Academic Program Review and Prioritization: In the Race or Out to Pasture?

Hank Dunn and Kathy Lee, of Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, share their methodology for academic program review and prioritization, emphasizing quality and viability, in this League forInnovation in the Community College's Leadership Abstract.

In community colleges, many of us face a challenge when attempting to redeploy our precious resources. Campus and faculty identity may be tightly entwined with the degree programs in place. In many cases, a program losing enrollment or a waning need for a specific industry is not a campus secret. Professor Jones and his colleagues have worked at the college as loyal employees for years—many are nearing retirement—and so the issue is not only one of ending an obsolete program, but also one of saying good-bye to long-time employees.

When money was in plentiful supply, a new program could be added to the stable of existing programs without a second thought. Now, however, the expense of a new program may require the deletion or modification of an existing program, and community colleges are finding they must make difficult decisions about program implementation.