Program: Chemistry (PhD)
Degree: Doctorate
Date: Mon Dec 10, 2018 - 11:46:45 am
1) Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs)
1. Complete course work at the frontier of the science
(1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in one or more general subject areas related to, but not confined to, a specific area of interest., 2. Demonstrate understanding of research methodology and techniques specific to one’s field of study., 3. Apply research methodology and/or scholarly inquiry techniques specific to one’s field of study., 4. Critically analyze, synthesize, and utilize information and data related to one’s field of study., 5. Proficiently communicate and disseminate information in a manner relevant to the field and intended audience., 6. Conduct research or projects as a responsible and ethical professional, including consideration of and respect for other cultural perspectives., 7. Interact professionally with others.)
2. Independently perform a significant piece of original research at the frontiers of the science
(1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in one or more general subject areas related to, but not confined to, a specific area of interest., 2. Demonstrate understanding of research methodology and techniques specific to one’s field of study., 3. Apply research methodology and/or scholarly inquiry techniques specific to one’s field of study., 4. Critically analyze, synthesize, and utilize information and data related to one’s field of study., 5. Proficiently communicate and disseminate information in a manner relevant to the field and intended audience., 6. Conduct research or projects as a responsible and ethical professional, including consideration of and respect for other cultural perspectives., 7. Interact professionally with others.)
3. Prepare and defend an original research proposal at the frontier of the science
(1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in one or more general subject areas related to, but not confined to, a specific area of interest., 2. Demonstrate understanding of research methodology and techniques specific to one’s field of study., 3. Apply research methodology and/or scholarly inquiry techniques specific to one’s field of study., 4. Critically analyze, synthesize, and utilize information and data related to one’s field of study., 5. Proficiently communicate and disseminate information in a manner relevant to the field and intended audience., 6. Conduct research or projects as a responsible and ethical professional, including consideration of and respect for other cultural perspectives., 7. Interact professionally with others.)
4. Present background of research and results or original research in an open forum
(1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in one or more general subject areas related to, but not confined to, a specific area of interest., 2. Demonstrate understanding of research methodology and techniques specific to one’s field of study., 3. Apply research methodology and/or scholarly inquiry techniques specific to one’s field of study., 4. Critically analyze, synthesize, and utilize information and data related to one’s field of study., 5. Proficiently communicate and disseminate information in a manner relevant to the field and intended audience., 6. Conduct research or projects as a responsible and ethical professional, including consideration of and respect for other cultural perspectives., 7. Interact professionally with others.)
5. Publish research results in peer reviewed international journals
(1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge in one or more general subject areas related to, but not confined to, a specific area of interest., 2. Demonstrate understanding of research methodology and techniques specific to one’s field of study., 3. Apply research methodology and/or scholarly inquiry techniques specific to one’s field of study., 4. Critically analyze, synthesize, and utilize information and data related to one’s field of study., 5. Proficiently communicate and disseminate information in a manner relevant to the field and intended audience., 6. Conduct research or projects as a responsible and ethical professional, including consideration of and respect for other cultural perspectives., 7. Interact professionally with others.)
2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update asneeded.







3) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.
- File (03/16/2020)
4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.





5) Does the program have learning achievement results for its program SLOs? (Example of achievement results: "80% of students met expectations on SLO 1.")(check one):




6) Did your program engage in any program learning assessment activities between June 1, 2015 and October 31, 2018?


7) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period June 1, 2015 to October 31, 2018? (Check all that apply.)







8) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place.
The biggest change made in recent years for Ph.D. students has been a modification to how our cumulative exams were structured, focused on SLO1-4. As a whole, faculty concluded that there was a disconnect between the objective of these exams and the actual outcome, i.e., graduate students were not critically analyzing and, understanding the primary literature as required to begin to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the subject area. By offering smaller monthly exams with defined reading lists during the academic year as opposed to one longer test, students would be forced to engage with the primary literature. As such, recent assessment efforts have focused on gauging the success of this endeavor.
9) What types of evidence did the program use as part of the assessment activities checked in question 7? (Check all that apply.)





















10) State the number of students (or persons) who submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.
Data collection is still in progress due to our relatively low number of Ph.D. students and the rolling 18 month testing period for each. To date, results have been collected for approximately 20 students.
11) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)










12) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)







13) Summarize the results of the assessment activities checked in question 7. For example, report the percentage of students who achieved each SLO.
Data collection is still in progress.
14) What best describes how the program used the results? (Check all that apply.)









15) Please briefly describe how the program used the results.
One readily apparent benefit is the way in which the more frequent cume exam schedule allows faculty to address student deficiencies. Observation of a student struggling with a concept is often followed by a cume exam on the subject within a month or two forcing the student to study those concepts.
16) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, and great achievements regarding program assessment in this reporting period.
NA
17) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please justify.
NA