About

​​​​History

Academic program review at DePaul University began during the 1987 North Central Association (NCA) accreditation visit. During that visit, the NCA team recommended that DePaul develop and implement a system of internal, university-wide, academic program review. In response to this recommendation, a Taskforce was convened in 1992 to develop a program review process for the university. The culmination of this Taskforce's work—a report outlining processes, procedures, and the proposed administration of such a system—was submitted in 1992. Subsequently, however, no action was taken, and the academic review process remained "on hold."

During North Central’s 1997 accreditation visit, the NCA team reiterated the recommendation regarding academic program review. The team did not prescribe specifics, but was emphatic that a program review process was critical to the success and quality of the university's academic programs and needed to be implemented.

Following North Central’s 1997 visit, DePaul’s Faculty Council created an Academic Program Review Committee with representatives from all schools/colleges of the University. This Committee was charged to review, revise as necessary, and implement the recommendations of the 1992 Academic Program Review Taskforce. The Committee held its initial meeting in January, 1997 and reviewed both the 1992 Taskforce Report and representative program review materials from other universities. Upon doing so and after considerable deliberation, the Academic Program Review Committee decided to simplify the original proposal, develop an implementation protocol, and launch the process—with the expectation that DePaul's Academic Program Review process would continue to evolve and improve with the completion of each cycle.

Key Participants

DePaul's Program Review Process includes the following constituencies:

Academic Program Review Committee (APRC): Committee members are appointed for three and one-quarter year terms by DePaul's Faculty Council. Faculty from each of the University's colleges and schools are represented. New members are appointed in the Spring Quarter at the start of a new cycle and are oriented by the APR Chair. The APRC meets regularly during the academic year to lead the university's academic program review process and may from time to time call an executive session of its faculty members.

APRC Director/Chair: The Academic Program Review process is directed by the APRC Director who also serves as Chair of the APRC. This person is appointed by the Provost of Academic Affairs. The APRC chair is a faculty member and is also an APRC member.

APRC Ex-Officio members: In addition to these faculty representatives from each college and school, the APRC also includes non-voting ex-officio members as representatives from the following offices: Academic Affairs, Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and the office of Institutional Research and Marketing Analytics (IRMA). Ex-Officio members serve as advisors to the committee as a whole and therefore do not serve on subcommittees that work directly with units participating in review. Ex-Officio members are chosen at the initiative of the APRC Director/Chair in consultation with the Associate Provost for Student Success and Accreditation on an ad-hoc basis to advise the APRC and to share information from their offices as it supports the review process.

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