Introduction
San José State University (SJSU) develops and sustains general education, undergraduate, graduate, credential, and academic certificate programs that provide solid educational foundations in many fields. The eight colleges offer 69 Bachelor’s degrees with 81 formal concentrations (noted on the diploma), 65 Master’s degrees with 29 formal concentrations, and 17 Certificates. Additional degrees include one recently approved joint doctorate (another is in progress). Extended Studies offers 15 Certificate programs primarily to post-graduate professionals. SJSU provides an array of online courses and programs, lifelong learning opportunities, community service learning experiences, and support programs tailored to varied constituencies. Undergraduate classes have an average size of 26 and the undergraduate student to faculty ratio is between 17 and 18 to 1.
This essay provides illustrative examples of three domains in which SJSU fulfills its mission: (1) teaching and learning; (2) scholarship and creative activity; and (3) support for student learning.
Teaching and Learning (CFRs 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.7)
Curricular Development
SJSU has an elaborate set of quality control measures, grounded in many university policies, to ensure that the curricular goals of Standard 2 are met. Details are addressed in committee discussions (pdf) related to Standard 2. In essence, new program proposals typically originate with department faculty, are approved at the College and decanal level, are then reviewed by a university-wide Senate operating committee - Undergraduate Studies or Graduate Studies and Research - and ultimately are recommended to the Provost by the Curriculum and Research policy committee of the Senate. The Provost submits programs to the CSU Chancellor for final authorization. New degrees, but not concentrations or specializations, must be approved by CSU Trustees for addition to the Academic Master Plan before implementation and, in many cases, must be approved by the California Post-secondary Education Commission (CPEC) as well as WASC through its substantive change review (pdf) process. At each stage there is opportunity to evaluate curricular currency, prerequisite structure, resource and facility support, student and societal demand, faculty competencies, and congruence with the missions and goals of the Colleges and the University as a whole.
Proposed programs emerge within the context of College Academic Planning Councils that review program and staffing needs and prepare annual and longer-term plans to meet those needs. This provides inter-departmental integration, ensures that faculty and staff recruitment needs are consistent with college and university goals, and produces a coherent summary of planning documents for administrative review. Details on academic planning can be found in the Portfolio section of this report on Program Planning (pdf) and Alignment of Resources. Examples of internal and external efforts to ensure curricular currency and quality include:
Internal Control and Review of Curricular Quality
External Control and Review of Curricular Quality
Learning Expectations
The SJSU Catalog describes degrees, courses, admission and graduation requirements, and other policies and procedures. General learning goals are in college and department mission statements. Course syllabi provide specific course requirements and expectations, and are updated as course descriptions are reviewed at least biennially for the catalog. Many university policies address instructional issues. For example, a set of policiesin the area of general education has been developed and a specific Senate policy governs the content and structure of syllabi. The Board of General Studies also oversees the implementation and modification of assessment of general education learning goals.
Program Innovations
Upon his arrival Provost Goodman introduced many initiatives to enhance the academic environment for both faculty and students. These are organized and described in the Academic Division Mission Statement. For example, an Academic Innovation Model (AIM) supports faculty in directing a larger portion of their time and energy toward innovations in teaching, scholarship and service. Other examples of enhancements of the teaching/learning environment include:
These and other innovations illustrate SJSU’s capacity to ensure the quality of students’ education and to expand opportunities for student learning.
Scholarship and Creative Activity Section (CFRs 2.8. 2.9)
SJSU faculty are responsible for an average 15 weighted teaching units (WTUs) per semester, where one WTU is 1 lecture hour/week (with variations for activities or labs). Tenured and tenure track faculty teach 12 WTUs, with 3 WTUs for committee work and advising. For those who teach 3 unit courses, this is a four course load each semester. This, plus advising, committee work, and university service is demanding. Still, faculty engage in scholarly and creative activity in many settings on and off campus, ranging from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory and anthropological research on Silicon Valley businesses to collaborative relationships with NASA-Ames for the study of Mars.
Faculty research, scholarship and creative work required in the Retention, Tenure and Promotion (RTP) process is supportedin a variety of ways. Funded activities at SJSU in support of student learning include grants and awards for basic research, training opportunities, service learning, and applied research including contracts with deliverables. Many resources help faculty develop and expand their scholarship, including grant workshops, assigned time for grant writing, and professional leaves, including both sabbaticals and difference-in-pay leaves. A "GRIF" (grant-related instructional faculty) program allows faculty with large grants to have salaries augmented through those grants. Teacher-scholars in each college take part in a Teacher-Scholar Institute each year. There are faculty-members-in-residence positions for the scholarship of teaching, in recognition of the expanded "Boyer" definition of scholarship. The university recognizes research activity through an annual Presidential Scholar award. A National Science Foundation survey of Academic R&D Expenditures ranks San José State University # 192 (out of 641 institutions surveyed) in total science and engineering R&D expenditures. In FY 2002-03, San José State University Foundation received $41,700,000 in extramural contracts and grants to support research, training, and other sponsored activities. Additionally:
Support for Student Learning Section (CFRs 2.10, 2.11)
SJSU is an 80% commuter campus with 43% of all students aged 25 or over. SJSU students work while they attend school. NSSE data recently showed that SJSU senior students spent significantly more hours at their off-campus work (16-20 hours on average) than students at comparable CSU institutions (NSSE 2002 Means Summary Report. Many international students need unique support, as do those for whom college is not a family tradition, and/or for whom English is not the native language (up to 60% of undergraduates).
The campus has responded to such diverse needs with a variety of programs to support success, some of which are discussed in the Student Development and Success segment of the Portfolio. A new, overnight, mandated Freshman Orientation program was developed jointly by Academic Affairs and Students Affairs because SJSU believes that success begins with a supportive program in a student’s first year. To this end also, the Metropolitan University Scholar’s Experience (MUSE), begun in 2002, provides freshmen with an opportunity to interact with faculty in small 16 student seminars. The two MUSE strategies to achieve higher retention rates and long term academic success are: (1) to establish a strong foundation for a student to be a successful university level student and scholar; and (2) to acclimate students to both the intellectual and social activities of university life. A MUSE assessment committee is now evaluating GPA’s, semester retention rates, satisfaction indices, and other measures of the first two years of MUSE classes. The initial data are positive, and more detailed analyses will be available for the Educational Effectiveness review.
A parallel Peer Mentor Program (about 32 trained undergraduate students) to support students in MUSE classes, and a Peer Mentor Center, are available to help freshmen make the transition from high school. Mentors consult with individual students, work with MUSE professors and classes, and serve as advisors to students (any students) who drop into the Peer Mentor Center.
The International Programs and Services (IPS) unit serves international students, e.g., helping integrate Muskie and Woodrow Wilson Fellows into campus life while providing advising on visa requirements, employment, and family emergencies. The Academic Services unit hosts an Academic Support Program for Increased Retention in Education (ASPIRE) and a Learning Assistance Resource Center (LARC (pdf)), along with intensive advisement for initial freshman registration.
The Division of Student Affairs, in collaboration with Academic Affairs, provides many services and programs to enhance the quality of student life and to complement academic work. Student Affairs offers basic support such as housing (pdf), emergency health care (pdf), information counseling services (pdf)about healthy lifestyles, and . The Student Life and Leadership (pdf) Program along with the Career Center (pdf) help students prepare for careers. Students with special needs get support from the Disability Resource Center. Other programs within Student Affairs designed to enhance students’ experiences include the Student Union (pdf); the Associated Students (pdf) organization; and the Mosaic Cross-Cultural Center (MOSAIC (pdf)).
New facilities as well support student needs. Within the new Library is the Emma E. Legg Adaptive Technology Center with 45 computers that provide learning support for a wide variety of student disabilities. In addition, through the office of Graduate Studies and Research (pdf) many opportunities are made available to those seeking a masters degree. This review only touches on the wide range of educational and developmental opportunities available to students on the SJSU campus. A glimpse of how one extraordinary recent SJSU graduate took advantage of a wide range of these supports and opportunities is provided through a profile constructed from an interview at the close of the 03-04 academic year.
Summary
In summary, SJSU clearly has manifested its capacity to develop and sustain high quality curricula, with appropriate attention to prerequisites, student support programs in both Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, systematic program review, facilities development, and innovative teaching by outstanding faculty. Faculty scholarly achievements and their ongoing research and creative activity are evidenced by external accreditations, by a steadily increasing influx of extramural funding, through recognition in national evaluations, and through the usual indices of publication and presentations. SJSU has reached out creatively to develop such new teaching/learning venues as the Metropolitan Technology Center, the Social Policy and Research Institute, the Global Studies Initiative, the King Library, online courses and degree programs, and unusual collaborations among the colleges (a combined Engineering/Business degree, and a new combined Biotechnology/Business degree). SJSU without question has the capacity to be a powerful educational environment in every sense of the word. In the Educational Effectiveness review we will seek to document the degree to which this capacity has been effectively utilized.
Resources to support the full range of SJSU’s endeavors at the quality levels the campus insists upon are increasingly problematic under the state budget crisis. It is clear that close attention need be paid in coming years to the alignment of resources and campus priorities. Throughout this Capacity and Preparatory Review, reference is made to the need for clearer procedures to be carried out under broad campus consensus, to ensure that quality is maintained should resources slip, even if this maintenance of quality should entail some level of cutback in enrollment and/or curricular variety. While growth has traditionally been the trigger for enhanced funding from the state, SJSU must recognize that hard and carefully thought-out decisions, reached in an environment of cooperation and active collaboration, could be required to guarantee that the quality of teaching and learning, faculty scholarship, and proper support for students remains at the top of the university’s priority list - and that resources are allocated in accord with those priorities.
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WASC Standard 2
The institution achieves its institutional purposes and attains its educational objectives through the core functions of teaching and learning,scholarship and creative activity, and support for student learning. It demonstrates that these core functions are performed effectively and that they support one another in the institution’s efforts to attain educational effectiveness.
WASC Categories Under Standard 2
Criteria for Review addressed in Essay 2
Scholarship and Creative Activity (pdf)
Support for Student Learning (pdf)
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