HOUGHTON COLLEGE

Houghton College

Academic Master Plan

2004-2009

Preface

The Houghton College Academic Master Plan (AMP) establishes specific action-objectives for the academic program of the College to be carried out over the next five academic years: 2004-05 to 2008-09. The action-objectives contained in the AMP reflect the mission of the College, in particular its commitment to high-quality, affordable, Christian liberal-arts education that contributes jointly to scholarship and to service, as well as to professional preparation in selected fields. This document addresses those objectives considered to be college-wide priorities. Departmental documents written in 2001 separately addressed the priorities of individual departments. These documents will be updated on a rolling 5-year schedule as provided in the Faculty Handbook in a process that entails periodic external review.

Foremost among the presuppositions governing the conduct of the academic program at Houghton College is our commitment to a Christ-centered educational experience. This principle is reflected in all that we say and do. In particular, Christian thought informs and directs both our curriculum and our pedagogy, guiding our choice of priorities. In all our work, but especially in our academic work, Christ is our example and master whose faithful disciple we seek to be. From this first principle flow all other principles used to guide this master plan.

In AY 2003-04, the College conducted a branding study with the help of an external consultant, Crane MetaMarketing. From this process emerged a number of principles that will guide the integrated branding and marketing of the College. The following principles also connect integrally to the academic program:

· The formation of Christian scholar-servants: Drawn from Houghton’s mission statement, the concept of the scholar-servant will serve as a focus of both academic development and marketing.

· A commitment to the liberal arts: The College will sustain its longstanding commitment to the provision of a rigorous liberal-arts education in conjunction with its commitment to Christian discipleship.

· The development of a more intentionally Wesley-informed educational experience: The College will commit itself to a long-term project aimed at strengthening Houghton’s traditional connection to the life and thought of John Wesley.

· Enhancement of local/global engagement: Houghton will continue to enhance its outreach in Christian service to communities–locally, nationally, and internationally.

· Development of an increased sense of place: The College will increasingly draw on its superb location-specific resources to enhance its curricular and co-curricular programming.

The College has also participated for several years in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). The survey has shed additional light on those aspects of our performance that stand in need of attention. While this is not the place to review those data in detail, it can be noted that Houghton’s performance is mixed. Among NSSE’s benchmarks, Houghton does exceptionally well in providing a supportive campus environment and earns at least average marks in providing an academically challenging experience; we do less well in the areas of student-teacher interaction and active/collaborative learning. The Academic Master Plan heretofore included a number of initiatives thought to increase those aspects of student engagement in which Houghton is relatively weaker. These initiatives include, in particular, service-learning and student-faculty research collaboration. The College commits itself to a process whereby NSSE results will be thoroughly studied for the purpose of suggesting other initiatives to improve student engagement. This particular effort will be carried out in the context of our larger effort in outcomes assessment.

The AMP is best understood as a “road-map” to be used as a tool of decision-making. In no way does it preempt the normal decision-making process. Aimed at a balanced set of program investments and thus designed to advance the mission of the College on all fronts, it is intended to provide a guide for program development and the allocation of resources, as well as the acquisition of new resources.

The original AMP was the product of many hours of hard work and extended discussion. Special mention should be made of the contributions of department chairs, the Academic Policies Council, academic records office, and the academic dean’s office. Willis Beardsley, director of assessment, was and continues to be untiring in his assistance with data analysis. This update is primarily the work of the Academic Policies Council, chaired by the Dean of the College.

Action-Objectives

Houghton College will seek to. . .

I. Strengthen instruction in the liberal arts by

A. Addressing problems of faculty workload in religion, literature, and biology—areas of study that are currently understaffed relative to enrollments;

B. Developing interdisciplinary majors in areas of study in which Houghton has strong existing resources and the potential to excel, such as American Studies and Environmental Studies, including appropriate support for the growth of the recently added interdisciplinary major in Intercultural Studies; and

C. Fostering the incremental development of more seamless approaches to the delivery of the college curricula, such as are found in our First Year Honors and Tanzania programs, both on-campus and off-campus.

II. Strengthen professional and pre-professional instruction by

A. Continuing to support the master’s degree in music;

B. Supporting the implementation of new majors in Information Technology Management and Inclusive Childhood Education;

C. Securing accreditation of the teacher education program;

D. Continuing to study the feasibility of a 5-year Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program; and

E. Developing a more systematic pre-law program through expanded co-curricular activities tied to academic advising.

III. Connect students more directly to the world of experience by

A. Continuing to develop an academically-based service-learning program,

B. Further expanding student-faculty research collaboration, and

C. Supporting and nurturing off-campus/study-abroad programs.

IV. Augment teaching and learning resources by

A. Maintaining an approximate 14:1 student/faculty ratio overall, as the traditional undergraduate enrollment grows to 1,400 students, while recognizing that ratios appropriately vary among areas of study;

B. Sharply reducing the number of very small classes (7 students or less) being taught, while developing policies to maintain relatively small classes at all levels—with somewhat larger classes at the lower level in most cases balanced against the availability of classes small enough to support discussion-based, seminar-style instruction at the upper level;

C. Continuing to renew the library collection through selective investments in subject areas identified as relatively weak;

D. Continuing to invest in instructional technology to support classroom and curriculum;

E. Continuing to invest in labs and studios that provide critical support to programs in science, art, and other areas of study; and

F. Increasing the College investment in Houghton’s forested campus and surrounding community as curricular and co-curricular resources.

V. Establish Houghton as a regional Christian center for arts and culture by

A. Enhancing theater offerings and studying the feasibility of a minor in theater;

B. Continuing to enhance our public programming in music and art; and

C. Coordinating the promotion of events in music, theater, art, and culture, while engaging in community outreach.

Action-Objectives: Discussion

Strengthening Instruction in the Liberal Arts.

Because the liberal arts form the core of Houghton’s identity as an academic institution, the College must give continuing attention to sustaining and enhancing the quality of instruction in the basic liberal-arts disciplines. Without such continuing attention, the liberal arts can erode in quality, undercutting the central mission of the College.

The actions selected to support this objective reflect four main strategies:

· Monitor and accordingly adjust the allocation of faculty-resources to address problems of under-staffing in key disciplines;

· Develop new interdisciplinary programs that draw on existing areas of strength to develop stronger academic programs and attract new student interest;

· Foster more seamless approaches to the delivery of liberal-arts curricula; and

· Tie program development to the marketing of the College to prospective students.

These strategies help to assure that liberal-arts programs are adequately staffed, providing high-quality instruction in academic majors, and that the resources of the liberal-arts disciplines are focused in ways that provide strong programs of study, delivered so as to most effectively engage students and marketed to attract strong students to the College.

Since the adoption of the Academic Master Plan in 2001, faculty positions have been added in history and philosophy; half-positions have been added in biology and (nearly so) in religion. These steps have relieved problems of under-staffing in these areas. The College has initiated a required “capstone” experience in all majors, fostering greater integration across the discrete courses that make up a field of study. A new interdisciplinary major in American Studies has been designed and proposed; action is expected in the current (2004-05) academic year. In view of the College’s recent branding study, plans are well underway to tie marketing and program development more closely together. Plans are also being developed for an on-campus version of the First Year Honors Program, bringing the seamless mode of delivery characteristic of the London-based program home to the Houghton campus.

Adjusting Faculty Resources.

An analysis of enrollments reveals key areas of study in the liberal arts at Houghton where the growth in the number of students has outpaced the allocation of faculty-resources. Sometimes the growth is structural, reflecting new academic requirements of the College; other times the growth reflects shifting student demand and interest.

Addressing problems of faculty work-load in the following disciplines is necessary for the College to sustain its tradition of high-quality instruction in the liberal arts:

· Bible. Understaffing remains apparent at all levels of the curriculum in Bible, leading to class sizes that are too large in both the introductory course in Biblical Literature and in advanced Bible courses. Bible majors should be able to take certain upper-level classes with a maximum enrollment of 20 students in order to facilitate classroom interaction and discussion; at present, this is not possible. Current policy is to aim for enrollments in Biblical Literature of around 30 students; these enrollments now approach 40. The result is a Bible faculty spread too thin, attempting to serve too many students in too few classes.

· English Literature. Understaffing remains mainly at the upper level in English, where classes are frequently too large to sustain strong classroom discussion and interaction for students majoring in these fields. As in Bible, selected upper-level classes should have a maximum enrollment of 20 students.

· Biology. Some understaffing remains in biology, manifest in the frequent faculty overloads needed to teach the biology curriculum, the high contact hours required of each faculty member when including labs, the large number of preparations per faculty member, and the high advising load given the large number of students majoring in biology.

B. Interdisciplinary Studies.

As a liberal arts college with a strong sense of community, Houghton has considerable potential for the development of interdisciplinary studies. Greater faculty expertise can often be aggregated by crossing departmental and disciplinary lines while focusing on common themes that benefit from multi-disciplinary engagement. At the same time, our sense of community can help to foster the faculty interaction needed to make interdisciplinary study work for our students. The recently established major in Intercultural Studies, which brings together anthropology, missions, linguistics, political science, and foreign language, is a case in point. By spring 2004, the major had attracted some 62 students, and it continues to grow. An ad hoc faculty committee has prepared a careful proposal for an American Studies major, which would include concentrations in history, literature, and political science (and perhaps others), while drawing on other disciplines as well. Discussions are in the formative stage for a possible major in Environmental Studies, which would draw upon the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The latter has the additional appeal of drawing directly on Houghton’s unique locational resources—the campus forest, proximity to the Genesee River and Letchworth Park, as well the Adirondack campus. Discussion has also occurred among the natural sciences that may lead to greater interdisciplinary collaboration.

The College is committed to supporting the growth of the Intercultural Studies major by providing adequate resources and specifically marketing this program to prospective students. The Academic Policies Council is scheduled to act on the American Studies proposal in the current academic year (2004-05); if approved by the Faculty, the College will commit curriculum-development resources to the development and implementation of this new major and specifically market the program to prospective students. The College will also support the preparation of a proposal for an Environmental Studies major to be implemented as early as AY 2005-06.

C. A More Seamless Curriculum.

Houghton’s great success with its recently developed First Year Honors Program in London and Houghton in Tanzania has been tied, not only to the location of these programs, but also to their manner of delivery: a more seamless mode of instruction that enables students to study a range of courses at once in a way that is more coherent, integrated, and interdependent. Students clearly are more highly motivated, and instruction is more effective, in this context. This lesson should not be lost as we deliver the rest of the curriculum. Although much of this re-examination has been linked to the development of off-campus programs, the benefits of a more seamless curriculum are not limited to off-campus study. All areas of the college curriculum, including professional and pre-professional programs, can potentially benefit from more seamless delivery. The College will seek to expand its First Year Honors Program to benefit a larger number of students by developing one or more versions of that program that can be delivered mainly on the Houghton campus.

II. Strengthening Professional/Pre-Professional Instruction.

In addition to its traditional liberal-arts majors Houghton also offers selected professional and pre-professional programs designed to advance the mission of the College. These programs both draw on and contribute to the basic liberal-arts program of the College, strengthening both. There have been several notable enhancements since the adoption of the Academic Master Plan in 2001.

This fall (AY 2004-05) Houghton formally launched its first master’s degree program in music with the enrollment of 11 students–supported by a $15 million endowment. Begun less formally a year earlier, the program is expected to grow quickly to an enrollment of 15 students.

The Departments of Business/Economics and Mathematics/Computer Science received final approval from the State of New York this past summer to offer a new interdisciplinary major in Information Technology Management.

The Department of Education received state approval this past summer to offer a newly designed major in Inclusive Childhood Education. The new major will enable its graduates to obtain dual certification in childhood education and special education. The program was made possible by a new hire in the Education faculty, Dr. Cathy Freytag, with background and expertise in special education.

The Department of Education is well down the path toward accreditation by TEAC.

The Computer Science major was re-assessed, modified, and a temporary retrenchment in faculty resources instituted.

Planned efforts to obtain accreditation for the program in Athletic Training were abandoned due to unforeseeable difficulties in the accreditation process, resulting in that program being dropped from the curriculum.

Graduate Music Program.

The Greatbatch School of Music will focus on the initial implementation of its graduate programs and any required adjustments in those programs.

New Undergraduate Major in Business/Computer Science.

The Department of Business and Department of Mathematics and Computer Science will focus on the implementation of the new program in Information Technology Management.

C. Education.

The Department of Education will focus on completing its accreditation with TEAC and the implementation of its new Inclusive Childhood Education major.

Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.

The Art Department has begun a feasibility study to assess the possibility of a five-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program. The study will be concluded in AY 2005-06.

Pre-Law Program.

Houghton will seek to enrich its pre-law program through a variety of extracurricular activities aimed at connecting students to the world of legal practice. Possible activities include the formation of a pre-law student association, topical discussion sessions, field trips, internships, and visits from practicing attorneys (especially alumni), as well as augmented academic advising. These enhancements will be implemented in AY 2004-05. The enriched pre-law program will be specifically marketed to prospective students, with a view to improving enrollments in the social sciences and humanities.

III. Connecting Students to the World of Experience

Although most academic instruction will remain firmly centered in the classroom as the primary arena of student-teacher interaction, the sound preparation of students for employment and service will increasingly benefit from connections to the world of experience outside the classroom. Houghton is committed to developing these connections in four directions: service-learning, which connects students to communities; student-faculty research, which connects students to research opportunities in their major fields; and study-abroad/off-campus programs, which immerse students in other cultures or special environments and provide a more seamless curriculum. Such experiences can be designed to complement the classroom and thus enhance and extend traditional academic preparation.

The last three years have seen numerous accomplishments in the development of new experiential learning opportunities:

Houghton has gradually moved toward a service-learning program through a faculty workshop, a faculty retreat focused on this issue, the use of VISTA/AmeriCorps volunteers, and experimentation with the incorporation of service in selected courses. This academic year (AY 2004-05), the College added a half-time director of service-learning.

The College added two off-campus semester programs: one in Australia (Houghton Down-Under) and one located on our newly acquired Star Lake campus (Houghton in Adirondack Park). Both include service and/or service-learning components. Houghton also continues to add new cross-cultural experiences in Mayterm, including the recent addition of a Mayterm in Morocco.

In addition to Houghton-delivered off-campus programs, the College participates in a number of programs operated by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. One such program has been added to Houghton’s list of approved programs: Contemporary Music Center.

Student-faculty research collaboration has expanded considerably, especially in the sciences. Physics was the first to incorporate service into its curriculum in an integral way. Biology has now modified its curriculum to allow research experiences for up to 20 students each academic year, and Chemistry has also added new research opportunities.

Houghton’s experiment with developing its own Liberal Arts Internship Program was not successful, and the program has been discontinued. These efforts will continue, however, through more traditional channels, under the direction of the Career Services Office.

Service-Learning.

The integration of service with learning is a rapidly growing, national trend in higher education, one that is especially strong in church-related, liberal-arts colleges. The object is to help recover the American tradition of civic engagement by which citizens acting within self-governing communities take responsibility for maintaining a discrete share of the common good. Christian higher education can and should be a leader in this effort. By weaving service into the curricular fabric, liberal-arts colleges help students develop lifelong habits of service to community, training them to look for service opportunities wherever they live and work.

Service-learning requires the development of service opportunities that both genuinely serve a specific community and contribute to a specific curriculum. The most effective service-learning programs tie service to a student’s major field of study. Such a program must carefully cultivate opportunities for community service that also serve curricular objectives. Houghton’s program will focus on service in three areas: (1) service to the rural community immediately surrounding the College; (2) service in urban America (with an emphasis on neighborhoods in nearby Buffalo and Rochester); and (3) international service in less developed countries.

During the current academic year (AY 04-05) the service-learning program will focus on the cultivation of relationships with the surrounding community and the development of opportunities for academically-related service. These will then be linked to the curriculum through discussion with interested faculty. When the growth of the program warrants, a full-time director of service-learning will be employed.

Student-Faculty Research.

The education of scholar-servants increasingly requires that students gain experience in research. At least 65 percent of Houghton’s graduates continue their education in graduate or professional school. Others need to develop research skills as well, in order to continue learning throughout their life and career. Although Houghton is primarily a teaching institution, research collaboration between faculty and students is an increasingly important extension of teaching. Highly labor-intensive, student-faculty research can often be carried out as a summer project, when both students and faculty are free to concentrate their attention on their collaborative work. Such research projects can frequently be funded externally, enabling student researchers to be paid for their work and adding to their sense of real productivity. However, the College also wants to encourage research collaboration during the academic year through the modification of existing curricula and teaching assignments. The College is committed to supporting these efforts.

Off-Campus/Study-Abroad Programs.

After developing successful off-campus programs in London and Tanzania, joining the Oregon Extension, Houghton has added programs in Australia and the Adirondack Park. All of these programs feature a more seamless curriculum that enables students to make stronger connections across normal course boundaries, often aided by the specific environment in which the program is offered. To this, Tanzania and Australia add an intense cross-cultural experience. Houghton will focus now on assessing the success of its current off-campus programs, while continuing to encourage creativity and innovation in the development of cross-cultural learning experiences.

Teaching and Learning Resources.

Continued enhancement of the academic program depends on continued development of teaching and learning resources. Key resources include (1) the faculty, (2) the library, (3) technology, (4) labs and studios, and (5) the forested Houghton campus.

A. The Faculty.

A college’s faculty is its primary resource. Critical to the effective use of this resource is the student/faculty ratio. Houghton’s overall ratio, approximately 14/1, is appropriate for the highly supportive and collaborative style of education to which the College is committed. This ratio should be maintained as the College experiences growth—while recognizing that the ratio appropriately varies from one field of study to another. At the same time, the effective use of the faculty as a resource requires careful attention to class size. Appropriate class sizes vary by subject matter, level of instruction, and pedagogy. Houghton is committed to maintaining relatively small class sizes at all levels, but especially at the upper level in a student’s major field, recognizing that smaller classes at the upper level must be balanced against somewhat larger classes at the lower level. Still, there is evidence that the College offers too many very small classes, those with enrollments of seven students or less. The Academic Policies Council will complete a study of class size in the 2004-05 academic year and make recommendations regarding appropriate class sizes for the various portions of the curriculum. Simultaneously, the Academic Vice President will make recommendations concerning possible adjustments of faculty loads, in view of efforts to stimulate greater student-faculty collaboration in research and service.

Equally important is the College’s commitment to faculty orientation and on-going faculty development. The College will make a concerted effort to upgrade its faculty development program for the purpose of enhancing both pedagogy and scholarship, bringing greater coherence to the development of Christian scholar-servants, as well as higher levels of support.

The Library.

Although the number of volumes in the Houghton Library compares favorably with similar institutions, much of Houghton’s collection is outdated. Fully one-third of the collection was acquired in the 1970s, but only around 8 percent was acquired in the 1990s. More than 70 percent of the collection was acquired prior to 1980. While a sudden, large infusion of money into library acquisitions is not the best way to improve the collection, a modest increase in the acquisitions budget can pay important dividends over time, provided that the budget also keep pace with rising costs. Houghton will continue to focus a proportionately greater percentage of the increased investment in library acquisitions on areas of relative weakness in the present collection (also taking into account the usual factors that determine the allocation of book acquisitions across areas of study at Houghton).

Technology

Having made significant investments in new campus infrastructure to support computer technology, Houghton has focused new investments on instructional technology, i.e., the delivery of technology in ways that enhance instruction. These continuing emphases include the following:

· Better classroom design, supported by better services, to accommodate instructional access to a range of technologies in the classroom;

· Reinvestment in and maintenance of specialized computer labs required in a range of subject areas;

· Better support of and assistance to faculty members in technologically sophisticated and web-based course development, including the purchase and use of specialized software and access to on-line resources.

Beginning in 2001-02, a full-time director of instructional technology has coordinated these efforts. At the same time, better coordination has been achieved with the Tech Service department in the delivery of classroom-based technology. A recent $125,000 grant, spearheaded by the director of instructional technology, will enable us to realize many of these objectives in the near future.

Labs and Studios.

Increased emphasis on student research will require a significant reinvestment in science labs and other similar labs (including art studios), as well as continued maintenance. The College has now adopted a policy that earmarks the revenues from lab fees for use in each academic department with labs and allows those departments roll over the revenues from lab fees from one fiscal year to the next. This has greatly facilitated re-investment in labs.

A Forested Campus.

The College will make better use of its large, forested campus as an academic resource, as part of a broader effort to increase Houghton’s sense of place. A plan to do so will be developed in the current academic year (2004-05). This will be especially advantageous in the potential development of a major in Environmental Studies.

A Christian Center of Arts and Culture.

Recent years have seen the College begin to accumulate many of the ingredients needed to make Houghton a significant regional center of arts and culture. These ingredients include the new Center for the Arts; the Ortlip Gallery; the music endowment and the master’s program it will support; an excellent music faculty recently augmented by the addition of the graduate program; an excellent art faculty; a successful writing major with an active faculty; a modest theater program growing in quality and student interest; talented students in all of the arts; a new lectureship program just getting underway; enhanced gallery space in Wesley Chapel; and an increasingly beautiful campus (including anticipated renovations to the chapel). By considering an increase in its investment in theater, possibly adding a theater minor, and coordinating the presentation and promotion of arts-related events, Houghton can establish itself in Western New York as a Christian center for artistic expression. A feasibility study related to theater will be conducted in the current (AY 2004-05) academic year.

Financial Considerations

Most of the program enhancements included with the Academic Master Plan (AMP) will require significant new expenditures, both for start-up and for on-going operation of programs. Although some of the initiatives, such as the music master’s degree program supported by a $15 million endowment, are already funded, and some may be funded through the reallocation of existing resources, most depend on new financial resources. The AMP envisions four sources of funding for new and enhanced academic programming:

Annual budget initiatives: Each year the College devotes a limited amount of money to new expenditures. The AMP will serve as guide for the allocation of these monies among academic proposals (recognizing that academic proposals are not the only proposals to be funded in this way).

Increased endowment: The College’s current endowment campaign will generate funds to be used in part for academic programming. The AMP will serve as a guide for the allocation of these monies subject to donor stipulations.

Music Endowment: The music endowment generates significant funds to be used for the improvement of the academic program college-wide. The AMP will serve as a guide for the allocation of these monies, pending faculty action on program additions as appropriate.

Grant-Writing: Many of the programs outlined in the AMP are potentially fundable through grants. Grant-writing should become a major source of funding for academic innovation at the College. Beginning with the 2004-05 academic year, the College will outsource the preparation of grant proposals for the academic program. The AMP will serve as a guide for these grant-writing efforts, which will be conducted with regular and on-going consultation with the Academic Policies Council.

Institutional Capacity and Growth

Houghton plans to grow to a traditional undergraduate enrollment of 1,400 by the fall of 2008. The Academic Master Plan envisions this growth occurring in part in specific programs as an outcome of planned program enhancements. To be specific, the development of an American Studies major and continued growth of the Intercultural Studies major; development of an environmental studies major; new majors in Inclusive Childhood Education and Information Technology Management; possible introduction of a theater minor; further development of the art program; the enrichment of the pre-law program; and continued enhancement of off-campus programs--all represent program possibilities that may contribute to overall enrollment growth. Such growth will enable the College to deliver its program more efficiently and effectively.