Attachment B
Faculty Senate Agenda
November 21, 2002

Program Review Report
Department of Philosophy

Commendations and Recommendations

COMMENDATIONS

The Department is to be commended for responding energetically and effectively to the recommendations made in the 1996 Program Review Report, and especially for its efforts in implementing new assessment and advising plans.

The Department is to be commended for the excellence in teaching exhibited by its faculty.

The Department is to be commended for its success in maintaining an excellent academic program in the face of diminishing faculty resources.

The Department is to be commended for its sponsorship of the annual Jamil Nammour Philosophy Symposium.

The Department Chair, Professor Tom Pyne, is to be commended for his effective leadership.

The Department's part-time faculty are to be commended for the high quality of the instruction they offer and for their commitment to their students.

The Department's clerical support group, and especially the department secretary, Ms. Betsy Meland, are to be commended for their efficiency and contributions to a positive working environment for faculty, staff, and students.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations to the Department of Philosophy

1. The Department should devise and implement a specific plan for recruiting new majors that includes publicizing the major and the career paths of its graduates both at CSUS and on local community college campuses. (p. 14)

2. The Department should develop and distribute to its students a list of courses it intends to offer during each two-year cycle of semesters. (p. 16)

3. The Department should include a detailed description of the advising program in its Advising Packet, which should be given a title descriptive of its function. The Advising Packet should include "Recommended Program of Courses for a Philosophy Major" and "Advisement List for Students in the Philosophy Department." The Packet should also contain the Department's Two-Year Cycle of Courses and a list of suggested courses for majors on different career tracks. (p. 17)

4. The Department should develop and implement a strategy for more effectively encouraging its majors and minors to seek regular advising. (p. 18)

5. The Department should consider creating a special seminar taught on a rotating basis by all faculty and focusing on their current research. (p. 19)

6. The Department should consider sponsoring, with assistance from the University, an annual series of presentations by philosophers from off-campus as well as its own faculty. (p. 19)

7. The Department should work with the Dean of the College of Arts & Letters to see if a commons room for its students and faculty can be made available. (p. 19)

8. The Department should make a serious effort to recruit women and members of underrepresented groups as it adds to its full-time faculty in coming years. (p. 20)

9. The Department should formulate and announce to part-time faculty in writing a policy concerning their participation in its regular meetings and other activities. (p. 21)

10. The Department should consider creating a mentoring program for new faculty, both tenure-track and part-time. (p. 21)

11. The Department should monitor the pace and rigor of courses numbered 150 and above, add prerequisites where appropriate, and describe the distinction between the 100-149 and 150-199 ranges in its Advising Packet. (p. 24)

12. The Department should either act quickly to revive PHIL 176, 190, and 192 on a regular basis. (p. 25)

13. The Department should consider making an arrangement with UC Davis that will allow its majors to take advanced courses in the UCD Department of Philosophy. (p. 25)

14. The Department should develop a mission statement consistent with its program goals by the end of the 2002/03 academic year. (p. 25)

15. The Department should expand its curriculum to include new developments in the field, such as feminist philosophy, and give greater attention to non-western philosophy. (p. 26)

16. The Department should consider creating a service learning option that would offer academic credit for field projects performed as extensions of the work done in selected courses in the Applied Ethics and Law Concentration. (p. 26)

17. The Department should build upon its success in developing and implementing its Assessment Plan by clarifying its learning expectations and procedures for determining if they have been met and completing work on portions of the Plan that are as yet unfinished. (p. 28)

Recommendation to the Department of the Philosophy and the Career Center
The Department should work with the Career Center in order to ensure that philosophy majors have access to information about the full range of career options available to them. In addition, the Department should describe Career Center resources and its own career-advising program in its Advising Packet. (p. 30)

Recommendation to the Department of Philosophy and the Office of Institutional Research
The Department should continue to consult with Academic Affairs and the Office of Institutional Studies in order to identify strategies for reaching more of its alumni in future Alumni Outcomes Surveys. (p. 16)

Recommendation to the College of Arts & Letters and the University
The College of Arts & Letters and the University should support the Department's plan to bring the number of full-time faculty to a minimum of seven by the beginning of academic year 2004/05. (p. 20)

Recommendation to the Faculty Senate
The program review team recommends that the Department of Philosophy and its academic programs be approved for six years or until the next program review.

11-8-02