Four-Week Session Plan

Live Introduction: Preparing for a Meaningful Portfolio Review

October 1, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. CT
Live online and recorded

The opening session introduces the course framework and helps participants establish a clear purpose for their review. Participants will consider what decisions the process is intended to inform, who should be involved, what data will be needed, and how the review can be communicated across the institution.

Topics will include:

• Defining academic program portfolio review

• Identifying the institutional questions the review should answer

• Distinguishing strategic review from crisis-driven reduction

• Establishing the scope and unit of analysis

• Determining who should participate

• Recognizing governance, communication, and trust considerations

• Setting realistic expectations for the four-week process

• Introducing the final portfolio action plan

Participants will leave the session with a course roadmap and a preliminary statement of purpose for their institutional review.

Week One: Establishing the Framework

Module 1: Defining the Portfolio and Building the Process

Before programs can be evaluated, institutions must decide exactly what is being reviewed and why. This module guides participants through the foundational decisions that shape a credible and useful portfolio process.

Topics will include:

• Defining a program, major, concentration, certificate, or academic unit

• Determining the appropriate level of analysis

• Establishing the review period

• Identifying institutional priorities and constraints

• Selecting participants and decision-makers

• Clarifying the relationship between analysis, recommendation, and final authority

• Developing principles for transparency and shared governance

• Creating a manageable project timeline

Participants will complete a portfolio inventory and draft a review charter identifying the purpose, scope, participants, timeline, and intended outcomes of the process.

Module 2: Evaluating Demand and Student Interest

Enrollment totals alone do not provide a complete picture of program demand. This module helps participants examine the full progression from prospective student interest to enrollment, persistence, and completion.

Topics will include:

• Distinguishing external market demand from internal student demand

• Reviewing inquiries, applications, admission, deposits, enrollment, and yield

• Examining declared majors, course enrollment, and student migration between programs

• Identifying short-term fluctuations and longer-term trends

• Understanding program demand within specialized or mission-driven institutions

• Evaluating regional, national, and occupational indicators

• Recognizing emerging fields and interdisciplinary opportunities

• Understanding the limitations of labor-market data

• Avoiding decisions based on a single year or metric

Participants will build a demand profile for selected programs and identify where additional context or data may be needed.

Week Two: Mission, Cost, and Institutional Capacity

Module 3: Assessing Mission Fit and Academic Contribution

Some programs contribute to an institution in ways that are not fully visible through enrollment or revenue. This module helps participants identify and document those contributions without allowing mission to become an undefined exemption from meaningful evaluation.

Topics will include:

• Defining mission fit in measurable and discussable terms

• Connecting programs to institutional history, identity, and public purpose

• Recognizing contributions to general education and other programs

• Evaluating interdisciplinary and service-course relationships

• Considering accreditation or curricular dependencies

• Assessing contributions to institutional reputation and community engagement

• Identifying programs that distinguish the institution from competitors

• Balancing legacy, identity, and future relevance

• Creating a mission-fit rubric

Participants will translate broad mission statements into specific evaluation criteria and assess how programs contribute to the institution beyond their number of majors.

Module 4: Understanding Cost, Capacity, and Resource Use

Program cost is often one of the most difficult and contentious elements of portfolio review. This module introduces a practical approach to understanding financial and operational realities without reducing academic value to a single revenue calculation.

Topics will include:

• Distinguishing direct, indirect, fixed, and variable costs

• Understanding instructional cost

• Reviewing faculty workload and course-delivery patterns

• Examining class size, section fill, and curricular complexity

• Considering specialized space, equipment, technology, and accreditation requirements

• Identifying cross-subsidization among programs

• Evaluating program capacity and opportunities for more efficient delivery

• Recognizing the limitations of contribution-margin calculations

• Asking productive questions when financial data are incomplete

• Connecting resource decisions to academic quality

Participants will complete a resource profile and identify the primary cost drivers, capacity constraints, and opportunities associated with selected programs.

Open Live Advising Session One

October 15, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. CT

This open advising session will focus on questions arising from Modules 1–4. Participants may bring draft criteria, data challenges, portfolio inventories, program examples, or questions about adapting the framework to their institutions.

Discussion may include:

• Refining the scope of a review

• Selecting appropriate indicators

• Working with incomplete or inconsistent data

• Comparing programs of different sizes and types

• Defining mission contribution

• Interpreting instructional cost

• Addressing faculty and governance concerns

• Building an achievable institutional process

Week Three: Outcomes and Strategic Relevance

Module 5: Evaluating Student and Program Outcomes

A healthy program should create meaningful educational value for students, but outcomes must be interpreted in relation to the program’s purpose and the students it serves. This module helps participants develop a multidimensional approach to evaluating program success.

Topics will include:

• Reviewing retention, persistence, and completion

• Examining time to degree and curricular barriers

• Assessing student learning

• Considering licensure, certification, or professional preparation

• Evaluating employment and post-graduate pathways

• Recognizing graduate study, creative practice, entrepreneurship, and public contribution

• Using alumni and student experience data

• Identifying equity gaps within program outcomes

• Accounting for small cohorts and incomplete data

• Connecting program outcomes to improvement planning

Participants will create an outcomes profile that combines available quantitative measures with appropriate qualitative evidence.

Module 6: Assessing Strategic Relevance and Future Opportunity

Portfolio review should look forward as well as backward. This module helps participants determine how each program contributes to the institution’s future and where targeted investment, collaboration, or redesign may create new value.

Topics will include:

• Defining strategic relevance

• Connecting programs to institutional priorities

• Identifying opportunities for enrollment growth

• Evaluating curricular adaptability

• Recognizing interdisciplinary partnerships

• Considering new audiences, formats, and credentials

• Assessing opportunities for external partnerships and funding

• Identifying programs that support institutional reputation

• Distinguishing temporary challenges from structural concerns

• Balancing present performance with future potential

Participants will assess the future role of selected programs and identify possible opportunities for investment, redesign, partnership, or innovation.

Week Four: Scoring, Interpretation, and Action Planning

During the final week, participants will bring the five areas of analysis together:

1. Demand and student interest

2. Mission fit and academic contribution

3. Cost and resource use

4. Student and program outcomes

5. Strategic relevance and future opportunity

Using the customizable scoring tool, participants will establish institutional weights, document evidence, compare results, and add the qualitative context needed to interpret each program fairly.

The scoring process is designed to organize institutional judgment—not replace it. Participants will consider where numerical results are helpful, where they may be misleading, and how program differences should be addressed.

Each program may then be placed within an initial action category, such as:

• Invest: Programs positioned for growth or increased institutional support

• Strengthen: Programs with clear value that require targeted improvement

• Redesign: Programs that may benefit from curricular, structural, or delivery changes

• Collaborate: Programs with opportunities for interdisciplinary or external partnership

• Monitor: Programs requiring additional time, data, or defined performance goals

• Consolidate: Programs that may be combined with related areas

• Further Review: Programs requiring deeper academic, financial, or market analysis

• Teach Out or Close: Programs for which continuation may no longer be sustainable or strategically appropriate

Participants will then begin their final portfolio action plan, identifying recommended actions, responsibilities, timelines, resource implications, governance steps, and measures of progress.

Open Live Advising Session Two

October 29, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. CT

The second advising session will focus on scoring, interpretation, and action planning. Participants may bring completed scoring tools, preliminary findings, difficult program cases, or draft recommendations for discussion.

Topics may include:

• Weighting the five evaluation areas

• Interpreting conflicting indicators

• Addressing programs with high mission value but low enrollment

• Identifying realistic opportunities for growth

• Moving from scores to responsible recommendations

• Communicating findings to faculty and senior leadership

• Developing differentiated program strategies

• Structuring the final portfolio action plan

• Preparing for governance and implementation

Final Portfolio Action Plan

The course culminates in the creation of a practical Academic Program Portfolio Action Plan.

The plan will help participants document:

• The purpose and scope of the portfolio review

• The programs or academic units evaluated

• The criteria, indicators, and evidence used

• Institutional weights and scoring decisions

• Important qualitative context

• Each program’s strengths, vulnerabilities, and opportunities

• Recommended action categories

• Immediate and longer-term priorities

• Individuals or groups responsible for next steps

• Shared-governance and approval requirements

• Resource and implementation considerations

• Measures and timelines for monitoring progress

The final plan is intended to serve as a working institutional document. It can support cabinet discussions, strategic planning, accreditation, budgeting, program review, faculty governance, and future academic development.

Individual Review Session

Each participant or institutional team will receive one 30-minute individual session to review their emerging portfolio framework or action plan.

The session may be used to:

• Review a completed scoring framework

• Discuss a particularly complex program

• Test preliminary recommendations

• Strengthen the final action plan

• Prepare findings for faculty, cabinet, or board discussion

• Identify next steps for a broader institutional process

Individual sessions may be scheduled at a mutually convenient time and must take place before November 15, 2026.