Westmont College Economics and Business 6 Year Program Review Fall 2010 table of contents
D. Key Steps Taken Related to the EB Program
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- III. STATISTICAL PORTRAIT OF THE PROGRAM: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
- A. Historical Context for Program Review: Personnel
- Research
- 3. David Newton
- B. Enrollments and Personnel
- Percent of total graduates by major, 2003-2008. C. Main Achievements of the Department
- D. What We’d Like to Do Better
- F. Role of Part-Time Faculty The following individuals have contributed as part-time faculty in the EB department over the past 6 years: Professor Coby Harmon
- Professor Dave McCulloch
- Professor John Tynan
- Professor Paul Bradford
D. Key Steps Taken Related to the EB Program We name below key discussions and accomplishments related to the EB department mission. 2004-05 - Hired a fourth full-time faculty member (replacing a colleague who had retired in 2003) to teach Principles of Marketing; Principles of Management; Society, Morality, and Enterprise; Practicum; and participate in teaching Senior Seminar - Received an external consultants’ report based on observations and interviews with students and EB faculty. Discussed possible changes in pedagogy and department curriculum in response to the consultants’ report.
- Responded to consultant report recommendation by altering the EB curriculum requirements with respect to intermediate microeconomics and intermediate macroeconomics, and principles of management and applied management science. - Discussed Learner-Centered Teaching by Maryellen Weimer (San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass, 2002) and applications to EB class pedagogy.
- Updated the Economics and Business website with description of EB Speaker series, business plan competition and other departmental information. - Drafted a EB major advising sheet. - Drafted program goals and established student learning outcomes with respect to intellectual engagement with economics and business processes and policies, research and technology, and writing and oral communication. - Discussed revision of topics covered in Senior Seminar. - Initiated discussion of E3 (the Entrepreneurship, Ethics, and Enterprise Center). 2007-08 - Discussed fit of readings and assignments for Senior Seminar with respect to assessing student learning outcomes. - Drafted rubrics to assess student progress towards program goals #1, 2, and 3. - Collected student papers and other assignments for assessment and discussed them in department meetings. - Considered ways to enhance student learning in EB 190 (Practicum). - Discussed format, faculty participation, and itinerary for Westmont in China Mayterm program. - Taught 2 classes and traveled for 3 weeks in Mayterm China program. - Discussed some of the projected major emphases of the E3 center. 2008-09 - Wrote evaluative report on Westmont in China Mayterm. - Engaged in further refining of rubrics for assessing student learning outcomes. - Discussed examples of student work for assessment of progress towards program goals #1-3. - Discussed format of and extensive alumni survey. - Sent out an extensive alumni survey. Received 407 responses, a high ratio (39.5%) for a survey sent to 1,030 EB alums.
- Discussed the results and the role of 2009 alumni survey in the assessment process and refined student learning outcomes for program goals. - Discussed possibility of requiring all graduates to complete the Practicum course. Requiring the course would mean each semester there would be 22-25 students/internships for EB 190, a number we believe could be readily met. But we are hesitant to make EB 190 a required 4 units out of the 16-20 units upper-division EB electives majors are required to complete. This also would raise total units for EB major to 51-53. In light of these factors we are making the practicum ‘strongly recommended.’ - Recognizing the need to improve the formal and informal connections between EB alums worldwide and with EB faculty, we discussed with Teri Bradford possible measures to foster networking and mentoring relationships between alums, department faculty, and current students. In conjunction with the Alumni Office and Teri Bradford, the EB department became the ‘pilot project’ in developing the ‘Social and Career Networking Program.’ This project engaged in demographic research regarding how to develop appropriate communication with EB alumni; methods of developing and marketing the network; updated the database of EB alumni activities; activated a website and made use of social networking tools; and established measurement metrics for the success of the program. An EB major was hired as an intern to work on the project for Fall 2009 and placed a particular focus on current students. We secured around 10 alums willing to be engaged in ementoring current EB students and obtained from interested seniors a concise description of their areas of course emphasis and experience in order to properly linked them with alums for referrals. - Discussed with the Board of Advisors possible ways that they can serve us as we pursue the department’s mission, particularly with respect to possible employer contacts for internships, alumni connections, and hiring a 5th faculty member. - Had several department meeting with Lisa Stern, our liaison with the Program Review Committee. Discussed the value of assessing students’s academic progress in core economics competencies in a capstone course setting such as the Senior Seminar. - Drafted Economics Field Tests A and B and required seniors to complete them in the Senior Seminar course; engaged in analysis of findings; discussed the results of Field Tests and recommended changes of particular questions and in curriculum of Principles of Microeconomics. - Engaged in unsuccessful search for a fourth full-time faculty member. - Took survey of Senior Seminar students and engaged in analysis of findings. - Assigned writing and research tasks for the 6-year assessment report: David Newton will research and write sections 1, 6 and 7; Paul Morgan will research and write section 4; Edd Noell will research and write sections 2, 3, 5 and collect material for appendices, and will serve as editor. III. STATISTICAL PORTRAIT OF THE PROGRAM: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS This report draws on a number of sources for the statistical portrait of the Economics and Business department, including a 2009 Alumni survey, 2010 survey of Seniors, senior exit interviews, and department meetings over the past 6 years (see the files for raw data from these sources in the file in the Program Review Records). A. Historical Context for Program Review: Personnel Accurately assessing our department requires an understanding of the context in which we operate. For the past 6 years three full-time faculty (in order of length of service at Westmont: Paul Morgan, Edd Noell, and David Newton) have been employed in the Economics and Business department along with a number of adjunct faculty. The curricula vitae and professional development plans and reports for the full-time faculty are presented in Appendix 4. Their respective areas of departmental administrative service, teaching and research are as follows: 1. Paul Morgan (after serving on the full-time faculty at Greenville College for 14 years, joined the department in 1979; tenured in 1984; promoted to Full Professor in 1987). He has twice served as department chair, from 1983-2000 and from 2004-2006. Teaching: Principles of Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics; World Poverty and Development, Environmental and Natural Resource Economics; Seminar in Public Policy; Economics of Race and Gender; The Chinese Economy and Microfinance Research: Economics of Education 2. Edd Noell (joined the department in 1986; tenured in 1992; promoted to Full Professor in 1998). He has twice served as department chair, from 2000-2004 and 2009-present. Teaching: Principles of Macroeconomics; Intermediate Microeconomics; Money, Banking, and Financial Markets; History of Economic Thought; Globalization: Economic History, Controversy and Prospects; Economics of Race and Gender; American Economic History; Comparative Economic Systems; The Modern Chinese Economy; Senior Seminar. Research: Author of refereed journal articles in The Social Science Journal, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, History of Political Economy, Faith & Economics, Journal of Private Enterprise, and Journal of Markets & Morality. Serve as both associate editor and book review editor for Faith& Economics (the journal of the Association of Christian Economists). Main areas include the History of Economic Thought; Labor Market Regulation; Christianity and Economics; American and European Economic History 3. David Newton (joined the department in 1990; tenured in 1996; promoted to Full Professor in 1999). He has served as department chair from 2006-2009. Teaching: Corporate Financial Management; Applied Management Science; Business Research and Forecasting; Investments and Portfolio Management; Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development; Change and Innovation; Practicum; Seminar in Executive Leadership; Senior Seminar. Research: Author of six books, co-author of three books, contributing author to five books. The latest book is entitled JOB CREATION: How It Really Works and Why Government Doesn’t Understand It [ released September 27, 2010 as online eBook (www.JobCreationUSA.com) with co- author Andy Puzder]. Author of over 160 articles in academic and trade journals, and popular press including INC., Entrepreneur, Time, Business Week, Los Angeles Times, Your Company, Red Herring, Solutions, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Journal of Entrepreneurship Education. Main areas include: Entrepreneurial Finance, Entrepreneurial Start-up Strategy, Private Firm Valuations, Free Market Capitalism, and Mergers & Acquisitions. Once our previous fourth faculty member retired in July 2003, we began a search for a replacement that lasted two years. In April 2005 we received feedback on our program via a consultants report written by two external professionals, one an economics professor and the other a business professor. The three full-time faculty members wrote a response to the report and subsequently discussed it with the provost and two other non-EB Westmont faculty. The items listed below indicate some of the measures we took in response to the report. In addition, we hired business professor Carter Crockett to begin teaching in Fall 2005 as our fourth faculty member. He suddenly departed in September 2008. Subsequently we have been engaged in an ongoing search for a fourth faculty member (over the past two years). In addition one of our full-time faculty member has begun (since the past academic year) a 5/6 commitment to teaching in our department. These developments have shaped the challenges we continue to face in providing a quality education for our 170 majors and other students who participate in our curriculum. B. Enrollments and Personnel Over the past 25 years graduates in the Economics and Business major have continued annually to be either the 1st or 2nd largest as a group across all majors offered at Westmont (see chart 5 below). From Fall 2005 through Fall 2008 we served our majors with 4 full-time faculty members. Since the departure of one full-time faculty member in September 2008, we were formally approved to search during 2008-09, but had to postpone the search due to a hiring freeze on campus. In 2009-10 we searched for a 4th faculty member but were not able to hire the right person for our job profile. Currently we are proceeding with a search that will have two job profiles in the ad, one for an individual holding a Ph.D. in accounting and C.P.A. who can teach a range of both lower-division and upper-division accounting electives, and the other for an individual holding an M.B.A. and either Ph.D in Business or D.BA. who can teach Business Strategy, Principles of Marketing, Principles of Management, International Business and other upper-division business electives. 
Percent of total graduates by major, 2003-2008. C. Main Achievements of the Department We can report a number of key achievements for our department. In regard to the overall program, we continue to graduate 45-50 students per year in the midst of challenges from personnel turnover, hiring searches, administrative responsibilities, and limited resources. Specific accomplishments related to the overall program in the past 6 years include 1) changes in the upper-division course requirements for the major; now students are required to choose a. between a course in either Intermediate Microeconomics and Intermediate Macroeconomics; and b. between a course in Applied Management Science and Principles of Management; 2 ) The development of additional courses to provide students the opportunity to place an emphasis in their upper-division elective course work in accounting by taking Managerial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting I and II, Real Estate Accounting, and Auditing; 3) The development of new international off campus courses and programs, including a) Westmont in China Mayterm Program with academic course work on campus and in China; b) Full semester study abroad field programs at King’s College (London) and American University (Paris). Among the highlights of individual and joint EB faculty accomplishments: Edd Noell has published research in refereed journals (such as Journal of the History of Economic Thought, History of Political Economy, Journal of Markets & Morality and Faith and Economics) on the economic background of the New Testament Gospels; exchange and property rights in the Old Testament; Adam Smith’s perspective on the ‘living wage’ and its Scholastic legacy; contract theory, distributive justice, and the Hebrew sabbatical laws (with Kurt Schaefer, Calvin College); and modern domestic poverty and economic justice in the light of Christian values. Professor Noell has been named the Westmont College Teacher of the Year (Social Sciences, 1998). Dr.Morgan and Dr.Noell have presented a lecture on the economic development of Haiti in light of the tragedy of the Haiti earthquake to a campus-wide student meeting. Professors Morgan and Noell have also developed and taught a new seminar course entitled “The Economics of Race and Gender.” Professor Morgan has developed and taught a new course entitled “Seminar on Public Policy.” Professors Morgan and Noell served as faculty co-leaders for the Westmont in China program in 2008 and developed and taught a course entitled “The Chinese Economy and Microfinance” for this program. Edd Noell has taught a course entitled “International Trade and Finance” on the International Business Institute program in the Netherlands and the UK. Professor Noell has organized and edited a symposium entitled “Values, Empirical Analysis, and Finding a Possible Consensus on the Moral Ecology of Markets” for Faith and Economics. He has also secured and edited 12-14 book reviews annually for Faith and Economics for the past 6 years. Dr.Noell has served as referee for the Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Journal of Markets & Morality and Faith and Economics. And as Associate Editor of Faith and Economics has overseen the publication of several articles and the refereeing process for others submitted to the journal. Over the past 6 years, Professor Noell has received three faculty development grants from Westmont College for research and/or curriculum development in the history of Classical and PreClassical economic thought and in international economics. Along with Jim Halteman (Wheaton College), Professor Noell received a $9,200 grant from the Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities for research towards a book on moral reflections in the history of economic thought. This book proposal has been accepted by Oxford University Press. In the past 6 years Professor Noell has presented 7 papers at conferences of the History of Economics Society, Association of Private Enterprise Education, and Association of Christian Economists. He has participated in the Free Market Forum (an economics conference sponsored by Hillsdale College) in the Fall semester of 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010. Dr.Noell has served on the Faculty Council, Westmont Presidential Search Committee, Mission and Distinctiveness Task Force, Academic Senate, and General Education Committee. In addition, Dr.Noell has served as the faculty advisor for Omicron Delta Epsilon, co-faculty advisor for Omicron Delta Kappa, and as the campus representative for the International Business Institute. Professor Noell has made panel presentations on campus on the economics of human trafficking; economics and the global perspective on Westmont’s liberal arts education; why China and India matter in a liberal arts education; and a comparison of the federal tax and social security policy proposals of Presidential candidates Bush and Kerry. Professor Newton was named a 2003 Master Teacher of Entrepreneurship (one of 15 nationwide) and invited with other 14 to facilitate the Experiential Classroom sponsored by Kauffman Foundation, Coleman Foundation, Stanford, and USASBE. Newton has been named to participate in these conferences for 8 consecutive years (2003-2010) – first six years EC hosted at Syracuse Univ, last two years EC hosted at Oklahoma State University. Newton received the 2008 Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education by Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, PA (with special meritorious distinction). Newton was invited to join Freedoms Foundation national board of directors in 2009. Dr. Newton launched (2003) S.E.E.D. National Collegiate Venture Forum (1st forum in March 2004) in Santa Barbara, now in its 8th Annual (March 2011), bringing venture teams from top MBA and Undergrad programs nationwide for 2-day forum; attendees have included: Berkeley, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Louisville, Rice, Carnegie-Mellon, Arizona, Washington State, Boston University, Virginia, Texas at Austin, Illinois. Dr. Newton was invited to give one of the keynote speeches at the INC-500 national Awards. Newton was invited to appear on CNN-fn (2004, 2005), CNN (2006, 2007), and CNN-Radio (2007). Newton was invited to do one keynote address to Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference (2004, 2010) and was invited to give the “Milton Friedman Road to Freedom” series lectures (2007) with Ivan Progracic (Hillsdale) and Dave Henderson (Hoover Institute at Stanford). Dr.Newton has been invited to give 22 other national and regional keynote addresses (2004-2010). Newton has developed SmartBoard Digital Class Notes, full-semester course notes for EB 138, EB 131, and EB 191 using SmartBoard technology. Newton has also developed iTunesU Support Modules, a strong complement of topical review podcasts for students to access 24/7 online for class review, quiz and exam preparation, and applied research projects/papers in EB 17, EB 18, EB 131, EB 138, EB 191, and EB 150. The entire cache of topical modules is now being used by faculty, students, and business people around the U.S. and in other countries, accessed through the iTunes store online. D. What We’d Like to Do Better Given the feedback from alumni surveys, current students, and the consultant’s report, we have discussed several areas for improvement that involve greater engagement with students to help them grow as Christian servants in the fields of economics and business. We wish to have more directed and applied research for the program by students (this might be accomplished in an entrepreneurial center), more supervision of major honors projects, bring more visibility in Santa Barbara to the program through means such as Westmont Downtown lectures, and expand our networking programs for current students and alumni through ementoring. E. Faculty Workload Each of the 3 current full-time faculty members has served at least 2 years as chair over the course of the past 10 years (Noell 5 years, Newton 3 years, and Morgan 2 years). Given that each faculty member is involved in teaching a lower-division course at least once per academic year (Morgan – EB 012; Newton – EB 017/18; Noell – EB 011), the number of students taught per year is roughly equal, with the caveat that Morgan has been teaching three sections of Principles of Economics per year and thus will have more students total. At the same time this means that Morgan has less class preps annually than Noell or Newton. Top among our desired changes would be having a fifth faculty member. This would enable us to offer EB 17/18 each semester, with approximately 25-30 students each semester, instead of the once a year current course offering which typically involves 50-60 students. F. Role of Part-Time Faculty The following individuals have contributed as part-time faculty in the EB department over the past 6 years: Professor Coby Harmon holds a B.A. in Accounting and a C.P.A. He teaches the Principles of Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting I and II, Managerial Accounting, and Auditing. Professor Dave McCulloch has earned a B.A. in Economics and Business and J.D. He is a practicing attorney in Santa Barbara and teaches Business Law. Professor Phil Stone holds a B.A. and M.B.A. He is a business consultant and teaches Principles of Management. Professor John Tynan has earned a B.A. and M.B.A. He is engaged in real estate finance and teaches Real Estate Accounting and Principles of Marketing. Professor Dave Odell holds a B.A. in Economics and Business and a C.P.A. He taught Principles of Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting and Real Estate Finance. Professor Paul Bradford holds a B.A. in Economics and Business and an M.B.A. He taught Principles of Marketing. Professor Jim Morouse holds a B.A. in Business Administration and an M.B.A. He taught two courses, Principles of Management and Change and Innovation. Professor Susan Block holds a B.A. in Business Administration and an M.B.A. She taught Investments and Portfolio Management. We have been consistently reliant on at least 1 adjunct faculty over the past 6 years. Beginning in Fall 2008, with the sudden departure of Carter Crockett, we’ve had to rely on 4-5 adjunct faculty per semester. This has increased the job responsibilities of the department chair. In general, student feedback and faculty class observation indicates these faculty have performed well, conveyed the necessary course material, and been responsible in their grading. We’ve largely been fortunate in having some skilled adjunct faculty. Dave McCulloch has particularly served well in providing rigorous instruction in Business Law, challenged students with assignments requiring active intellectual engagement and critical multidisciplinary thinking, made use of alums to make presentations in class, and participated when possible in EB department meetings. In a couple of instances there have been concerns about the course rigor and reliability (showing up to teach the class instead of relying on a guest lecturer) of adjunct faculty. In addition it is often difficult to ensure that adjunct faculty teaching a course fulfilling a GE requirement include all of the necessary elements in the coursework for that requirement to be met. We continue to have conversations (where appropriate) with our adjuncts in this regard. Among our concerns regarding part-time faculty are too low compensation and the geographical limitations on the pool we draw from for potential adjuncts. Currently as we search to fill our 4th full-time faculty position we rely too much on our adjuncts (4-5 hired each semester). This limits the continuity our students can rely on and inhibits the ability of students to develop much of a mentoring relationship with faculty members in our department. Since the adjunct faculty are full-time professionals in their outside firms, they are often providing only a limited time for student interaction through office hours and campus presence outside of class. These faculty are not able to participate in the ongoing discussions, reviews, and planning of program review and assessment. In addition, While most recent adjuncts have MBA degrees, others have only a BA/BS, and together they do not have strong backgrounds in the full breadth of academic field pedagogy, often relying too heavily on examples from their own professional work to illustrate topics/concepts and emphasizing qualitative analysis over quantitative rigor. Overall, the scheduling realities of needing to more heavily rely on adjunct faculty has a negative effect on the department’s ability to deliver a consistent program quality. Download 0.56 Mb. Share with your friends:
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