One of the most valuable aspects of academic life is the ability to spend a semester visiting another academic institution. These visits provide tangible and intangible benefits for faculty and students. Such movements bring people into contact with different teaching styles and program structures and also allow for the fermentation of new ideas, the building of new research agendas and working relationships. In this Newsletter, I have asked Professors Jeffrey Zax and Jim Markusen to write on aspects of their sabbatical experiences. Jeffrey Zax discusses in his own indomitable style one particular sabbatical experience, while Jim Markusen describes his year at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.
All departments undergo such reviews every seven years.
The basic purpose is to provide an outside examination of the operation of the department. In situations where market forces work very weakly, such reviews provide a system of checks and balances. The Program Review requires that the Department prepare a self-study report, describing the current state of the Department and its goals for the future. This is followed by an internal review committee, all of whom come from outside of the Department. An External Review committee made up of two faculty from other institutions then visits the Department for a few days, reviews the self-study report, the report of the Internal Review committee, meets with department personnel and students, and finally makes a number of recommendations.