Grievance procedures cover every category of community member and are published and available. Assesment of Criterion 5 The college continues to demonstrate integrity in its relationships and practices. Page 117 111 Appendix 1 Further Reading on Antioch College: Robert L. Straker (Antioch class of 1925) was perhaps the most thorough historian of Antioch College during the nineteenth century. His Unseen Harvest: Horace Mann at Antioch College a brief study of operations in its early years, and Horace Mann and Others, a series of biographical essays are both well researched if a bit dated. “A Brief Sketch of Antioch College: 1853-1921,” an unpublished pamphlet composed for the Antioch Centennial celebration in 1953, is highly detailed and informative and available on the Internet at http://www.antioch- college.edu/antiochiana /BriefSketch.htm . Horace Mann at Antioch by Joy Elmer Morgan was written for the National Education Association in observance of the 100 th anniversary of public education in 1936. Several biographies of Horace Mann exist, the most authoritative one written by Jonathan Messerli (1971). Antioch is a featured institution along with Reed and Swarthmore in Burton R. Clark’s comparative study The Distinctive College: Antioch, Reed & Swarthmore (1970). Connected Thoughts: A Reinterpretation of the Reorganization of Antioch College in the 1920s (1997) by Stephen R. Herr presents an interesting if controversial view of the Arthur Morgan era that makes extensive use of Morgan’s own personal papers housed in the Antioch Archives. Antioch College: Its Design for Liberal Education, by Algo D. Henderson and Dorothy Hall (1946), is an administrative study by an Antioch president of the first 25 years after the reorganization in 1921. The memoir of James P. Dixon’s presidency Antioch: The Dixon Era 1959-1975 (1991) by Edla Mills Dixon gives one view of the changes at Antioch through the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s. An Antioch Career: The Memoirs of J. Dudley Dawson,(1995) recounts a near 70 year association with the college of a longtime Antioch administrator. Notes From a Pragmatic Idealist: Selected Papers, 1985-1997 by Alan E. Guskin (1997) is a series of essays and speeches by the former president and Chancellor of Antioch University. Not Just A Matter of Degree: 20+ Years at Antioch Los Angeles by Harvey Mindess (1996) is a memoir by a former psychology professor and one of the original faculty members at one of the three remaining west coast Antioch campuses. Five Experimental Colleges: Bensalem, Antioch-Putney, Franconia, Old Westbury, Fairhaven (1973) edited by Gary B. MacDonald includes an essay on the graduate school of education known today as Antioch New England written by its former director Roy P. Fairfield. Doctoral dissertations on Antioch include the aforementioned Connected Thoughts, A History of Antioch College by Harvard F. Vallance (Ohio State University, 1936), The Morgan Years: Politics of Innovative Change – Antioch College in the 1920s by George C. Newman (University of Michigan, 1978), and To Promote Creativity, Community and Democracy: The Progressive Colleges of the 1920s and 1930s by Steven R. Coleman (Columbia University, 2000), which includes a study of Antioch during the Morgan era. Page 118 112 Appendix 2 College Retention Summary Overall Retention Rates 91 – 96 96 – 97 97 – 98 98 – 99 99 – 2000 2000 – 2001 Degree Students N/A 509 532 576 610 631 Number Withdrawn N/A 91 93 102 77 80 Attrition Rate N/A 18% 17% 18% 13% 13% Retention Rate N/A 82% 83% 82% 87% 87% New Student Retention Rates New Students 1128 202 204 197 208 204 Number Withdrawn 339 32 33 34 27 24 Attrition Rates 30% 16% 16% 17% 13% 12% Retention Rates 70% 84% 84% 83% 87% 88% Total Unduplicated Headcount N/A 733 779 779 806 847 Attrition Rates N/A 12% 12% 13% 9% 9% Page 119 113 Appendix 3 Summary of Physical Plant & Technology Improvements 1993-2001 1. Residence Halls 1993-1994 Renovation of Corry Hall/Spalt 800,000 1996-1997 Birch Hall renovation 1,950,000 1997-1998 North Hall Refurbishing 12,000 2000-2001 HVAC in Mills Hall and West Hall 210,000 North Hall Windows and Lighting 154,352 Residence Hall Furniture 18,213 Mills Hall fire system 12,556 Dormitory Carpet 15,594 Sub Total 3,172,715 2. Student Spaces and Social Spaces 1994-1995 Union/Dance Space renovation 260,000 1997-1998 Union, Inn addition of rest rooms 26,665 1998-1999 Union, Inn carpets & drapes 10,665 1999-2000 Union, Bruce McPhaden Conference Room 52,406 2000-2001 Gymnasium water heater 11,516 Sub Total 361,252 3. Academic and Administration buildings 1993-1994 Renovation of South Hall 2,200,000 1996-1997 Library Roof 112,000 1997-1998 Amphitheater Renovation 110,000 2000-2001 HVAC Antioch Hall 319,000 Roof Replacements – Theater, Weston, Science 145,011 Classroom and Lab Furniture & Equipment 212,058 South Hall HVAC improvements 29,620 2001-2002 ADA improvements (scheduled) 165,246 Sub Total 3,292,935 4. Technology Infrastructure 1995-1996 T-1 Line to campus 15,000 1996-1997 Wiring and networking of Birch Hall 40,000 1997-1998 Putting Olive Kettering Library on-line to OhioLink 500,000 Wiring and networking Spalt Hall 35,000 Wiring and networking McGregor Hall 1st Floor 25,000 South Hall network improvements 12,000 Network equipment 38,000 2000-2001 Wiring and upgrading Antioch Hall 71,782 Residence Hall network and telephone 228,862 Telephone switch 65,000 Mail Processor 13,675 Page 120 114 Digital non-linear editing equipment 8,705 Additional T-1 Line and Oarnet 14,829 Sub Total 1,067,853 5. Computer Technology 1996-1997 Library Computer Lab 75,000 1997-1998 New Faculty computers 14,000 Academic Support Center 10,000 South Hall Lab Upgrades 120,000 2000-2001 Instructional computers 11,200 Computers and Lab upgrades 42,062 Sub Total 272,262 6. Infrastructure, Grounds and Support 1995-1996 Power Plant renovation 640,508 1996-1997 Power Plant renovation 475,221 Addition of Vans 90,000 2000-2001 Parking Lot resurfacing 55,000 Drives and walkway resurfacing 41,772 Landscape improvements 7,480 Condensate Lines and Pump 9,870 Lawn tractor mower 17,435 Additional Van 19,565 Exterior/Interior Emergency Lighting 32,019 PCB Transformer replacement 121,558 Sub Total 1,510,428 Total Physical Facilities Projects 1993-2002 $9,647,445 Page 121 115 Appendix 4 General Education Survey Questions and Results Develop your reading comprehensive skills Strongly Agree: 5 (14%) Agree: 11 (31%) Neutral: 13 (37%) Disagree: 4 (11%) Develop your written communication skills Strongly Agree: 3 (9%) Agree: 21 (60%) Neutral: 7 (20%) Disagree: 3 (9%) Develop your oral communication skills Strongly Agree: 5 (14%) Agree: 19 (54%) Neutral: 6 (17%) Disagree: 3 (9%) Strongly Disagree: 2 (5%) Develop your critical analysis skills Strongly Agree: 6 (17%) Agree: 18 (51%) Neutral: 8 (22%) Disagree: 1 (2%) Strongly Disagree: 1 (2%) Knowledge from academic areas outside your own major Strongly Agree: 10 (28%) Agree: 19 (54%) Neutral: 4 (11%) Disagree: 0 Strongly Disagree: 0 Insight into questions and methods of fields outside your own major Strongly Agree: 10 (28%) Agree: 15 (42%) Neutral: 10 (28%) Disagree: 0 Strongly Disagree: 0 Opportunity to learn from a variety of learning modes and ways of knowing Strongly Agree: 5 (14%) Agree: 12 (34%) Neutral: 11 (31%) Disagree: 3 (8%) Strongly Disagree: 1 (2%) Page 122 116 Challenge your previously held values Strongly Agree: 13 (37%) Agree: 8 (22%) Neutral: 11 (31%) Disagree: 0 Strongly Disagree: 1 (2%) Broaden your perspectives about self and society Strongly Agree: 10 (28%) Agree: 16 (45%) Neutral: 3 (8%) Disagree: 1 (2%) Strongly Disagree: 2 (5%) Enhance your ability to question your own relationship to the larger social/cultural/political issues that affect your role or place in the world Strongly Agree: 16 (45%) Agree: 9 (25%) Neutral: 7 (20%) Disagree: 0 Strongly Disagree: 0 Issues of race Strongly Agree: 13 Agree: 9 (25%) Neutral: 3 (8%) Disagree: 4 (11%) Strongly Disagree: 4 (11%) Issues of class Strongly Agree: 10 (28%) Agree: 10 (28%) Neutral: 2 (5%) Disagree: 7 (20%) Strongly Disagree: 2 (5%) Issues of gender Strongly Agree: 15 (42%) Agree: 7 (20%) Neutral: 2 (5%) Disagree: 6 (17%) Strongly Disagree: 1 (2%) The relationships between race, class and gender Strongly Agree: 12 (34%) Agree: 6 (17%) Neutral: 5 (14%) Disagree: 6 (17%) Strongly Disagree: 2 (5%) Page 123 117 Antioch College COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE C OM C IL Community Council – Legislative – Community Manager Office – CM – ComCil Committees CAB -Community Activities Board RAB — Record Advisory Board CafCil — Cafeteria Council CG Budget Committee CARL — Campus & Residence Life Safety Committee C-Shop Elections The Record AdCil / ComCil Committees CSB — Community Standards Board SOPP — Sexual Offense Prevention Policy GreenCil — Green Council * Events Manager * Business Manager * Office Manager Diversity Coordinator AmPac UIGs Independent Groups Antioch Environmental Group Unidad B.A.M.N. [T.W.A.] Women s Center Queer Center Human Rights Group Science Interest Group others as future needs require Community Centers Bike Shop Silkscreen Studio Darkroom Alternative Library Practice Spaces Video-Editing Suite C-Shop Manager * May be a Community Manager if a collective is elected to the job 117 Page 124 118 FACULTY GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE Faculty Meeting Associate Dean of Faculty PRESIDENT Administrative Council – ADCIL – FACULTY: B 4 Faculty Elected B 2 Community Elected STUDENTS: B 3 Community Elected STAFF: B 1 Staff Elected EX-OFFICIO: 1. President 2. Dean of Faculty 3. Community Manager DEAN of FACULTY TH E F ACU LTY Institutional Research Faculty Appeals & Review Board (Elected) Faculty Fund Trustees (Elected) GLCA Academic Council (Elected) APC I. Dean of Faculty II. Associate Dean of Faculty III. Major Chairs (8) IV. AEA Director V. Co-op Director VI. Head Librarian VII. Registrar DEAN APPOINTED COMMITTEES: 1. Admissions: Special Review 1. African/ African American Studies Committee 2. Basic Skills: Writing & Math Assessment 3. Chatterjee Committee 4. Cross-Cultural Field Program 5. Cross-Cultural & International Studies Committee 6. Environmental Studies & EFP 7. General Education & Basic Skills 8. Herndon Gallery 9. SEI Evaluation 10. Self-Designed Major Committee 11. Women s Studies Committee ADCIL APPOINTED COMMITTEES: 3. Academic Policy & Review Committee I. Affirmative Action Committee II. Assessment Committee III. Budget Committee IV. College Events Committee V. Community Standards Board (CSB) * VI. Faculty, Personnel & Review Board (FPRC) VII. Faculty Salary & Benefits VIII. GreenCil * IX. Renovation Task Force X. Scholarship Committee XI. Search Committee(s) XII. Sexual Offense Hearing Board * XIII. Special Task Forces XIV. Technology Resources Committee FEC Faculty Executive Committee 1. 4 Faculty Elected 2. Dean of Faculty Page 125 IDE NTIFY GO ALS SEL ECT ASSES SMENT MET HODS CRE ATE IMPLEM ENTATION PL AN MO NITOR IMPLEM ENTATION AS SESS ASSES SMENT “FEEDBACK LO OP:” USE ASSESSMENT DATA TO MAKE MEANING FUL IMPROVEMENTS TO STUDENT LEARNING Assessment at Antioch: It’s All About Student Learn ing! GOALS : What do we want to accomplish in our progr ams? The assessment goals must be specific, must be of a manag eable scope, and must have a clear and explicit relation to program goals and student learning. ASSESSMENT METHODS : What should we do to assess our goa ls? The proposed assessment methods must meet the program’s specific needs and must be capable of being implemented without demanding too much faculty ti me or too many institutional resou rces. THE IMPLEMENTATI ON PLAN: How should we do it? The implementation plan must be specific and clear. It must address training, support, logistics, resource use, and must be consistent with faculty members’ time and energy constrain ts. MONITORING IMP LEMENTATION: How is it goin g? The assessment committee is committed to monitoring im plementation and providing assistance as nece ssary. ASSESSING ASS ESSMENT: Did it wor k? Periodically, decide how to improve your assessment procedures. Really do what it takes to create meaningful discussions about teaching and lea rning! STUDENT LEARN ING: The big question ! Student learning is the touchstone throughout the entire process. This i sn’t about assessment for assessment’d sake; it is about putting in place procedures that will enhance liberal arts instruction in specific and meaningful ways. To maximize the benefits for student learning, our assessment work must be sustainable over the long r un and must be “fed back” into instructors’ existing courses and pedago gies. STUDENT LE ARNING “FEED BACK” ASSESSMEN T DATA INTO YOUR PROG RAMS: IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING !!! 119 Page 126 Thirteen Assessment Units : 8 Interdisciplinary Majors : ARTS, CIS, ENBS HPRS LLC, PS, SSC, SGS Center for Cooperative Educatio n: CO -OP Other Academic Program s: AEA, SDM Academic Suppor t : LIBRARY, ASC Planning, Management, and Suppo rt: ASSESSMENT COMM ITTEE Oversight and Suppor t: DEAN OF FACULTY’S OFFICE Local Assessment : 13 academic units. Each unit assesses specific progam goals as well as the unit’s contribution to the College’s mission more bro adly defined. Each unit’s assessment goals, methods, logistics, and feedback mechanisms have been developed via collaboaration with the assessment committee according to the unit’s’s specific needs. Each unit is responsible for imlpementing its assessment pla n and supplying documentation to the Assessment Committe e. Global Assessment : 2 community-wide global assessments. Each assessment program is designed to assess how the College as a whole is meeting import ant goals of our distinctive tripartite curriculum. As far as we have been able to determine, our attempt to provide a thoroughgoing and systematic assessment of community as a vital curricuar component is unique in higher educatio n. Two Global Asssessment Progra ms General Education Assessmen t : Plan created by Assessment Committee, APC, and General Education Committee. Plan currently implemetned by Assessment Committee with assistance of APC. Carryng out assessment will eventually become responsibility of Gene ral Education committee. Community Assessmen t: Plan created by Assessment Committee, CG, and Dean of Student’s Office. Plan currently implemented by Assessment Committee wi th assistance of CG and Dean of Student’s office. Carrying out assessment may become responsiblity of Dean of Student’s Offic e. Assessment of Assessmen t : The Assessment Committee, with support from the Dean of Faculty’s office, is responsible for ensuring that the local and global assessm ent work is carried out, that the assessment plans and logistics are regularly improved, and for making and documenting “all things conside red” judgments about the quality of the assessment data being collected and about the health of the College’s assessment program s. The Comittee also works to help each unit “normalize” their assessment work to reach NCA Stage III assessment implementation. APC=Dean’s Council of Major Chairs and Program Heads, AEA=Antioch Education Abroad Study Abroad Program, ARTS=Arts Major, ASC=Academic Support Center, CG=Community Government, CIS=Cultural and Interdisciplinary Studies Major, CO-OP=Center for Cooperative Education, ENBS=Enviro nmental and Biological Sciences Major, HPRS=History, Philosophy and Religious Studies Major, LLC=Languages, Literature, and Cultures Major, PS=Physical Sciences Ma jor, SDM=Self-Designed Major Program, SSC=Self, Society, and Culture Major, SGS=Social and Glo bal Studies Major. 120 Page 127 121 Page 128 122 Page 129 123 Page 130 124