2009 Educational Offerings and Faculty at Ship

The mission of the University states that "Shippensburg is a comprehensive University offering bachelor's and master's degree programs in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, and Education and Human Services. The curricula are organized to enable students both to develop their intellectual abilities and to obtain professional training in a variety of fields."  This part of the mission describes our Education Offerings (Standard 11).  We meet the requirements of this Standard by having a curriculum proposal process through the University Curriculum Committee that ensures "academic content, rigor, and coherence" appropriate to our mission.  With this process we ensure that the student learning outcomes and methods of assessment are clearly articulated for new courses and new programs.  The Program Review process meets the expectation that the curricular are examined on a regular schedule to determine if they are still effective.  Our Program Review process has included the evaluation of curricula since its inception in 1982, and now with our recently implemented assessment report, known as the 5-column model, we annually and systematically document the use of assessment results.   This Standard also addresses the collection of skills referred to as "information literacy" which are the skills involved "in acquiring and processing information in the search for understanding, whether that information is sought in or through the facilities of a library, through practica, as a result of field experiments, by communications with experts in professional communities, or by other means." 

Additionally, the mission of the University states that "The foundation of the undergraduate curriculum is a required core of courses in the arts and sciences. These courses prepare students to think logically, read critically, write clearly, and verbalize ideas in a succinct and articulate manner; they also broaden students' knowledge of the world, past and present."  This core of courses is our general education program.  We meet the requirements of the General Education Standard (12) through our Required Skills and Categories in the General Education Program as documented by our undergraduate catalog.  Another very important part of our meeting this Standard is met by having a General Education Coordinating Committee (GECC).  Its role in assessing our general education program and using the results to improve offerings demonstrates our commitment to these core courses.

Also, our mission states that "[T]he University's primary commitment is to student learning" and the dedicated professionals who perform this function are the Faculty (Standard 10).  This Standard provides guidelines for the roles that faculty play in the university.  Documents that provide evidence of our meeting this standard are:  the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Association of Pennsylvania College and University Faculties (APSCUF), the Faculty Search Manual, the programs and guidelines of the Center for Excellence in Scholarship and Teaching (CFEST), and the guidelines of the University Research and Scholarship Program (URSP).