Design Effective Academic Department Reviews

Most unit-level evaluation and planning processes fall into one of two categories: infrequent disciplinary reviews that view each department in isolation or reductive prioritization processes that rank all programs according to a rigid set of criteria. Both are insufficient to advance institutional goals, or to equip department chairs with actionable information about their role in strategy.

To create meaningful and sustainable change, academic leaders need a mission-aligned approach to assessing each department’s contributions to institutional strategy through departmental reviews.