USC Spartanburg is committed to academic excellence, sound financial stewardship, and the utility of premium faculty and staff. This is not only done so that the institution may become a leading metropolitan university in the Southeast, but it is a sustained acceptance and responsibility to the fundamental reason for being: To provide outstanding service to the students and the community.

This commitment drives the institution and reflects in some of the major accomplishments achieved this year, which are not directly captured in the components of this report. For example in the Business Affairs support side alone, over forty program enhancements improved the quality of services via staffing and organizational changes, reconfiguration of work areas, modifications of support processes, and the implementation of technology advancements. The University has also created a "living/learning" environment through the acquisition and improvement of University Commons, a campus apartment complex. It continues to be extraordinarily successful with 100 percent occupancy rates and additional students on waiting lists. USCS faculty also adopted a framework for an innovative, mission-based general education program in May 1998. The forty-nine hour program is based around the theme: "Learning to thrive in a diverse metropolitan community." Lastly, the USC Board of Trustees approved a revised master plan for the development of the USC Spartanburg campus. The $75,000,000 plan is to be accomplished over a period of ten years and includes a new interstate-type entrance, acquisition of additional property, and other capital projects such as an information resources complex. All of these improvements and projects have strengthened the institution's fundamental reason for being.

On one last note and much success of last year's report, this is the second Institutional Effectiveness Summary in which the individuals with the most direct insight of each component have written their own summaries. Even though some written continuity may be lost, the depth and enthusiasm of the process have more than made up for the semantics loss. Those reviewing this report are encouraged to visit the University to see the perseverance and progress in action.

This summary report includes assessment results and outcomes for the following components:

Majors or Concentrations

Business Administration
English
History
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology

The remaining components will be reported as follows:

Major planning and assessment are performed in concert with the University mission and strategic plan. An assessment unit coordinator for each major compiles the assessment report under the guidance of department-s faculty members and submits that document to the University-s Academic Assessment Committee. The Assessment Committee, in turn, reviews each plan and report and either: 1.) approves the reports or 2.) returns them to the unit coordinators with suggestions of refining measurements or clarifying goals. Presently for this summary, the following majors have used the corresponding assessment instruments for the approved reports:

Average scores of students in the School of Business Administration and Economics continue to increase on the Major Field Test in Business (154.3 in 1996 to 156.4 in 1997). USCS student averages increased in seven of the eight assessment indicators of the test from 1996 to 1997.

Seniors submitted Exit Interview Forms, which indicated that students were very satisfied with their educational and professional experiences at USCS. Ratings on fourteen of the sixteen items listed on the form increased from 1996 to 1997. The School of Business Administration and Economics used the

Student Satisfaction Exit Survey sponsored by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in 1998 and plans to use this survey for seniors in the future. The results of this survey will be available in August 1998.

The five-week program at the University Center in Greenville continues to grow in the number of students from 139 in 1996-97 to 256 in 1997-98. Also the Bachelor of Science in Management Technology degree program began this year at the University Center.

The School of Business Administration and Economics continue to meet the candidacy requirements of the AACSB Accreditation Candidacy Program for accreditation. Faculty continue to increase the number of intellectual contributions.

The purpose of assessment is to improve the academic program. The English program's annual assessments have been useful in detecting problems in meeting our instructional objectives. The first year data were collected, 1992-93, the department based assessment on eight goals different from those used in subsequent years. These goals were so abstract, that it was difficult to measure if they had been met. Goal 8, for example, said USCS English Majors should be knowledgeable of the history and structure of the English Language. The portfolios were to be filled by students with papers from all their upper-division major courses turned in to their advisors; the portfolios were thin. As a result, the department assessment committee found itself unable to evaluate five of the eight goals. Of the three remaining, one was judged not met. The Department decided to revamp the entire assessment process, adopting the goals and methods described in the Department's Planning Report. Thus, the first attempt at assessment was unsuccessful, but it proved a major learning experience that resulted in the creation of much better procedures.

In the 1993-94 academic year, analysis of the student portfolios revealed that our students were not meeting Objective 4, writing adequate research papers that follow the guidelines of the Modern Language Association. In a departmental meeting, it was agreed to stress the appropriate research methodology and form in all upper-division English classes. However, faculty teaching courses in Literary Criticism and in Shakespeare took primary responsibility for teaching research skills because all English majors take these classes. This deficiency was not evident in the 1994-95 assessment.

Assessment revealed a similar problem with Objective 2 that measured student ability to explicate literary texts through analysis of figurative language, plot, characterization, etc. A departmental discussion led to the conclusion that students had these skills but could not practice them enough because of the writing assignments they received. After English majors were asked to write more interpretive papers and to include them in their portfolios, this problem disappeared.

The success of the English major can be measured by means other than the assessment procedures described above. Data provided by the Office of Continuous Improvement show that first-time freshmen with a declared major in English graduate after an average of 4.17 years of study. Eighty percent of them will have graduated within six years of entering USCS, as compared with an institutional average of forty percent. Thus English majors complete their program of study with a level of success double the norm at LISCS.

Similarly, the 1997 USCS Alumni Survey revealed that graduates have a high level of satisfaction with instruction in the major. Sixty-three percent described the instruction in the major courses as excellent and thirty-seven percent as good. Eighty-seven percent reported good to excellent opportunities for interaction with faculty. Eighty-eight percent were pleased with the academic advisement they received. Eighty-eight percent rated faculty expertise as excellent, and the remaining twelve percent called it good. One hundred percent evaluated their total experience in the major as good or excellent.

Overall each assessment method has suggested areas of potential improvement in course content, student skills, or the evaluation of our instructional program. Changes follow and the results are that improvement of the English major has been a continuous phenomenon.

An increasing number of students at USCS are selecting history as a major. In addition, there is substantial growth in two closely related programs which require enrollment in the history Senior Seminar and upper level courses in history--interdisciplinary studies with a history concentration and secondary education social studies/history. The number of history majors in the most recent four-year period is 25% higher than in any previous four-year period. History majors, whose mean verbal SAT score was 495, are above the USCS and the South Carolina average in measured verbal skills upon entering the program. Current students and alumni express high levels of satisfaction with the history faculty and the quality of instruction in the major. History majors who have enrolled in post-baccalaureate academic programs in history, law, library science and education have reported success. There is a high ratio between the number of senior and freshman history majors each year, indicating both satisfaction with the major and the attractiveness of the major to students who initially chose another area of concentration The most serious concern is that the number of full-time faculty and the number of courses offered have not kept up with student demand, resulting in larger class sizes that somewhat limit student progress in the development of written and oral presentation skills. Curriculum revision is currently underway in order to determine the desired qualifications for replacements of two recently retired faculty members.

Data in this section are for the thirty-two (32) political science majors who graduated between fall 1994 and spring 1996. There is some data on Interdisciplinary Studies Students (IDS) and Education majors whose concentrations include political science. This section also includes data on the political science department's missions of promoting global perspectives and understanding of diversity in all USCS students.

To provide political science students with knowledge of government and politics, graduating political science majors plus IDS and Education majors with political science concentrations are administered a 60-item test covering all the political science course taught at USCS. (None of the students has taken all the courses covered in the test.) The results are as follows:

History majors were included in the students taking the test in these semesters since history and political science are combined in Senior Seminar where the test is administered.

Student satisfaction with the political science major was measured via the alumni satisfaction survey administered by Institutional Research and via a focus group format with graduating seniors. The results from these instruments are as follows:

Alumni survey - Six (6) political science graduates responded in the 1997 alumni survey. Five (5) rated the instruction in their major at USCS as excellent. One (1) rated it as good. Four (4) of the six (6) have continued their education.

Focus group - the entire political science faculty were judged strong. Students judged the requirement of frequent oral presentations to be good job training. Criticisms related to course offerings. Students wanted statistics in particular and more course offerings in general.

Communication competence is promoted through requiring term papers and oral presentations in upper level political science classes. All graduates were evaluated by all faculty who taught them.

Research skills of political science majors were evaluated in senior seminar and, for the more recent graduates, in a special course in research methods. The evaluations were: three (3) commendable, twenty-five (25) satisfactory, and four (4) unsatisfactory.

To increase all USCS students' understanding of the world political system: One hundred seventy-seven (177) students completed courses dealing with international politics during the period covered by this report. Thirty (30) students participated in Amnesty International's biweekly efforts to secure the release of political prisoners around the world. Fifty-eight (58) students participated in Model United Nations competitions against other colleges' teams.

Diversity and experiential learning are also two important goals of the Political Science program. To incorporate diversity, twenty-six (26) students successfully completed a course analyzing the political status of women and minorities. Concerning experiential learning, three (3) of the political science majors did internships, one with the Solicitor's Office, one with a private law firm, and one with the Guardian ad Litem. One of the three received a commendable rating and the other two received satisfactory ratings from their supervisors.

The USCS Psychology Program has over 200 majors and offers the B.A. and B.S. degrees in psychology as well as the psychology component of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. The Psychology Program also provides service courses for the School of Nursing and the School of Education. USCS psychology graduates have been accepted into masters level and Ph.D. programs in more than 35 institutions across the U.S. Our students conduct independent research, and their research is routinely accepted for presentation at undergraduate and graduate sessions of the annual meetings of the Southeastern Psychological Association, the Eastern Psychological Association, and the Carolina's Psychology Conference. USCS has inducted 92 students into Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology, since the installation of our chapter in 1993, and Psi Chi has presented five of our students with research awards. Since 1990, the psychology internship supervisor has placed a total of 41 student interns in 27 agencies in Spartanburg, Greenville, Cherokee, Anderson, and Union counties. Overall, senior psychology majors reported that they are quite satisfied with the psychology program (median = 6 out of 7) and that they would major in psychology again (median = 7 out of 7).

The psychology curriculum underwent a revision during 1996-97 that resulted in a significant change that will take effect beginning fall 1998. Presently, psychology majors are required to complete at least four upper level psychology courses. New majors in psychology will have an increased upper-level hour requirement, and they must earn those hours by taking at least one course from each of two groups of upper level courses. Group I courses are more experimental in nature (e.g., learning and memory, physiological, sensation and perception); Group 11 courses are more social in nature (e.g., abnormal, personality, social).

The senior seminar survey revealed that students want more information on psychology careers than has been provided in the past. To help meet this need, the USCS Psychology Club, the USCS Human Resource Club, and the USCS Psi Chi Chapter have sponsored speakers, sponsored student trips to conferences, and held workshops on liberal arts careers, resume writing, and related topics. The USCS Human Resource Club, which is in its third year at USCS, is associated with the Spartanburg Human Resource Association (SHRA); a countywide organization composed of human resource professionals. Since 1995, four of the five SHRA Leadership awards have been presented to USCS psychology majors.

The faculty and students are proud of the accomplishments of the Psychology Program at USCS. As we move into the 21st century, the faculty look forward to an increased level of support that will allow for a continuation of the already high level of achievement.

The sociology major has experienced impressive growth and development since 1993. The number of majors grew from 41 in the fall of 1993 to 58 in the fall of 1996 (41.5%) during this period, making sociology one Of the fastest growing majors at USCS, and the third largest major in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Approximately one-fourth of the graduates during this period were African-American, reflecting a program that values and recognizes diversity. The faculty have increasingly recognized the importance of experiential learning for both academic and career success, and have worked to expand those opportunities for our majors. Of the forty-six students who have graduated with a degree in sociology from the fall of 1993 to the summer of 1997, approximately 40% have completed an internship. In the past two years, 35 internships have been undertaken at 21 sites, in both public and private agencies, in at least 6 different cities. To further insure that more students will take advantage of this opportunity, the internship course is now being regularly offered in the schedule each year, and faculty are considering requiring an internship for all majors. Surveys have revealed that satisfaction with the program, among both seniors and alumni, is high. Of seniors surveyed in 1995 and 1996, 96% were I, somewhat satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the content of the courses, and 100% were somewhat or very satisfied with the teaching of the faculty, and 96% agree or strongly agree that they would major in sociology again. Our graduates have been successful in finding employment in the social service areas, with a minority pursuing graduate education in social work, education, or sociology.