UHCL begins two-year program identifying ways to improve quality of education for undergraduates

The John N. Gardner Institute’s (JNGI) Foundations of Excellence program is being implemented at UHCL beginning October 2015. The two-year program aids in the process of learning and retention for first-year and transfer students.

Year one of the two-year program is a yearlong self study. The self study involves 135 volunteers from the university, made up of faculty, staff and students, who signed up to serve on one of nine dimension committees, each of which is comprised of 12-15 people.

Each of the nine dimension committees are assigned one of the Gardner Institute’s Foundational Dimensions to assess philosophy, organization, learning, faculty, transitions, all students, diversity, roles and purposes, and improvement. All of the nine committees’ members will be answering questions and looking at data, which will guide them in writing a report and making recommendations for UHCL.

The co-chairs of these committees, along with three administrative liaisons and other selected faculty/staff, create a steering committee. Yvette Bendeck, associate vice president for enrollment management, Darlene Biggers, associate vice president for student services, and Mrinal Mudgh-Varma, associate vice president for academic affairs, are serving as liaisons. The steering committee will conduct a final report with a consultant from JNGI.

The self study will collect institutional data from two different populations: first-year and transfer students.

“The question that we are studying is: ‘how can we achieve excellence in undergraduate education for these two populations?’” Biggers said.

Those participating in the self study will be using FoEtec, which is an electronic platform for internal and external communication, as well as a place for participants to import data and findings. Participants will also be given surveys to conduct, owned and administered by Educational Benchmarking, Inc., during the self study process.

After the self study is complete, the planning process for year two will begin. The Foundational Dimensions committees’ collected data and reports will be used in the process of evaluation for the implementation process, which will take place in the 2016-2017 academic year.

Year two of the program is also designed to be finished in a single calendar year. However, after the process is completed, if the institution requires additional time for implementation, participating campuses will have electronic access to Foundations of Excellence materials for two years after its completion date.

The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education was founded by Gardner, president of JNGI, and his wife Betsy O. Barefoot, senior scholar of JNGI, in October 1999 as The Policy Center. The Foundations of Excellence program was started at The Gardner Institute in 2003, which set up an aspirational model for first-year and transfers students because one did not previously exist. Gardner said this program has been successful in about 274 institutions.

There are requirements for the program. Institutions applying must be a regionally accredited college or university in the United States. Applicants must state why their institution is interested in taking on this project and assure JNGI that it has the capacity to complete the program. The institutions applying must also have commitment from their administrators and community.

“Capacity means having a reasonable number of faculty, staff and students that could devote the time to this,” Gardner said. “Commitment means that the university’s leadership will support this process [and] will encourage people to participate.”

Gardner said it is important that no institution be forced into JNGI’s program, as this can affect the campus’ success rate.

“We want to make sure the institution is going into this voluntarily,” Gardner said.

The total cost of the program is $88,400, with $75,000 being the base cost, and $18,400 for the two-year study plus surveys. The cost of the program is covered by the Title III grant program.

“[Foundations of Excellence] is completely funded by Title III,” said Rachel McNeil, Title III grant program coordinator.

The Foundations of Excellence program is also being implemented at other local institutions, University of Houston and Lone Star College.

“It’s a very exciting process to bring together all the different people at the university to focus on student learning,” Biggers said. “Even though it’s going to be a lot of hard work, I’m very happy to be a part of it.”