L&S Academic Program Review Resource Guide
Purpose and Cycle
Academic program review provides an opportunity to assess each academic program’s quality and effectiveness, stimulate planning and continuous improvement, and encourage strategic development. It is required by the UW System Board of Regents and the accrediting body for UW-Madison. Campus policy provides the overall structure for program review at UW-Madison. These reviews ensure the continuous improvement of our educational offerings and the effective stewardship of college resources.
Program Review Cycles and Types:
Ten-Year: All continuing academic programs (majors, named options, certificates, and minors) must be reviewed at least once every ten years. Ten-year reviews are typically convened eight years after the completion of the previous cycle to ensure the process concludes by the ten-year mandate.
Five-Year Initial Review: New programs must complete an initial review five years after implementation.
Three-Year GFEC Check-In: New graduate programs are required to complete a specific check-in with the Graduate Faculty Executive Committee (GFEC) three years after implementation.
Other reviews: The L&S Dean, in consultation with Academic Associate Deans, can convene focused reviews of academic programs, departments/units, and courses. Selection factors include: Low award status, significant changes in faculty/student profiles, department restructuring, or program state, or program self-nomination where a program seeks to engage in substantial realignment or curricular changes.
Accreditation: For programs with specialized accreditation, L&S will request a copy of the materials and use this as the foundation for the program review. L&S will notify the program if additional information is needed. The graduate school requires a supplemental review report for accredited graduate programs.
L&S Review Process and Timeline
A standard review spans two academic years with the exception of undergraduate certificate-only reviews. The College sends a courtesy notice the prior year to inform the department of the upcoming review.
Year 1:
- A self-study charge is sent by the Dean of L&S and a deadline is given for the programs to write the self-study.
- After the self-study is received, a review committee is formed that is composed of faculty and sometimes staff.
- For undergraduate certificate-only reviews, a committee is formed by recommendation rather than as part of the standard process. Undergraduate Certificate-only reviews are typically concluded in one academic year.
Year 2:
- The review committee meets with program faculty, staff, and students and writes a report.
- The program is given an opportunity to correct factual errors in the report.
- Materials are reviewed by governance committees, including Graduate Faculty Executive Committee (GFEC) for graduate programs and the L&S Academic Planning Council.
- GFEC often issues a memo requesting additional information from the program with a deadline.
- A summary memo is sent by the College summarizing the review and indicating any next steps or action items.
- Once the review is complete, the provost’s office sends a final memo and includes the review in a report to UW-System administration.
Self-Study Narrative
The self-study is a candid, evaluative document providing the foundation for institutional effectiveness.
Guidance
- Use the template provided by the provost’s office
- Length: Maximum of 25 pages. Certificate-only and single program reviews are typically more focused and shorter (10–15 pages). Use strategic hyperlinks and appendices for supplemental materials.
- Tone: Avoid mere description. The narrative must provide a candid evaluation of quality, areas for growth, concerns, and future strategic goals.
- Data and Analysis: Include campus data in the self-study along with narrative analysis. L&S provides a packet of data to each program under review.
- Graduate programs: Graduate programs are provided with data that is maintained by the graduate school from the Graduate School Explorer visualization.
- Please note that the Graduate School uses this standard data when discussing program reviews by putting it on slides for the GFEC members.
Required sections
The self-study template provides detailed guidance on what should be included in each section.
- Overview: Program context and mission.
- Response to Previous Review: Evidence of continuous improvement since the last cycle.
- Student Learning and Assessment: Analysis of outcomes and assessment-driven changes.
- Student Profile and Trends: Analysis of enrollment, persistence, and completion.
- Student Support: Evaluation of advising and professional development.
- Community and Climate: Efforts toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Resources: Analysis of faculty, staff, and fiscal sustainability.
- Overall Analysis: Priorities and strategic actions for the future.
Resources and Support
Data and Information Resources:
- DAPIR (Data, Academic Planning & Institutional Research): The central source of visualizations for enrollment, degrees, and undergraduate time-to-degree.
- DAPIR information and resources.
- Guide: Official source for program array and learning outcomes at guide.wisc.edu.
- Graduate School: Source of Graduate school data
- Graduate School Explorer for admissions, funding, time-to-degree, & award data
- Student survey section for Master’s and Doctoral student exit survey data.
- L&S Student Academic Affairs, Academic Information Management: Specialized data visualizations for undergraduate programs
- Office of Student Learning Assessment: Annual reports of assessment of learning in academic programs
- L&S Historical Guidelines for Program Review
L&S Contacts and Support
Kim Grocholski, Assistant Dean for Academic Planning: Primary contact for college-level process coordination and logistics.
Academic Associate Deans: Primary contacts for the disciplinary scope and strategic questions of the review. The three divisions are: