Academic Program Portfolio Review

The Board of Trustees charged Academic Program Portfolio Review (APPR) with providing recommendations to the academic program offerings that enable a transition to a portfolio that ensures mission fulfillment and financial sustainability. The APPR Working Group was established by the Strategic Planning Council and all its members were nominated and affirmed by Academic Assembly. APPR serves as an important step toward the first goal of the Strategic Directions, to “reimagine and revise our curriculum” and a critical part of the fifth goal, “change or end programs where appropriate.”

The goal of APPR is to review the portfolio of academic programs at Seattle University and develop recommendations for the Board of Trustees that strengthens Seattle University’s financial position in alignment with our values and character as framed through our strategic vision and LIFT SU. This work will be successful if it produces recommendations that strengthen Seattle University’s financial position in ways that align with these values and also if it establishes policies, procedures, and best practices for future cycles of portfolio review.

The membership of the APPR working group was selected AY20 and began work in June 2020. The committee includes 16 members – ten faculty members chosen by Academic Assembly and six administrators (from the offices of the Provost, Diversity & Inclusion, and Finance & Budget). The full membership has been endorsed by Academic Assembly and the Provost.

The working group first developed a set of Understandings Regarding Academic Program Portfolio Review. These Understandings reflect and express the working group’s shared sense on: the context of higher education, Seattle University’s place in this context, the purpose of APPR, expectations for APPR members, and process and decision-making agreements.

APPR has revised its process based on extensive faculty feedback and consultations with the following groups: Academic Assembly, Deans' Council, Provost's Council, Strategic Planning Council. 

In the revised pathway, schools and colleges, through combined leadership of the deans and school/college-level shared governance, will propose what they see as the best ways to achieve the desired APPR outcomes.

APPR has suspended, indefinitely, the direct evaluation of individual programs.

You can learn more about the revised pathway here.