SFAC Continuity Report

Services Assessment Team (SAT)

During the 1999-2000 academic year, SFAC formed the SAT subcommittee to assess how successfully various student services ascertain and meet the needs of students. The subcommittee will take over the role formerly filled by SFAC’s Student Services Committee (SSC). The SSC concluded in the Spring Quarter of 1997, believing that its role would be taken up by the newly formed Service Advisory Boards of the Responsibility Center Management Project. However, those boards disbanded, leaving students no formal method of giving input on a wide range of campus services.

Instead of working as a separate committee, the SAT decided to remain a subcommittee of SFAC. The subcommittee consisted of two graduate and two undergraduate student members. Our first task was to condense the SSC’s Unit Review Self-Study and Evaluation questionnaire. The SSC sent this form as the first step in its review process, but the wording and number of the questions tended to yield more information than the committee could handle. Our next step was to delineate our mission and process in a Charge and Unit Review Timeline.

During Spring Quarter, the SAT chooses at least five units to review the following year and sends them the Self Study. The following Fall and Winter Quarters, the subcommittee reviews the Self-Study responses, conducts site visits to the units, and meets with unit representatives. During Spring Quarter, the SAT submits reports to SFAC with recommendations on how the student services might be improved. SFAC forwards these reports to the Chancellor. The SAT also chooses the units to be reviewed in the following year. One year after each report is submitted, the SAT conducts a follow up meeting with unit representatives to discuss the implementation of our recommendations and prepare a final report to be submitted to SFAC and the Chancellor.

On the advice of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Winston Doby and the Executive Vice Chancellor, Wyatt Hume, the SAT decided to expand its focus from registration fee-funded units, to all units regardless of fund source. We also decided that in addition to the Chancellor, we would submit our unit reports to the five-year reviews of the appropriate Vice Chancellors.

The SAT chose five units to be reviewed during the 2000-2001 academic year: the Financial Aid Office, Student Psychological Services, the Office of Residential Life, Graduate Student Support, and Community Safety. The Self Studies were sent out finals week of Spring Quarter. The units are to return them to Marilyn Alkin’s office no later than Monday, October 2nd.

We recommend that next year’s SFAC select at least five members to serve on the SAT. The subcommittee should have at least two graduate and two undergraduate student members. The SAT should also consist of at least two continuing members. Each SAT member should be responsible for one unit, based on his or her experience with its services. Members should follow the unit review timeline in reviewing Self-Studies, conducting site visits, and preparing reports. This first year of operation will be somewhat of a test year for the SAT. The subcommittee should propose any adjustments in the process that it feels will enhance the effectiveness of this valuable mechanism of student input.

Reggie Allen, Spring 2000