Accountability Report
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Highlights
1. Citation Ranking Among Peer Institutions
2. Meaningful Learning Experience in Research
Outside the Classroom
3. Public Service and Outreach Activities
4. Narrative vignettes
Citations of published works by our faculty are one measure of the
influence and thus the quality of their research and scholarship. An
independent, private-sector service known as the Citation Index counts
the number of articles published and the number of times other authors
from the same field cite those references in subsequent publications
within a given period of time. This information is drawn from a large
number of scholarly journals. Details on the method appear in Appendix G. This proposed new
measure emphasizes the impact of UW publications compared with the
impact measured independently by this Citation Index for our peer
institutions (See Appendix I
for list of peer institutions). For example, in our preliminary test,
for the academic year 1995-96, the UW ranked second among the 25
peer institutions. Sustaining this rank against fierce competition from
the nation's most outstanding research universities is a huge challenge.
Such
prominence draws outstanding students and translates in many fields into
commercializable research with regional economic impact.
The current annual senior survey asks undergraduates if they have had a
"meaningful research experience" at the UW (Appendix L). Currently 24% of
graduating seniors report meaningful research experiences outside the
classroom, a remarkable figure for any institution, especially a large state
university such as the UW. These experiences also ensure
individual-to-individual relationships with the faculty and with graduate
students and post-doctoral trainees, as well. These relationships may be
crucial in helping young women and men in the undergraduate phase of
their lives assess their interests and opportunities and more effectively
chart their lives. Such participation is feasible only with an extraordinary
base of funded research. The Committee recommends that the proposed
Advisory Board on Accountability investigate the creation of additional
related measures, including other kinds of growth experiences outside the
classroom, not only those defined as undergraduate research (Appendix L).
For Ph.D. recipients, all of whom are engaged in faculty-mentored
independent research, the Committee learned that the Graduate School already
collects data on the proportion of those who have published by the time
of graduation (Appendix M).
Faculty, staff, and students at the University contribute to the
quality of life in the state of Washington and throughout the Pacific
Northwest through thousands of annual public service contributions and
events. The presence of this major research and teaching university
substantially enhances the capacity of the state to address problems of
K-12 education, higher education, health services, social services,
environmental issues, economic development, transportation, and public
safety and justice, as well as enriches the quality of life through
expressions of the human spirit in the arts and humanities. The Report
of the Task Force on University Public Service and Outreach, chaired
by Dean Margaret Gordon, details many roles of faculty and staff in these
issues. Drawing upon that report, we believe that even an enumeration of
these annual contributions, which can be done by using Form 1461
"Outside Professional Activities," an annual questionnaire that is
expected
of all faculty. Better use of this data could provide a beginning measure of
these outreach and public service contributions. The preliminary results
of an analysis of data from Form 1461 for 1994-95 and recommended
changes to the form can be found in Appendix P. The Committee
recommends that in order to make better use of Form 1461, a feasibility
study of computerization of the form be undertaken in order to ease the
collection of data, and, more importantly to speed its analysis and use.
A description of selected outreach and public service contributions
will be necessary to give life to enumerations of events collected
on Form 1461. The quality of the University's contributions will be best
known in how it saves and extends lives, improves the lives of children,
helps people adjust to the complexities of modern life, improves the
quality of the environment, or inspires people with works of art. The
annual publication vehicle referred to under Highlight #4, below,
is an excellent method for disseminating examples of the UW's outreach and
public service activities that are not counted.
The Committee strongly recommends narratives as a compelling means of
telling the stories of the UW and its faculty and students. Such
narratives can bring to life and make comprehensible the quantitative
measures. For instance, an inspirational picture of the historical
impact of UW faculty research emerges from Pathbreakers, a 1996 UW
publication containing 118 vignettes. In these descriptions one gets a
sense of the effect of research on economic development, medical care,
public health, and understanding of human behavior. A companion volume,
Showcase, presenting vignettes from the social sciences,
humanities and arts, is due in 1998. It is our recommendation that
similar vignettes focusing on research, quality of education, service and
outreach, and their intersections, be a regular feature of the President's
Annual Report.
Accountability Report
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