Self-Study Timeline
Self-Studies culminate with a campus visit by an external review team. These visits normally take place between late February and early April (after the search season). The Self-Study timeline is designed with an eye to preparing for this visit.
Late Spring (one year prior to the visit by the external review team)
The department chair/program coordinator and the Administrative Assistant meet with the Associate Dean to go over expectations, procedures, and budget. Shortly thereafter, the department/program provides the Associate Dean with:
- A list of acceptable dates for the external review team visit. The visits last two full days, either Monday-Tuesday or Thursday-Friday. The Associate Dean should, based on the number of self-studies in any given year, reserve dates on the President's and Dean's calendars. Specifically, the Associate Dean should check with the secretaries in the President's and Dean's offices to make sure that the Dean is available for a morning meeting (one hour) on the first day of the visit and that both the Dean and President are available for an exit interview (one hour) in the middle of the afternoon on the second day of the visit.
- An annotated list of 6-8 potential outside reviewers, ranked in order of preference and grouped according to their specific niches. Generally it is important to have at least one team member from a school like Pomona, and one from a university that offers a PhD in the relevant discipline. The Associate Dean will contact the reviewers one by one, in the order suggested by the chair/coordinator until he/she has come up with three people who can all be campus at one of the agreed upon times.
Once the Associate Dean has identified three external reviewers, the chair/coordinator and the Administrative Assistant take over to handle all of the arrangements in due course.
Early Fall
The department/program meets to frame the main issues for the self-study and to begin gathering the materials necessary for the self-study document. This document must be prepared by no later than two weeks before the scheduled external review visit.
February
The completed self-study document is sent to each reviewer as well as to the Associate Dean, no later than two weeks before the visit. Two hard copies of the same document, supplemented with c.v.'s of each of the reviewers, are prepared and delivered, one to the Associate Dean (to be shared with the Dean) and one to the President, no later than one week before the visit.
February - March
The external reviewers visit campus (see above).
March - April
The Dean's Office receives the external reviewers' report and forwards it to the department/program as well as the President and other administrators for review.
April - May
The department/program arranges a meeting with the Dean and Associate Dean to discuss the report's recommendations.
October or May of the next academic year
The chair/coordinator reports on the self-study to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board.
One year after completion of the self-study
The department/program submits a follow-up report to the Dean, with a copy to the Associate Dean. The chair/coordinator meets with the Dean to make a progress report. After the report has been reviewed by the President and other administrators, the Dean then makes recommendations for further action as appropriate.