University of Wisconsin Stout | Wisconsin's Polytechnic University

Consultant Instructions and Guidelines

1)    As soon as you have been assigned as a consultant to a program, please contact the program director to set up an informational meeting.

2)    The Planning and Review Committee is a “paperless” Faculty Senate Committee.  The link to the documents every one will need is available at the PRC website.  When you meet with the program director, please go through the full PRC webpages and describe the importance of each section.

3)    Describe the importance of the program surveys which are conducted by the recording secretary in the spring prior to the fall's program review presentation. The results of the surveys will be shared with the program director, department chair, associate dean and dean, and the Planning and Review Committee as soon as the results are finalized.  These surveys are not made public.

4)   A block of time will be reserved for each program director to discuss the report and describe their program to the PRC.  The time will be 10 minutes for the presentation and 10 minutes for the committee to ask questions.  It’s important to have the program director secure a presentation date and time as soon as possible with the recording secretary.  There are only a few PRC meeting dates available in the fall for the presentations.  The recording secretary will also invite the department chair, associate dean and dean of the college where the program is housed.  Continue to meet with the program director in assisting them with the self-study.  Previous consultant reports and dean responses are currently available on the PRC website.  

5)    The consultants will draft a report on the program using the "Template for Consultant Report".  It’s very helpful to have the consultant report complete prior to the program director’s self-study being complete.  The program director benefits from knowing areas of concern and can address those concerns during the presentation.

6)   The program director's self-study is due approximately two weeks prior to the scheduled presentation.  All materials are submitted electronically to the recording secretary and will be available for perusal on the PRC website.

7)    After the presentation, the PRC will be discussing and finalizing the consultant report.  The PRC will approve the consultant report and the recording secretary will then send it electronically to the college dean.

8)  The dean will then prepare a response (Template for Dean's Response) to the consultant’s report and submits to the PRC recording secretary.

9)  The PRC reviews the dean's response, approves the recommendation report, and sends recommendation report to the Faculty Senate for acceptance.  This report is shared with the provost, dean, program director, department chair, and graduate school for graduate level programs.