Quality Matters at Penn State

Student Success- part II

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:56:43 -0500

Damon Sims, Vice President for Student Affairs moderated another successful Quality Advocates conversation about student success. This time the focus was on connecting policy to practice and the panel addressing the topic included Robert Reason, Andrea Dowhower, Mohamed Raodua, and Kirin Kennedy. A summary of the session can be found at http://www.psu.edu/president/pia/advocates/2009/11/. As usual, there were many good questions than time allowed for discussion. To continue the conversation, we've posted some of the questions here. Let us know what you think.

*Should policies and practices related to student success vary across the campuses given that we know that student outcomes are not the same at each campus?

*Does the pressure on tenure-track faculty members to produce research affect the implementation of good and innovative teaching practices?

*How should Student Affairs work with Academic Affairs to better facilitate students using class time to engage in outside activities?

*Is there a relationship between class structure in terms of when and where they are held and student success?

*How do we attract students to the honors program that might just see it as more work?

'Waste': A new approach or a threatening term in improvement?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:34:42 -0500

Some of the key concepts in Lean come form Toyota's identification of the seven wastes: overproduction, waiting, transportation, processing, excess inventory, unnecessary movement, and defects or spoilage (with an eighth of unused employee creativity added later by some authors). In our internal discussions at OPIA we have thought that 'waste' can be

Problems in Crossing the Finish Line

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:25:00 -0500

Mike's review of the recently published book, Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities gives an overview of the book's most interesting findings, Some of them reinforce what research from our office found several years ago: lower-income students are less likely to complete college, even after controlling for a number of other characteristics.

Student Success - What does it mean to you?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:24:48 -0500

On October 9, Terrell Jones moderated a panel of student and staff who discussed the factors that contribute to or deter a student from being successful. A summary of the discussion is on the OPIA website and was announced in the October newsletter.

This is the first of three Quality Advocates sessions focused on student success to be offered this semester. The second session will be November 13 and will be moderated by Damon Sims. In this first session,many issues and concerns were raised by the panelists and there wasn't time for questions.It might be worth extending the discussion to the blog. So once you read the write up, let us know your thoughts about how you would define student success, what you consider the policies and practices that facilitate or hinder student success and what advice you would give a student who asked you what it takes to succeed at Penn State.

Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:08:46 -0500

The Department of Education (DOE) is streamlining the form used by millions of college student who apply for financial aid each year (http://www.ed.gov/finaid/info/apply/simplification.html) Their efforts have some of the hallmarks we use in continuous quality improvement to make processes more efficient and effective. One of the first steps in improving any process is to map the steps in the process and then look for areas of duplication, redundancy, and waiting. In redesigning the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, DOE may also be looking to the Internal Revenue Service to potentially provide information from tax forms. DOE estimates that 90 percent of financial aid applicants provide information to 20 questions that is readily available through tax forms. That's a lot of duplication. . . .

APPA 2009 Effective and Innovative Practices Award

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:50:20 -0500

APPA, the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers, annually recognizes with their Effective and Innovative Practices Award up to five programs that enhance services, lower costs, increase productivity, and generate revenue. In 2009 the winners were:

University of Texas at Austin, for their annual SITES (Service, Integrity, Teamwork, Excellence, Stewardship) and On-the-Spot employee recognition award programs
Weber State University for their educational and fun game-based approach to safety training
Western Michigan University for their collaborative effort between facilities management staff and faculty and students from the Department of Geography and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, using GIS and GPS technology, to record the location of all utility assets, including vaults, shutoff valves, and manholes
University of North Texas for the revisions to their small renovation delivery process, in which they acted like a contractor with guaranteed pricing
Valparaiso University for negotiation with their local utility that resulted in the utility replacing the University's substation and distribution systems, and installation of a system that meters each building's utility use and enables more effective management of power consumption

More information is available in APPA's Facilities Manager at
http://www.appa.org/files/FMArticles/Sept-Oct%202009%20Effective%20&%20Innovative%20Practices%20Award%20Winners.pdf

OPIA Hosts a Visitor from R.I.T.

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:32:22 -0500

First a little history--Total Quality Management (TQM) had its roots in business and industry. In the early 1990s, there was a push for higher education to adopt some of the principles and practices of TQM and many corporations partnered with universities to help them learn the tools. Penn State had as its partners IBM and DuPont and we adapted TQM to our culture creating the Center for Continuous Quality Improvement in 1992. Now to the point of the story. Carol Marchetti, associate professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology, has been granted a professional leave of absence this semester to study those universities that have been successful in the adoption of CQI. In my opinion, those universities that have been successful in the implementation of CQI have focused on the "soft" side of quality. The emphasis has been not just on data based decision making, but on teamwork, communication, and collaboration. Dr. Marchetti will be visiting Penn State and the University of Wisconsin- Madison. We will welcome Dr. Marchetti to Penn State this month.

Crossing the Finish Line

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:35:36 -0500

A new book provides one of the most detailed and disturbing evidence-based explorations I have seen of the crises of college completion in American public universities. The 2009 book, Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America's Public Universities, by William Bowen, Michael Chingos, and Michael McPherson draws largely on detailed data about the entering class of 1999 at 21 public flagship universities, including Penn State. The book is a tour de force. Based on solid evidence, the authors convinced me of big challenges facing U.S. higher education. I'm going to summarize greatly here, but I'll note the points that impressed me most, along with brief bits of evidence for each.

1. The overall level of educational attainment in the U.S. is too low and it's getting worse.
Evidence: For most of the 20th century, the United States' educational performance was spectacular. Now we rank about 10th to 17th on various higher ed achievement measures, among the 30 OECED countries. And for anyone who thinks that we are and will forever remain the higher ed magnet for the world: China is now a net importer of college students! . . .

Penn State's Plan for Diversity, 2010-2015

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:54:54 -0500

Penn State is at the national forefront of diversity strategic planning and assessment processes. A Framework to Foster Diversity at Penn State: 2010-15, the University's third five-year plan for diversity, is now available online at www.equity.psu.edu/Framework. Emphasis during this Framework period is on planning that is intentionally strategic, and on more streamlined reporting. The approach focuses on establishing unit priorities, self-assessment of progress, and effective utilization of resources.

The 2010-15 Framework was recently featured on Penn State Live at http://live.psu.edu/story/40695/nw4. The Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity Web site www.equity.psu.edu maintains a comprehensive repository of unit diversity strategic plans, updates, and feedback reports from each Framework cycle.

My 3 favorite higher ed blogs/RSS feeds

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:20:49 -0500

a. The Chronicle of Higher Education. The daily online version (www.chronicle.com) beats the paper weekly version of the Chronicle hands down. The only downside is that you need a paid subscription to get full access.

b. Inside Higher Ed. I've come to like this even better than the Chronicle and am more likely to look at it on any given day - it has a little more zing. You can sign up for a brief, daily news update email, and get free access to an excellent newsletter, at www.insidehighered.com.

c. Changing Higher Education. I suppose this is a blog but it is so good that "blog" hardly seems like an adequate description. Anyhow, it is by Lloyd Armstrong, University Professor and Provost Emeritus, University of Southern California. His Ph.D. and much of his early- to mid-career work were in physics, but his later research interests focused on universities. It's another thought-provoking RSS feed: www.changinghighereducation.com

Quality Matters at Penn State

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:00:33 -0500

With this first entry,we're planning to begin providing more frequent updates on the activities of the Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment and other "Quality Matters" at Penn State.