|
New office responds to 'targets of opportunity'
Steve RiCharde had been on the job at Richmond only a few weeks when he received an assignment that would have a lasting affect on the University’s future. The assignment? Find a way to change the University’s classification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching—and by default—its classification in U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” annual guide. The University has held the No. 1 spot in the “Master’s Universities-South” category of the magazine’s annual guide for 11 years but wanted to move to the “National Liberal Arts” category, which includes Carnegie’s Baccalaureate Liberal Arts classification. Colleges and universities in that category are primarily undergraduate colleges with a major emphasis on baccalaureate programs. They award at least half of their baccalaureate degrees in liberal arts fields and include many of America’s top small colleges, such as Williams, Amherst, Davidson and Washington and Lee, which compete with Richmond for students. The University’s administration has believed for some time that the national category would be a better fit for Richmond, although it would mean giving up its number one spot on the old list. After gathering both quantitative data and qualitative information, RiCharde sent the Carnegie Foundation a 10-page letter outlining the rationale for the move. The foundation’s acceptance and the ultimate change in classification for Richmond was “a real coup for the University and a nice outcome for a new office trying to establish itself,” he said. RiCharde, who has been on the job since June 21, heads the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment. Not all of the office’s assignments are as significant as the appeal to Carnegie—some require as little as a half-hour of research— but all respond to “targets of opportunity” at the University, RiCharde said. RiCharde holds a Ph.D. in educational measurement from the University of Florida and began his career as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Maryland. He was director of institutional research and professor of psychology at VMI before coming to Richmond. It was in the mid-1980s, RiCharde said, when then-Gov. Charles Robb imposed a rigorous assessment mandate on public higher education in Virginia. RiCharde served on the SCHEV (State Council of Higher Education for Virginia) committee that developed assessment guidelines, and he has published articles on assessment and consulted with other states on the topic. RiCharde’s staff includes Angela Detlev, who leads the assessment area; Jennifer Naquin, who has responsibility for databases and reports; and Susan Heckel, the administrative assistant. Together they provide necessary and required information to external agencies, such as IPEDS (Integrated Post- Secondary Education Data System), SCHEV and SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools). They also write internal reports and conduct data-based research on a variety of topics, primarily for the president’s and provost’s offices. When the University was considering whether to adopt a significant tuition increase, for instance, RiCharde provided benchmarking studies of how peer colleges budget their planning dollars. In the area of planning, the office helps monitor progress on the strategic plan. RiCharde also helps departments learn how to develop strategic plans and provides a standard planning model. With a SACS self-study on the horizon, the assessment area is becoming active. “We will help all departments come up with solid plans and assessment tools” for the once-a-decade self-study, he explained. Already he has met with the school deans to set the effort in motion. The office also has written a University profile and will be responsible for developing a fact book that the staff will update annually. A database of faculty expertise and accomplishments also is on RiCharde’s “to do” list. When the office’s Web page is completed, it will be a repository of most of the data and facts the staff has collected. RiCharde also serves on the Common Ground Action Committee to help develop ways to evaluate the diversity climate and ethos of the University. |
||||||
 |
 |
