Winona State University

Office of Assessment

The members of the visitation team have certain advice which they wish to offer to Winona State University. This advice is not intended to be interpreted as a concern or a weakness. These are areas which the team feels WSU must be aware of and address but are not major enough to list as concerns. The comments which follow are not a requirement for institutional accreditation:

1. A historical shift in enrollment in professional degree programs calls for the intensive review of the role of liberal arts degree programs. Programs in the liberal arts appear to focus on the delivery of service courses with the maintenance of a limited number of majors. Concurrent with the development of a new general education program, there is a need for revitalization of the liberal arts degree programs. Programs in the liberal arts appear to focus on the delivery of service courses with the maintenance of a limited number of majors. Concurrent with the development of a new general education program, there is a need for revitalization of the liberal arts degree programs.

A general theme that could be emphasized reflects the fact that students with strong preparation in the liberal arts have significant upward mobility in the workplace because of adaptability and the capacity to continue to learn, reflecting a breadth of perspective developed in the learning process.

Exploration of dual degree programs with degree programs in business and the sciences, especially engineering should be explored as these programs have been demonstrated effective. Departments should contact their professional organizations for suggestions related to: 1) better defining their majors, 2) better articulating their majors to colleagues, students and other constituencies, and 3) better marketing of the potentials for positions in the workplace, and for upward mobility in the workplace.

2. Given the ambitious plans of the University, and the uncertain financial situation, the team suggests that great care be taken in the reduction of senior level administrative positions. Appropriate numbers of experienced administrative leadership at the dean and vice presidential level will be necessary to help bring plans to maturity and to guide them to successful implementation. Similarly, experienced leadership will be necessary to plan and implement program restructuring if significant budget shortfalls become a reality. The collective bargaining agreement makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for administrators below the level of dean to pick up the administrative slack at the decision-making level.

3. Central to quality of the educational enterprise is the quality of the faculty. The team notes the deterioration of the percentage of full-time faculty holding terminal degrees in the liberal arts in the decade 1981-1991 an d advises the institution, in shaping its future staffing plans, to include attention to increasing the percentage of terminally-degreed faculty.

4. Winona State has an institutionally-specific affirmative action plan and as affirmative action officer reporting directly to the president. But with many initiatives for affirmative action/cultural diversity still in early stages of implementation, the team advises the institution to retain these initiatives, even in times of restricted budgets, so that current efforts have an opportunity to demonstrate results.

5. Given the difficulty that the university has experienced in attracting viable numbers of students to traditional master's degree programs in “the disciplines” the team suggests that the College of Education and the various departments in the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Engineering and Sciences collaborate on an MS in Secondary Education program which could meet the needs of teachers in the area schools.