Faculty Development for Student Achievement: The QUE Project

This book describes a seven-year project—Quality in Undergraduate Education (QUE)—that produced important changes in departments and in the teaching of individual faculty in 21 two- and four-year institutions across four states. Rather than a blow-by-blow report of the project, it focuses on the problems that led to the development of QUE: concern about low levels of student learning in postsecondary institutions and demands by state legislatures that funds for postsecondary institutions be tied to assessment of student learning.

The story is told first from the organizational perspective in national and local campus meetings, and then from the point of view of faculty in five chapters, one for each discipline of biology, chemistry, English, history, and mathematics. This description of QUE is intended as a model for administrators and faculty seeking to meet the challenges of increasingly diverse students as well as the increasingly divergent ways to earn a degree.

This book describes a seven-year project—Quality in Undergraduate Education (QUE)—that produced important changes in departments and in the teaching of individual faculty in 21 two- and four-year institutions across four states. Rather than a blow-by-blow report of the project, it focuses on the problems that led to the development of QUE: concern about low levels of student learning in postsecondary institutions and demands by state legislatures that funds for postsecondary institutions be tied to assessment of student learning.

The story is told first from the organizational perspective in national and local campus meetings, and then from the point of view of faculty in five chapters, one for each discipline of biology, chemistry, English, history, and mathematics. This description of QUE is intended as a model for administrators and faculty seeking to meet the challenges of increasingly diverse students as well as the increasingly divergent ways to earn a degree.

RONALD J. HENRY was a cofounder of the Quality in Undergraduate Education (QUE) project and directed its work throughout the seven years of its existence. He has been provost and vice president for academic affairs at Georgia State University since 1994, and previously served in the same capacity at Miami University of Ohio and Auburn University. He earned degrees in physics from Queen University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and has published more than 120 refereed articles or book chapters. He received continuous federal funding for his research in physics from 1970 through 1993 from the Office of naval Research, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

In Georgia Dr. Henry has played a prominent role in the development of state standards in the context of education from preschool through the end of college (P-16). He was appointed by Governor Zell Miller to the Georgia P-16 Council and served as the chair of the P-16 Subcommittee on Assessment and Research. At the national level, Dr. Henry was a member of the National Leadership Council of the Southern Regional Education Board, has examined for the Malcolm Baldrige national Quality Award, and was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Undergraduate Science Education. In 2004, Dr. Henry received the Michael P. Malone Award from the national Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges for his contributions to international education.

The recipient of many foundation grants to improve education, including more than $2 million for the QUE project, Dr. Henry is presently co-principal investigator for a multiyear National Science Foundation grant of $34,700,000 to develop a Partnership for Reform in Science and Mathematics.