Academic Quality Improvement Project

Partnership Request

Kent State University

 

General Instructions. Here are two sets of questions, seven on your readiness to become an AQIP Partner Institution, five on the required quality self-assessment that all institutions joining AQIP must perform. There are no "correct" answers to these questions; their purpose is to help AQIP understand where you are in your quality journey. A peer panel and the AQIP staff will analyze your responses to determine whether it makes sense for AQIP and your institution to enter into a partnership to participate in an alternative accreditation process. Your responses will also become part of a portfolio that will enable AQIP to better understand your institution's history, dynamics, and changing needs as it develops and strengthens its quality initiative. In planning AQIP activities in which you will participate (e.g., Collaborative Goal-Setting Workshops), we will refer regularly to this portfolio.

If your institution is uncertain how to answer several of these questions, it may not yet be well positioned to benefit from AQIP participation, and should consider postponing formal partnership. AQIP staff will be happy to work with your institution in identifying additional ways for you to continue exploring your interest in and readiness for a systematic quality improvement initiative.

Answer each question in a few sentences or paragraphs. An adequate response to any single question should not require more than 200 words, and your total response to all twelve questions should not require more than 2500 words. Your written response will begin the formal record of your institution’s involvement with AQIP.

In addition to your answers to these questions (in digital form), we also need (sent by regular mail, in paper form) documentation that you have completed (or firmly scheduled) a self-assessment. Depending on the method you used to do a self-assessment, this might consist of:

  • Your application for a local, state, or national quality award program
  • The feedback report you received as part of your participation in a local, state, or national quality award program
  • Reports that give evidence of outside feedback prepared as part of a quality-framework self-assessment you undertook independently or in partnership with a consultant

In addition, if you have materials demonstrating the nature and scope of your internal quality improvement efforts – internal newsletters, memoranda, minutes of meetings, surveys, etc. – sharing these would be useful in building AQIP's understanding of the culture of your institution and its quality journey.

Readiness for a Quality Initiative. Based upon the experience of many institutions who have engaged in continuous quality improvement, these questions should assist your institution in self-assessing its readiness to participate in AQIP.

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Cover Message

This is Kent State University ’s Partnership Request. As a large, complex university with eight campuses spread out over a geographical area the size of Connecticut , and thousands of dedicated faculty and staff members, Kent State has found it a challenge to provide brief answers to appropriately complex questions. Faced with the choice, we have not excluded information germane to these questions. Moreover, in order to respond to the "spirit" of AQIP as well as the "letter," we have described in addition to tangible accomplishments some efforts that represent precursors of future developments.

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Descriptive Summaries of Documentation To Be Mailed
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The academic culture of the university includes assessment and continuous quality improvement. Professional staff, classified staff, student workers, faculty, and students regularly offer critique and suggestions for improving the learning of our students and the support services of our programs. Regional and program accreditations help shape this culture in direct ways. Having said that, the following examples document some of these efforts.

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The development of Kent State University ’s Strategic Plan and Mission Statement used a consultative process that insured all key areas throughout the eight-campus network provided quality and timely input to the formulation of the strategic plan. Planning committees were established in each unit with co-chairs selected from faculty and staff in the units. A flowchart displayed key stages of the process. (Supportive materials describing this process are included.)

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Kent State University was the recipient of several Selective Excellence Awards from the Ohio Board of Regents. Program recipients of Selective Excellence awards included Chemistry, Speech Pathology, Geology, Honors College , Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technology, Applied Psychology Center , Center for Psychoanalysis and Literature, Center for Nuclear Studies, Water Resources Research Institute, Institute for Computational Mathematics, and Family-Child Learning Center . (Supportive materials describing this process are included.)

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All graduate programs are reviewed every seven years. To give a perception of what is included in this process, the overall cycle plan and the graduate program review for Geography are included. Note the use of external reviewers, attention to stakeholders and program need, and the use of the results in decision-making processes within the university. Whenever possible this review cycle is synchronized with program accreditation such as AACSB, NASM, NCATE and NLN.

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Kent State University participates in the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. This process is based on a process of continuous improvement. NCATE has five-year continuous accreditation visits. In each year between the five-year visits, the College of Education is required to provide a report of institutional activities in the past year related to NCATE standards. New NCATE 2000 standards are performance based and will require an assessment system that collects and analyzes data on applicant qualifications, candidate and graduate performance, and unit operations to evaluate and improve the units and its programs. (No supplementary materials included.)

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Further evidence of continuous improvement efforts include:

  • Professors participate in summer teaching improvement projects.
  • Annual administrative and peer reviews of untenured faculty have their continuous improvement as the primary purpose.
  • Merit reviews of all faculty.
  • Standing department committees, such as the curriculum committee, consider various proposals to improve course and degree offerings.
  • Quality review by departments that do not have program accreditation regularly check quality against industry or professional standards. For instance, the School of Fashion Design and Merchandising has the following in place:
    • Industry Advisory Board, with a curriculum committee.
    • Industry partnerships with Sears and JCPenney where seniors’ abilities to perform for the industry are tested with products eventually sold by Sears and JCPenney.
    • Council of Fashion Designers of America annual review of student work and awarding of recognition to the School.

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The Cultural Self-Study (CSS) was a university-wide initiative launched in order to ascertain cultural change needs and cultural dynamics that, once identified, could lead to improvement in communications, management style, empowerment, and productivity. The Cultural Self-Study surveyed all university citizens utilizing an outside consulting firm to design appropriate questions, quantify responses to these questions and recommend key areas for organizational improvement. Once the survey was completed, a committee was formed to analyze the responses and recommend intervention strategies. Among the various initiatives resulting from the CSS were the University Support Staff Advisory Council, the Administrative and Professional Performance Evaluation Committee, the Operational Effectiveness Council and the Childcare initiative. Supervisory training was greatly expanded and the Leadership Academy was implemented through Human Resource Development. These interventions were influenced significantly by this cultural baseline assessment. Many of these initiative included in-depth assessment of needs, feedback mechanisms through individual interviews and focus groups to gather opinions and benchmarking of best practices and procedures in other university and service environments. (Recommendations based on this 1000+ page report are included.)

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Governor’s Excellence in Workers’ Compensation Award (2000) recognized safety improvements at Kent State University . Safety awareness training by Manhattan Consultants of Painesville focused on such issues as hazard communications, electrical safety, blood-borne pathogens, fall protection, working in confined spaces, and occupational noise exposure. This safety program is credited with reducing workers compensation costs and number of injuries. (Application and notification letter are included)

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Not only does the university receive awards, it also presents awards to deserving individuals. Three brochures are included to represent some of the awards given by Kent State University to faculty, employees, students, and alumni.

  • Awards and Recognitions from the Kent State University Alumni Association
    • Distinguished Teaching Awards
    • Distinguished Alumnus Award
    • Distinguished Service Award
  • Distinguished Staff Recognition Program for Civil Service and Administrative/Professional employees from the Human Resource Division
    • Outstanding University Citizen Award
    • Quality Service Award
    • Leadership Award
    • Cross-Divisional Team Award
  • A Galaxy of Stars: Quality Service Awards Celebration from Enrollment Management and Student Affairs
    • Leadership, Loyalty, Commitment, Respect, Vision

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This sampling shows a culture of continuous improvement that positions KSU well for participation as an NCA/AQIP Partner Institution

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Academic Quality Improvement Project

Partnership Request 

Kent State University

 

 

1 How knowledgeable is the president or CEO of your institution and its senior management about quality principles, values, tools, and techniques? Have the CEO and senior management studied the literature of the quality movement (Deming, Juran, Crosby, etc.), participated in formal training programs, or served as examiners for a quality program? Does a core of people (administrators, faculty, and staff) familiar with quality through training or experience exist, and are these people sufficient to serve as the "yeast" for a quality initiative?

Administrators, staff, and many faculty members have had considerable experience with quality improvement initiatives. While most have not studied the literature of the quality movement within the context of formal coursework, they have been exposed to quality principles through their participation in a variety of sources. Following is an overview of experience with quality improvement initiatives by executive officers and others in leadership positions.

Kent State ’s President, Dr. Carol Cartwright, has provided significant leadership to quality improvement initiatives at the national and state levels as well as on behalf of Kent State University . Several examples are provided to document her commitment and leadership.

At the national level, Dr. Cartwright chaired the Board of Directors of the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) from 1993-94. Her leadership term for AAHE coincided with rising interest — and considerable skepticism — in the higher education community about outcomes assessment and continuous improvement practices. Throughout the debate she remained a staunch advocate for AAHE’s role in promoting academic forums and publications about assessment and quality improvement practices.

At the state level, President Cartwright was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Ohio Award for Excellence (OAE) program. In fact, Kent State University is the only university to serve as a charter member of OAE. President Cartwright participated with then-Governor George Voinovich in the formal public launch of OAE, which is organized to promote overall competitiveness and growth of Ohio-based organizations by developing and recognizing those organizations that practice continuous improvement and achieve customer-focused performance excellence. OAE goals include the recognition of organizations that practice continuous improvement, the communication of best practices, and the promotion of understanding the requirements of customer-focused performance excellence.

From the earliest days of her leadership of Kent State University , President Cartwright has promoted the concepts and practices of continuous quality improvement. The numerous examples of on-going projects provided in this document -- for example the Cultural Self-Study, the Distinguished Staff Recognition Program, the Business & Finance Process Redesign, the Enrollment Management & Student Affairs Student Quality Advisory Committee, and the Human Resources Operations Effectiveness Council -- were enthusiastically supported by Dr. Cartwright. As testimony of her support and leadership she personally participates in divisional and University-wide events that recognize and reward teamwork, innovation and quality service. She has also been the driving force behind Kent State ’s application to become an AQIP Partner Institution.

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Provost Paul Gaston has been committed to quality management and continuous improvement for more than 15 years. As a dean of arts and sciences, he provided workshops at annual meetings of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences on quality management at the college level. Since that time, as dean and as provost, his participation in three national meetings (Allentown, PA, 1992; Schaumburg, IL, 1993; Dallas, TX, 1995) on quality management in higher education gave him a strong interest in adapting the techniques of quality management to specifically academic operations. He has studied on site a number of quality initiatives undertaken by such corporations as Motorola, Texas Instruments, and Proctor & Gamble, and he has sought opportunities to expand where possible the application of quality management assumptions within the University. Since his appointment at Kent State in 1999, Provost Gaston has moved to increase understanding of the importance of academic units assessing student achievement and program effectiveness. It is for these reasons that the University's candidacy for participation in AQIP enjoys the provost's enthusiastic support.

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David Creamer, Vice President for Business and Finance, began his career in the 1970s as an operational and compliance auditor with the United States Department of Health Education and Welfare and then the Department of Education. Much of the operational audit methodology and training involved tools and techniques similar to Deming’s Total Quality Management. In the 1980s he transferred the application of these tools to higher education as director of internal audit at Kent State University .

In 1991, Dr. Creamer was a part of the founding team that developed and applied a total quality management program at Iowa State University . While there, he participated in several training sessions and collaborated with area corporations who already had successfully developed and applied these principles.

Upon becoming Vice President for Business and Finance at Shawnee State University , Dr. Creamer was a part of a group that redesigned the recruiting and retention program using quality management principles, and he participated in several training sessions sponsored by Noel-Levitz. While at Shawnee State , he was responsible for implementing a quality team program in the custodial department. In response to budget reductions, all supervisory positions in the unit were eliminated and the operation was totally run by staff. In that situation he worked closely with the local union in establishing the program and again participated in extensive training with the union and collaborated with other businesses in applying these principles.

While at Kent State , Dr. Creamer has built on existing programs and activities. Since his arrival, the cash-management program has been completely redesigned using these principles including the establishment of performance benchmarks. Substantial improvements have also been made in the processes associated with the procurement activities at the University. Lastly, he has formed the Committee on Administrative Efficiency, a university-wide committee with the goal of implementing these approaches for all administrative processes.

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Vice President for University Relations and Marketing, Mark Lindemood, has used a quality improvement team for the University’s external efforts in Development, Alumni Services, and Marketing. Staff of that Division made presentations on "best practice" at Council for the Advancement and Support of Education meetings and generally have looked at most of our business processes on an annual basis. In addition, WKSU, the University's public radio station, is seen as a leader by National public radio in quality practices.

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Nancy Scott, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, has demonstrated her knowledge and leadership in quality service initiatives through several different programs. She supports a Student Quality Advisory Committee whose purpose is to focus on quality service to Kent State University and to bring issues of concern to the Vice President. The Vice President also mandated quality service training for all employees within the Division using Advanced Connections training materials from Noel Levitz USA Group. Continuous improvement of each division office is sought through a five-year cyclic review process that includes external review. Further, supervisors were rated by their respective staff on effectiveness in 1999. Each year the Division sponsors a Quality Service Awards program to recognize individuals and teams who have provided quality service to students.

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Don Tolliver, Vice President for Information Services and Chief Information Officer, introduced the Deming philosophy in the late 1980s to faculty and staff in Libraries and Media Services. At that time he was Dean of Libraries and Media Services and worked closely with Susan Barnard, Director of Library Services, to develop the concept and what it means in the library environment. This was a regular topic of his Dean's column in the library newsletter and at several workshops on issues relating to continuous improvement. These early efforts have made a difference in the thought and planning of services such as 60-minute seminars and reference services. The Reference area frequently engages in survey work to determine how well services are received and these surveys are compared with national norms. Susan Barnard spent six months at the Association of Research Libraries helping that organization design its continuous improvement program that is used in many ARL libraries across the United States and Canada . As a result she co-authored a book on the topic that has been well received in the library community.

Dr. Tolliver, as Chief Information Officer, recently formed an assessment task group chaired by Julie Gedeon, Senior Institutional Research Information Officer, to work on issues of continuous improvement. The first surveys assess how well the "Web for Students" project was implemented and how satisfactorily the acquisition of our new university-wide telephone system was managed.

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In addition to the executive officers, there are other individuals whose experience and knowledge about continuous improvement will serve Kent State University .

Dennis Ulrich, Director for Executive Development Programs, has fostered quality improvement initiatives at the university and state levels. He helped create the Ohio Award for Excellence.

Robert Smith, Professor of Management and Information Systems, taught Kent State ’s first credit course in TQM in 1994 and students in that class have created quality improvement initiatives on campus. This course is now required of all management majors. He also serves as a TQM trainer for the Student Quality Advisory Committee.

Terry Kuhn, Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies, currently a consultant/evaluator for NCA, will be trained in Fall 2000, to be an examiner for the Ohio Excellence Award.

Shirley Barton, Dean of Academic and Student Services for the Regional Campuses, Carol A. Cartwright, President, Cheryl Casper, Professor of Economics and Immediate Past Chair of Faculty Senate, Paul Gaston, Provost, and George Stevens, Dean of the College of Business Administration, are consultant/evaluators for NCA.

Noah Midamba, Associate Dean for Institutional Diversity, chaired the Division of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs quality efforts and taught credit courses in TQM. Dr. Midamba presented on "Applying Total Quality Service Model in Higher Education: The Case of Kent State University" at the 1998 National Association of School Personnel Association national conference in Philadelphia .

Aubrey Mendelow, Associate Professor of Management and Information Studies, offers courses and served as a consultant to help industries such as Drop Dies and Forgings and Zeneca with Total Quality implementations.

2 What activities and professional development opportunities for faculty, other staff, and other constituents have the institution committed to or already established in order to achieve broad-based understanding of quality principles and tools?

Kent State University has created many opportunities for faculty, staff, and student development. Among these are

  • The Leadership Academy : Internal Planning Conference is an annual forum in which the president, vice presidents, deans, and non-academic administrators participate in an all-day mission-related issues and awareness session.
  • Kent State University is a participant in the AAHE/Pew Charitable Trusts project "Public Communication through Institutional Portfolios: Quality Assurance at Urban Public Comprehensive Universities."
  • Kent State University was a participant in the University of Pennsylvania , Institute for Research on Higher Education, Wharton/IRHE Pilot Program on Managing Higher Education (1996-1997). This project provided external feedback to university leaders (provost, deans, chairs) about communication, processes, and outcomes.
  • Kent State University participated in the 2000 Ashville Institute. Kent State ’s team is redefining goals for the Liberal Education Requirements to be written in such a way that they are measurable and included on all Basic Data Sheets.
  • Advanced Connections training on Total Quality Service was provided for all Enrollment Management and Student Affairs employees.

3 What structures, systems, and resources does the institution have now or plan to create to sustain continual improvement and accountability both to internal and external audiences? What portions of your institution (e.g., a school or department) are already experienced with systematic quality improvement principles and tools?

About half of the University’s departments have been involved in Total Quality Service programs. Business and Finance, Human Resources, Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, and the College of Business Administration have been involved using Baldrige criteria.

  • In an effort to evaluate the quality of and to improve student educational outcomes and academic program effectiveness, an Advisory Committee for Academic Assessment now works with the Office of Academic Assessment in planning and supporting implementation of academic evaluation across the university. This office continues to coordinate assessment of general education and the majors, and to collaborate in research related to improvement of academic outcomes.
  • The Information Services division has structured two offices to form the Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support to facilitate institutional improvement efforts.
  • The Division of Business and Finance used process review teams in the areas of aesthetics enhancement; custodial; energy management; grounds; maintenance; occupational health, safety, and fire safety; office practices and procedures. This division-wide effort included establishing a mission, vision, values, and beliefs statements for the entire division. The effort included introductory and on-going design team project component training in process redesign, survey design, interviewing, data gathering, data analysis, and problem-solving techniques. There was extensive customer involvement through interview and survey quality input channels as well as customers functioning as design team members throughout the process along with their suppliers. There was on-going feedback on results as well as a final project reporting process from team members to the vice president.
  • The colleges of Business Administration, Education, and Nursing have extensive experience in mandated assessment and accountability as part of their program accreditations. The College of Arts & Sciences, College of Business Administration , and School of Music have mandated outcomes assessment as a requirement for graduation.
  • The Division of Human Resources has established an Operations Effectiveness Council. That division also produces the Leadership Academy, an annual Internal Planning Conference, that keeps administrative leaders informed about key local, state, and national issues affecting higher education; strategic directions for the university; and training opportunities for faculty, staff, and students. Another aspect of the Leadership Academy is a year-long program.
  • The Human Resources Division supports a web page that lists topics about which other areas of the university can get inside consultants. These topics include process redesign, change management, measuring organizational effectiveness, and business process review, among others.
  • The university has an ongoing Faculty Professional Development Center with functioning committees. The Center was a joint effort by the administration and the AAUP faculty union to provide professional develop opportunities for faculty members.
  • A Residence Halls Quality Team was created to provide input on improving conditions and procedures for residential student living.
  • The Student Quality Advisory Committee created the "Listening Post" program to facilitate open communication among students, administrators, and staff; to effectively respond to student issues; and to gather appropriate information for assessing university on-going projects.
  • The Department of Management and Information Systems has gone through a detailed TQM initiative with considerable improvements in delivery of courses as indicated by student evaluations before and after. The department also maintains a customer service center and it periodically evaluates quality questionnaires on the service provided by that center and the department office staff.
  • The Executive MBA Advisory Board was established "To provide a structured continuous improvement process to enhance the learning experience for Kent EMBA students."
  • The Center for Information Systems uses corporate information managers to advise on curriculum quality and content.
  • An Operations Effectiveness Council (OEC) exists to ensure that cross-divisional plans and implementation occurs at the operational level of the University. The OEC discusses the implementation and communication of various committee reports, strategic initiatives, current divisional initiatives that have University-wide impact, and identify issues in which the university might be able to enhance its operations. The OEC advises the Executive Officers on the critical linkages that maximize administrative implementation efforts.

4 What evidence would you present to an outsider to demonstrate that your institution has seriously and openly discussed systematic quality improvement and understands what it is?

There are many documents, minutes of meetings, and existing committees that attest to the efforts to incorporate continuous improvement into the services and programs provided for students and other stakeholders at Kent State University . A sampling of these includes:

  • Several web pages have been created to provide information to all university stakeholders and to increase communication. Some of these topics and their University Resource Locators (URL) include:
  • The University Requirements Curriculum Committee completes a review of the Liberal Education Requirements program every five years and recommends changes, which are then implemented. This year will see the first comprehensive review for the Writing-Intensive Course program. Regular assessment of learning outcomes for LER courses has also been initiated with several pilot test administrations.
  • The Honors program is measured using the "Sixteen Characteristics of a Fully-Developed Honors Program," promulgated by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC). This year a site visit by two evaluators credentialed by NCHC will be conducted.
  • Faculty and staff presented at state and national conferences about Kent State