May 17, 2021
Academic Program Review and Revitalization Initiative update and request for feedback
Dear K-State community,
Since Provost Taber charged the Academic Program Review and Revitalization, or APRR, task force, we have been establishing the foundation for the initiative and launching the discovery phase of our work. We have heard from many of you with questions about how to engage in the work of the task force. We are writing today to share an update and ask for your assistance with advancing the initiative.
The task force has established a timeline for the initiative beginning with our current phase of discovery and ending with evaluation. The APRR website has details about each of the five phases and an estimation of the time frame for each phase.
The task force has also drafted the guiding principles for the initiative. We invite you to review and provide comment on the guiding principles through a survey. Please respond to the survey by June 7. The task force will review the feedback and revise the principles before moving to the design phase.
We invite you to watch the recording of the "Academic Vital Signs" presentation by Dr. David Vuletich, senior director of research advisory services with EAB. The presentation and slides are available for your review and provide an excellent baseline understanding of the power of academic program review and revitalization in the health of a university.
We have added frequently asked questions to the APRR website and have populated answers to many of the questions we are able to address in the discovery phase. There are other questions that speak to the specifics of design and implementation that we are not able to answer until we have moved into those phases of the initiative. Please check the Academic Program Review and Revitalization website for additional updates, resources and FAQ in the coming weeks.
Task Force co-chair John Buckwalter has accepted the position of provost at Boise State University. We thank him for his work launching this initiative and wish him well. Provost Taber will co-chair the Task Force as we continue to move forward.
You may email your ideas, questions and suggestions to aprr@k-state.edu. Your input is essential in creating an academic program review and revitalization process that supports the continuous improvement of our academic portfolio.
Sincerely,
Debbie Mercer
Task Force Co-Chair