ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â

Student Achievement

Seventy-one percent of current students pursuing a bachelor of science in regional planning at ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â have engaged in professional internships or similar professional learning opportunities. The program’s close ties with planning professionals in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors directly led to 100 percent of last year’s BS graduates’ full-time, gainful employment in county government, local government, metropolitan planning organizations, private architecture and engineering firms, or graduate school.

Program Outcome 4: Community Resiliency and Sustainability

Integrate knowledge of issues related to community resiliency and sustainability, such as social equity, inclusion, diversity in society and the environment, the human-environment interaction, public participation, and social justice.

Direct Assessment Indicator 1: Analysis of Internship Supervisor Evaluation

Data Source: RGPL 493 internship (data collected by Dr. B. Okey)

RGPL 493 Internship is required by the BS Regional Planning program. Students work as interns in various county, municipality, and other regional-level planning agencies/departments (e.g., Indiana County Office of Planning and Development regularly recruits interns from our program). Our department provides a Post-Internship Evaluation Form to on-site supervisors, who are required to evaluate students after the internship is completed. For this assessment, Post-Internship Evaluations are analyzed for seven students who completed their internships between May 2019 and July 2020.

Level of ranking obtained by seven students across the evaluation categories is reported below.

Ranking Explanation:

1. Superior performance
2. Above average performance continued improvement over the course of the
3. Average level of performance, commitment to improve
4. Average level of performance, minimal effort to
5. Less than satisfactory
6. Unacceptable level of performance
NA. Insufficient evidence to evaluate in this category

Program Outcome 2: Analytic, Design, and Communication Skills

Apply written, oral, graphic, and visual communication skills in preparation and presentation of plans and research.

The capstone course RGPL 498: Planning Practicum taught in the fall semester is used to determine program student achievement. The course introduces students to the process of formal inquiry and helps them develop the skills needed to read and evaluate the research of others. Students are exposed to the development of structured questions to guide inquiry, bibliography research to set their inquiry in the context of the work of other scholars, research design, and the selection of research methods, and are taken through the development of an original research project paper. The course uses three assessment indicators: 1) Portfolio, 2) Research Paper, and 3) Research Presentation to determine mastery of Program Outcome 2: Analytic, Design and Communication skills: Apply written, oral, graphic, and visual communication skills in preparation and presentation of plans and research. A summary of performance of graduating seniors follows:

Summary of Indicator 1: Portfolio

Students are required to develop a professional portfolio, that includes a résumé, reflective essay on the major, highlights of at least six of their best work (projects/papers), and research project paper.

Eight student portfolios were evaluated by three faculty members and two external evaluators over the fall and spring semesters of AY 2018–19. The average evaluation scores are reported here. Out of eight students, five students (62.5%) exceeded expectations of the evaluators, and three students (37.5%) met expectations of the evaluators.

Summary of Indicator 2: Research Paper

Eight student research papers were evaluated by the instructor of the course. Out of eight students, four students (50%) exceeded requirements by scoring more than 90%, three students (37.5%) met the requirement by scoring between 80-89%, and one student (12.5%) met the requirement but below expectation by scoring between 70-79%.

Summary of Indicator 3: Research Presentation

Eight students presented their research orally to a jury of at least two faculty members and the instructor. The average evaluation scores are reported here. Out of eight students, five students (62.5%) exceeded expectations of the evaluators, and three students (37.5%) met expectations of the evaluators. In addition, students are required to present their research papers at the annual ÑÇÉ«Ó°¿â Scholars Forum², sponsored by the Graduate School during Research Week, prior to a final grade for the course. During the 2019 Scholars Forum, two students received university awards—one for oral presentation and another for best poster.