As outlined in the policies and procedures of the Governed Institutions (2/14/01), the information below identifies the Core Indicators of Quality Performance (Core Indicators) for Kansas State University for FY 2002, within a context of the Institutional Improvement Plan. The four Core Indicators are Teaching and Learning, Research and Development, Service/Outreach, and Institutional Leadership and Management. The report delineates a brief Institutional Improvement Plan to provide a planning context for each of the four Core Indicators and identifies the Sub-Indicators that will be used to measure progress. K-State's ability to be successful in many of the areas listed below is dependent on the resources we are provided each fiscal year. Substantial budget cuts or other fiscal restraints will severely hamper our ability to be successful.
Both qualitative and quantitative Sub-Indicators are used. Whenever possible, the Sub-Indicators and the Improvement Plan will be closely tied to our nine University Strategic Planning Themes and associated Action Items. (1) Annually, the review of Core Indicators and Sub-Indicators will be coordinated by the Provost's Office.
In some instances, quantitative Sub-Indicators will be assessed annually by determining a three-year rolling average. The rolling average sets a target for the end of the first three years. The next year, the first-year's information is replaced with the most recent year's information and so forth.
Traditionally, teaching and learning have been recognized as the central mission of Kansas State University as the state's land grant institution. Over the past ten years, even in a climate of limited state resources, tremendous effort has been expended to insure that students who enroll at K-State, as well as the citizens of our communities, are provided the best environment for optimum learning. Within the development of the strategic plans for the future, learning is placed as an important factor within the central mission and core values of the University. The following are targeted areas of improvement with Sub-Indicators that can be used to assess the extent to which we have made progress:
Assessment activities at the university, college, and department level are critical to a continuous process of improvement in academic programs and individual courses. A variety of assessment techniques are employed to determine improvement. Currently the university, colleges and departments use surveys and interviews with seniors, alumni, and advisory groups to collect information about academic programs. Surveys at the University level are currently conducted on a four-year cycle for seniors, one-year and four-year alumni, but many departments conduct senior interviews each year and alumni surveys every one or two years. A large number of academic departments also have advisory boards that meet regularly to provide professional input into teaching programs. Performance improvement based on data from these surveys and interviews are important ways to both measure overall institutional progress in undergraduate academic programs and critical to improving those programs.
Central to the teaching and learning mission of the University is a high level of student achievement. There are a variety of ways that undergraduate student achievement can by fostered and improved. The University will focus its efforts in three key factors related to student achievement areas: a) academic advising; b) undergraduate student involvement in research; and c) student scholarships.
K-State will: (1) institute a campus-wide standard of quality for academic advising at the department and college levels and ameans of obtaining student assessment and effectiveness, (2) strive to improve and increase programs that involve undergraduate students in faculty research programs and other forms of engagement, and (3) continue to be a national leader in the number of national awards, honors, and competitive scholarships received by its undergraduate students.
Once high performing faculty members are tenured, a focused program for professional development is critical to future development and adaptation. Professional development programs and services are the very foundation of the future of Kansas State. It is the key to developing and sustaining excellence in teaching, all forms of scholarship, and service and outreach.
K-State will: (1) evaluate its current professional development programs, (2) create improvements in these programs, and (3) add new ones based on the identified needs of faculty and staff.
Within the context of our current state, national, and global communities, we must strive to become a more representative and inclusive environment. Among the many reasons for this, the impact of diversity on the total student learning experience and expanded opportunity are the most important. Thus it is critical that we increase our efforts to create and nurture a more diverse student body. This representation must reflect the diversity found in the US and in the global community.
K-State will: (1) increase its effectiveness in academic and non-academic programs as well as activities and services that promote the understanding of diversity and the personal and academic value of learning to live and work in an increasingly diverse community, and (2) will evaluate and improve current programs and, where necessary, create new ones for recruiting and retaining international undergraduate students and increasing and improving student and faculty international exchange programs.
The University must continually strive to strengthen and diversify the environment for learning and teaching for all undergraduate students. Learning environments must continuously evolve if they are to engage and challenge each generation of students. Further, curricula and related pedagogyare the connection between the discipline, faculty, and students. These connections are an essential component in allowing students, both in and out of the classroom, to develop their full potential. Because of the growing needs of place-bound on other non-traditional students, teaching efforts must not only use traditional methods and approaches, but new and emerging asynchronous learning techniques as well.
K-State will: (1) intensify its efforts under the guidance and direction of the faculty to evaluate and strengthen the University General Education program and courses that promote student learning by improving students' critical thinking skills through innovative approaches to learning, and (2) expand its role in mediated instructional systems and approaches by creating: a) courses and academic degrees and b) certificates and non-credit programs will be delivered to students and other learning groups and individuals on- and off-campus.
Knowledge and understanding form the foundation upon which civilization advances, and our society has given research universities a major responsibility for expanding this foundation. This societal mandate is explicitly recognized in the mission statement for Kansas State University, which specifies that the university shall "...carry out fundamental and applied research, scholarly inquiry, and creative endeavors...". To fulfill these mandates, the university must promote excellence in research and development as well as in graduate education, which forms a critical foundation for these activities. And, of course, research and development are central components of the land-grant functions within the University's Agricultural Experiment Station. Various indicators will be used to assess K-State's success in fulfilling its research mission.
The quality and reputation of an academic institution rests with the credentials and scholarly achievements of its faculty. Moreover, the quality of an institution's research programs is a direct reflection of its faculty scholars. K-State's ability to meet the future challenges of an increasingly complex and diverse world will be dependent upon the recruitment, development, and retention of the highest quality faculty members. All too often, K-State has served as the proving ground for young, top-notch faculty who move on to other institutions due, primarily, to salary differences. It is critical that the University continues its recruitment of diverse, top quality scholars. The University must then ensure that programs and resources are in place to retain these faculty and further their professional development throughout their careers.
K-State will: (1) endeavor to increase faculty salaries, (2) evaluate and enhance its current mentoring programs for new faculty, (3) develop and expand the mentoring of faculty members at all levels in their careers, and (4) expand and improve the cooperative efforts with minority institutions to help foster diversity.
World-class research and scholarship requires state-of-the-art facilities and supporting infrastructure systems. Several factors have eroded the research infrastructure at Kansas State, including inadequate state support, rapidly escalating scientific instrumentation demands, and the high costs of information technology. Moreover, research space at K-State has not kept pace with the externally sponsored research awards garnered by our faculty. Numerous critical infrastructure needs must be addressed including the modernization of facilities, instrumentation, and other resources that provide the basis for high quality research and scholarship. Additionally, the university must enhance the high-performance computing and information technology infrastructure and the digital resources and funding for collections for our library.
K-State will: (1) expand and modernize the available research space and facilities; (2) leverage limited state funding to obtain state-of-the-art research equipment; and (3) increase high-performance computing, data mining resources, connectivity, and the campus-wide utilization of information technology.
The University can build a high quality research enterprise by focusing on its institutional research strengths and facilitating innovative graduate programs. To accomplish this, K-State must concentrate on identifying and supporting research programs that have the potential to raise public and private sector sponsored support. The University must increase the enrollments in top-quality graduate degree and graduate certificate programs, and expand the number of innovative interdisciplinary programs. The University must also support initiatives that link scholarly activity to technology transfer.
K-State will: (1) identify and invest in its most promising and competitive research programs, (2) increase the number of interdisciplinary research proposals submitted and awards received, (3) increase the number of mediated graduate courses to fulfill growing student demands, (4) increase the number of graduate certificate programs addressing contemporary societal needs, and (5) broaden faculty involvement in technology transfer, commercialization of intellectual property, and economic development activities and programs.
It is the responsibility of faculty in higher education to provide service to their professions and to their academic disciplines. Since Kansas State is a public, land grant University, faculty and staff have an additional important duty to be responsive to the needs of the state, the nation, and the world through our service and outreach activities. At K-State, service is delivered in two ways, which we call "directed" and "non-directed." Directed service is that which comprises the job itself. Major examples are the Cooperative Extension Service (CES) and the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and Diagnostic Laboratory. Student teachers practicing in the public schools, faculty and student contributions to community projects as a component of service learning, and social work and human services interns in non-profit social agencies are other examples of directed service. Non-directed service includes participation in governance on committees and task forces in departments, colleges, or at the university level as well as contributions to the work of professional and scholarly societies. These activities are essential to the effective on-going operation of the institution. The K-State Cooperative Extension Service, along with the Agriculture Experiment Station, distinguishes Kansas State University as a land grant institution. The following indicators can be used to assess our success in fulfilling our service and outreach missions.
Colleges and departments, if they are to be effective in service and outreach efforts, must have in place effective means of placing value on these activities. Often current departmental standards and criteria for evaluation may not fully value or explicate service and outreach efforts. While service and outreach are seen as critical to the University missions, the definitions for these activities differ across colleges and departments. Also, if we expect faculty, staff, and students to give full effort to service and outreach, we need to have relevant policies and procedures in place that recognize and reward these activities. Finally, faculty service to shared governance and the profession may not be fully recognized and rewarded in departmental performance standards and evaluation criteria.
K-State will ensure that all relevant departments effectively integrate service and outreach into their performance standards and evaluation criteria to guarantee: (1) that faculty are recognized and rewarded for high quality service and outreach achievements, and (2) that service to the profession and shared university governance are included.
Collaborative and interdisciplinary teams are encouraged and rewarded in outreach activities. Extension, outreach, and service learning activities will address social and economic issues identified by citizens.
K-State will: (1) utilize program evaluations to assess the effectiveness of interdisciplinary outreach and instruction efforts in these areas, and (2) provide specific feedback to appropriate program leaders and to the Director of Cooperative Extension Services on areas and programs that require improvement.
Universities confront many challenges including increased competition for resources and students, conflicting demands of numerous constituents, changing demographics, limited funds and rapidly changing technology. To thrive, or even to survive, in this environment, academic institution needs to focus on how to maintain and enhance services to meet the needs of their diverse constituencies. The success of higher education institution depends to a significant extent on the effectiveness of its leadership and management. Kansas State University has taken major steps to enhance the leadership and management skills of its administrators, especially at the department head level. Through the Provost's Lecture Series and Department Head Workshops, K-State has provided many excellent opportunities for professional development. The following are indicators that can be used to assess our institutional leadership and management successes.
Effective management of our resources, 90 percent of which are invested in people, requires the development of administrative potential. From the heads, chairs, and directors of departments and units to the support staff in colleges and central administration, professional development and evaluation of performance is required.
K-State will: (1) continue and enhance its comprehensive training and professional development program for all departmental administrators, (2) refine its procedures for evaluating administrative performance, (3) continue and improve regular, systematic evaluation programs for all administrators, including feedback from those whom they supervise, and (4) develop an innovative program for evaluating administrators' overall contributions to the development of a more diverse environment and program within their departments.
With the rapidly changing environment in digital technology, the University must make extensive enhancements of its capabilities in high-performance computing and technology supporting the teaching and learning environment, research, the digital library, outreach administration and planning. Since the costs associated with changes in digital technology are very high, the University's ability to support this development is highly related to its ability to acquire adequate funding.
K-State will: (1) monitor its inventory of assets and needs on an annual basis and develop a current and on-going plan to insure the system has the available resources to support adequate growth, (2) increase its capability in computing and digital technology, and (3) develop a comprehensive short- and long-term plan for: a) modernizing the Student Information System and b) making major improvement in its fiscal and personnel information technology systems through development of an integrated data base.
1 Copy available upon request.