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West Virginia University Office of the Provost

Academic Program Portfolio Review

Overview

The Phase 2 program portfolio review is a deeper dive into our program portfolio review process. This includes looking at student demand metrics at the program level, as well as instructional activity and efficiency and financial performance at the department level.

The goals are to create a more focused academic program portfolio aligned with student demand, career opportunities and market trends that also serves our land-grant and research missions, while retaining our R1 classification; and to ensure that the programs in the portfolio are being delivered as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Timeline Highlights

See WVU Transformation website for the complete timeline.

Process

Programs or Departments for Formal Review

The Provost’s Office reviewed several key metrics to identify programs and departments for formal review. These metrics include:

  • Enrollment in the major/program (as of Fall 2022)
  • Enrollment trends in the major/program over a five-year period (Fall 2018-Fall 2022)
  • Additionally, the Provost’s Office evaluated department-level metrics, such as:
    • Student credit hour (SCH) production trend from AY 2020 to AY 2022
    • Full-time faculty headcount and trend from 2020 to 2022
    • Full-time faculty-to-student ratio
    • Net tuition revenue trends over 2020-2022 (Tuition revenue, based on SCH production, minus expenses)
    • Total unrestricted expenses trend from 2020-2022
    • Net financial position and trend from 2020-2022

Additional considerations include:

  • R1 research contributions - Doctoral programs and associated non-terminal master’s programs within a unit that has annual (FY 2022) external research expenditures of $1 million are exempted from review.
  • State priority program (land-grant mission)
  • Area of distinction/differentiation

How programs are excluded from consideration:

  • Non-terminal master’s programs attached to doctoral programs (only reviewed if the associated doctoral program is identified for review)
  • Pathways and completion degrees, such as multidisciplinary programs
  • Programs with three or fewer years of data
  • Potomac State and WVU Tech programs

Program Review Self-Study

As part of the Rule 2.2 Program Review process, the Provost’s Office required that a single Program Review Self-Study Form be completed on behalf of all identified programs in the department or unit. This Program Review Self-Study Form was to be submitted to the Provost’s Office by end of day on August 1, 2023.

Before submitting the Program Review Self-Study Form, academic leaders were to have sought input and feedback from the faculty and appropriate staff within the department. At a minimum, they were to have circulated the completed draft form to the faculty and staff and ask that they provide feedback within a certain period of time (at least five days) using the online comment form.

The Provost’s Office reviewed the submitted Program Review Self-Study Forms in early August.

Preliminary Recommendations

Once the Provost’s Office completed its  Board of Governors Rule 2.2 Program Review process for the programs and departments identified for formal review, they notified each unit of their preliminary recommendations. There are four possible recommendations for programs:

  • Continue at the current level of activity with no specific action (i.e., no recommended changes for the program)
  • Continue at the current level of activity with specific action (i.e., the program will continue to exist, but there are recommended changes for the program, including reduction of faculty positions)
  • Development of a cooperative program (i.e., potentially merging one or more programs together to create a new program / curriculum)
  • Discontinue the program (i.e., program will no longer exist after a teach out is completed)

Included in the preliminary recommendation notification letters are details around next steps for program discontinuance and development of a cooperative program and timelines for each. 

Also included are faculty reduction recommendations, pending Board of Governors approval on September 15, 2023. If this recommendation is approved by the Board of Governors on September 15, the Provost’s Office, in consultation with the dean’s office and the chair (where applicable), will develop the Reduction in Force Plan. This plan will determine the specific faculty members in the unit who will be retained or subject to a reduction in force / non-renewals. Additionally, that process will include discussion of which faculty positions can be reduced as of May 9, 2024, and which positions may be offered an extension beyond May 9, 2024, for teach-out programming. Finally, please note that in many units, voluntary attrition by faculty members (i.e., leaving the University for another opportunity or retiring from the University after July 1, 2023, and by or before June 30, 2024) may be considered as part of the faculty positions that are counted for elimination.  However, the individual voluntarily leaving the University must provide the University notification of their resignation or retirement by September 30, 2023, if it is to be considered as part of the reduction numbers. 

The Provost's Office sent official notifications of its preliminary recommendations to deans and chairs or school/division directors on August 10, 2023. Deans and chairs or school/division directors were required to notify the faculty and appropriate staff within 24 hours.

Program Review Appeal Process

Download a printable PDF version of this process.

View the schedule of Program Review Appeal Hearings.

  1. A Notice of Intent to Appeal must be filed by August 18 if a chair, school/division director or faculty member would like to appeal any part of the Provost’s Office Preliminary Recommendation.
  2. Most hearings will be held between August 21 – September 5. Those who file a Notice of Intent to Appeal will be notified at least three (3) business days prior to when their hearing is scheduled.
  3. Hearings will be conducted by the Program Review Appeal Committee that is established for each unit. Members will include the vice provost, an associate provost (undergraduate or graduate), the program review officer, a representative from the dean’s office of the unit’s home college, two representatives from dean’s offices outside of the unit’s home college, and the Faculty Senate chair or designee.
  4. At least two (2) days in advance of the hearing, the person who filed the Notice of Intent to Appeal must submit the Program Review Appeal Form, which contains any additional information or data they wish the Program Review Appeal Committee to consider.
  5. During the appeal hearing, the unit’s representative is given 45 minutes to present the substance of their appeal and 15 minutes to address questions from the Program Review Appeal Committee.
  6. The Program Review Appeal Committee will then deliberate and vote to accept or change the Provost’s Office Preliminary Recommendation. The program review officer tallies the votes, informs the Program Review Appeal Committee of the results, and communicates the results to the dean’s office and chair or school/division director within three (3) business days following the hearing.
  7. If the appeal is denied, the original recommendation will be presented to the Board of Governors for a vote on September 15. If the appeal is granted, the Program Review Appeal Committee may provide a new recommendation to the dean and chair or school/division director. This new recommendation would also go to the Board of Governors for a vote.
  8. All decisions made by the Program Review Appeal Committee are final.


Results

In accordance with the Board of Governors Rule 2.2 Program Review process, the Provost's Office determined preliminary recommendations for each of the following departments. Provided for each unit is a link to the formal review notification letter and the preliminary recommendation notification letter.

For any unit that requested an appeal hearing, the results of that hearing were added to the site within 3 business days following the hearing. A link to the unit's self-study is also provided. The results of the appeal hearing are considered the Provost's Office's final recommendations* and were presented for a Board of Governors' vote.  For any unit that did not request an appeal hearing, the Provost's Office's preliminary recommendations were presented as final recommendations for the Board's vote.  

Recommendations were presented to the Board of Governors during a public meeting on September 15, 2023. The Board approved all programmatic recommendations, including faculty reductions in force, with the exception of three modifications:

  • Reinstatement of one faculty position in the School of Art and Design *
  • Reinstatement of one faculty position in the School of Music**
  • Reinstatement of two faculty positions in the Department of World Languages, Literature and Linguistics***

Ultimately, the vote finalized decisions for 130 programs (including 28 discontinuances) and will impact 143 faculty positions on the Morgantown campus.

Read the final recommendations as presented in the BOG Meeting Agenda Booklet beginning on page 4 and view a graphics presentation of program recommendations. In addition, these supplemental tables provide summary information regarding faculty reductions and retentions, appeal outcomes, programmatic actions, and student and faculty impact.

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

College of Applied Human Sciences

College of Creative Arts

College of Law

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

John Chambers College of Business and Economics

Two additional programs underwent a dean-initiated review. Those reviews and associated appeals were completed in June 2023 and were included in the Board of Governors vote at the September 15, 2023, meeting :

School of Medicine

School of Pharmacy

School of Public Health



Next Steps

Final Recommendations and Board Review

The Provost’s Office will submit the final recommendations to the Board of Governors for a public vote to be held on September 15, 2023. Final recommendations include any preliminary recommendations that were not appealed, and for any appealed preliminary recommendations, the final recommendation would be the result rendered by the Program Review Appeal Committee.

If a University community member wishes to submit written comment about any of the Provost’s Office final recommendations for program reduction or discontinuation before the Board of Governors votes, they may do so by completing an online comment form.

If a University community member wishes to sign-up to speak at a Board of Governors public hearing on September 14, they may do so by completing an online sign-up form.  Depending on the number of individuals that sign up to speak, the Board may limit the number of speaks who may address them on a particular final recommendation. The time that each speaker may speak will be determined based on the number of speakers. Each speaker is likely to be given a maximum of three minutes each. The exact time for public comment has not yet been announced but is anticipated to be around midday.  Speakers will be notified by two days in advance of their estimated assigned time to speak . 

The Board of Governors may deny the Provost’s Office final recommendation for program reduction or discontinuation. The Board of Governors may also request additional information or request that further analysis of the program be made prior to accepting or rejecting a recommendation.