Outcomes - Supportive Documentation
Please review summaries and supportive documentation below. The included links represent a body of work that resulted in the culmination of my Associate Professor Promotion Project.
Academics & Curricula
Visual Arts Degree - Precursor Documentation
While not part of my formal promotion project, the new Visuals Arts degree served as a catalyst for a considerable shift of departmental policies and initiatives that have coalesced over the past three years.
Below you will find a link to the Howard Community College catalog as well as a detailed PDF documenting the internal equivalencies between the original Art / Graphic & Interactive degrees and the new Visual Arts degree, an outline of course categories, and suggested program map.
This document has proven to be exceedingly useful during student advising sessions - ensuring their ability to take appropriate classes and envision their degree path.
Link to Visual Arts Degree & Detailed Information & Map
Credit-For-Credit Transfer Rates
It was imperative that we strengthened our relationships with partnering four-year institutions, ensuring that HCC students can get there from here. Through in-person meetings and ongoing correspondence, it became clear formal articulation agreements were unavailable – however they were more than willing to evaluate our new degree and credit-for-credit equivalencies. These ongoing efforts resulted in the following transfer statistics:
Towson’s Credit-For-Credit Transfer: 58/60 credits or 97%
UMCP’s Credit-For-Credit Transfer: 52/60 Credits or 87%
UMBC’s Credit-For-Credit Transfer: 43/60 Credits or 72%
While UMCP and UMBC may seem deficient, this is inevitable given their lack of 100 and 200 level courses. Both institutions have committed to accepting remainder credits as lower-level art electives.
Transfer Agreement — Savannah College of Art & Design
The Visual Arts department, while certainly committed to our liberal arts transfer institutions, has made a considered effort to broaden our appeal to fine arts institutions across the county. Relying on NASAD as a common denominator, we have garnered the interest of several academies. I am pleased to share that in FY 2019, the Visual Arts department arrived at a formal agreement with one of the premier art schools – Savannah College of Art and Design. This agreement is outlined in detail below.
Standardized Block Scheduling
The consolidation of electives within our new Visual Arts degree represented an invaluable opportunity to expand upon our General Education offerings - and support 80% of students enrolled in art courses as non-majors or General Education population.
To support the broader student population, we recognized that our custom starting times among four hour/once-per-week art classes stifled a student’s ability to register for any other course during overlapping HCC time blocks throughout the week.
Beginning 2018, all General Education art courses matched HCC scheduling blocks. This resulted in a 7% increase in General Education arts enrollment, affording us the opportunity to increase section offerings of popular courses.
Link to Block Scheduling
Open Studios — Impact on Student Learning
The department is committed to providing open studio time during the semester. Area coordinators schedule open studio time in their facilities. Schedules are posted outside of each room, and are announced on Canvas. In the 2018-2019 academic year, the Visual Arts Department offered over 4,000 hours of available Open Studio space to students across all art disciplines.
In conjunction with providing students adequate facilities to complete assignments outside of class, our open studios further promote an already vibrant Visual Arts student community. It is this emphasis on community that encourages student dedication to the arts, ownership over their work, and overall student success within the classroom.
Policies & Procedures
Visual Arts // On-Hand
I must recognize Professor Dave Beaudoin for his efforts in building and maintaining Visual Arts // On-Hand. Without his expertise, this project would not have come to fruition and I am eternally grateful.
Visual Arts // On-Hand was an extensive project driven by three key initiatives; Standardized Supplies, Inventory Management, and Fiscal Accountability. The three sections below provide screenshots of each of these areas and the robust capabilities of the site.
Before continuing to the summaries below, it is important to highlight the fiscal implications of using a site such as Visual Arts // On-Hand. Resulting from real-time automated oversight and monitoring, the Visual Arts department benefited from a $2000 end-of-year surplus – helping support departmental initiatives without the need for end-of-year requested funds.
This fiscal year, we continue monitoring similar financial trends. Implementing resource management systems across the college will help other departments successfully control their annual budgets.
Visual Arts // On-Hand: Purchase Requests
To stem wasteful spending, the first platform implemented through On-Hand is our Purchase Request System. This system allows faculty to request the ordering of desired classroom supplies. Through a robust approval process, the supervisors review all requested materials and provide either approval or denial.
Approvals are forwarded to our Studio Manager, Emma McDonnell, for purchase. Through the platform, Emma is able to monitor, in real-time, the status of supplies and notify faculty upon arrival. Furthermore, supervisors that the ability to track the history of all transactions by faculty, material, and cost.
Visual Arts // On-Hand: Supply Inventory System
As part of our initiative to standardize course supplies across disciplines, we became increasing reliant on student fees. Through fees, the art department regularly purchases predesignated supplies and stores them in our division suite. In order to properly monitor the distribution and usage of consumables, all faculty record materials provided to students throughout the semester.
This supply platform allows faculty to login by name, course, and section. Once in the system, faculty may search for the appropriate material(s) and record the quantity distributed to students.
Once updated, the system provides a history of all supplies removed from storage. This will be further explored in the next section, System Management.
Visual Arts // On-Hand: System Management
Visual Arts // On-Hand’s System Management platform provides real-time monitoring of the Purchase Request and Inventory systems. Through System Management, administrators may complete the following tasks:
Add/Remove faculty as needed.
Edit faculty information and system status.
Activate/Deactivate courses as needed.
Add/Remove supply categories as well as individual materials.
Process inventory usage reports by faculty, course, or both.
Standardized Materials
The Visual Arts department mandated the standardization of core art supplies per discipline. This mandate ensures that students are receiving an equitable learning experience across all sections of a singular course. Students purchase a selection of core supplies directly, while the department, through course fees, purchases the remainder.
The materials are stored in our suite, monitored by Studio Manager Emma McDonnell. Faculty, distribute the necessary supplies to students, and through the Visual Arts // On-Hand system, maintain a real-time status of used and remaining materials.
To ensure academic freedom and faculty flexibly, the department provides faculty with a semester allowance –supported by the non-encumbered student fees. With this allowance, faculty request unique supplies that individualize the classroom experience of students under the respective faculty member’s tutelage. It is important to note that the standardization and publication of supplies brought the Visual Arts department up to federal regulation standards.
Standardized Modular Rubrics - Initial Stages
The Visual Arts department designed an adaptable standardized modular rubric. Using weighted categories, faculty can interchange predetermined criteria in each category - empowering academic freedom to teach course content without prescribed mandated assignments. The weights remain constant among all sections of a course, ensuring equitable grading standards.
For promotion, Assistant Professor Silberg, is designing the rubrics application. Soon, the rubrics will be available via a web-based application to all Visual Arts faculty. The attached Excel sheet conveys the preliminary conceptualization of the rubric.
Visual Arts Bulletin
In an effort to promote ongoing transparency, Visual Arts // Bulletin was first issued fall 2019. Distributed quarterly via email, the Bulletin serves as a means to provide both full-time and adjunct faculty with ongoing updates relevant to HCC initiatives as well as internal policies and procedures.
Furthermore, in order to promote an ongoing investment in our faculty and student communities, the Bulletin highlights faculty accomplishments as well as important student activities. It is my hope that the Bulletin, as well as future endeavors, continue to strengthen the vibrant faculty and student Visual Arts communities.