UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Welcome to the new semester! This is the first Monday Matters for the fall semester so I thought I would take the new beginning as an opportunity to lay out plans for new initiatives from my office. Usually in this column I focus on a specific initiative in some detail, but this week I'm going to break from that and instead paint a broader picture so as to keep you informed of my plans. We are already working to implement some of these initiatives. Others will not be started for some time. Obviously with limited resources and personnel we have to prioritize. For me, the toughest part of this entire process is being patient and recognizing that positive change is necessarily going to take time.

Data, Data Everywhere

There are data everywhere and we need many of these in order to make informed decisions. One of my goals is to create a network of databases that are linked together and that can be readily accessed by every department and service office within the College. Each variable within each database will have an associated "authority tag" to designate read and write authority. Some variables will be open to the public so that anyone can have access to these data. For security purposes, other variables will be restricted to individuals who need them, but these individuals will still have instant access to the data.

Most of you are already aware that in preparation for our accreditation visit we have already begun maintaining student databases that go beyond admissions data and grades. Every degree program identified variables to track student progress and the collection of these data is underway. I would like to build and maintain similar databases to maintain faculty and staff variables. These could be retrieved by specified individuals for a variety of reasons. For example, financial information could be retrieved by Business Office staff and department chairs. Productivity information (course loads, committee assignments, external funding amounts) could be retrieved by department chairs and deans. With the advent of value-centered management, we can now include database fields for tuition revenue and subsequently generate reports for the dollars generated by course, by faculty member, by department, or for the entire College. This will assist us not in only in evaluating productivity, but also in setting undergraduate and graduate targets that can be used to project revenue and for making decisions about faculty and staff needs. All of these data could be automatically aggregated, when requested, to provide summaries for individual departments or the College as a whole.

A database on the physical plant will enable us to track space usage, space costs, maintenance records, and equipment allocation. This database could assist us in making regular upgrades to the building, offices, classrooms, and equipment. The physical plant database can help us be proactive in planning upgrades rather than simply responsive to crises and breakdowns. Computer specifications in the database will both help us maintain an inventory and identify what computers need to be upgraded in order to ensure fast and reliable machines. A software database will similarly help us identify individual software needs as well as ascertain that all the software we use is licensed and being used legally.

A database of graduate assistant and student worker information will help us create reports on resource allocation and publicize our level of student support for public relations and recruiting efforts. A database of research activities could help us track both resource uses and needs. This database can also help us make the case that the College is a vital member of the University research community and a leader in educational research and service in the State. Thus, our databases can feed our public relations efforts by enabling us to disseminate the results of our research in practical ways that inform policy makers and our constituents.

Some of the databases we maintain will feed nicely into geographical information systems (GIS). GIS software is ideal for displaying and analyzing data that fits into a spatial context. The use of GIS will allow us to create density maps that show us the regions of the state in the nation where our students come from, where our students locate when they graduate, where alumni support comes from, and so on. These maps can help us focus our marketing efforts, maintain student populations in targeted degree programs, and help us ascertain that we are making progress in serving traditionally underserved populations.

I'm not looking here to create information resources simply for my own administrative needs. We will make these data available to all those who need access for reporting purposes and, more importantly, to inform the decision-making process. This will facilitate day-to-day planning as well as routine reporting obligations and the less routine, yet immensely time consuming, requirements of accrediting organizations such as SACS and NCATE. Even more importantly, we can use many of these data to compare ourselves to similar institutions and to track our own progress through longitudinal comparisons.

Weaving a Web of Usefulness

All of the databases that we will implement for the College will be maintained and regularly backed up via a central server. Centralizing these databases also allows us to provide a web-based interface for individual users. You already can see one example of this with the budget database that we created over the summer. Individual department chairs and office directors can now view financial data and Business Office personnel can add and modify these data to reflect daily transactions. We can implement the same processes and interface for all of the databases described above. The result is our own College "information superhighway" that allows users to instantly access data on an as-needed basis.

This is only one way to use the web as a centerpiece of our business activity. If you take a look at our College web today you will see a skeleton of some of the features that I hope to expand on in the near future. For example, on the forms page you can find a single form. Soon I hope to populate this page with the dozens of forms that we use everyday. Eventually you will be able to fill out these forms and submit them online, but during the transition period you can at least use the forms page as a central access point for any form that you need.

I also have plans for the web to be our most utilized tool to disseminate information about what we are doing as a College. My goal is to create a web presence for every research and evaluation project in the College. In some instances this might simply mean providing a brief summary of the research in the form of a "press release." For longer-term research projects we can create project web pages that are visibly accessed via the College Web. I also have a goal of a web page (or at least a web presence) for every faculty member. Someday students should be able to readily access syllabi for courses or perhaps short descriptions of the courses that are written by the course instructors. Just as large online organizations such as Amazon and eBay provide extensive information for their consumers, we can provide our consumers what that they need to make informed decisions. Although I have only informal data to support this next statement, I believe that the web has become the first stop for students who need information about colleges and programs across the nation. My goal is to put our web presence at the forefront by providing all the information that our prospective consumers could wish to know about the kind of education that we can offer them.

The Business of Service

Seldom does a day go by when I don't consider ways that the service offices in the College can assist other departments and offices with their work. In past issues of Monday Matters you have read how some offices have added new services to help you perform your work more efficiently and effectively. I want to continue this trend, even in the face of dwindling resources. This takes creative planning, but I believe that it can be done. I've listed some examples of this below. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give you an idea of our plans.

For all of the service functions we offer in the College I will work with the Office of Quality Assurance to develop an associated consumer evaluation survey. This will be a brief two- or three-item survey that will automatically be sent to a sampling of individuals who receive service from a College office. I will set evaluation targets for each service office and as time goes by we will increase these targets. In short, I will settle for nothing less than every student, faculty member, or staff member awarding excellent ratings for the services that we provide.

Helping Researchers Research

A large part of my responsibility as an associate dean is to provide support for research endeavors within the College. I'm very cognizant of the fact that it is unfair to set funding targets without providing support for those who help us reach these targets. To start with, I hope to soon implement an electronic system to make proposal processing faster and easier. This is consistent the trend in national funding agencies as well as a requirement of the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research (SPAR). Up to now I have not been enforcing the SPAR guidelines because we have not had a system in place to assist with meeting these guidelines. Watch for new procedures to be introduced soon in a college near you.

The budget system that is now in place for "A" accounts will soon be expanded to include grant funds. Principal investigators will be able to obtain a daily view of their project expenditures just as department chairs can now view department expenditures. I also want to create web pages that link to our research proposal databases so that investigators can track the progress of their proposals and the stages of the project from the proposal phase through project completion. I also hope to initiate a funding database that prospective researchers can tap into to quickly locate the most current request for proposals and potential funding sources of funding. Finally, and perhaps most importantly from the standpoint of our constituents, I want to put systems in place to help you disseminate the results of your research to the public. This would include writers and web developers. The citizens of South Carolina should have the opportunity to see statements on our home page that begin with, "Researchers at the University of South Carolina's College of Education have found that…"

You Can Help

This is a partial list of the initiatives that I have planned to be directed from my office. Some of these initiatives are underway, but others are visions for down the road. Although this takes time, I can assure you that none of these plans are wistful imaginings that can never become reality. To the contrary, I can't get this done fast enough. You will be able to read more about each of the specific initiatives in future editions of Monday Matters as we begin to complete each one.

Obviously I cannot think of even half of the changes that need to be made to improve our systems, nor is it wise for me to set the priorities by myself. I need your feedback and your suggestions. To conclude this column I frequently ask for comments or suggestions. This time it is more important than ever to hear your response. If you would like to see me consider additional projects, revise the initiatives I have outlined, or even have thoughts on what initiatives should be given priority, I would appreciate hearing from you. Please don't hesitate to write me with your thoughts or drop by my office to chat about it.

Next week is Labor Day, a national holiday, so Monday Matters will be on holiday as well. The following week will be a fun column to write and to read. I will be introducing you to several new staff members and telling you about how their expertise will add much to our College. Make sure to "meet" the new members of our team in two weeks.

Until then,

Mike