Humanities and Social Science Program Review

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Humanities and Social Science Program Review

September 2005

Linda Bregstein Scherr, Chair, Humanities and Social Science Program Group

I. A Brief Overview of the Humanities and Social Science Program and Curriculum

II. Program Mission and Objectives

III. Assessment of Program Mission and Objectives

IV. Advisement

V. Program Operations and Logistics

VI. Strengths, Concerns, Opportunities, Trends and Recommendations

VII. Full-time and Adjunct Faculty Biographical quick facts

VIII. Appendices and List of Data Sources

I. A Brief Overview of the Humanities and Social Science Program and Curriculum

“I have enjoyed my time at MCCC. I have grown so much academically and feel thoroughly prepared for RiderUniversity.”HSS Student comment, 2004

MercerCountyCommunity College (MCCC) is a publicly-supported, two-year college founded in 1967. The college offers 66 degrees (A.A., A.S., A.A.S., and A.F.A.) and 33 certificates. From the inception of MCCC, the Humanities and Social Science option of the Liberal Arts and Sciences program (abbreviated HSS) has been the main transfer program. Preparation for transfer is at the heart of the college’s mission:

• To offer high-quality academic programs and support services for a broad, heterogeneous student population, including:
• Associate degree programs consisting of first- and second- year courses that will transfer to four-year colleges and universities offering baccalaureate degrees…
• General education experiences for each student that incorporate the best traditions of higher learning while addressing the educational demands of modern society;

(MercerCountyCommunity CollegeMission and Goals)

The Humanities and Social Science curriculum prepares students to transfer into the junior year of a baccalaureate degree program in such fields as education, English, history, humanities, journalism, languages, law, literature, psychology, and sociology.

The college consists of two campuses –the West Windsor Campus (WWC) and James Kerney Campus (JKC). The larger of the two campuses, WWC, is a 292 acres campus located six miles north of Trenton. The majority of the HSS courses are taught at WWC. The James Kerney Campus is located in the heart of Trenton. The campus offers traditional college courses and programs along with services designed to meet the educational needs of city residents and workers. Although it is the smaller of the two campuses (5% of credit classes), JKC offers sufficient HSS courses for students to complete the curriculum by taking all courses on that campus.

At present, more than 13,000 students enroll in one or more credit courses each year. Of the students, 65% are part-time and 35% are full-time. The average age of full-time students is 21 years old while the average age of part-time students is 29 years old. Approximately 40% of Mercer’s graduates transfer to four-year colleges or universities.

The college offers a total of 62 Humanities courses (English Literature, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies) and 42 Social Science courses (Education, Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Geography, Economics, Criminal Justice). All of the faculty teaching Humanities and Social Science courses are in the Liberal Arts Division with the exception of the Economics and Criminal Justice faculty (who are in the Business and Technology Division). This program evaluation focuses on the HSS curriculum as a whole, but particular attention is paid to the courses offered by the Liberal Arts division (comprised of the Social Science department, the English/ Languages department and the Mathematics department). The English/Languages department is undergoing a separate program evaluation (2005-2006); upper level English courses and Foreign Language courses are an integral part of the HSS curriculum and are treated in the HSS program evaluation, but not to the extent that they are analyzed in the English/Languages department program review. Courses in Mathematics, Natural Science, and Technology make up 9-12 credits in the HSS curriculum, but these areas area treated here only to confirm their appropriateness for the program; they are not the subject of program outcomes assessment.

Roughly 53% percent of the Humanities and Social Science courses are taught by full-time faculty members. The adjunct instructors who make up the balance are supported by fulltime faculty coordinators and are well qualified in their fields, holding a minimum of a Master’s degree. The adjunct instructors bring to their classes a wealth of academic and professional experience.

Over the years, the Humanities and Social Science curriculum has changed due to changes in Mercer’s General Education Policy. The current General Education policydates to 1999 and is based on transfer articulation principles established by the NJ Presidents’ Council in May, 1997. These principles were designed to establish a seamless transition from associate to baccalaureate degree programs in NJ. In order to accomplish this goal, the NJ Presidents’ Council established the following principles:

• The 45 general education credits for A.A. degree graduates shall be accepted in their entirety towards the general education requirements of the participating colleges and universities.

• Students who have completed the general education requirements for an associate degree, but have not attained the degree, will be afforded the same acceptance of credits.

In 1999, the NJ Community College Academic Officers Association and the New Jersey State College and University Academic Officers developed “A General Education Foundation for Associate in Arts and Associate in Science Transfer Programs in New Jersey’s Community Colleges.” In this agreement, all participating community colleges agreed to offer A.A. transfer programs with a common foundation of general education courses. This foundation satisfies a minimum of 45 credits of the general education requirements which apply to native students at the participating state colleges and universities. The balance of each program is at the discretion of individual community colleges. In cases such as the HSS major, where the program requires a larger number of general education credits than stipulated in this foundation, each participating state college is supposedto make every reasonable effort to accept the additional general education credits (up to the number of general education credits required of native students pursuing the designated major).

At present, the HSS curriculum is made up almost entirely of general education courses. The General Education policy for A.A. programs specifies 45 credits; there isa minimum of 60 credits of general education courses in the HSS program. The balance of the program is the college requirement for Health and Fitness (2-3 credits).

Communications: 9 credits

Society and Human Behavior: 12 credits

History: 6 credits

English Literature: 6 credits

Foreign Language: 6 credits

Diversity and Global Perspective: 3 credits

Problem Solving and Quantitative Skills: 6-8 credits

Science and Technology: 6-8 credits

General Education electives: 6 credits

Total60-64 credits

As you will see (below) in more detail, in general, faculty and students are very pleased with the depth, breadth, and flexibility of the program. HSS students report few problems transferring credits and students feel well prepared academically when they advance to their four-year institution. Data also shows that Mercer students perform as well at their transfer institutions as native students.

The program is robust and doing well. Table 1 shows Program Enrollments for Humanities and Social Science.

Table 1: Humanities and Social Sciences Majors, 1999-2005

1999-2000 / 2000-2001 / 2001-2002 / 2002-2003 / 2003-2004 / 2004-2005
1627 / 1685 / % change from previous year =+3% / 1658 / % change from previous year
=-1.5% / 1594 / % change from previous year =
-4% / 1550 / % change from previous year =
-3% / 1491 / % change from previous year =
-4%
M / F / M / F / M / F / M / F / M / F / M / F
603 / 1007 / 617 / 1062 / 655 / 1000 / 646 / 946 / 639 / 908 / 568 / 923
55 Asian / 58 Asian / 71 Asian / 64 Asian / 60 Asian / 47 Asian
265 Black / 318 Black / 339 Black / 349 Black / 353 Black / 368 Black
1004 White / 1018 White / 974 White / 916 White / 873 White / 816 White
114 Hispanic
HSSGraduates
117 / 115 / 111 / 119 / 110 / 112
Total MCCC Grads
829 / 811 / 816 / 843 / 857 / 883
Total MCCC Enrollment
11,866 / 12,279 / 12,712 / 13, 201 / 13, 175 / 13,271

The number of student majors is high, but declining. This decline is attributed to the inception of three new A.A. programs in 1999: Education, International Studies, and Political and Legal Studies. Prior to 1999, the only Education program for students was an A.A.S. in Special Education so many students who planned to transfer to four-year institutions opted for the A.A. in Humanities in Social Science. The new A.A. in Education has been very popular and very successful in supporting transfer students.

Table 2: Number of Majors in Related Liberal Arts Programs, 1999-2005

1999-2000 / 2000-2001 / 2001-2002 / 2002-2003 / 2003-2004 / 2004-2005
Special Ed A.A.S (25250) / 95 / 105 / 61 / 40 / 32 / 48
Education A.A. / n/a / 4 / 175 / 389 / 513 / 553
International Studies A.A. / n/a / 2 / 10 / 26 / 24 / 25
Political and Legal Studies A.A. / n/a / n/a / 17 / 47 / 63 / 68

The 1995-96 program evaluation:

The previous Humanities and Social Science program evaluation was completed in April 1996. The focus of that program evaluation was on reviewing the curriculum for transferability. At that time, there was a “general consensus on the high level of quality of the curriculum,” (HSS Program Review, 1996, p. 6) but there were few objective measures of quality. The 1996 Program Evaluation cites course outlines, course requirements, and student questionnaire responses as evidence of achievement of general education goals including:

• Understanding the vocabulary and the major concepts present in the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences.
• Speaking, writing, reading, and comprehending a foreign language commensurate with the level studied.
• Developing a thesis, using a progressive, logical series of ideas. Such written and oral expression should employ standard English usage.
• Performing a series of thinking tasks including speculation, analysis, and synthesis, i.e., abstract approaches.

Unlike the previous program evaluation, which focused on the transferability of courses and on indirect measures of student success, the current program evaluation is primarily concerned with the assessment of various aspects of our mission and curriculum. With the NJTransfer.org website fully operational, faculty and students are clear about course transferability.Where appropriate, the 1996 program evaluation will be referenced as a benchmark.

Participants in Evaluation and Methods of Evaluation

The self-study committee was chaired by Linda Scherr, Associate Professor of History. The committee was comprised of members of the Humanities and Social Science Program Group (HSSPG), who includefacultyrepresenting each of the Humanities and Social Science disciplines, as well as the college transfer counselor and the division student advocates. Faculty who participated in the program review include: Carol Bork, Andy Conrad, Fran Davidson, Laura Knight, Lissette Morales, Judy Nygard, Robin Schore, Sharmila Sen (English), Craig Coenen (History), Angela McGlynn and George Colnaghi (Psychology), Gianna Durso-Finley (Sociology), Ken Rothman (Philosophy, Religious Studies), Steve Richman (Foreign Language), and Richard Porter (Mathematics). Also contributing to the review wereDeanna Cernero and Marge Archer (Student Advocates for the Liberal Arts Division), and Laurene Jones (Transfer Counselor and psychology professor). Work on the evaluation commenced in Fall 2002 and finished in Spring 2005.

The committee was hampered early on by the absence of an office of Institutional Research and Assessment (which was since established in fall 2004). The committee itself had to develop, implement, and analyze surveys (Survey of Students in Spring 2003, Survey of Faculty in Spring 2004), a student focus group protocol (Spring 2004), and direct assessments of student learning outcomes (Western Civilization II assessment in Spring 2004; Psychology 101 assessment in Fall 2004). Other data sources included information about HSS majors from the graduating student surveys (2003, 2004) and the performance of HSS students on ETS’ test of General Education, the Academic Profile (administered in Spring 2004). Also included is data from Spring 2004 surveys of fulltime and adjunct faculty members that relates to instructional techniques and course goals and objectives. In addition, the committee was able to analyze data supplied by RiderUniversity on the performance of HSS transfers to that institution from 1998-2003. MontclairStateUniversity and The College of New Jersey also supplied information on HSS students who transferred to those institutions.

II. Program Mission and Objectives

“Mercer is a great start for people who plan on transferring to another school and want to save money and get a good education in the process.” HSS Student comment, 2004

In preparation for the program review, the Humanities and Social Science Program Group spent the 2002-2003academic year discussing program goals and ways to assess how well the program was meeting the goals. From a long list of ten goals, the program group identified the following four goals to focus on and assess for program review:

Goal 1.Successful transfer to a four-year institution;

Goal 2. Discipline-specific knowledge in Humanities, Social Sciences, the Arts, and Mathematics;

Goal 3. Information Literacy;

Goal 4.Effective Communication-written, oral, reading, listening; in English and one (or more) Foreign Language(s).

Other HSS areas that were identified as important for program graduates include:

critical thinking skills

development of a lifelong learning attitude

respect and tolerance for other values, cultures, and points of view

understanding global and historical context and perspective

problem-solving

These five goals were identified as essential and in need of assessment at the program level, but for this cycle, the group decided to concentrate on the four numbered goals above.

In spring 2003, work groups were established to refine our definition of these goals, to determine criteria or benchmarks that characterized sufficient development in these areas, and to begin data collection and assessment. After each work group met, they reported back to the complete committee for a discussion of the meaning of these goals and the particular areas we wanted to benchmark.

For Goal 1, the HSSPG defined successful transfer to a four-year college or university as:

• graduating at approximately the same rate as native students, and
• maintaining a grade point average at the transfer institution that was close to the student’s MCCC grade point average.

The committee also determined that increasing the percentage of HSS majors who graduate from Mercer and transfer to a four-year institution was an integral part of defining “successful transfer.”

For Goal 2, the HSSPG determined that faculty in the individual Humanities and Social Science disciplines needed to reach a consensus on what constitutes “core knowledge and skills” in their respective disciplines. Objective assessments could then be developed to test students’ knowledge and abilities in various disciplines. The work group decided to focus on assessment of two introductory courses with high enrollments from HSS majors: PSY 101, Introductory Psychology, and HIS 102, Western Civilization since 1648.

Goal 3, Information Literacywas defined as knowing where to find information, how to do research, how to synthesize and evaluate information, and how to document information. Information literacy is a college-wide general education goal, but the HSS faculty determined that we wanted to ensure students were not only exposed to information literacy, but that the skills and knowledge of information literacy were introduced and built on in successive courses. In addition, the work group determined that there are aspects of Information Literacy that are discipline-based; e.g., there are journals and electronic resources that psychology students should know how to use that are different from those used for research in history or education courses.

Goal 4, Effective Communication, is also a college-wide general education goal that will be assessed as part of the assessment of general education. The HSSPG discussed ways to assess communication in the program as well as ways to contribute to the college-wide effort to assess this goal. We will use the college-wide results to determine that the written, oral, reading, listening skills of HSS students meet or exceed those of students in other MCCC transfer programs and students at our peer institutions. As Foreign Language is not a college-wide requirement, it will not be assessed as part of general education; but it will be assessed as part of the English/Languages program review.

III. Assessment of Program Mission and Objectives

Assessment: General

In spring 2003, each member of the HSSPG participated in one of the four work groups that correspond to the four goals. Work groups defined their goals more clearly and developed assessment instruments and strategies.

Prior to implementing the assessments of the four goals, the HSSPG devised and administered a survey of current Humanities and Social Science students. In spring 2003, the committee developed the survey questions which were “beta” tested to approximately 75 students (to look for unclear questions and directions). The final survey was then administered to all students taking Liberal Arts classes (ENG, EDU, GEO, HIS, MAT, PHI, POL, PSY, SOC, CRJ, and Foreign Language) at popular time slots: Thursday at 10:35-11:50 a.m. and Thursday at 7:05 p.m. The total number of completed surveys was 475; of this total, 267 (56%)of the students surveyedwere HSS majors). (See Appendix 1: Results of Spring 2003 Student Survey).

From the survey, we learned that the Humanities and Social Science program (and MCCC in general) is meeting students’ goals: 96.5% of students surveyed said that MCCC was acceptable or better in supporting them to achieve their goal. Further, all students – even students from majors other than HSS – reported that they felt their Humanities and Social Sciences courses helped them to achieve the four goals that the HSSPG defined as the mission of the program.

Other notable findings of the survey focused on three areas: student attitudes toward the four HSS goals, advisement, and transfer goals. Students felt the courses were most helpful in developing their knowledge of the subject matter (average of 4.06 on a 5 point scale where 1= poor, 3=acceptable, and 5 = excellent); they rated communication skills (3.87) and information literacy (3.81) as slightly below knowledge of subject matter. Preparation for transfer was markedly lower than the other three skills (3.56) but still was rated better than “acceptable.”

We also learned about patterns in student transfer and use of faculty advisors. Two-thirds of the HSS students planned to transfer after getting their A.A., but fully one-fifth of HSS majors planned to transfer before getting their degree. This statistic was a concern for faculty as data show that students are more likely to be successful at their transfer institution if they complete their associate’s degree prior to transfer.