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Quality Enhancement Plan

This site is a dedicated launch point for the various topics related to Davidson College's Quality Enhancement Plan.

Judgment of Compliance

To be determined by QEP evaluators in September 2006.

Rationale for Judgment of Compliance

During the 2004 Fall semester, a series of meetings were organized by the President's office to discuss potential topics for Davidson's Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). In addition to discussion with the Faculty Executive Committee and during a regular faculty meeting that fall, and an open meeting were held for faculty, staff, and students. Ideas were also solicited from the College's trustees, and the entire campus community was encouraged to provide feedback.

By January 2005, five topics related to the curriculum had been identified that had the potential to enhance the learning environment. The five initial topics were:

• Writing Courses
• Humanities
• Breadth
• Transition
• Depth

Each topic was considered important enough to warrant organizing individual faculty committees; the chair of each was appointed to the SACS steering committee. (The other members of the SACS steering committee were the President, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty as chair, the Director of Planning and Institutional Research as the SACS liaison, and two faculty members from the Faculty Executive Committee.)

The QEP topic committees continued to meet during the Spring and Fall 2005 semesters, collecting information from faculty and students about current perceptions, needs, and expectations related to the curriculum topics. This research contributed to more focused discussions and the determination that three of the topics lent themselves most logically to a formal QEP: The W-courses, Humanities, and Depth. The two remaining topics will continue to receive attention as they are still important to the Davidson academic experience but will not be addressed in the QEP.

Summary proposals for (necessarily) broad plans related to the chosen QEP topics were developed and shared with the Steering Committee in January 2006. It was understood that the plan would be undergoing some modifications in order to specifically address the criteria on which SACS would be judging it, but there was strong support for the topics.

The QEP proposal was also presented to the Board of Trustees at its February 3-4 2006 retreat. Time was set aside at the retreat for Board members to meet in small groups to discuss the three themes of the QEP. Finally, the proposals were presented at the February 7, 2006 faculty meeting. A motion was presented as follows:

That the Faculty of Davidson College endorse a QEP (for our SACS self-study) that includes a) a review of our Humanities Program, b) an assessment of our W-course program, and c) a study and elaboration of the opportunities for optional depth-study, principally those that are not-for-credit, that are offered students in each academic department.

The faculty passed the proposals without dissent.

Overall, the QEP was developed with careful attention to its place in the planning and evaluation processes at Davidson College. Its focus on the curriculum, and the strong support of the faculty and trustees, contribute to confidence among the campus community that the QEP will have a major positive impact on student learning at Davidson.

Supporting Documentation

• Quality Enhancement Plan (to be provided to the QEP evaluators prior to their September 2006 visit)