Announcement of the Core Review Planning Team

Dear HMC Community,

I am pleased to announce the formation of the Core Curriculum Planning Team (CRPT), a multi-constituency committee that will oversee our preparation for an external review of the Core curriculum in late fall 2017. As Core Curriculum Director, the chair equivalent for the Core, Tom Donnelly will lead the CRPT. Other team members are: Erika Dyson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and member of FEC; Nancy Lape, Associate Professor of Engineering and member of FEC; Marissa Lee ‘ 18, ASHMC Senate Chair; Ran Libeskind-Hadas, Professor of Computer Science; Laura Palucki Blake, Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness; David Sonner, HMC Alumni Association President; and Julia Wang ’20, ASHMC Executive Committee Member.

The CRPT, established according the HMC program review guidelines, will have four primary tasks: 1) assisting with the selection of the external review team; 2) preparing the Core self study; 3) communicating with all campus constituencies as the College prepares for the Core Review; and 4) planning the external review.

The full charge of the CRPT is attached here. Please note that the planning team is not tasked with a redesign of the Core, but rather with gathering and synthesizing relevant information for the external review team and encouraging broad participation in the self study.

The Core Review Planning Team will begin their work immediately and will be active through the summer in preparation for the self study and a campus-wide core visioning exercise early in the fall term. As the body tasked with the self study, the CRPT will reach out to departments, committees, and other relevant bodies for data and analysis, as necessary. The committee will also serve as the clearinghouse for any ad hoc studies related to the Core.

The CRPT will reach out to the HMC community within the next several weeks with information about its near term schedule of activities. Please feel free to contact any members of the planning team, or me, with questions or concerns.

Best,

Lisa Sullivan

Charge to the Core Review Planning Team (CRPT), June 2017

According to the HMC Guidelines for Program Reviews , every program review will be led by a director who is responsible for convening and leading a program review committee. For the review of the Core, the program review committee will be the Core Review Planning Team (CRPT).

1. External Reviewers. The program review committee will create a list of 6-8 potential reviewers, including contact information and brief statements explaining the rationale for each selection. Suggestions regarding the composition of the list may be found in the HMC Program Review Guidelines. After the Dean of Faculty has approved the list, the review committee and director will choose the list of invitees. Invitations issue from the Dean of Faculty.

2. Self-study. The CRPT is responsible for creating a self-study report that it will deliver to the Dean of Faculty and external reviewers no later than two weeks prior to the external visit. The report should:

1. Contain an assessment of past performance (including previous studies like those prepared by the Wabash consultants, the Assessment and Accreditation Committee, the Core Working Group, the CalTech consultants)
2. Gather and lay out existing departmental level goals and learning outcomes related to the Core (departmental program reviews; previous work by the
   Assessment and Accreditation Committee)
3. Synthesize and analyze existing data in key areas such as: student performance in Core courses; Core workload for students and faculty; relationship of Core courses to the College mission; student preparation for Core courses, etc.
4. Reflect on the state of current overarching goals of the Core. A strategic visioning exercise will take place early in the fall to help generate consensus
   goals for the Core. We expect that these goals will inform the external review as well as any possible reforms of the Core.

The CRPT may also undertake any other studies that they deem relevant to the program review.

3. Interactions with the HMC Community

1. The committee will report regularly to DCC, FEC, ASHMC, and AABOG
2. The committee will create an avenue for receiving communications from all HMC constituents
3. The committee will share the self study and the report of the external review team with all HMC constituents

4. Visit. The Program Review Committee plans the external visit

1. With assistance from the Dean of Faculty’s office, the Review Committee schedules relevant interactions for the external reviewers including with relevant professors, administrators, and students
2. All members of the Review Committee meet with the external review team during the visit.

The work of the CRPT will begin in June 2017 and conclude following the external review visit. The director of the review will conduct regular meetings with the review committee throughout that time period on a schedule appropriate for the tasks at hand.