A. The department pursued assessment activities in 1996/97 in accordance with the Department of Environmental and Plant Biology Student Outcome Assessment procedures that were developed in 1994/95 and updated in 1997 (copy attached).

B. Assessment Procedures and Results

1. We continued administering an Entrance Examination designed by the faculty in 1994/95 on principles of plant biology to all students enrolled in PBIO 110 who plan to major in one of the programs in Environmental and Plant Biology. The exam has been given to the PBIO 110 classes in the Fall 1995, 1996 and Winter 1996, 1997 quarters.
   
   Scores for the examinations are recorded by Student Identification Numbers, and will be compared to results of the Exit Examination during the last quarter prior to each student's graduation from the program during the Exit Interview (next paragraph). We will not administer the Exit Examination until the group of students who took the Entrance Examination in 1995/96 are ready to graduate in 1998/99.
   
   
2. Exit Interviews were added to our assessment procedure for baccalaureate candidates in Spring 1997. Eight students were interviewed by the Department Chair. A Student Outcome Survey Interview form (copy attached) was completed during the exit interview for each student.
   
   The students were very open in their comments, and, although the number of our graduates each year is relatively small, the student recommendations are considered very seriously.
   
   All of the eight students interviewed said that they were pleased with the specific courses they took in the department, and felt that the faculty were qualified and provided up-to-date, well-designed courses. A strength of the BS programs that was mentioned several times was PBIO 404 (Undergraduate Research). Students who participated in PBIO 404 indicated that the experience allowed them to see how basic studies in plant biology are performed, and gave them a better feeling for what a career in plant biology would entail. Those students who were in the BA program agreed that adding PBIO 404 as a requirement would strengthen the program.
   
   Another strength that was brought out by the students was how courses in the department used local and regional facilities for field trips. They felt that plant identification and ecology courses were enhanced by frequent trips to sites where students could experience first-hand the plants and their environments covered in lectures and discussions.
   
   Three students indicated they would like to have had more "hands on" experience with plants in the departmental greenhouse.
   
   Two students felt that the Department needs a better mechanism to get undergraduates informed of career options in environmental and plant biology earlier in the undergraduate program. They would have appreciated more information about careers in the freshman and sophomore years in addition to the information provided to juniors and seniors. They suggested that now that we are using an email distribution list for undergraduates, we could post information about careers.
   
   Career plans of the graduates were varied. One graduate has a position in a greenhouse; one in a flower shop, but is considering either graduate school or becoming a VISTA volunteer; one is currently undecided, but considering graduate school in public health; one is engaged in interviews with pharmaceutical companies for sales positions; two will participate in an intern programs at a historical and city parks; one is going out west and will be looking for positions that allow her to be outdoors. One student’s future plans include being married 10 days after graduation and doing an "Environmental Impact Survey" for the Department of Defense.
   
   One departmental goal "… is to have every graduate who plans to pursue a graduate education or internship be accepted in a graduate school or internship program of her or his choice." This year, two students elected to apply for internships, and both received their internship of choice. No student has applied for graduate school as of the date of this report.
   
   The following summarizes what the graduates said about the departmental programs and their personal career goals.
   
   "My last thoughts as I leave the department: I do feel confident with my educational background as I go out and talk to potential employers."
   
   
3. During the summer session a departmental newsletter is mailed to donors to the department and baccalaureate and graduate alumni. The list, which at present has approximately 850 names, is kept up-to-date by our departmental secretary by having the postal service notify the department of forwarded mail. The newsletter continues to have a section for "News of Alumni," which has become a permanent record of feedback to the department from our graduates.
   
   We will be adding instructions to the 1997 newsletter for how to communicate with the department through the WWW site and email. The department's WWW site has been upgraded with a Guest Book that provide easy access for feedback to the department.
   
   
4. Assessment of the graduate program is in transition now that the Ph.D. program has been integrated with the Ph.D. program in Biological Sciences as per the recommendation by the State of Ohio Board of Regents Doctoral Review. All students who completed either the MS degree (total of eight) or the Ph.D. (two) performed up to the standards of professional plant biologists on their comprehensive examinations, thesis or dissertation research, and teaching of introductory laboratories. MS and Ph.D. graduates from the department were competitive in obtaining positions in either business or academe.
   
   One Ph.D. graduate has a teaching position at West Virginia State College, Charleston. The other, who was in the Ph.D. program in Biological Sciences but whose dissertation advisor was from PBIO, has a postdoctoral research position at the University of Pennsylvania.
   
   MS graduates from the department this year have the following positions: research technician at Ohio State University; manager of a housing facility in Athens; owner of an environmental consulting business and organic produce grower; member of the staff at the University of the West Indies, Bridgeton, Barbados; and part-time instructor at Ohio University (Zanesville). One MS graduate is waiting for her husband to complete his degree before she applies for high school comprehensive science teaching positions. Another has chosen to travel around the world to broaden his knowledge of different cultures. One MS graduate is planning to return with his wife to her home country, Nepal.

C. What We Are Doing With Information From The Assessment Procedures

During the 1996/97 academic year the department compiled an email distribution list for all undergraduate majors. This provided a way to quickly communicate with students who regularly use their OAK email accounts. We were able to contact approximately one half of our 62 majors through email. A goal for the upcoming year is to get all majors within the department to regularly use their email. Advisors will be informing advisees of the uses of email within the department, and also be making announcements in courses.

In 1996/97, the department upgraded its WWW home page (http://www.plantbio.ohiou.edu/index.htm) to include information for students within the department. Information available to students includes

• syllabi for courses taught in the department;
• a schedule of courses being offered in the fall, winter, and spring quarters for the academic year;
• descriptions of faculty research projects available to undergraduates (PBIO 404);
• research resources including descriptions of field research sites and databases for research and instructional organisms;
• schedule of colloquia and seminars; and
• teaching assignments for graduate assistants.

Advisors are being requested by the Chair to encourage their advisees to regular check the WWW site for information about the department.

The suggestion that the department could emphasize potential careers earlier in the program (e.g., freshman and sophomore years), was made by two students who did not used the email system, and, therefore, did not receive the announcements and encouragement for them to attend colloquia and seminars that may have been beneficial to them from a career standpoint. With this in mind, we will make better effort to announce upcoming speakers in our courses and personally ask students to attend the talks and receptions. As indicated in preceding paragraphs, we also are encouraging advisors to request that their advisees check the department's WWW home page for announcements of upcoming talks by faculty, graduate students, and outside speakers. Likewise, students will be encouraged to use their OAK email accounts on a regular basis.

A major strength of our BS programs is the PBIO 404 (Undergraduate Research) experience. Students in the BA program are not required to take PBIO 404, and the exit interviews showed that they have not been taking PBIO 404. The BA students were the ones who felt that more should be done with introducing majors to careers in the plant sciences. If more BA students took PBIO 404, more of them may have better ideas of the types of activities plant biologists do and career options. The Chair will be sending ememos to all majors in the department reminding them that PBIO 404 is available to BA majors, and that BA majors are encouraged to take undergraduate research. Advisors also will be requested to remind BA advisees of the advantages of taking undergraduate research. The departmental curriculum committee will be requested in 1997/98 to investigate whether PBIO 404 should be made a requirement for the BA major.

D. Assessment and Departmental Goals

Students are interested in what careers are available in plant biology and in gaining skills that will make them competitive in the job market. As we approach the 21st century, many careers in the plant sciences will use the techniques of developmental plant biology—it is an essential discipline for all plant biologists in which the department is lacking. The department will continue to seek approval for adding a developmental plant biology position in 1997/98 so that this area of expertise is available to undergraduate and graduate students.

A major strength of the BS programs brought out in the exit interviews is undergraduate research (PBIO 404). Undergraduate research, however, requires much time on behalf of a faculty member—more sometimes than what is required for directing either MS or Ph.D. students. Much of the teaching time in the department is spent with Tier II courses with enrollments that range from 80 to over 300 per lecture section. The department needs a faculty position, in addition to the developmental plant biology position, to teach introductory plant biology courses so that research faculty can spend more time with undergraduates who want to participate in research programs.

Another strength of the department is how our courses emphasize skills in field and laboratory aspects of the discipline. These types of courses can not be taught in groups of greater than 20 students; some field courses are most effectively taught to groups of eight to 16 students. With the addition of two new faculty members, the department would be better staffed for offering a variety courses that allow students the maximum amount of opportunities to experience first-hand, hands-on plant biology.

E. Assessment Procedures for 1997/98

At this time we see no need to modify our assessment procedures from what was done in 1997. Until we have data from both the Entrance and Exit Examinations, it would be imprudent to make any changes in the testing procedure.

The first exit interviews were informative: We will continue to use them and when possible, use information from them to improve our programs. There needs to be better way to identify graduating seniors early in the Spring Quarter prior to the list of graduating seniors that is distributed after commencement. This year we relied on getting a list of students who plan to graduate from advisors, through a ememo to all majors through the email distribution list ,and in some cases through word-of-mouth. We were able to interview eight of our 10 graduating seniors. If the College Office could provide a list of applicants for graduation for each department the week following the deadline for filing for graduation, we could contact each graduating senior directly to set up an exit interview.

For the graduate program, additional assessment will be appropriate once we have several years of experience with the Ph.D. program now that it has been integrated with the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biological Sciences according to recommendations in the Board of Regents report. The first students who have been admitted into the integrated Ph.D. program will not enter the program until the Fall Quarter of 1997.