Unit Stability Update
Unit heads will annually submit a Unit Stability Update.
The intended audience is your Dean.
The primary goal of the update is to assure that faculty are aware of trends occurring in their Unit.
Note this is different from discussions about Program Review.
Unit Stability Updates and Feedback from the College are due each year at the end of the summer.
The Unit Stability Update serves multiple goals:
- To ensure that faculty are aware of how the metrics in the Unit are changing over time (such as scheduling and cost). For example, even in a unit with no changes in faculty or SCH, the costs will gradually rise as faculty pay increases. In Units with turnover of faculty and changes in scheduling, the impacts may be much more complicated and may result in unanticipated consequences.
- To provide each Unit the opportunity to annually engage with their Dean on how trends in the data may impact their Unit long term, and – where appropriate – for the Unit to identify steps being taken to increase the long-term stability of the Unit. The hope is that by engaging annually all parties are aware of any emerging trends and can work constructively to address them before they become problematic. Likewise good trends may be enhanced and celebrated.
- To ensure transparency between the Unit and the Dean. Because the Unit Stability Update and the College Feedback are archived, they may be referenced by anyone in the Unit and they can be reference when there are changes in leadership.
- To critically evaluate the metrics to assure they are accurate and meaningful. Calculations and methodologies may change and it is important that the Unit Head not assume they are correct. Furthermore, the Unit Stability Update consists of an upload of all the metrics which serves as an archive for future reference.
The Unit Stability Update should be completed by the Unit Head in consultation with the Unit and your Dean during the winter semester (although it can be submitted over the summer with permission from the Dean). A pdf version of the Monitored Metrics must be submitted as part of the Unit Stability Update. If a Unit has a Monitored Metric outside a defined range, then the chair of FSBC will notify the Provost and Dean. Details on how the flags are determined are explained in the Annual Examination of Unit Stability Metrics.
In addition to the flagged metrics which FSBC requests an explanation, the Unit is encouraged to comment on any metric that appears to be trending in a direction that may be considered unsustainable or otherwise noteworthy. In other words please do not limit your comments to flagged metrics and Units are expected to provide some commentary even if no metrics were flagged.
The Unit Stability Update and its associated feedback will be used in resource allocation, program reviews and other planning efforts.
Access to Metrics
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All faculty have access to the Metrics associated with your Unit. Click your unit and then use your faculty log-in to view information in an easy to use format at:
https://reports.ia.gvsu.edu/misc/sustdash/
More details, including information by program, is available on the Institution Analysis webpage at:
https://reports.ia.gvsu.edu/pgmsumm/
Unit Heads may request additional information from Institutional Analysis. Contact Philip Batty
Comments / Suggestions
- The goal of the Unit Stability Updates is to provide an opportunity to discuss the metrics occurring within the Unit. In many cases these may be the same from year to year, thus it is ok to copy and paste parts of your update from year to year.
- The FSBC acknowledges that the cost of a program is primarily driven by faculty pay and the number of student credit hours taught. In the short term, these costs are difficult to adjust beyond minor savings from offering fewer sections with efficient scheduling. In the long term, the unit may consider curriculum reform and the number of faculty within each category (tenure stream, affiliate, visitor, or adjunct).
- Course caps should be based on pedagogy. Invariably multiple sections of a course will have different enrollments. Cost saving only occurs if you offer fewer sections. The same is true for similar courses within a category.
FSBC Feedback
The FSBC review of the Unit Stability Update and College Feedback is intended to assure a thoughtful examination of the metrics and in most cases will be limited to a response from a drop-down-menu (shown below).
The FSBC review of the Unit Stability Update drop-down-menu responses:
- We thank the Unit for providing the Unit Stability Update and hope that the archived metrics and narrative will be a useful reference.
- Unit reflection was considered limited and FSBC considers it a missed opportunity to provide an archived narrative related to the flagged Unit Stability Metrics.
- No Unit Stability Update was submitted at the time of the FSBC review.
The FSBC review of the Feedback from the College drop-down-menu responses:
- We thank the College for providing the Unit feedback we hope that the archived narrative will be a useful reference.
- College feedback provided was considered limited and a missed opportunity to provide an archived narrative of the Unit from the College perspective.
- No feedback was provided from the College at the time of the FSBC review.
- There appears to be a discrepancy between the Unit Stability Update and the Feedback from the College; we encourage further discussion between the Unit and the College about this update.
To Complete the Unit Stability Update Log onto the Server:
Scroll down to [GVStability]
Click [Access Stability Metrics] to access the metrics you are asked to review
You will be asked to log-in again and then the webpage (sustdash) will display each metric (via a pull down menu) in tabular and graphical format
Once you have reviewed the metrics, then print the metrics to a pdf (using the browser Firefox go to Summary Report --> FSBC Measures; it is the last item on the drop-down menu; and print to pdf - this will make a nicely paginated pdf) then go back to GVAdvance and complete the report
Click [Unit Stability Update] to access the report
Upload your pdf of the Monitored Metrics; click [Browse] and find your file
Enter your Department Code.
Enter the Academic Year -this should be the academic year the report was submitted (or should have been submitted if it is done late); we understand that the data generally lag a year. For example the Update for 2022-2023 should be submitted over the summer of 2023 and is based on data provided in the fall of 2022. The feedback from the Dean should match the academic year of the Update (regardless of when it is submitted); likewise the feedback from the Dean should list the Department code.
There are only two questions. If your metrics look good, then the report should only take a few minutes. If, however, the metrics show a pattern of concern, then you are asked to identify the underlying cause and work with your Dean to identify steps being taken to address the concern.
Click [Save & Finalize] to complete the report (make sure to only submit once, if you submit multiple times you can contact Robert Hollister to delete unnecessary submissions).
If you have difficulties with materials on GVAdvance contact Phuong Vo.
If you have difficulties with materials on sustdash contact Philip Batty
Note the metrics are further explained at Monitored Metrics, if you suspect errors contact Philip.
Video instructions on how to complete the Unit Stability Update.
Other Relevant Information
Information on the University Budget.
Information on other steps the FSBC is taking to enhance Unit Stability.
The trends for the University and each College in the Distribution of Faculty & Credit Hour Production.