journal. Link to UNCW
Learning Goal: thoughtful
expression, information
literacy, critical thinking,
inquiry.
mastery of the research,
and likelihood of being
published in a peer-review
journal are collected.
Department moved to
online forms in 2010- 2011
to improve faculty
participation.mandatory and crucial for
our ability to evaluate the
performance of our
students and whether or
not they are meeting their
SLOs. The Graduate
Assessment Coordinator
prepared a “Milestones for
Assessment” document to
remind faculty at which
points in a student’s
program Assessment is
required. We will therefore
start evaluating student
performance on this SLO in
the 2011-2012 year.University of North Carolina Wilmington
Educational Program Assessment Plan and Report
(PhD Program, Biology & Marine Biology –September 30 2011)
Assessment Plan Report for 2010-2011Primary Contact Name/Info: Heather Koopman, Biology & Marine Biology, [email protected]
Program Outcome
UNCW Strategic GoalTools Implementation Summary of Findings Actions TakenPO 1: Graduation of PhD
students within 5-6 years.
Links to UNCW Strategic
Goal #1: Create the most
powerful learning
experience possible for our
students.
Several tools are used for
the assessment process of
this PO:- solicitation of information
from alumni - meetings with graduate
students and surveys of
graduate student needs - review of programs at
other institutions - monitoring of time to
The Graduate Advisory
Committee (GAC) and the
Graduate coordinator are
largely responsible for
gathering this information.
Student members of the
GAC are important conduits
of information from the
student body to the GAC.Financial concerns have
been identified as a
significant concern for time
to graduate. Based on
student comments and
comparisons with other
programs, a need to make
the curriculum more flexible
was identified. For M.S
students in the department
wishing to change to theThe Graduate School has
worked to incrementally
increase TA salaries. The
PhD core curriculum was
revised to be more flexible.
The progression from the
M.S. program to the PhD
program was made easier
through a Master’s bypass
option.