Preface
THE SELF-STUDY PROCESS
Boston University began to prepare for its ten-year comprehensive evaluation by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) in the fall of 2007. The President and University Provost appointed a self-study chair, who then assembled a small working group of staff in the Office of the Provost and the Office of Institutional Research. The self-study chair and working group attended a workshop hosted by CIHE in October 2007, in order to gain a better understanding of the key components of the self-study process.
In conjunction with the President and University Provost, the self-study chair and working group decided early on to undertake a straightforward self-study based on CIHE’s Eleven Standards, without areas of special emphasis. This decision was based in part on the fact that the 1999 self-study had devoted approximately two-fifths of the report to three areas of emphasis: Degree Standards at Boston University, the International Character of Boston University, and the Changing Landscape of Higher Education. Individual standards were assigned to standing committees of the University Council, a body consisting of members of the Faculty Council, deans of Boston University’s 17 schools and colleges, the University Provost, the President, and other officers designated by the President. A number of committees overlapped closely with one or more of the CIHE’s Eleven Standards. The Committee on the Budget, for instance, helped draft text in response to STANDARD NINE: FINANCIAL RESOURCES, while the Committee on Scholarly Activities and Libraries addressed STANDARD SEVEN: LIBRARY AND OTHER INFORMATION RESOURCES. Committees were encouraged to reach out to faculty and staff across the University in order to obtain the information they needed.
The chairs of the University Council committees assumed responsibility for drafting responses to the standard or standards to which they had been assigned. These chairs, supplemented by a handful of other senior academic and administrative leaders, comprised the NEASC Reaccreditation Steering Committee. The Steering Committee met monthly or bimonthly from February 2008 to February 2009 to discuss each standard as it took shape, to review the NEASC requirements, and to plan for the site visit.
University Council committee chairs submitted their draft standards to the self-study chair and administrative working group in the summer of 2008. This material was edited for length and adherence to the formatting guidelines recommended by NEASC. A draft of the full self-study report, based on the text from committee chairs, was circulated to members of the University Leadership Group—including the President, Executive Vice President, University Provost, and Provost of the Medical Campus, deans, vice presidents, the Chair of the Faculty Council, and other academic and administrative leaders at Boston University—in December 2008. Edits and suggestions from University Leaders were reviewed and incorporated in January 2008. In February, the self-study report was posted online for comment by students, staff, faculty, alumni, and others with an interest in the health and future of Boston University. Notices inviting the public to submit third party comments directly to CIHE were published in a number of media, including print and online versions of local newspapers, student newspapers, and Boston University’s alumni magazine, Bostonia.
While the self-study report was being compiled, the administrative working group also assembled an extensive exhibit room with assistance from steering committee members, and departments and offices across Boston University. Electronic versions of nearly all documents in the Exhibit Room were posted online on a secure website for site team members to view in advance of their visit. Many of the required data forms were also made available to site team members online, on a password-protected site maintained by the Office of Institutional Research. Deans were invaluable in helping to complete the new E- and S-series data forms. They prepared appropriate forms for their respective schools and colleges in the spring and summer of 2008. These forms were then reviewed by the administrative working group, with assistance from Barbara Brittingham, President and Director of CIHE, in late August 2008. In some cases, forms were refined and reworked in conjunction with deans.
The self-study was well timed. It was preceded by a period of sustained reflection on Boston University’s mission, history, and future, which led to the production of the University’s first strategic plan. As a result of the goals articulated in the strategic plan, the self-study process also coincided with a considered effort to distill and articulate the “value-added” of a Boston University undergraduate education and to systematically evaluate the University’s graduate and research programs. The final self-study report will be presented to the Board of Trustees of Boston University at their annual spring meeting in April 2009.
