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Mission and Goals
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The institution's mission and goals define the institution, including its educational activities, its student body, and its role within the higher education community. The evaluation proceeds from the institution's own definition of its mission and goals. Such evaluation is to determine the extent to which the mission and goals are achieved and are consistent with the Commission's Eligibility Requirements and standards for accreditation.
Portland State University Mission
Portland State University's mission was reviewed and adopted by the Oregon University System (OUS) Board in 1991 and amended and approved in 1997. The expanded mission statement defines Portland State's role as an urban university. The mission statement is filed with the OUS Board's office and appears both in the institutional portfolio and in the university's catalog, the Bulletin.
Programs, curricula, and research efforts reflect the university's close connection with the intellectual, social, cultural, and economic life of the region. Community relationships are a vital part of academic and research programs throughout the university. The diversity of the student population demonstrates the emphasis the institution places on its role as an urban university committed to providing diverse populations with access to high-quality post-secondary education. Portland State continues to have student body diverse in ethnicity, age, cultural background, and place of origin.
Presidential Initiatives
Institutional planning at Portland State was strongly influenced by the arrival of Daniel O. Bernstine as president in August 1997. He brought a broadly participatory style to the planning process. Structured strategic planning activities that stretched over many months were not part of his agenda. The President's style fit well with a growing campus culture of reflective discussions that emerged at provost-hosted roundtables, annual fall symposia, and as part of the institution's participation in national projects such as the Urban Universities Portfolio Project.
In his first year, President Bernstine appointed the Commission on Campus Climate and Life, charged with investigating ways to improve student-learning experiences at Portland State. The Commission included in its study broader aspects of the campus environment for faculty, staff, and student. The Commission's report was completed in the summer of 1998 and highlights were presented at the 1998 Fall Symposium. Following this, the President met with representatives from the Commission and symposium planning committee to consult on the major issues that had emerged from the various campus discussions.
Following the advice presented in the Commission's report and subsequent discussions, President Bernstine identified three presidential initiatives: Advising, Assessment, and Diversity. In 2001, Internationalization was added as a fourth initiative. Each initiative is organized under an action council, coordinated by a faculty administrator appointed directly by the President.
The four campus initiatives receive the President's close attention. They have grown from the developmental stages of policy and procedure through implementation and integration to become standard, permanent features within the culture of the institution. The Councils present regular updates on initiative activities, which are circulated through campus websites and other forms of communication, including convocation addresses, forums, presentations to the Faculty Senate, and publications. Faculty leaders have contributed significantly to these efforts. The initiatives have also received budgetary support. Progress on the initiatives is described on the university web site.
One of the most recent accomplishments of the Internationalization Initiative has involved the delivery of upper division courses for a baccalaureate degree in Shanghai, China. A substantive change prospectus under Policy A-2 was submitted to the Northwest Commission in January 2005 and approved in February 2005. The University's Accreditation Liaison Officer (currently, the vice provost for Curriculum and Dean of Undergraduate Studies) monitors institutional changes that might require notification to the Commission. The program was approved by the Oregon University System in January 2005. Early review indicates that students are performing at expected high levels similar to students in the on-campus sections of courses.
Vision and Values
In 2001, the Provost appointed a committee to review and update the institution's vision and values. Membership on the committee included faculty, staff, administrators, and students. Faculty focus groups were convened in Winter 2002 to review and comment on the initial vision and values statements produced by the committee. Faculty campus-wide participated in the focus groups.
The report from the focus groups revealed a surprisingly consistent set of aspirations and values. Paramount in the eyes of many was a deep commitment and appreciation of community engagement. Faculty also expressed concerns about the ability of the institution to support increased research, as well as an ever increasing enrollment and its impact on faculty work life and the quality of academic programs.
Seven priority areas were developed by a subcommittee of the Council of Academic Deans, complemented by other key administrators in Academic Affairs. The deans' subcommittee identified action steps under each priority, which are now being implemented by various groups and committees. Along with the units responsible for each priority, the Office of Academic Affairs monitors overall progress. The university also reports its progress in priority areas to the Oregon University System, using designated performance indicators. The indicators include four common OUS indicators (enhancing existing program quality, expanding access, maintaining reasonable cost-effectiveness, and ensuring employability of graduates), and two campus-specific indicators (enrollment in community-based learning courses, and research expenditures in science and engineering). Portland State has met or exceeded most performance indicator targets.
Concurrent with the planning process, the Senior Executive Enrollment Management Team produced a document in 2002 entitled "A Proposal for Educating Oregon's Population Center." The proposal introduced a vision for shaping future enrollment that included examining Portland State's retention efforts and ensuring that educational programs are appropriate to the characteristics of our student body, respond to the needs of the community, and align with the University's mission, vision, and values statements. The proposal resulted in the appointment of a student-retention coordinator in 2004-05, significant expansion of community college partnerships and agreements, and further expansion of campus residency facilities to accommodate younger students and student life on campus.
The University monitors its progress in meeting the goals stated in the proposals through regular analysis conducted by the institutional research office and reported in the institutional portfolio.
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