Institutional Effectiveness

Our mission is to ensure Lipscomb University pursues and maintains high quality academic and service outcomes as measured and confirmed by the university's regional accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

Program outcomes for this Office include: University stakeholders will have access to data and information necessary to maintain the business; compliance with accrediting and regulatory bodies resulting from timely filing of required reports; successful implementation of the strategic plan; continuous improvement work and resulting documentation; educational growth for strategic planning, customer satisfaction, and continuous improvement concepts; and maintaining compliance with accrediting bodies as demonstrated through reaffirmation in SACS and other agencies.

About Us

Organization & Constituents

Organization

The Office for Institutional Effectiveness is organized as follows:

Research
Education and training
Resource activities
Compliance management
Strategic plan management

Constituents

Internal constituents: Faculty and staff.
External constituents: Students, board members, parents, donors, regulatory partners, commercial partners, TICUA, THEC, and the community at large.

Affiliations

Meetings & Standing Committees

Performance Indicators

Knock Your Socks Off! - KYSO

"When the pace of change outside the organization becomes greater than the pace of change inside the organization, the end is near."

"Knock Your Socks Off" Customer Service Workshop:

The entire campus community of faculty and staff participate in this workshop designed to emphasize the importance of meeting customers needs in a timely and effective manner.

Objectives:

To define outstanding customer service and guest relations

To identify techniques ensuring outstanding customer service

To identify some typical customer problems and learn how to resolve those problems

To recognize the importance in delivering outstanding customer service

To discuss opportunities that give an edge in providing excellent customer service

Quotes from the KYSO workshop:

"Learn from the mistakes of others...you won't live long enough to make them all yourself."

"Worrying about what's right is always more important than worrying about who's right."

"Resistance is always a part of major change."

"Be creative...you can't steal second with your foot on first."

"Mental flexibility is the ability to adjust to new information and to consider a broad range of alternatives when solving problems."

"A good idea is a fragile thing. Like a match, it is easily blown out by the cold winds of rigidity and convention."

"If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting."

"If you're not serving the customer, you'd better be serving someone who is."

"I can't understand why people are afraid of new ideas...I'm frightened of the old ones."

"Politeness goes far, yet costs nothing."

"Customers don't care what you know, until they know that you care."

"It's the customer who pays the wages."

All departments, both academic and operations, have a mission statement, stated program outcomes, and indicators used to evaluate those outcomes, all of which are designed to improve learning outcomes of the educational process. — Elaine Griffin

Continuous Improvement Plan

What is a CIP?

All departments, both academic and operations, have a mission statement, specific program outcomes, and indicators used to evaluate those outcomes, all of which are designed to improve learning outcomes of the educational process and service outcomes of the operational processes.

What are the components?

Components of Each Department's CIP:

Mission
Organization
Constituents
Affiliations
Meetings
Standing Committees
Program Outcomes
Performance Indicators

CIP Updates

Each CIP is regularly updated and sent to the OIE Office.

Continuous improvement is a journey. The goal is to provide services that meet our customers' expectations. It cannot be accomplished overnight. It is accomplished over time by measuring the performance of our processes. We must take actions to improve our processes. — Elaine Griffin, from the CQI Workshop

Continuous Quality Improvement

What is CQI?

Continuous Quality Improvement workshops are conducted annually for all faculty and staff to ensure all employees know and are familiar with concepts, tools, and techniques required to more effectively serve our students.

CQI is a philosophy and a process with three principles:

Customers and requirements
Process focus
Continuous improvement

Benefits of CQI

Improved outcomes of the strategic planning process
Increased external stakeholder satisfaction
Increased employee satisfaction
Progress toward achieving national recognition as a premier university
Improved organizational performance
Financial strength

CQI Objectives

Objectives

To be able to answer the question, "Why quality?"

Understanding the philosophy of CQI with its components:

Customers and requirements
Process focus
Continuous Improvement

Describe the process focus of:

Quality planning
Quality measurement and reporting
Quality improvement
Cultural changes

Program Review

Program Review is a systematic university-wide process currently underway to review all departments, both academic and operations.

Objectives:

Measure and evaluate quality of academic and operational programs
Measure and evaluate operational efficiency of all programs
Identify opportunities to enhance and improve quality and improve operational efficiency
Identify opportunities to reallocate resources within the university

Program Review Criteria:

History, development and expectations of the program
External demand for the program
Internal demand for the program
Quality of program inputs and processes
Quality of program outcomes
Size, scope and productivity of the program
Revenue and other resources generated by the program
Costs and other expenses associated with the program
Impact, justification and overall essentiality of the program
Opportunity analysis of the program

Institutional Strategy

Matt Rehbein
Director, Institutional Research
(615) 966-6043
matt.rehbein@lipscomb.edu