Processes (P)

7P5 Aligning Department and Unit Data Analysis with Institutional Student
Learning Goals

The five-year Strategic Plan (8C2) guides short- and long-term strategies relevant to the mission vision, and values of the institution. Western ensures that faculty, staff, and programs align to organizational performance analyses by requiring units, academic departments, and the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professional Studies to create five-year goals that reflect the institutional goals in the Strategic Plan.

Departments provide annual reports that examine pertinent data and evaluate progress on the departmental goals aligned with the Strategic Plan. The academic chain of command reviews the reports, and the Provost summarizes and presents them to the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. The Office of Academic and Student Affairs accumulates, analyzes, and disseminates much of the data shared with the university community and external constituents.

The strategic planning goal most directly associated with student learning is for Western students to complete, prior to graduation, an applied learning activity such as a credit-bearing internship, practica, student/faculty research project, campus employment, or some co-curricular activity (1R3).