How Does a Departmental Review Work?

The most common type of request we get at the Departmental Consulting Service is a general one. Many departments request an overall evaluation of the department, or perhaps a review of the curriculum. If you are wondering how such a review would work, here is an overview.

• The most important aspect of the review is that it is tailored to the needs of your department. As you make arrangements with a consultant, you will discuss what the department hopes to accomplish with the review as well as details such as the time frame and expenses associated with the review. The consultant will work with you to customize the review. It will not be very helpful for the department to tell the consultant something vague like, "We just want someone to take a look at our department." If you can give the consultant specific ideas about your needs, the review process will make better use of your time and money.
  
• The department should expect to provide some information to the consultant prior to a site visit. The exact information that you supply will depend on what you want the consultant to do for you, as well as on what information you actually have available. Very likely, the DCS consultant will ask for specific types of information. Do your best to supply these materials in a timely manner.
  
• The structure of the site visit will again depend on what the department hopes to accomplish with the review. Typically, the consultant will want to meet with various groups and individuals (faculty, students, office staff, administrators), tour facilities, and possibly present some ideas or a preliminary report to the department.
  
• After the site visit, the consultant will submit a report to the department. Your department should review this report and decide what actions, if any, should be taken. For example, the consultant may recommend that a degree program be revised, that advising should be done in a different way, or that the department should change the way it makes decisions. After some deliberation, you may or may not agree with suggestions that the consultant has made.
  
• It is very helpful if the department can submit an evaluation of the consultant to the DCS coordinator at the end of the entire process. An evaluation form is included in the materials that I will send to you when you request a consultant.
  

In forthcoming posts, I will describe some examples of particular issues that have come up in departmental reviews. As always, if you are interesting in finding a consultant for your department, contact me at kreiner@ucmo.edu.