APPENDIX F

Application for 5-Year Re-Approval of Undergraduate Degrees in Food Science/Technology

This Re-Approval application is intended to aid a food science program in determining what improvements to the program and to specific courses have been made in the previous five (5) years, and those that will be made during the next 5-year approval cycle. It is intended to be reasonably brief, but still sufficiently detailed overview of the program at the 5-year point since last review. It should provide a summary of recent assessment evidence (from recent yearly assessment progress reports), a description of future assessment plans, and a description of plans for continued program improvement. Because many programmatic changes may occur in the 5 years since initial approval, this document must also reflect any substantive changes in a program’s status (faculty, facilities, required background courses, etc.) that could influence the curriculum and the assessment program.

(Application format should conform to the following headings, sequence, and page limitations, using 12 point font. Any additional material should be attached as appendices.)

I. Date of application submission______

II. Name of person completing this application ______

Professional title______

Mail address______

______

______

______

E-mail address______

Office phone number______

Fax number ______

III. Description of administrative unit

A. Name of Institution ______

B. Name of College______

C. Name of Department (or other administrative unit) ________

D. Name of Department Head/Chair______

E. E-Mail of Department Head/Chair______

F. All undergraduate degrees (including emphases) granted by the Department (e.g., BSA in Food Science, BS in Food Technology with Food Industry Emphasis, BS in Nutritional Science)and number of graduates

______

______

______

G. Of those above, degree(s) (including emphases) to be evaluated for IFT approval and the number of graduates for each program in the past year.

______

______

IV. Description of faculty(1-2 pages)Only highlight changes from last approval

A. Food Science and other faculty members teaching in the program (place an asterisk by course numbers of required courses)

Name, Highest Degree, Discipline, and Institution Appointment§ Specialization(s)Courses Taught

Jane Doe, Ph.D., food science, Ohio State Univ. member, full time Food Chemistry, FS 105, 215*, 450* Quality Assurance

1.

2.

3.

etc.

B. Additional faculty (including those from other departments) teaching Food Science courses (place an asterisk by course numbers of required courses)

Name, Highest Degree, Discipline, and Institution Appointment§ Specialization(s)Courses Taught

1.

2.

3.

etc.

C. Any extenuating circumstances regarding faculty that should be considered

§ Explain appointment status in the Department, e.g., member, adjunct, courtesy, joint, full-time, part-time)

V. Description of facilities(1 page)Only highlight changes from last approval

A. Website describing and providing pictures of Department facilities ______

B. Please examine the Description of Facilities section in your most recent approval application and list any changes, additions, or deletions to your facilities since that time.

VI. Description of curriculum (2 pages)Only highlight changes from last approval

(Repeat this section for each degree or emphasis to be evaluated)

A. Specific website containing course descriptions for both background and departmental courses ______(If not available online, include as an appendix or include a copy of the undergraduate catalog in application submission)

B. Suggested Road Map, showing semester-by-semester progress through the entire curriculum (show one for each curriculum being considered for approval)

C.Please examine the Description of Curriculum section in your most recent approval application and list any changes, additions, or deletions to your curriculum since that time.

D. Include updated core competency grid

VII. Program outcomes

To insure adequate review, please provide the specific outcomes for the program as a whole. This will remind both reviewers and program participants of the main outcomes set by the department.

VIII. Summary of assessments over the previous 5-year period

Please submit all Assessment Progress Reports submitted since the previous review. This section should also include a summary reflection of the evidence for student learning gathered from the previous annual reports as described below.

Summary Reflections. This section typically interprets the significance of the findings in the above analysis of program evidence. Its purpose is to determine a program’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. It is helpful to have questions that guide the interpretation of the findings, such as:

  • Are the curriculum, practices, processes, and resources properly aligned with the outcomes of the program?
  • Are department/program goals aligned with the goals of the food industry and graduate programs that the program serves?
  • Is the level of program quality aligned with the college/university’s acceptable level of program quality? Is the program quality aligned with the constituents’ acceptable level of quality?
  • Are program goals being achieved?
  • Are student learning outcomes being achieved at the expected level?

It is also helpful to have evaluation criteria in mind; that is, what guidelines will be used to determine what the evidence suggests about the program’s strengths and weaknesses? In some cases, an absolute standard may be used. For example, it may be decided that a student-faculty ratio of 20 to one is necessary to ensure program quality, and any ratio higher than that is unacceptable. In other cases, a norm-referenced criterion may be more appropriate. For example, if an IFT food science national student survey was used to assess student satisfaction with the program, the evaluation criterion might be that your students’ satisfaction is at least as high as students at other similar institutions.

IX. Future Goals and Planning for Improvement.

This section is intended to aid a food science program in determining what improvements to the program and to specific courses will be made during the next approval cycle. Assessment of a subset of all outcomes for the food science academic program should have been occurring annually between initial approval and re-approval. Because all outcomes for a food science program should be assessed by the time of that program’s re-approval, each program should have completed and reported the assessment results of all its proposed course learning and program outcomes by the end of a five-year period.

Please provide a brief (1-2 pages)summary of plans for future assessment strategies and goals, and how curricular improvement will be maintained. There should be a short discussion of how results of the assessments will continue to be used to improve the food science program or student learning.

This section might address such questions as:

  • What are the program’s assessment goals for the next five years?
  • How will the program specifically address any weaknesses identified in previous assessments?
  • How will the program build on existing strengths?

X. Submission.

Submit an electronic copy (preferably PDF format) of this review document and supporting materials to the IFT headquarters office via IFT.org submission portal by deadlines published on the IFT website.

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