Program Review of Accredited Programs

Programs that participate in a site visit and complete the external (national/state) accreditation process through an official accrediting organization may conduct an abbreviated campus program review.

Before sending documents to accrediting agency

Create your accreditation review team and follow the steps prior to external review as described in the Timelines Prior to External Accreditation Review.

Internal Accreditation Signature Form
Instructions for Circulating the Internal Accreditation Signature Form

After accrediting agency campus visit

Once the program receives the official letter from the accrediting organization granting national accreditation, the program Chair will notify the Program Review Coordinator (Celeste DeMonte) and appropriate Program Review Officer(s) (Dr. Bernadette Muscat for Undergraduate Studies and/or Dr. Elizabeth Lowham for Graduate Studies) and forward a copy of the accreditation letter.

Undergraduate programs - The Program Review Officer issues a letter to Department Chairs, Program Coordinators, Dean, and Provost, indicating that campus program review expectations have been met. The Provost then issues the Close of Cycle memo.

Graduate programs - The Program Review Coordinator sends to the program Chair the due date for the required supplemental items (listed below). The University Graduate Committee (UGC) examines the site visit report and other submitted documents. The UGC may interview representatives of the program and the administration as appropriate, and provide recommendations based on the reports provided. They should also comment on the outcomes assessment process in the department and on the updated Student Outcomes Assessment Plan (SOAP). After the UGC review, the Provost issues the Close of Cycle memo.

The five supplemental items required for UGC review should be submitted electronically to the Program Review Coordinator who will review the documents for content and forward them to the Program Review Officer: 

1. Evidence of National/State Accreditation. Typically, this is a letter to the President from the accrediting board.
2. A copy of the Site Visit Report completed by the accrediting body.
3. A memo pointing to where APM 220 expectations are addressed in the national accreditation documents.
4. An up-to-date SOAP (Student Outcomes Assessment Plan) submitted for posting on the OIE website. The SOAP must use the university template.
5. A five-year analysis of enrollment trends, graduation rates, and achievement gaps using the OIE program review data set as a reference. The analysis must include action plans to address managing enrollment in light of capacity, increasing graduation rates, and closing achievement gaps.

Submission of supplemental materials must be received within six months of receipt of the letter from the accrediting body granting national accreditation.

*NOTE: (Particularly applicable to Kremen) APM 220 paragraph 1, sentence 3, states that "For the purposes of program review, a program is defined as a course of study leading to a degree." Because credentials do not lead to degrees, they are not required to have a SOAP or submit assessment reports. Submit evidence of accreditation to the undergraduate and/or graduate Program Review Officer for evaluation, after which a Close of Cycle memo will be issued by the Provost.

Annual Assessment

Each department or degree program at Fresno State is required to submit an annual assessment report on September 30. These reports are submitted to your College Assessment Coordinator and to University Faculty Director of Assessment Dr. Douglas Fraleigh. The reports are evaluated by the Learning Assessment Team. The University Faculty Director of Assessment reports the results to the Vice Provost and ultimately the Provost, and this team follows up if there are concerns about any of the reports.  

The Program Review Coordinator does not track annual reports. Departments discuss assessment in their Program Review self-study in section IIIB1. There are no specific requirements for how the assessment is discussed, though a copy of your SOAP is to be included in Appendix C. The review team and others (e.g., Vice Provost, Provost) determine whether additional assessment activities should be incorporated into the action plan.