WASC BRIEF
OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL
EFFECTIVENESS
WASC Steering
Committee:
Joy Asamen, Ph.D.
GSEP, Committee Chair
Cyndia Clegg, Ph.D.
Seaver College
Peggy Crawford, Ph.D.
GSBM
Richard Cupp, J.D.
School of Law
Michael Shires, Ph.D.
School of Public Policy
Connie Fulmer, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of
Seaver College
Anne Arvin
Associate Registrar
Connie Horton, Ph.D.
Director of Counseling Center
Lynne Jacobsen
University Librarian
Darryl Tippens, Ph.D.
Provost, Accreditation
Liaison Officer
Tim Chester, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Academic
Administration
Jay Brewster, Ph.D.
Associate Provost
Christopher S. Collins, Ph.D.
Assistant Provost,
Institutional Effectiveness
Issue 2: Reviewing the CPR Report
Updates and Introduction of the WASC Visiting Team
The purpose of this Brief is to begin preparation for the Western Association of
Schools and Colleges (WASC) site visit, September 22-24, 2010. The WASC visiting
team will be meeting with various groups of students, faculty, staff, administra-
tors, and constituents. The final schedule will not be set until six weeks prior to
the visit. It will be important to place these dates on departmental calendars to
make sure that anyone the visiting team is interested in meeting will be present.
In addition, if you know of student presentations, exhibits, performances, or other
campus events going on during that time, please notify the Office of Institutional
Effectiveness so that we can make those events available to the visiting team if
they are interested. Regional accreditation is coordinated by WASC through peer
review. Pepperdine’s visiting team is a group of faculty, staff, and administrators
from a variety of universities:
WASC Chair:
Curtis L. McCray, Chairman of the Board Mark your Calendars!
and Higher Education Consultant, The dates for the WASC
Pacific Oaks College Team’s Capacity and Prepara-
tory Review visit is
WASC Assistant Chair: SEPTEMBER 22-24.
W. David Conn, Associate Vice President for
Inclusive Excellence, Director of Ombuds Comment on the Essays:
Services, Professor of City & Regional Planning, Page 3 of this Brief gives an
California Polytechnic State University overview of all six essays
included in the CPR Report.
WASC Members: The title of each essay is a
Barbara Mahone Brown, Professor, Emerita, hyperlink to the entire essay
San Jose State University on a wiki where faculty and
John Cebula, CPA, Assistant Controller, staff can leave comments.
Chapman University
Ann S. Ferren, Provost,
American University in Bulgaria
Cyd Jenefsky, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs,
John F. Kennedy University
Maria Zack, Chair and Professor of Mathematics,
Point Loma Nazarene University
The accreditation process in the western region has changed significantly since
Pepperdine’s last reaffirmation in 2000. Instead of one visit, there are now two.
The first visit is the Capacity and Preparatory Review (CPR) and the second visit
is an Education Effectiveness Review (EER) which is scheduled for March 2012.
Also, during Pepperdine’s last affirmation, if a college or university was reaf-
firmed, it would be for either 7 or 10 years. Now the process has expanded to
include a 7, 8, 9, or 10 year reaffirmation. Since 2003, 65% of colleges and univer-
sities going through the process received a 7 or 8 year affirmation. The remaining
35% received a 9 or 10 year affirmation.
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The goal of the WASC Steering Committee is to show the visiting team that we have engaged in an evidence-based
self study and that we are working to build upon our strengths and mitigate our weaknesses.

Accreditation Report and Visit Timeline

May 14-31, 2010 - CPR Essays Open for Review

June 30, 2010 – Capacity and Preparatory Review (CPR) Report Due

September 22-24, 2010 – Capacity and Preparatory Review Site Visit

December 21, 2011 – Educational Effectiveness Report (EER) Due

March 14-16, 2012 – Educational Effectiveness Site Visit

Institutional Educational Objectives (IEOs)

The accreditation process is about assessing the effectiveness of an institution. Generally speaking, universities,
schools, programs, and courses need to have specific learning outcomes, assessment plans to measure how well the
learning environment is contributing to the learning outcomes, and an infrastructure that uses evidence to make
budgeting and policy decisions. A core element is to have Institutional Education Objectives (IEOs). These were
introduced in the last WASC Brief and were available for comment through three rounds of feedback and revision
and the final version is now available on the OIE website: services.pepperdine.edu/oie

The Institutional Educational Objectives are formed by two components:

1) Core commitments: knowledge and scholarship, faith and heritage, and community and global understanding
2) Institutional values: purpose, service, and leadership

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Reviewing the CPR Report
The Capacity and Preparatory Review (CPR) Report
is due to WASC at the end of June. As previously
mentioned, the goal of this self study is to present
Pepperdine in an open and self reflective manner.
When the visiting team comes, one of their tasks
will be to determine if our self study reflects what
they observe during the visit. There are 4 Standards
and 42 Criteria for Review (CFRs) that will be used
by the team. In addition, our CPR Report has been
organized around six themes that are connected to
recommendations from the last WASC visit and the
overall capacity of Pepperdine in combination with
our readiness for the EER.
In order to garner additional feedback, Pepperdine’s
WASC Steering Committee has made the six essays
available for comment to the entire campus from
May 14 to 31. You can click any and all of the six titles
below to read the entire essay as well as leave any
comments about that particular theme, the evidence
used, and the overall presentation of Pepperdine
in the CPR. The greater number of people who are
familiar with these reflective themes will increase the
ability of the visiting team to engage in discussion
about areas of interest for the accreditation process.
Essay One: Mission and Institutional Educational
Goals/Purpose
One of the observations made by WASC at the time of
our last site visit in 2000 was that Pepperdine’s Chris-
tian mission did not appear to have a uniform influ-
ence on planning and program development across
the university. Hence, the content of this particular
essay focuses on the increased coherence, across the
university, of the university’s faith-based mission and
academic programs.
Important contributions to mission clarity have
emerged from the Center for Faith and Learning and
the Lily Grant. Efforts at further clarity in faculty
hiring and public communication are also evidence
included in this essay. However, research embedded
in the 2008 Branding Report and in evaluations of the
alignment between the IEOs and each school’s educa-
tional goals indicate that there are key areas that can
still be improved.
Recommendations:
-Continue the development of school-wide learning
outcomes using the evidence matrix for the IEOs, to
support further the collection of evidence linked to
the IEOs by fall 2010.
-Collect additional responses about the degree of
alignment between the IEOs and the five schools and
encourage the schools to consider the responses as
their statement of educational objectives evolves by
fall 2011.
-Conduct a deep evaluation of the alignment between
program and course learning outcomes by spring 2011.
-Use assessments and evaluations of alignment to
develop ways of fostering further alignment from the
IEOs to the course objectives level by fall 2012.
Essay Two: Program Review
Although Pepperdine has instituted a formal program
review process (both curricular and co-curricular),
best practices dictate that a valid program review
process should include a systematic examination by
reviewers external to the program and that evidence
generated from the program reviews serve as the basis
for planning and making budgetary decisions on
ways to improve student learning. An evaluation of
completed five year program reviews across all of the
schools shows a slightly inconsistent approach and
delivery of learning outcomes assessment. This essay
includes the steps taken to increase collaboration and
clarity, including the development of a new Program
Review Guidebook, and identifies other needs for im-
proving the program review infrastructure.
Recommendations:
-To introduce the use of external reviewers with addi-
tional support for the 2010-11 cycle of 5-year program
reviews, following the Program Review Guidebook.
-Beginning in 2010-11, to track the management ac-
tions submitted by deans in order to evaluate the
degree to which the loop is closed by using evidence
from program reviews.
-To evaluate the progress by comparing program re-
views completed under the new system to those previ-
ously completed prior to the 2011-12 academic year.
Essay Three: High Impact Practices (HIPs)
In WASC’s 2008 response to Pepperdine’s Institu-
tional Proposal, it was suggested that the university
consider focusing on increasing student participation
in high impact educational opportunities. Given that
the introduction of more high impact educational
experiences would benefit both students of under-
graduate and graduate/professional programs, this
essay focuses on the existing structure for HIPs and
additional support for increasing the number and
impact of these practices.
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One hundred percent of the undergraduate and graduate
academic programs offer high impact experiences to stu-
dents. Seaver faculty members are relatively satisfied with
the quantity and quality of high impact experiences avail-
able their students. They are understandably proud of the
excellent opportunities offered 100% of students for most
types of HIPs. Despite the current success, faculty con-
tinue to identify new opportunities for introducing high
impact experiences in the General Education curriculum.
The University also offers numerous elective co-curricular
opportunities to undergraduate students. What we do not
know with our current tracking system is who among the
Seaver students access experiences that are not required of
all students. We are particularly interested in college student
characteristics such as race/ethnicity, first generation college
student status, and transfer status. The graduate and profes-
sional schools provide many of the same academic, research,
and applied experiences offered by other institutions. But
there are obvious challenges in the current economic envi-
ronment.
Recommendations:
-Given what is known about the advantages of high impact
practices for underserved students, institute the systematic
collection of student characteristics data for elective high
impact experiences offered by International Programs, the
Volunteer Center, and other co-curricular activities before
the commencement of the 2010-11 academic year.
-Examine resource allocation in relation to access to educa-
tional opportunities and the quality of the learning experi-
ence offered graduate/professional students and propose a
plan of action by the end of the 2010-11 academic year. This
assessment might lead to greater resource allocations to
some high impact initiatives, less to others, depending on
the populations they serve and the measured effectiveness
of each.
Essay Four: Faculty Engagement
WASC values faculty involvement in the assessment of
student learning and academic decision-making. It was
stressed at the time of the 2000 site visit that Pepperdine
continue to improve its structures for engaging faculty on
issues regarding the development and review of academic
programs and policies. This essay addresses ways in which
faculty members are involved in these decisions as well as
plans for further improvement of faculty participation in
institutional decision-making.
Since the last site visit, the University Faculty Council (UFC)
wasccreated. The UFC’s primary purpose is to establish a
formal relationship between and among the faculties of the
five schools and with the University senior administration
on issues of University-wide concern. The UFC has been
in existence for 9 years, and although no formal evaluation
of its effectiveness has been undertaken, the sunset
date has been extended twice, implying this body is
serving the needs of faculty. In 2009, a faculty survey
was administered in which numerous questions were
posed about faculty engagement at different levels
within the University. Although less than 30% of fac-
ulty responded to the survey, preliminarily the results
indicate faculty believe they provide leadership and
drive academic affairs in their respective schools.
They are less confident about their role in University
planning.
Recommendations:
-Under the direction of the OIE, conduct a formal
assessment of the UFC before the end of 2010-11 aca-
demic year.
-The faculty governance body of each school, in col-
laboration with the UFC, should identify strategies for
encouraging fuller participation by faculty in Univer-
sity administered surveys before the end of the fall
2010 semester.
-The UFC and the Deans Council should develop and
institute a system of communication for issues of Uni-
versity-wide importance, e.g., the University strategic
plan, by the end of the 2010-1011 academic year.
-The UFC should partner with the faculty governance
body of each school to address the matter and prepare
a plan for action by the end of spring 2012.
-By the end of the 2010-2011 academic year, the faculty
and deans of each school should examine strategies
for increasing University support for professional
development, particularly with regard to the integra-
tion of Christian faith and learning and working with
a diverse student body.
Essay Five: Evidence-based Decision-making
WASC places significant weight on the use of evi-
dence-based decision-making practices; hence, the
fifth essay focuses on Pepperdine’s use of assessment
evidence for academic planning and budgeting deci-
sions as well as the plan for broadening the univer-
sity’s use of evidence for making these decisions.
By considering the University Planning Committee,
its role in strategic planning and budgeting, and its
dependence upon a culture of evidence-based deci-
sion making, this essay to describes the means by
which Pepperdine University administratively has an
effective means to assure that its educational goals are
realized. The greatest problem is not the ineffective-
ness of the administrative model and its operation
but a record of inadequate communication to the
larger Pepperdine community about the appropriate-
ness and effectiveness of collaborative governance.
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Recommendations:
-Clearly articulate our collaborative governance approach
-Increase the lines of communication within the Univer-
sity community by clearly communicating UPC delibera-
tions and outcomes
-Assess and remove obstacles that undermine a col-
laborative, consensus-oriented approached to shared
governance.
-Revamp the role of program review in the budgeting
process.
Essay Six: Demographics, Diversity, and Effective-
ness Indicators
This essay examines demographic profiles and educa-
tional effectiveness indicators in comparison to peer and
aspirational institutions. The ability to disaggregate data
by gender and race/ethnicity allows for a discussion of
diversity considerations. Moving beyond demographics,
this essay also looks into issues of campus climate for
faculty, students, and staff.
Although the University has been intentional in its effort
to strengthen the relationship of diversity with its educa-
tional practices, we also face challenges in compositional
diversity as well as campus climate. Although females
are the majority among students, female faculty are
the minority in four of the five schools. The University
at large is composed of roughly 30% students of color
and only 12% faculty of color. Although our statistics for
students of color are comparable to peer and aspirational
institutions, the percentage of faculty of color is lower
when compared to peer institutions. In regards to cli-
mate, there is variation among the schools/programs and
areas in which climate satisfaction is lower than desirable
among students, faculty, and staff. Finally, the ability to
examine the relationship of gender and race/ethnicity to
performance on a more diverse set of effectiveness indi-
cators is limited by the current data collection/manage-
ment system that precluded engaging in disaggregated
analysis.
Recommendations:
-Programs within each school of Pepperdine University
need to examine the challenges associated with increas-
ing the number of students of color, and identify strate-
gies and develop a plan of action for addressing these
challenges, particularly in programs with limited diversi-
ty. The plan of action should be fully operational no later
than the 2011-12 academic year.
-University faculty hiring policies need to give priority to
increasing the number of women and persons of color on
faculty, beginning with hires for the 2011-2012 academic
year and continuing with future hires, particularly in
schools with limited diversity.
-Each school should develop and engage in methods of
data collection that will allow for a deeper understand-
ing of campus climate within each of its programs. The
findings from this study should be used to direct institu-
tional practices.
-The OIE will develop a system that is operational by
spring 2011 to centralize data, including effectiveness
indicators, collected at all five schools.

OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

MISSION STATEMENT:
__________
The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) is a research engine de-
signed to advance the mission and values of Pepperdine University by
facilitating evidence-based decisions and a culture of assessment. LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS
ON THE ESSAY WIKIS BY
The mission will be achieved through:
MAY 31, 2010.
-Functioning as a semi-independent research group and think tank

-Collecting, analyzing, and distributing high quality research

Visit the new OIE website:
-Coordinating a comprehensive system of Program Reviews that contrib-
ute to the mission and strategic goals of the University and all five schools services.pepperdine.edu/oie

-Providing guidance and data support for the University assessment cycle,
Institutional Educational Objectives, and learning outcomes _________
-Guiding and facilitating the process of reaffirmation of
accreditation