Standard 10: Public Disclosure
Description
SCSU presents itself to students, faculty, staff and the public through the university's Website; advertising; Facebook; Twitter; news features in local newspapers; Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs; Financial Aid publications; the Student Handbook; the University Fact Book; the Admissions Office Viewbook; Southern Alumni Magazine and Southern Life (the campus newspaper); and departmental brochures and Websites. The SCSU College Portrait, part of the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA), is linked from the SCSU Website, and provides extensive information about the university's programs, students, faculty, campus life, admissions policies, costs, and more. The results of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) from the last five years are also posted on the university's Website. SCSU acknowledges its current NEASC accreditation on the Website and in its printed/online catalogs.
The offices of Public Affairs and Admissions are the main resources for print publications. In addition, each of these offices directs inquiries to the appropriate Website, department, or office. The Office of Public Affairs also oversees the university Website and creates an array of informational and marketing materials and distributes them to campus constituencies to provide to the public.
The university's mission statement is located on the Website, in the University's Strategic Plan, Pursuing Excellence, Fostering Leadership, Empowering Communities, (USP) and in both the undergraduate and graduate catalogs. Undergraduate and graduate catalogs are accessible on the university's Website and in print. The university's core values are stated in the USP and also appear in the Undergraduate Catalog. An analogous statement about the purpose and nature of graduate study appears in the Graduate Catalog. Information about admission, academic program and degree requirements, student fees and charges, financial aid, refund and withdrawal policies, and transfer credit procedures is included in both catalogs. Each catalog contains a list and a description of the courses offered by each program and department. Catalogs list current full-time faculty, their department or program affiliation, and their degrees and degree-granting institutions. Faculty emeriti are listed in the Undergraduate Catalog. Adjunct faculty are not listed in the catalogs, although several academic departments' Websites include names and contact information for their adjunct faculty. The catalogs also include the names and titles of the senior members of the administration and their degrees. The names of the members of the Connecticut State University System Board of Trustees (BOT) are also listed.
The print version of the Undergraduate Catalog is published every two years. Between catalog printings, significant updates to the Undergraduate Catalog are posted on the university's Website. The print and online versions of the Graduate Catalog are updated annually. The schedule of classes is available online, with a link from the university's home page and from MySCSU, the institution's portal. All courses offered during the present and upcoming semester are listed, as well as those from the past 10 years, with the names of instructors.
Financial aid information is published not only in the catalogs and Viewbook but also in the Undergraduate Search Publication and the Office of Admissions publication, "Transfer to Southern." The latter two documents also outline transfer credit policies. The College Portrait contains information about costs of attendance and financial aid as well as statements about undergraduate student success and progress.
Rules for student conduct are listed in the Student Handbook, which is updated annually and is accessible via the Website. The handbook also includes information about university student services, academic affairs, student-university relations, nondiscrimination policies, student activities, and residence life. In addition, "A Guide for First-Year Students" and "A Guide for Transfer Students" - extensive workbooks of university information designed to aid new students in their transition to life at SCSU - are updated annually and distributed to students at orientation. The booklet "Living On Campus" describes options for on-campus housing. The Website of the Disability Resource Center provides extensive information about SCSU's services and accommodations available for students with disabilities, as well as information for faculty on how to accommodate students with disabilities.
Each September, the Public Affairs Office publishes a revised version of the Undergraduate Admissions Viewbook. The Viewbook is sent to all who inquire about undergraduate admissions and is distributed to secondary school counselors, students, and parents. The Graduate School sends copies of the Graduate Catalog and individual master's and sixth year program brochures to prospective students, who are also referred to the Graduate School's Website.
Information on educational services and co-curricular and non-academic programs can be found in the print and online versions of the Undergraduate Catalog, the Viewbook and other admissions publications. This information is also included in departmental brochures and Websites of various offices, among them Student Affairs, Career Services, Counseling Services, Academic Advisement, Multicultural Center, the Student Handbook, and the Women's Center/Men's Initiative brochure. SCSU's College Portrait presents information regarding retention, undergraduate success and progress rate, student characteristics, and student learning experiences and satisfaction. The Distance Learning Website and Part-Time Study Website include extensive information on these educational options.
The current USP, available both in print and online, contains general institutional expectations about educational outcomes. The Undergraduate Catalog, particularly individual school sections, also contains a number of statements that describe expected educational outcomes. Statements about student learning outcomes also appear on individual department Websites. For accredited academic programs, information about program excellence and learning outcomes can be found in accreditation reports. On a rotating basis, each undergraduate program completes a self-study every seven years and provides evidence that it meets the expected standards. The program review results and the program self-study reports are available on the Undergraduate Curriculum Forum Website. The Academic Standard Committee of the Graduate Council assesses graduate program quality every five years; information about these assessments is provided on the Graduate Council Website.
The Office of Alumni Relations maintains information on the placement of those graduates who have contacted the alumni office. Anecdotal success of graduates is reported in Southern Alumni Magazine, published two times per year, along with a printed newsletter, Owl Sightings; regular email newsletters, archived on the Alumni Website, and the SCSU Alumni Facebook page.
The university Website presents a guide to emergency preparedness for the campus community and an annual Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Report, both of which also exist as print publications. Under the SCSUAlert system, the university community may sign up online to receive emergency notifications via text message and/or cell phone. Also accessible on the Website are current job postings and union contracts, as well as the Employee Handbook. The institution's most recent audited financial statement is available from the controller. There is no public notice of the availability of the statement, but the controller will make available a photocopy of the SCSU portion of the system-wide audit to interested parties. The CSU System's combined financial statement is available online.
In print and radio advertisements promoting the institution or its programs, the Office of Public Affairs includes telephone numbers and/or the URL for SCSU's Website. The annual print administrative/faculty directory contains toll-free and direct phone numbers for the university, numbers for academic and administrative departments, and numbers and email addresses for staff and faculty, including adjunct faculty and part-time staff. The university Website has a searchable phone and email directory, updated as needed, that includes adjunct faculty and university assistants. The main telephone number for the university connects callers to an automated message system that directs them to specific offices, providing an option to speak to a campus representative between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Monday-Friday, from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m. on Saturday, and from 2-10 p.m. on Sunday, during academic semesters.
Announcements about campus events or news are posted on the university's home page, Facebook and Twitter pages, and disseminated via the university's listservs, one each for students, faculty, and faculty/staff. A daily email announcement of upcoming campus events is sent out on these list servs. Campus clubs and organizations can also publicize their activities on Collegiate Link. The current Website was built with a content management system (CMS) that enables members of individual departments, with minimal training, to maintain their own sites. The CMS-based site addressed the university's need for additional Web staffing and allows the Website to be as up-to-date as possible.
The university portal, MySCSU, is only accessible through login to students, faculty, and staff. The portal also contains calendars, announcements and various other applications.
Appraisal
Since 2001, SCSU has implemented a new Website that has greatly improved communication to the university's constituencies. This Website is now a main source of information about the university and is a comprehensive resource for current and prospective students, parents, faculty and staff, alumni, and members of the larger community. Information made available to the public and the campus community via this Website is more clear, consistent, and correct than on the previous Website. While the wide variety of information in such categories as academics, student life, human resources, health and safety, finance and administration, and assessment, is regularly updated by the individuals who edit these sites, there is no general overall review of the university's Website.
Much information available on the Website is also available in printed form, although the move has been towards digital presentation of information. Information in print publications coordinates with online versions whenever possible. The Website and print publications contain clear evidence of the university mission statement, vision statement, obligations for student behavior, and standards germane to academic responsibilities, admissions, purpose, and non-discrimination policies. Clear statements and descriptions also exist regarding faculty, campus facilities, services, and university centers. Both the undergraduate and graduate catalogs represent and portray the university, its role, and mission accurately.
Among students responding to the SCSU Student Survey for University Accreditation, 56% felt that the university's Website provides sufficient information to make informed decisions about their education, although 28% of respondents reported difficulties in navigating the site. When inconsistencies in information are identified, such as conflicting calendar dates, the university is quick to correct information, through Website updates, e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook, usually through the Office of Public Affairs. That office has taken steps to assure consistency in information, especially through its oversight of the university Website.
Departments are trained by Public Affairs staff to enter and edit content on their respective Websites, but some departments' Websites are more frequently updated and contain more information than others. For instance, the Department of Public Health site contains information not only about academic majors and faculty but also about special programs. In comparison, the Political Science Department's site is somewhat basic. No guidelines have been formally established for the content of department sites, although most provide similar categories of information, such as program offerings and faculty and staff contact information. The Office of Public Affairs has a content editor who maintains the home page and may edit sites for consistency and correctness. All new sites must be approved by the content editor before they go live. Once a site is live, changes on each department Website can only be authorized by the designated Web editor for that department or by the Office of Public Affairs content editor. The CMS does not provide a mechanism for the content editor to track changes made by designated department editors, often leading to a lack of quality control and inconsistency from site to site. Most official university publications are available on the Website; thus if changes or errors occur, these versions can be updated quickly. A direct link to the Webmaster's email is included on each Web page for feedback.
MySCSU, the university's internal portal, links to campus calendars, but contains little additional information about campus news and events. At present, students do not need to log into MySCSU to access their student email, and in a focus group with the Student Government Association, students reported using MySCSU only for Banner-related tasks such as course registration and account management. They also reported difficulties with logging in because of confusion over various passwords.
Projections
Although the Website contains a wealth of information, feedback in the NEASC Self-Study Survey indicates that many users find accessing information difficult. A committee comprised of members of the Office of Public Affairs, the Office of Information Technology, and the School of Graduate Studies has chosen vendors to redesign the Website and provide a new CMS. The Website redesign and new CMS will enable Public Affairs to provide an efficient, clear and thorough dissemination of information to multiple audiences, taking into account high standards of integrity, public disclosure, reliability, accessibility, cost, and branding. The Office of Public Affairs will solicit suggestions for improving the site's user-friendliness through campus focus groups representing faculty, staff, and students. The Office of Public Affairs, working in concert with the Provost, deans, and other stakeholders will develop guidelines to ensure consistency of content within and across the site. New online strategies - such as social media, video, and chatting - for featuring and updating information will be implemented in the new Website. The new site, which is expected to go online in spring 2012, will include a means of tracking changes made to departmental Websites, as well as a financial aid calculator, required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act as of Oct. 29, 2011.
The new university Website will include information on adjunct faculty; an online updatable semester-by-semester list would be useful. The controller will provide contact information online for those interested in obtaining a photocopy of the SCSU portion of the CSU System's audited consolidated financial statement.
The Office of Alumni Relations plans to survey graduates regarding their current location and employment information, data that will enhance marketing efforts. In addition to maintaining and improving alumni and employer surveys, individual academic departments will also include accreditation reports and their Graduate Council report on their Websites, thus adding important data for institutional and program effectiveness.
Institutional Effectiveness
As the office in charge of the university Website, the Office of Public Affairs reviews most publications involving the university as they are produced and published on the Web. The content of each Web page is periodically reviewed by its author or content editor to ensure that information is accurate, available, complete, and current. The Office of Public Affairs makes every effort to ensure the Website is current and accurate.
As the office also responsible for producing most official print publications for the university, the Office of Public Affairs reviews these publications as they are developed and produced. Prior to printing, each publication's content is reviewed by its author and an editor from Public Affairs to ensure that information is accurate, available, complete, and current.
The Website is the main source of information about the university for its many constituents. Although the site is limited in its ability to track changes, the Public Affairs staff uses the site appropriately to accurately represent the university and its academic programs and mission and communicate campus news and events. The campus community is also kept apprised of news, events, and important information via email, Facebook, Twitter, and the campus newspaper, SouthernLife. Information made available via these media are also accessible to the general public and assist in promoting the university's presence and accurately communicating its missions and programs to the wider community.
