Faculty Senate Meeting
September 22, 2016
Attachment: FS 16/17-33
Academic Program Review Report
Department of Psychology
California State University, Sacramento
Fall 2015
Review Team
Dr. Susan Crawford (Review Team Chair)
Chemistry Department
Ben Amata
Library
External Consultant
Dr. Brian Oppy
Professor and Chair Psychology Department
Chico State
Details of Review
The Department of Psychology underwent their scheduled program review as one of seven academic
departments in the 2014-2015 review cycle. The department was initially scheduled to be reviewed
during the 2012-2013 review cycle. A delay caused by an unforeseen change in the internal program
review chair resulted in a postponement and ultimately required the review to begin anew during the
2014-2015 cycle. The external consultant’s visit and the majority of the internal review team interviews
occurred during the spring 2015 semester. The Psychology Department, although anxious to have their
review completed, has been extremely patient and helpful throughout the process. The Psychology
Department prepared a Self-Study Program Review Report that contained the following sections in
accordance with the University Program Review Manual:
1) General information about the academic unit and its degree programs, e.g, data on student, faculty,
staff, facilities, etc. Responses to the Recommendations set forth in the previous program review were
included.
2) A summary of assessment activities and results, including learning objectives for each degree
program.
3) The results of a focused inquiry topic selected by the department based on its cu rrent interest and
relevance to a review of the program.
For its focused inquiry the Department of Psychology elected to focus upon a review of its curriculum.
The focused inquiry centers on the department’s self-evaluation regarding how well its current
curriculum functions in regard to content, structure, and efficiency. The selection of this focused inquiry
area stemmed from the growth in the psychology major relative to the number of full -time faculty and
reduced course offerings during the tight budget climate spanning the review period; which combined
caused course impaction and student graduation delays. Additionally, the department’s 2006-2007
program review made recommendations that the department address curricular issues involving both
the undergraduate and graduate levels. In departmental discussions surrounding these
recommendations, the department determined a larger study of its curriculum as the topic of its
selected focused inquiry for the current program review would be beneficial and productive. The
current continued growth in the university and renewed focus on graduation rates makes the
department’s choice both timely and of current importance to the University’s interests.
The focused inquiry section of the self-study is organized according to the following sections and
accompanying probing questions:
1) Course Offerings. “How thoroughly do our department’s programs and course offerings cover the
current field of psychology?” In this section, the department compares its curriculum with
recommendations from accrediting and other professional organizations in psychology, with curriculum
offerings at similar institutions, with course curriculum required by psychology graduate programs, and
with the curriculum outlined by the SB 1440 Transfer Model for Psychology.
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2) Learning Goals and Career Preparation. “How well does the structure and content of the curriculum
map onto our current learning goals? How well do the learning goals prepare our students for various
career paths? In this section, the department lists four essential learning goals that it developed using
the University and department missions. The self-study additionally utilizes alumni feedback from the
2012 Alumni Center Survey and results from the Alumni Qualitative Survey that was developed at the
department level and given to Psychology graduates earning their undergraduate degree between 2007
and 2012 to obtain data pertinent to career path preparation.
3) Curriculum Efficiency. “Are the students able to move through the Psychology Curriculum efficiently
with the opportunity to graduate in a timely manner?” In this section the department describes its use
of available data from the university generated Psychology Department’s Factbook and internally
generated Cognos reports to analyze numbers of majors, student progress through the psychology
degrees, and an analysis of its current curriculum flow. The goal of this section is to identify curriculum
revisions to increase efficiency of student progress through the various psychology degrees and to also
manage the continuing growth in psychology majors while simultaneously meeting course demand
from non-majors seeking psychology courses to fulfill GE requirements. The department describes
steps it has already taken in the direction of increasing efficiency and describes additional future
proposed curricular changes.
Review Team Members:
Susan M. Crawford, Professor, Department of Chemistry, (Chair)
Ben Amata, Professor, Library
External Consultant:
Brain J. Oppy, Professor and Chair, Psychology Department, Chico state University
Individuals Consulted During the Program Review:
Dr. Marya Endriga, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology
Dr. Orn Bodvarsson, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies
Dr. Donald Taylor, Interim Assistant Vice President, Academic Programs and Educational Effectiveness
Dr. Chevelle Newsome, Dean of Graduate Studies
Dr. Amy Liu, Professor and Director of Academic Program Assessment
Dr. Brian Oppy, External Consultant, Professor and Chair, Psychology Department, Chico State University
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Groups Consulted During the Program Review
Tenured Faculty Department of Psychology
Probationary and Untenured Faculty Department of Psychology
Part-time Faculty Department of Psychology
Office Staff Department of Psychology
Undergraduate Psychology Majors (Prospects Peer Mentors)
Department of Psychology Graduate Students
Other:
Tour of Psychology Department facilities including classrooms, clinics, labs, and faculty research spaces.
Documents Consulted:
Department of Psychology Self-Study
Department of Psychology Fall 2014 Factbook
Department of Psychology Fall 2014 Catalog Copy
Department of Psychology 2013-2014 Assessment Report
Feedback (generated by the Office of Program Assessment) for the 2013-2014 Assessment Report
Department of Psychology IPP Reports for Psychology Majors and Graduate Degrees
Department of Psychology Three Year Hiring Plan
Department of Psychology ARTP Policy
Department of Psychology Governance Structure Document
Department of Psychology Graduate Student Handbook
External Consultant’s Report by Dr. Brian Oppy
Department of Psychology Website
The Review team wishes to acknowledge and offer appreciation to those who contributed to the
department self-study and to those who took time to meet with us during the review.
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Summary of Commendations and Recommendations:
Commendations to the Psychology Department:
Commendation 1: The Department is commended for preparation of a thorough Self-Study Report.
The department is further commended for faculty, staff and student participation in the form of
meetings with the review team and external consultant. The number of contributors from the
department clearly establishes psychology to be a department of shared responsibility, pride, and
dedicated members.
Commendation 2: The Department is commended for its ability to collectively come together to make
difficult, but necessary changes in order to address the budget crisis that plagued the review period
including the increase in course section size and the suspension of the most popular graduate program
in the department. These tough decisions were known to result in negative consequences, but were
necessary given the budge climate. The fact that the faculty can collectively face crisis and come up with
solutions, even difficult ones to face, shows the department has strength and a focus upon the good of
the department as a whole.
Commendation 3: The Department faculty is commended for maintaining a productive scholarship
program involving students. Faculty are committed to involving both undergraduate and graduate
students in their research activities which shows an enormous dedication to the educational benefit to
students involved in research projects.
Commendation 4: The Department is commended for maintaining a three year hiring plan that is up to
date and shows discipline currency. The department has successfully hired outstanding faculty
members in emerging areas of psychology that help maintain the department’s excellence.
Commendation 5: The Department is commended for its ability to attract and retain high quality parttime and temporary faculty to assist with its large excess teaching demands.
Commendation 6: The Department is commended for implementing good communication strategies
with its large number of undergraduate majors.
Commendation 7: The Department is commended for making the application process for admission into
the Psychology major easy for students to navigate.
Commendation 8: The Department is commended for significant improvements in their undergraduate
advising plan since their last program review.
Commendation 9: The Department is commended for responding effectively to the prior reviewers’
recommendations regarding the graduate program. The resulting revised program is embraced by the
graduate student population.
Commendation 10: The Department is commended for a thorough analysis of it curriculum in the
context of efficiency and having already responded to the significant problem through the declaration of
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impaction, enforcement of pre-requisites, and changes to courses that were identified as major
bottlenecks.
Commendation 11: The Department is commended for addressing the recommendations from the last
program review regarding the admission requirements, curriculum, and scheduling for the graduate
program. Significant improvement in the graduate program has resulted due to these changes.
Commendation 12: The Department is commended for its commitment to assessing its programs. Its
use of faculty retreats, faculty learning communities and a dedicated departmental committee is
evidence of its commitment to the activity. Its assessment plans and practices have been reviewed
favorably by the OAPA as emerging or developed according to the WASC Rubric.
Commendation 13: The Department is commended for its early efforts focused upon graduate
assessment which places it ahead of where many other academic programs are in terms of this activity.
Recommendations to the Psychology Department:
Recommendation 1: The Psychology Department should seek additional tenure-track faculty hires.
Recommendation 3: The Department should explore potential ways to accommodate the professional
development of temporary faculty so that their service to the department is beneficial for their longer
term professional goal to secure a tenure track faculty position.
Recommendation 4: The Department should make every attempt to provide part-time teaching
assignments early enough for adequate book and material ordering and to provide temporary faculty
with work space conditions that are conducive to a productive and comfortable work environment.
Recommendation 5: The Department should open discussions with temporary faculty regarding
teaching evaluations so that the needs of the department and the temporary faculty are accommodated
by the instruments used and feedback provided.
Recommendation 6: The Department should seek to increase the number of undergraduate research
opportunities available through faculty hires specifically interested in involving undergraduate students.
Perhaps the number of students obtaining a research experience could be increased by creatively
exploring some research based activities in coursework.
Recommendation 7: The Department should seek ways to increase career guidance for students who
are both graduate school bound and directly seeking employment upon graduation.
Recommendation 8: The Department should assess changes the student learning outcomes from the
recent curriculum changes and appropriately adjust the curriculum if it is deemed necessary or
desirable.
Recommendation 9: The Department should discuss the merit and workability of incorporating some
level of mandatory undergraduate advising with a faculty member.
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Recommendation 10: The Department should identify ways to improve communication with graduate
students and arrange a yearly meeting where issues can be raised and addressed. The department
should further explore ways to provide venues for graduate student interaction such as a common
seminar course or series of lecturers with outside invited speakers.
Recommendation 11: The Department should seek ways to increase the number of paid graduate
teaching assistantships if possible, and to develop an application process that is accessible and fairly
distributes the available positions. A discussion with the Graduate Dean regarding the appropriateness
of paying teaching assistants with credit units is in order.
Recommendation 12: The Department needs to locate a space within or near the department for
teaching assistants to hold office hours.
Recommendation 13: Given the potential benefits of a course category reduction, the Department
should examine ways to simplify its course category structure.
Recommendation 14: The Department is strongly encouraged to pursue some of its proposed strategies
to facilitate a smoother transition for transfer students that minimizes course loss and maximizes an
efficient time to graduation.
Recommendation 15: The Department is encouraged to follow through with its implementation of
assessment of the ELG with Measurable Learning Goals and to report on these in their next program
review.
Recommendation 16: The Department should assess the impact of the lab removal from PSYC 101 in
terms of student preparedness and confidence in upper division courses and to address the negative
consequences of the lab component removal if one is identified.
Recommendation 18: The Department should re-evaluate its course demand and time to graduation
now that declaration of impaction and course modifications have had time to stabilize to a new norm.
Recommendation 19: The Department should attempt to reduce the number of course categories
similar to other comparable institutions so that more flexibility in curriculum results and permits easier
access to a collection of courses that will meet graduation requirements in the major.
Recommendation 20: The Department should increase the number of elective units to permit flexibility
and facilitate the ability to meet graduation requirements.
Recommendation 21: The Department should move and redesign some upper division courses to lower
division courses to better fit the Transfer Model Curriculum.
Recommendation 22 : The Department should seek assistance for OIR and the potential for Cognos
reports to assist in predicting course demand for effective scheduling.
Recommendation 23: The Department should revisit its decision to cancel the Master’s Counseling
option to evaluate if the discontinuation of this program was an ideal solution given its popularity.
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Recommendation 24: The Department should energetically seek resources to update its lab facilities
and equipment. Additionally, the prior counseling clinic space should be remodeled /reconfigured for
current department needs. However, in the event that the department seeks to reestablish the
counseling concentration, the space should retain features that would permit its use for this purpose as
well.
Recommendation 27: The Department should seek permanent funding for a student assistant
responsible for the animal care. Consistent care of research animals is a responsibility that cannot be
subject to fluctuating funding. The department is encouraged to discuss possible solutions with the SSIS
Dean’s office.
Recommendation 28: The Department should assess the impacts of its significant recent programmatic
and course changes upon student learning and success. Specifically, the department should assess the
impact of impaction declaration and the removal of lab components from its methods courses.
Recommendation 29: The Department should continue developing its assessment plan and activities for
its graduate programs.
Recommendations for the Dean of Social Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies:
Recommendation 2: The Dean should approve additional faculty hires for the psychology department
and lobby for additional hires from Academic Affairs.
Recommendation 17: The Dean should seek to attain more full-time faculty hires for the psychology
department. The department has implemented a number of enrollment control strategies. Increased
faculty hires are required to meet the growing demand while maintaining the quality of the program.
Recommendation 25: The Dean should assist the department in identifying resources for lab remodel
and equipment updates.
Recommendation 26: The Dean should review the office help needs of the department and work to
secure the additional permanent help required to make the workload more manageable.
Recommendation to the Faculty Senate:
Based on this program review and the Self-study report prepared by the Department of Psychology, the
Review Team recommends that all of the Department’s degree programs be approved for six years or
until the next scheduled program review.
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Overview of the Department
The Department of Psychology is housed in the College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies.
It is the largest department in the college with 20 full-time faculty (a number significantly down from
the 30 full-time faculty previous to the budget crisis) and serves 972 undergraduate majors, 567 premajors and 63 graduate students according to the Fall 2014 University Fact Book. The department
offers the following degree programs:
BA Psychology
Certificate in behavior Analysis – can be obtained concurrently with the BA Psychology
Minor in Psychology
MA Psychology Applied Behavior Analysis Specialization
MA Psychology Counseling Specialization (recently suspended by the department)
MA Psychology Industrial Organizational Psychology
MA Psychology Doctoral Preparation Specialization
GE and Service Components
The BA Psychology degree courses also serve multiple other programs, both at the undergraduate and
graduate level. Eight specific programs list psychology courses as required core courses, electives,
prerequisite courses or recommended courses. Additionally, courses from the BA psychology d egree
are also listed GE courses in Areas D and E. The 2007-2011 Instructional Program Priorities Report (IPP)
and Cognos reports show that service and GE psychology courses represented an average Annual FTES
of 1252. The heavy demand and popularity of psychology courses combined with the continued
increase observed in psychology major growth topping out at 1599 in 2011, contributed to course
impaction in several key courses. In order to attempt to meet the increasing demand with fewer faculty
during the tight budget times , the psychology department increased section sizes from an average of 57
(lower division) and 41 (upper division) in Fall 2007 to 98 students ( lower division) and 53 (upper
division) in 2012.
Declaration of Impaction Status
The increased demand for psychology courses through growth in the major and service course / GE
could not be met by merely increasing section size. The lack of an increase in additional faculty and tight
budget climate precluded the addition of extra sections to accommodate the demand. As a result,
impaction of key courses resulted. Effective Fall 2012, the psychology department was granted
impaction status. Current students wishing to declare the psychology major must submit a
supplemental application and meet the following eligibility criteria including a 2.3 GPA, completion of
PSYC 2 (Introduction to Psychology) with a minimum grade of C and at least 30 units completed overall.
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Eligible applications are ranked by cumulative GPA and a cut-off GPA is set each applicatin cycle based
upon current program capacity.
Suspension of the MA counseling Psychology Option
The department, during this review cycle, made the difficult decision to indefinitely discontinue the MA
Counseling Psychology Option due to diminished full-time faculty and budget constraints that
dominated the University over the review period. The MA Counseling Option was an extremely unit
heavy degree requiring 60 units (based upon the requirements by the California Board of Behavioral
Sciences) as compared to the 30 units required for standard master’s degree programs. The program
suspension required ten specialty courses unique to the Counseling Psychology degree which no longer
need to be offered or staffed resulting in a substantial savings during a time at which courses and
sections were being trimmed for budgetary reasons. Unfortunately, the MA Counseling Psychology
Option was the most popular graduate degree option and students interested in counseling career paths
are left without the opportunity to pursue that degree at Sacramento State. Both faculty and students
continue to lament the loss of the program.
Commendation 1: The Department is commended for preparation of a thorough Self-Study Report. The
department is further commended for faculty, staff and student participation in the form of meetings
with the review team and external consultant. The number of contributors from the department clearly
establishes psychology to be a department of shared responsibility, pride, and dedicated members.
Commendation 2: The Department is commended for it ability to collectively come together to make
difficult, but necessary changes in order to address the budget crisis that plagued the review period
including the increase in course section size and the suspension of the most popular graduate program in
the department. These tough decisions were known to result in negative consequences, but were
necessary given the budge climate. The fact that the faculty can collectively face crisis and come up with
solutions, even difficult ones to face, shows the department has strength and a focus upon the good of
the department as a whole.
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Summary of Responses to Recommendations to Prior Review
The 2007 program review listed a number of recommendations to the department:
i) Mission and Strategic Planning. The previous program review suggested that the department’s
mission statement “ to be lengthy and lacking focus, more a statement of educational or curricular
goals”. It recommended the department undertake strategic planning and development of a
cohesive mission statement as a departmental activity for the next review cycle. The department
responded by focusing its summer retreats in three consecutive years to developing a strategic plan
and mission statement. The final draft was unanimously approved by the department September
12, 2012. The newly defined mission is included in the program’s self study.
ii) Student Learning. The 2007 program recommended the department review and strengthen
academic and career advising, examine undergraduate course scheduling patterns and prerequisite
structure, “close the loop” between assessment and curricular/program change, create student list
serves, and increase faculty-student contact. Graduate program recommendations included
examination of admissions processes, core courses and thesis requirements. During the current
review process, the department made significant changes to both its undergraduate and graduate
programs, partially in response to these recommendations, including a revamping of the graduate
curriculum into a cohort system and modifying its admission process.
The previous program review suggested that the department review prerequisite assignments and
establish a mechanism of prerequisite enforcement for upper division courses in the psychology major.
The department responded by establishing a faculty committee that reviewed and evaluated course
prerequisites and co- requisites to determine their appropriateness for specific upper division courses.
The department chair additionally consulted with the Registrar’s office to enforce pre -requisite and corequisite course policies utilizing the upgraded CMS system which can automatically check student
prerequisite and co-requisite status for courses during the registration process. They revised course
numbering systems in both the undergraduate and graduate courses to provide more order and
intuitiveness of the course content contained in specific numerical ranges. The self-study report states
pre/co-requisite enforcement has improved access for qualifying students and has facilitated progress
through the completion of the major. It would be good to quantify this improvement. Now that cou rse
requirements have been automated by the registration system, is demand for upper division courses
being met?
iii) Advising and Student Communication. Significant improvement was accomplished during the
current review cycle in the area of academic and career advising. The department now has a
multilayered advising model featuring a mandatory lower division group advising course, PSYC 4, and
development of a peer mentoring center with associated courses. Communication using SacSend
messaging and targeted emails has improved communication.
iv) Curriculum changes, class size and course scheduling, sequencing, and prerequisites. The
department made considerable changes to its curriculum to address impaction and delays to
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graduation. The department’s current self-study and focused inquiry centers on these changes. Fuller
details of these changes are provided later in this report. The department clearly addressed the
recommendations of the previous review in this area.
v) Faculty development and support. Recommendations were made involving faculty workload through
using mega sections, reducing the governing structure of the department, and reviewing the distribution
of supervisory course responsibilities, and enhancing faculty advising capabilities. The department was
able to reduce faculty workload from a 4/4 teaching load to a 3/3 load primarily through increasing the
number of mega- and mini-mega sections and supervisory course units. The generated units are used to
support department coordinator positions. Committee work was reduced by combining some
committees and reducing committee size.
vi) Psychology graduate curricula and admissions. Several recommendations were made regarding the
graduate programs. The department spent considerable effort in modifying it programs. Most notably
it implemented a common core of classes and introduced a cohort system to improve move ment of
students through the programs. The application process was modified to better match applicants with
research advisors. Much of this was accomplished by requiring more structured responses to the
personal statement portion of the application packet. Students are now admitted under the supervision
of a specific research advisor from the beginning using new evaluation criteria in screening applicants.
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Overall Impression
The psychology department is an outstanding department with faculty who work together collegially
and effectively. It is understandable how the department ranked in the top quartile during the IPP
process that took place during the review period. The department hires outstanding faculty who
maintain teaching excellence and admirable research productivity. The department governance and
committee structure functions to make sure all voices are heard in departmental decision making. The
students speak highly of the faculty at both the undergraduate and graduate level. The SSIS Dean’s
Office is supportive of the department and its mission. The department embraces the need for robust
assessment of its academic programs and remains at the forefront of departments in its assessment
activities.
Faculty
Full Time
The psychology department, at the time of review, had 19 full time –tenure track faculty (13 full, 4
associate and 2 assistant) down from 22 in 2009 according to the 2014 Fact Book. As described in the
introductory section, psychology has observed an increase in majors and in demand for its GE courses
since the time of the last program review. In the fall 2011, the number of undergraduate psychology
majors topped out at 1,599. Although impaction declaration appears to have reduced the number of
UG majors to 972 in 2013 (2014 Factbook), this number is really an artificial reduction since the number
of pre-majors who are also taking psychology courses totaled 569. In essence , the same increased
number of students seeking psychology courses in the major has remained constant at a high rate
relative to the number of full-time faculty in the department. The psychology department’s student to
faculty ratio of 31.7 is 7.9 points higher than the university average. Broken down by class level, the
mean SFR over the period of the review is 62.9 Lower division, 35.3 upper division, and 8.2 graduate.
The 2007 IPP report shows that 69% of Psychology WTU were taught by Full time faculty, a number that
has plummeted to 36% over the last 12 terms of the program review period. From a teaching
standpoint alone, the psychology department is in desperate ne ed of full-time faculty hires.
Recommendation 1: The Department should seek additional tenure-track faculty hires.
Recommendation 2: The Dean of SSIS should approve additional faculty hires for the psychology
department and lobby for additional hires from Academic Affairs.
The psychology faculty is extremely active in research and professional development activities. A 2011
faculty survey shows from the period of the review from 2006-2011 the faculty published 57 peer
reviewed articles, 16 book chapters, 6 books, presented 256 peer review conference proceedings, and
had 12 grants funded, in addition to an assortment of other scholarship activities. Conside ring the 14
faculty responded to the survey, this is an impressive amount of scholarship dissemination given the
teaching load on the Sacramento State campus. Faculty in the Psychology department are committed to
including both undergraduate and graduate students in scholarly activities. They serve as research
mentors to these students. Between fall 2009 and Spring 2013, supervisory course enrollments totaled
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1,939 students or an average of 194 students per semester. This is roughly 5.4 students per faculty
member. Arguably, the involvement of students in research is extremely valuable to the student’s
maturation and academic growth, but is extremely time intensive on a faculty member where the
supervisory unit allocation rarely approaches the true time input from the faculty member. This is
particularly true in the case of mentoring graduate students who need mentoring though a thesis
project that is ideally publication worthy. Even with the slowed faculty hiring that plagued the budget
recession, the psychology department had a three year hiring plan that illustrates a well thought out
plan for the growth and future direction for the department. Most notably the request for the
Community Psychologist and the Gender/Queer Psychologist demonstrates the department’s
responsiveness to the department and university missions, student need, and changing objectives in
support of diversity. Despite the slowdown in hiring spanning the review period, the psychology
department has been fortunate in its ability to attract very high quality new faculty members with
research programs worthy of an R1 institution. The research areas include those that are new and
growing areas of psychology. This is characteristic of the department’s desire to keep up to date and
current. The department has a well thought out five year hiring plan that is focused upon keeping its
department current and emerging in the field of psychology. Hires are not merely requested to replace
and exact area of retirement, but are sought to expand capability or to fill a growing need. For example,
the community psychologist was prioritized due the desire to have a central faculty member more active
with the community and effectively increase internship partnerships to facilitate more student
opportunities. This came in direct response to the outcome of an alumni survey requesting more
internship opportunities. It is clear that the psychology department thinks carefully regarding it hiring
plans and should be commended for the thoroughness of their hiring plan.
Commendation 3: The Department faculty is commended for maintaining productive scholarship
program involving students. Faculty are committed to involving both undergraduate and graduate
students in their research activities which shows an enormous dedication to the educational benefit to
students involved in research projects.
Commendation 4: The Department is commended for maintaining a three year hiring plan that is up to
date and shows discipline currency. The department has successfully hired outstanding faculty members
in emerging areas of psychology that help maintain the department’s excellence.
The department does an outstanding job in mentoring and fostering the success of their junior faculty
members. Interviews with junior faculty established that the new faculty members felt well supported
and that their success was important to the department as a whole. They felt that senior faculty were
very generous in sharing course materials. They generally felt that they were provided adequate space
(given the limited availability) to pursue their scholarship. They also felt that they were shielded from
excessive committee work early in their professional faculty career.
Part Time /Temporary Faculty
The Psychology Department relies heavily on part-time faculty and lecturers to cover the extensive
course schedule each semester. The average number of non-tenure track faculty was 16.2 (7- 21 for a
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five year average). The fact that the department requires nearly as many part-time faculty as it has fulltime faculty again highlights the desperate need for more full-time tenure track faculty. Although
most of the temporary faculty possesses doctorate degrees in psychology, making them well qualified to
teach courses, they cannot replace full-time tenure track faculty who participate more fully in
department curriculum evolution, committee work, mentoring research students and advising. Given
the reliance on part-time faculty, the department is fortunate to have individuals who are extremely
committed to the department serving in these teaching positions. In interviews with temporary faculty,
they described their participation in student clubs, mentoring research students, performing research
and other volunteer activities on behalf of the department. In general they felt that the department
tried its best to care for their needs, but expressed some frustrations that could be addressed. The
department should be commended for its ability to attract and retain a dedicated and high quality parttime faculty pool to assist with its heavy course load.
Commendation 5: The Department is commended for its ability to attract and maintain high quality
part-time and temporary faculty.
Professional development. Several of the temporary faculty described the desire to obtain tenure track
positions and expressed a need to stay productive in scholarly activities while gaining teaching
experience. They explained that although they can mentor research students, they do not have access
to research space and presents some limitation. Perhaps a small shared research space could be located
to assist with the professional development of temporary faculty or perhaps full-time faculty could
collaborate with temporary faculty desiring to remain research active. Given the number of
undergraduate and graduate students needing research mentoring and supervision in the department,
this could be a mutually beneficial activity for the faculty members, the temporary faculty members and
the research students.
Recommendation 3: The Department should explore potential ways to accommodate the professional
development of temporary faculty so that their service to the department is beneficial for their longer
term professional goal to secure a tenure track faculty position.
Teaching assignment schedules. Frustration results from last minute teaching assignments, sometimes
after book order dates have passed. Temporary faculty expressed frustration by not being able to
prepare as well due to the late scheduling and believe that this influences the quality of their course
preparation.
Office assignment and furniture. Temporary faculty acknowledge that assigning office space is
challenging under current space constraints, but expressed frustration that they are often moving
offices each semester and often right before the semester begins in order to accommodate office / desk
sharing with fellow temporary faculty that have different teaching schedules. Additionally, the office
furniture is often old and broken in these offices. Since some part-time faculty teach regularly every
semester, it would be ideal if the department could accommodate longer term office space and updated
furniture in order to provide a better work environment, particularly for part-time faculty who
consistently teach with the department multiple semesters and years.
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Recommendation 4: The department should make every attempt to provide part-time teaching
assignments early enough for adequate book and material ordering and to provide temporary faculty
with work space conditions that are conducive to a productive and comfortable work environment.
Teaching Performance. Temporary faculty commented that evaluation of their teaching is almost
entirely based upon student teaching evaluations. Although these teaching evaluations are useful to
obtain opinion and feedback from the student perspective, some temporary faculty feel that some peerreview based evaluation would be useful to obtain a fuller and more broadly based feedback. They
also would like the benefit of a formal peer-review for use in professional resume materials.
Recommendation 5: The department should open discussions with temporary faculty regarding teaching
evaluations so that the needs of the department and the temporary faculty are accommodated by the
instruments used and feedback provided.
Students
Undergraduate
The review committee met with undergraduate peer mentors from the Prospects program. These
students clearly represented a subset of students who were fully engaged with the program and
integrated in the department. These students do not necessarily represent the typical undergraduate
psychology majors who may be less integrated in the department. The students present were overall
very pleased and proud of the psychology department and their major. They found the full-time faculty
dedicated and accessible. However, they did express some concern that the heavy reliance on part-time
faculty was detrimental to the undergraduate experience due to the fact that part-time faculty are not
perceived to be as committed to course updating and that fewer full -time faculty results in fewer
undergraduate research opportunities. Most of the students present at the interview were participating
in undergraduate research, but noted that this was not typical of most psychology majors. Some stated
that they had a difficult time securing a research experience and a faculty mentor due to the lack of fulltime faculty and the large number of psychology majors seeking undergraduate research experiences.
They went on to state that they believed that full-time faculty do not have the time to take on the
number of students who desire these research experiences and that it was competitive. These students
believe that obtaining an undergraduate research position provides more benefits than merely the
research experience. The opportunity to list research on a resume or graduate school application is
perceived to be extremely valuable. The relationship formed with a faculty mentor through
participation in the faculty mentors research lab results in the perception of more career guidance and
assistance with graduate school applications. Most in the room felt that students involved in
undergraduate research and who had graduate school aspirations received more department attention.
Recommendation 6: The Department should seek to increase the number of undergraduate research
opportunities available through faculty hires specifically interested in involving undergraduate students.
Perhaps the number of students obtaining a research experience could be increased by creatively
exploring some research based activities in coursework.
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Recommendation 7: The Department should seek ways to increase career guidance for students who are
both graduate school bound and directly seeking employment upon graduation.
The undergraduate students present felt that communication with the department was excellent. They
credit the department chair who communicates with students frequently through email. This is an
improvement since the last program review which recommended an improvement in communication
with students.
Commendation 6: The Department is commended for implementing good communication strategies
with its large number of undergraduate majors.
The students noted that although the declaration of impaction improved their ability to obtain some
courses, it remains very difficult to secure other specific courses. They noted particular difficulty in
obtaining lower division courses due to the competition with students from other majors and those
seeking the courses for general education credit. Psychology 171 was noted to be a very popular course
and challenging to obtain. The fact that it is a prerequisite course for further courses in the ABA
program causes frustration from the student standpoint. The students speculate that it may be easier
for transfer students to navigate the psychology major since they often already have taken the lower
division most impacted courses prior to arriving on campus.
Students responded that they find the application process to the psychology program very easy with
clear directions. They state that the faculty and department staff is very helpful in the process.
Commendation 7: The Department is commended for making the application process for admission into
the psychology major easy for students to navigate.
Students expressed displeasure regarding the curriculum change that removed the lab component from
Psych 101, a core course in the curriculum. The lab component was removed so that the course could
be taught in larger sections and thereby removing a significant bottleneck course in the major.
However, the students feel less prepared for upper division coursework compared to their peers who
benefited from the laboratory component of Psych 101. This is a sentiment that was supported by
faculty comments regarding the curriculum change.
Recommendation 8: The Department should assess changes the student learning outcomes from the
recent curriculum changes and appropriately adjust the curriculum if it is deemed necessary or desirable.
Advising. The Department has made significant improvement in their undergraduate advising plan since
the last program review and should be commended for the positive changes implemented. They have
constructed a formalized Psychology Advising and Mentoring Model that is layered throughout their
undergraduate degree. The detailed advising model incorporates a mandatory low division advising
course, Psychology 4, which is titled Navigating Psychology: The Major and Careers. A peer mentoring
center, PROSPECTS, was also developed that incorporates two courses, PSYC 198A for mentees and
198B for Mentors. This center provides 20 advising drop –in hours per week. The center focuses on
new and “at-risk” students. Faculty drop–in advising hours are available to review and sign major forms.
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It is also taking advantage of SacSend messaging technology to improve student- department
communication which can be challenging with the large number of majors. Although the department
has expended considerable effort in improving its advising and contact with students, mandatory
advising with a faculty member is not apparent in the current plan. Direct interaction with a faculty
member can be extremely beneficial, particularly with “at risk” students. These students are many time
reluctant to go seek optional advising, but are often the students who need advising beyond the peermentor level. The department should discuss the merits and workability to incorporate some level of
mandatory faculty advising.
Commendation 8: The Department is commended for significant improvements in their undergraduate
advising plan since their last program review.
Recommendation 9: The Department should discuss the merit and workability of incorporating some
level of mandatory undergraduate advising with a faculty member.
Graduate
A meeting with a group of graduate students from the psychology department was informative. The
graduate students are proud of the department in general and hold a very high opinion of the faculty.
Students stated that they applied to the program due to its national reputation and ranking. Students
representing the different concentrations were present. The graduate students discussed the program
as if it were divided between the pre-doctoral students and the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
students. The ABA students and the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Master’s students present
were admitted into the newly implemented cohort program where students entering the program
together will progress through courses together. This change in the program was somewhat in response
to the last program review which suggested that the department examine course scheduling and course
selection. The last review suggested an increase in the common core of classes students take with
evaluation of the current relevance of specific courses to developments in the field. The graduate
students present who were progressing through the new cohort model were positive. However, a
general opinion regarding the number of courses the new model requires of entering students can be
overwhelming for a beginning graduate student. Some students were concerned about their ability to
perform well with the larger initial course load required.
Commendation 9: The Department is commended for responding effectively to the prior reviewers’
recommendations regarding the graduate program. The resulting revised program is embraced by the
graduate student population.
The graduate student population was slightly less positive regarding department communications with
graduate students compared to the undergraduate majors. Most stated that most of their information
came through their thesis advisor. They would appreciate a yearly meeting where information would
be provided and where the students could raise issues of concern. They would also appreciate having
some voice in the topics of potential elective courses. The graduate students present stated that they
only get to know the students within their concentration and that this felt isolating at times. They felt
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that a joint seminar program with outside speakers might be a unifying activity to increase cohesiveness
to the overall psychology graduate student population.
Recommendation 10: The Department should identify ways to improve communication with graduate
students and arrange a yearly meeting where issues can be raised and addressed. The department
should further explore ways to provide venues for graduate student interaction such as a common
seminar course or series of lecturers with outside invited speakers.
Teaching assistantships were an additional area of discussion. The students stated that most teaching
assistantships were distributed by the faculty members teaching specific courses. This limits the
positions to students working in the labs of specific faculty. Some felt that this was unfair. They further
explained that very few teaching assistantships were paid positions, but that credit in the forms of units
was the typical compensation available. Since students pay for units, it feels as if they are paying for the
opportunity to teach. Discussions with the Graduate Dean suggested that this model might not be
appropriate. The department should obtain clarification from the College of Graduate Studies on
current teaching assistant policies. The graduate students present expressed the desire for an
expansion of paid teaching assistantships. Of the students present who were able to obtain teaching
assistantships, there was a common frustration in locating space to hold office hours. Office space is
not assigned to graduate teaching assistants. The present graduate teaching assistants explained that
they arranged to hold office hours at a campus coffee shop or the l ibrary. This is an issue which should
be addressed as soon as possible. Teaching assistants should be provided a space within the
department or close proximity to hold office hours. Suggesting that students meet a teaching assistant
at a coffee shop for office hours may be off-putting for students.
Recommendation 11: The Department should seek ways to increase the number of paid graduate
teaching assistantships if possible and to develop an application process that is accessible and fairly
distributes the available positions. A discussion with the Graduate Dean regarding the appropriateness
of paying teaching assistants with credit units is in order.
Recommendation 12: The Department needs to locate a space within or near the department for
teaching assistants to hold office hours.
Students in the ABA program expressed concern over a lack of equipment such as computers, printers
and VHS recorders. The clinical space that was once used by the Counseling program is now used by the
ABA program, but the set-up is not ideal. The review committee also noted that the prior clinical space
should be renovated and utilized more effectively for the graduate program needs. The department
should discuss a mechanism to remodel this space for improved usefulness.
Curriculum
Undergraduate Focused Inquiry.
The psychology department selected to undergo an in depth analysis of their undergraduate curriculum
as the topic of their focused inquiry study for this program review cycle. The selection of this topic was
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appropriate and timely. The curricular recommendations from the department’s 2006-2007 program
review combined with the department’s ongoing challenge of meeting enormous course demand during
a tightened budget climate required significant and prompt curricular and programmatic changes.
Impaction status was declared in order to manage the large number of majors the department
experienced. Course changes were made to improve student understanding of the psychology major
early in their academic career and others to remove bottlenecks to upper division courses. The initial
goal of most of the recent changes has been enrollment management in the major. The department’s
focused inquiry more closely examines and evaluates its curriculum content, structure and
effectiveness. In this effort, the department formulated its focused inquiry into three questions:
1) “How thoroughly do the department’s programs and offerings cover the current field of
psychology?”
In its evaluation of the content of its curriculum, the department:
i) Compared its curriculum to accrediting and other professional organization guidelines.
ii) Compared its curricula to curricula at similar institutions.
iii) Compared its curriculum to entrance requirements by psychology graduate programs.
iv) Compared its curriculum alignment with the transfer model curriculum for psychology.
Overall, the department found that the content compared favorably with each of the above curricula.
However, in its comparison to curricula from similar institutions, some departments had broader course
categories, while the current program currently has seven course categories students must fulfill.
Consolidating these categories into fewer, but broader categories would permit students to meet the
degree requirements using a wider variety of courses. This should assist impaction in certain high
demand courses since course substitution would be facilitated. In addition to the benefit to students,
faculty would benefit from this change through a reduction in the number of needed specific courses
that must be offered each year in order to assure that students can meet all of the category
requirements. This would free up the curriculum for offering courses in faculty area of specialization.
Recommendation 13: Given the potential benefits of a course category reduction, the Department
should examine ways to simplify its course category structure.
In comparing its lower division curriculum to the Transfer Model Curriculum (TMC), the
department found its alignment was minimal. Evidence from advising transfer students often shows
that students transferring into the program have taken several additional lower division psychology
courses beyond the two that are currently accepted toward the major. The department self -identified
the problem with the TMC and in its focused inquiry listed a number of possible curriculum remedies to
significantly improve the alignment.
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Recommendation 14: The Department is strongly encouraged to pursue some of its proposed strategies
to facilitate a smoother transition for transfer students that minimizes course loss and maximizes an
efficient time to graduation.
2) How well does the structure and content of the curriculum map onto our current learning
goals? How do the learning goals prepare our students for various career paths?
The Department has identified Essential Learning Goals (ELG) for psychology majors, in line with
its own and the University’s mission, that include skills development and content mastery. In the
formulation of these goals, the department looked toward accrediting and other professional disciplinerelated organizations and their guidelines to assist in the synthesis process. Assessment strategies have
been implemented to evaluate the department’s success in accomplishing these goals. In the current
focused inquiry, the department examines how its curriculum structure and content meets the
department’s stated learning goals and how these learning goals prepare students for successful
futures. Curriculum mapping of the ELG with Measurable Learning Objectives was performed. The
department elected to implement four of these on rolling basis over the next five years and includes:
mastery of discipline specific knowledge, development of critical thinking skills, development of inquiry
and analysis skills, and development of written communication skills.
In order to evaluate how the current curriculum structure and content aligns with these learning goals
and how these goals prepare students for various career paths, examination of Alumni Center Surveys
and Alumni Qualitative Surveys was performed. Overall, the results from both surveys suggest that the
curriculum structure and content map well onto the current learning goals so that students are prepared
for a variety of career paths. The vast majority of students felt properly trained in discipline specific
skills and in the methods/practices of psychology to be successful in their chosen post-graduation
professions. Some recommendations include more specialized upper division elective course offerings
and for more sustained opportunities to utilize their skills and practices across courses. Evaluation of
the student comments in the report suggests that students who were able to participate in
undergraduate research, found the experience to be extremely valuable. Unfortunately, the number of
undergraduate majors prohibits a full multi semester undergraduate research experience for all
psychology majors, regardless of the enormous educational benefit. However, a creative solution
utilizing the capstone projects in courses or across courses collaboratively might be able to at some level
imitate a full undergraduate research experience for a greater number of students. The department is
encouraged to explore possible ways to provide students with some level of undergraduate research
experience. This will certainly be challenging, but well worth the benefit if a creative solution can be
identified.
Much of the evaluation regarding question (2) in the focused inquiry comes from voluntary student
surveys without 100% participation. There is some question regarding the validity of this evaluation
method to provide a full opinion set of psychology graduates since there may be some bias of response
coming from students who are positive with respect to their experience. It will be interesting to see the
outcome of the department’s objective assessment using course assessment tools to generate data.
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Recommendation 15: The Department is encouraged to follow through with its implementation of
assessment of the ELG with Measurable Learning Goals and to report on these in their next program
review.
3) “Are the students able to move through the Psychology curriculum efficiently with the
opportunity to graduate in a timely manner?”
During the time of the self-study preparation, the University was in the midst of unprecedented
challenges, including increased demand for courses and an extremely tight budget climate. The large
and growing majors like psychology were particularly challenged due to the inability to replace retiring
faculty coupled with an increase in student demand. As covered earlier in this report, the department
was required to make some hard decisions in order to navigate these challenges successfully and should
be commended again for the efforts. In addition to declaring impaction status to limit the number of
majors, the department realizes that curriculum revision can provide an additional source of enrollment
management and curriculum efficiency that maximizes timely graduation times. As a result the
department elected to examine curriculum efficiency for the last question of their focused inquiry
involving curriculum. Even as the University finds itself in a much improved budget climate, the growth
in majors and the sheer number of students that desire an education at Sacramento State makes
enrollment management and curriculum efficiency a continuing priority as echoed by the University’s
Graduation Initiative.
During the time of the self study preparation, the department had already taken significant steps to
improve efficiency of moving majors through the psychology major including:
i) A reduction of majors through the declaration of impaction.
ii) Addressing curriculum bottlenecks in some courses. In one case by removing the lab component
iii) Increasing class size and numbers of sections
iv) Increasing FT and PT faculty as much as possible
v) Improving advising, particularly at the beginning of the major
In this section of the Department’s self-study, they performed a detailed analysis of student demand in
major courses. Through this analysis, the unmet demand by seniors alone is a staggering number that
equates to an additional 40 sections required. The highest demand is for courses in the methods and
capstone categories, most of which cannot be offered in a mega section format. One course that was
the most problematic historically, PSYC 101, had stabilized at the time of the self-study due to the
removal of the lab component from the course and its move to a larger class size. However, in
discussions with students and faculty, this course change has been regretted leading to students feeling
less prepared for upper division courses and faculty echoing the same sentiment.
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Recommendation 16. The Department should assess the impact of the lab removal from PSYC 101 in
terms of student preparedness and confidence in upper division courses and to address the negative
consequences of the lab component removal if one is identified.
An additional examination of course efficiency evaluated the mean time to graduation. The time was
measured as the number of semesters completed from the first psychology course taken at Sacramento
State until their graduation date. The mean time to complete the requirement for graduation was 5.7
(SD 1.6) semesters. In this analysis, the department discovered that the mean time to graduate was
largely dependent on when the first course in psychology was taken. Some students did not take this
first course until their 3rd or 4th semester, resulting in an increase in the time to graduation.
Commendation 10: The Department is commended for a thorough analysis of it curriculum in the
context of efficiency and having already responded to the significant problem through the declaration of
impaction, enforcement of pre-requisites, and changes to courses that were identified as major
bottlenecks.
The growth of the major combined with years of slow hiring for tenure track faculty likely perpetuates
the problem. It is hoped that with the improved budget climate, the approval to hire faculty has
increased and the department is less stressed in terms of its student to faculty ratio. If this isn’t the
case, it is strongly recommended that the department be approved for more faculty hires given the
popularity of its major. The department has already shown itself to be responsible in terms of
attempting to control the size of its major through tough decisions including the removal of the
counseling track from its graduate program (its most popular concentration) due to the heavy faculty
requirement to maintain the degree. Essentially, the degree was sacrificed for the other degree
programs. A better budget climate should be able to provide the department characterized by a large
number of student majors, a large service demand, and a large GE demand, some relief through faculty
allocations.
Recommendation 17: The Dean should seek to attain more full-time faculty hires for the Psychology
Department. The Department has implemented a number of enrollment control strategies. Increased
faculty hires are required to meet the growing demand while maintaining the quality of the program.
In turn, the department needs to re-evaluate its demand and time to graduation numbers now that
their impaction status and course modifications have had a couple years to funnel through the backlog
for courses. Hopefully, impaction declaration has improve the time to graduation due to the fact that
students with higher GPA’s and backgrounds are being accepted and are more likely to be successful
with fewer course repeats. Transfer student graduation rates should be analyzed in a similar fashion. A
current time to graduation evaluation and retention assessment is appropriate, particularly as the
University focuses on improving graduation rates for all majors. After a new graduation rate
benchmark, the department can evaluate the need for further curricular changes, such as reducing th e
number of course categories for further efficiency improvement. The focused inquiry mentions a
greater need for accurate OIR or Cognos reports to assist in predicting course demand so that
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appropriate scheduling can occur. As the University turns its attention to improving graduation rates, it
is likely that the technology may already be available or is certainly in progress.
Recommendation 18: The Department should re-evaluate its course demand and time to graduation
now that declaration of impaction and course modifications have had time to stabilize to a new norm.
The conclusion of the focused inquiry section of the self-study summarizes some self-recommendations
by the department that has been discussed more fully in the text above, and are summarized here in the
form of recommendations to the department for the next review cycle. It is recommended that the
department:
Recommendation 19: The Department should attempt to reduce the number of course categories similar
to other comparable institutions so that more flexibility in curriculum results and permits easier access to
a collection of courses that will meet graduation requirements in the major.
Recommendation 20: The Department should increase the number of elective units to permit flexibility
and facilitate the ability to meet graduation requirements.
Recommendation 21: The Department should move and redesign some upper division courses to lower
division courses to better fit the Transfer Model Curriculum.
Recommendation 22 : The Department should seek assistance for OIR and the potential for Cognos
reports to assist in predicting course demand for effective scheduling.
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Graduate.
The last program review made several recommendations regarding the graduate program. These
included the suggestion to increase the number of common core classes, review offered graduate
courses to assure current developments in the field and to examine course scheduling. In response to
these recommendations, the department elected to alter the General Master’s track to a more
structured set of requirements. A common core of classes is now offered during specific semester and
students are admitted to the program in a cohort model. This results in students progressing through
the program together by taking courses at the same time. Students are signed up for the courses on the
schedule of their cohort which facilitates moving through the program in a timely manner. Class
availability problems are subsequently reduced. The self-study reports that its graduate committee is
attempting to schedule graduate courses at consistent on-going times each semester so that students
can better plan their work – school schedules. In discussions with the graduate students, all were
overwhelmingly positive regarding the new cohort system. They feel like it enhanced the opportunity
for graduate students to bond with each other. Some of the first year students stated that they felt a bit
overwhelmed by the initial course load their first semester in the cohort program as they were
adjusting to the demands of graduate school. The graduate committee might wish to take a look at this
issue to identify if it is widespread or limited to only a few students. Since the last program review an in
response to suggestions from the previous review committee, the department altered its graduate
admissions criteria. Potential graduate students are now required to write a personal statement that
describes their research interests, career goals, and then must list faculty research mentors they would
like to work under. Faculty then review the files and determine if they have room for the students
interested in working with them. Graduate applicants are evaluated using undergraduate GPA, GRE
scores, letters of recommendation and personal statements. Students are not admitted to the program
without a faculty research mentor to which they will be assigned. Progress through the program is
monitored by the faculty advisor who fills out a progress report each semester. If progress is
insufficient, the student is provided specific feedback on how to remedy the situation. All students
interviewed were able to secure research placements in their first choice faculty’s lab.
Commendation 11: The Department is commended for addressing the recommendations from the last
program review regarding the admission requirements, curriculum, and scheduling for the graduate
program. Significant improvement in the graduate program has resulted due to these changes.
One of the largest changes to the psychology graduate program was the discontinuation of the
counseling track. This was the most popular graduate option; however it was extremely resource
intensive in terms of faculty. The poor budget climate combined with reduced and non-replaced faculty
essentially forced the department to suspend the program. Students echoed displeasure at this
decision. With the loss of the program, the clinical population was lost and the students now need to
go the UCD Center for Mind and Brain to obtain access to a research population. Students complained
that there is no viable regionally based option for those desiring a psychology counseling tract now t hat
the home program has been suspended. Discussions with faculty and to some extent the college dean
suggested that the students, faculty and even the college are lamenting the loss of the program.
Although the department needed to make this tough decision due to the dire budget situation and
25
insufficient faculty numbers to cover the extensive hours required of the program, perhaps the decision
should be revisited and discussed now that the budget climate is improving. In the event that the
previous program remains too costly in terms of faculty to consider resurrecting, perhaps a creative
solution can be identified that could partially meet the needs of students regretting the loss of a
counseling track option.
Recommendation 23: The department should revisit its decision to cancel the Master’s Counseling
option to evaluate if the discontinuation of this program was an ideal solution given it popularity.
Facilities
A tour of the department space and interviews with a representation of faculty researchers established
that the psychology department had adequate lab space for teaching and research activities. The
department places a priority on identifying research space for new faculty. This is consistent with the
overall resource support of junior faculty within the department. Although adequate space is available,
some of the observed space is in dire need of updating and maintenance. Specifically, the neuroscience
lab is in a state of disrepair and is decades out of date. Some of the equipment in these labs is so dated
that the learning experience may be compromised as a result. It would almost be embarrassing to
teach a lab in such an outdated and worn out lab. Repair and update of the lab facilities should be a
priority for the department and college. The clinic space once utilized by the counseling program should
be reconfigured for current department needs. It is currently a great space that is underutilized due to
the discontinuation of the counseling program.
Recommendation 24: The department should energetically seek resources to update its lab facilities and
equipment. Additionally, the prior counseling clinic space should be remodeled /reconfigured for current
department needs. However, in the event that the department seeks to reestablish the counselling
concentration, the space should retain features that would permit its use for this purpose as well.
Recommendation 25: The Dean of SSIS should assist the department in identifying resources for lab
remodel and equipment updates.
Office space
Office space for tenure track faculty is adequate, although the expansion of faculty so desperately
needed may result in some office shortage. On the other hand, the office space for part-time faculty
and teaching assistants is problematic as stated in previous sections. Part-time faculty, even when long
term, are often required to change offices each semester due to the necessity to share with other part
time faculty who have compatible semester teaching schedules. Although some of this shuffle may be
unavoidable, any attempt to minimize the frequency of part-time faculty move would improve morale.
Similarly, the department needs to identify some space for teaching assistants to hold office hours.
Graduate students resorting to holding office hours in the student union some days and at the library
others is potentially off putting to students seeking to attend office hours. A space in the department
sets a more professional tone for the teaching assistants and the students. Recommendations
regarding this need was provided in previous sections of the report.
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Staff
The review committee met with the psychology office staff which consisted of two 12 month full-time
Administrative Support Coordinators and two part-time student assistants. In the past, the department
additionally had a 10 month half-time administrative support assistant, but lost that position as a
reassignment to the SSIS Dean’s office. The responsibility level and workload for two staff members is
very large given the size of the department, number of students served as majors and in service
capacities, faculty who have significant research programs and associated grant budgets and travel
administration, a graduate program, in addition to the ordinary department office work. Declaration of
impaction has increased the office workload significantly without an increase in office support. Nearly
500 online supplemental applications need to be individually processed. This workload is on top of the
already heavy add-drop and other office work for a very large department with a heavy service
component. At the time of the review, the SSIS Dean’s Office was providing temporary part-time help
for a 3-4 month period. Clearly the Dean understands the excessive workload the department office
staff is facing. The staff also reported that the faculty understand the pressures on the office staff and
many times will try to do their own photocopying and other office work to help offset the burden on the
office. This appears to be a situation that needs to be reviewed. The department has shown
considerable and continuing growth, with increased office demands, yet the office staff allocation has
been reduced. It is recommended that the SSIS Dean’s Office review the office needs for the psychology
department and make an attempt to provide some additional resources. Additionally, the department
has a student assistant position that is responsible to care for the animal colony. The student position
has been funded by a faculty grant and the college. The grant covering the student assistant
compensation was coming to a close at the time of the self-study preparation and new funding needs to
be identified to cover the cost associated with the animal care. It is recommended that the department
discuss this need with the Dean’s Office. A consistent plan that provides for the care of the animals
needs to be identified.
Recommendation 26: The Dean should review the office help needs of the department and work to
secure the additional permanent help required to make the workload more manageable.
Recommendation 27: The department should seek permanent funding for a student assistant
responsible for the animal care. Consistent care of research animals is a responsibility that cannot be
subject to fluctuating funding. The department is encouraged to discuss possible solutions with the SSIS
Dean’s office.
Assessment
The program review committee reviewed the past several assessment reports and feedback to these
reports from the Office of Academic Program Assessment (OAPA). Additionally, the review committee
met with Dr. Amy Liu, the Director of OAPA in order to discuss the status of the Psychology
department’s assessment program and practices. In the review team meeting with Dr. Lui, she
commended the psychology department as being a department at the leading edge in terms of their
assessment planning and implementation. The Department utilizes a combination of direct (pre/post27
tests, papers, and theses) and indirect measures for evaluating student learning both at the bachelor’s
and master’s level with an emphasis on critical thinking. It provides empirical evidence that PLOs are
being met. Furthermore it tests for validity and reliability of its data.
The feedback for the 2013-2014 assessment report commends the department for the clarity of their
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) and for the close alignment of the learning outcomes with the
University Baccelaurate Learning Goals. The department was further commended for using assessment
data and feedback from the OAPA to improve PLO’s , rubrics, and the assessment plan. At the time of
the program self-study report and based upon upon the OAPA review, the Psychology Undergraduate
major program, the MA program and the MA I/O program were evaluated to be between “emerging “
and “developed” levels according to the WASC Rubric for Assessing the Quality of Academic Program
Learning Outcomes”. Several recommendations were made to improve the programs assessment
efforts for the undergraduate and graduate programs. The department’s graduate programs have
assessment plans and practices that are less developed than the undergraduate degree program, but
that is common across the university and is only now becoming of central focus to the University’s
assessment priorities. The psychology department is again ahead of the curve in this respect, with initial
assessment plans in place for their graduate programs, even if they need fuller development. As the
University turns its attention to graduate program assessment, the psychology department is
encouraged to fully develop detailed assessment plans and tools for the their graduate programs.
Examination of the department’s self-study shows that they are already working toward meeting the
recommendations from their 2013-2014 Assessment Report. The department dedicated portions of
both their 2011 and 2012 summer faculty retreats to the topic of assessment. It developed a new 5 year
assessment plan covering the span 2013-2018 which was provided as an attachment to their program
review self-study. In the development of their plan, they followed the WASC set of criteria for
developing assessment. The department’s view of assessment as a priority is further demonstrated by
its newly developed assessment committee which is lead by a faculty assessment coordinator who is
supported by internal departmental funds. Department faculty have participated in assessment based
faculty learning communities. One recommendation is for the department to fully assess their recent
curriculum changes. The declaration of impaction with subsequent el evated expectations for gaining
acceptance into the program is likely to have an impact on student success and learning. Similarly, the
removal of some laboratory components from lower division methods courses with an accompanying
shift to a mega lecture format, might have a detrimental impact on the preparation of students for
subsequent upper division courses. In fact, both students and faculty anecdotally provided such
opinions. Similarly, the graduate program’s shift to a cohort program may also have potential impacts
on student learning and success. The department should formally assess the impact of recent curricular
changes and provide the results in their next program review self -study.
Commendation 12: The Department is commended for its commitment to assessing its programs. Its use
of faculty retreats, faculty learning communities and a dedicated departmental committee is evidence of
its commitment to the activity. Its assessment plans and practices have been reviewed favorably by the
OAPA as emerging or developed according to the WASC Rubric.
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Commendation 13: The Department is commended for its early efforts focused upon graduate
assessment which places it ahead of where many other academic programs are in terms of this activity.
Recommendation 28: The department should assess the impacts of its significant recent programmatic
and course changes upon student learning and success. Specifically, the department should assess the
impact of impaction declaration and the removal of lab components from its methods courses.
Recommendation 29: The psychology department should continue developing its assessment plan and
activities for its graduate programs.
Recommendation 30: Based on this program review and the Self-Study report prepared by the
Department of Psychology, the Review Team recommends that all of the Department’s degree programs
be approved for six years or until the next scheduled program review.
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