Phase I: Preparatory phase

One-Year notification to unit

The UPRA Officer will notify the head of the unit and the dean of the unit under review that a review has been scheduled. Letters of notification are sent out a year in advance of the actual review cycle.

APR preliminary information

The head of the unit should complete the APR Preliminary Information form (Appendix 1) to submit the faculty self-study committee names, the site visitor honoraria, and other pertinent information, along with the dean’s approval, to the UPRA Office at the time of the orientation meeting.

The self-study committee will be responsible for preparing the self-study report using the Self-Study Report Template (Appendix 2) as well as organizing and conducting the review activities. The committee consists of a chair and a maximum of six faculty members who are representative of the unit.

On the APR Preliminary Information form, the head of unit will also designate the amount of the honoraria for the local site visitor and the non-local site visitors. There is not a required amount for the honoraria, but the unit should keep in mind that the visitors are committing to a two-day visit, travel to and from Arizona, and writing a thorough site visit report.

This form submission should be approved by the dean either through signature or by email with the completed form attached and emailed to apr@asu.edu.

*Reimbursements for travel expenses and payment of honorariums are the responsibility of the unit under review once the final site visit report has been received.

Meeting with the dean

The head of the unit and the self-study committee are encouraged to meet with their dean to ascertain if there are areas or issues that the dean would like included or addressed in the self-study report.

Orientation meeting with the UPRA Office

The UPRA Office organizes an orientation meeting for the units that have upcoming reviews. The unit heads are encouraged to invite the self-study chair, administrative support person, and the business office manager to attend as well as any other key players involved in the review.

The orientation meeting will provide an overview of the APR process including preparation of the self-study report and its required format, locating relevant university data, payment of reimbursements and honorariums, as well as providing general direction and answering questions regarding the process. The meeting will also cover how to evaluate student assessment data and update the unit's current assessment plan.

Questions regarding student assessment plans for the curricular offerings and assessment reports on the student learning outcomes should be directed to the University Office of Evaluation and Educational Effectiveness (UOEEE). Questions regarding official university financial data for the unit under review should be directed to the Office of Institutional Analysis (IA). Official data for the self-study tables is available through the Institutional Analysis Reporting group. The report is available for use or download to users who currently have access to IA dashboards. If need be, please Request Access. Or you can use this form to request access to the Institutional Analysis Reporting group.

Any unit undergoing program review may request an individual meeting with the UPRA Office at any time to discuss questions regarding the APR process.

APR for units with specialized accreditation

Arizona Board of Regents Policy allows specialized accreditation reports to substitute for an APR, although expectations are that areas missed in the specialized review are addressed separately. For example, ABET reviews only undergraduate engineering programs, so the UPRA Office also gathers a review of graduate programs using a modified self-study template (see the example from the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering).

Any unit undergoing program review may request an individual meeting with the UPRA Office at any time to discuss questions regarding the APR process.

Dates for the site visit

The self-study report is written during the fall semester and the site visits are scheduled during the spring semester. The UPRA Office will provide all participating units several date options to choose from for their two-day spring site visits. Units will receive the potential site visit dates via email and the dates will be confirmed on a first-come, first-served basis. Each unit will be asked to select a first and second choice of dates.

Guidelines for nominating site visitors

Using the Site Visitor Nomination form (Appendix 3), each unit under review nominates six non-local academic site visitors who are professionals in the discipline of the unit along with three local community members who are, preferably, recent graduates of the unit. Please attempt to diversify your nominations (gender and race/ethnicity). Please do not nominate multiple individuals from the same Institution. If the academic unit has specialized areas (e.g., professional/disciplinary, basic/clinical), please indicate which site visitors are appropriate for the various specialty areas and indicate the order in which visitors should be invited.

• Faculty nominees should be active members of their profession and/or the academic community particularly in the areas of specialization that are important to the unit under review.
• Recent graduate/community nominees should have strong familiarity with the program, should not have financial association with ASU, and should reside in the Phoenix metropolitan area, if possible.
• To avoid conflict of interest, do not forward names of individuals such as former/current faculty of the unit under review, mentors/friends, or previous ASU teaching faculty/staff. Please do not nominate former/current job applicants, donors, contractors, or administrative council members.

The UPRA Office will extend invitations to nominated site visitors. The unit should not make formal contact with potential site visitors before the site visit team has been identified by the UPRA Office. A confirmation email identifying the site visit team will be sent from the UPRA Office to the unit. Once the confirmation email has been received, the unit will be free to make contact directly with the site visitors to make hotel/travel arrangements as well as forward the expense reimbursement and honorarium paperwork.

The site visit team plays an important evaluative role in the process by providing objectivity and helping the unit and university determine where the program fits within the discipline at regional, national, and international levels. The unit under review is best served by nominating qualified academics and professionals experienced in the discipline(s) under review.

Nominations should be submitted with complete current contact information (including physical address). The UPRA Office will initiate all contact with potential site visitors.

Site visitor nominations should be submitted by the head of the unit under review, in consultation with the self-study committee faculty, along with the dean’s written approval.

• Please use the Nomination Form (Appendix 3) to submit nominees to the UPRA Office. One form for each nominee. Please complete all fields on the form and email to apr@asu.edu.
• Please rank your list of nominees in order of invitation preference. Use the section at the top of the form to rank 1-6 for your preferred order of invitations. The UPRA Office will invite nominees in the order specified until two non-local and one local visitor has accepted. A unit may elect to have additional non-local visitors to cover disciplinary needs

Site visitor confirmation

Once the site visitors have accepted, the unit under review will receive a confirmation email from the UPRA Office identifying the site visit team.

At that point the unit should directly contact the non-local members of the site visit team to provide them with the reimbursement claim forms, request a copy of their travel itineraries, and notify them of their hotel arrangements and ground transportation to and from the airport. Hotel arrangements for non-local site visitors should be provided via the Non-Local Site Visitor Logistics Template (Appendix 4A).

Units contact the local site visitor using the Local Site Visitor Logistics Template (Appendix 4B). Units will provide the local visitor with directions, parking information and validation instructions, and attach the appropriate forms for reimbursement*, if necessary.

*Reimbursements for travel expenses and payment of honorariums are the responsibility of the unit under review once the final site visit report has been received.