Accomplishments


The development and success of midshipmen

Setting high standards and the support to achieve those standards

  • Over 95% of midshipmen are retained into their 2/C year and graduation rates are consistently at or above 88%

  • Fewer than three delayed graduations a year for academic reasons

  • Re-energized and expanded Center for Academic Excellence

    • Added staff and Associate Director position

    • New and expanded programs added to meet midshipmen needs

    • Moved to remodeled location in the Levy Center

    • Hours expanded to meet midshipman schedules

    • Approaching 100% gift funding

    • Near or at full capacity among all programs

  • Writing Center joined Center for Academic Excellence

    • Hiring of additional full-time professional staff and writing tutors

    • Moved to remodeled location in Nimitz Library

    • 100% gift funded support

    • Near or at full capacity among all programs

  • Improved Academic Advising Office

    • Two Deputy Director positions added

    • Increased focus on mentoring and developing midshipmen to help them find pathways to success

    • Improved Plebe Advising program

      • Face to face meetings with midshipmen

      • Focus on midshipmen development and mentoring

      • Emphasis on preparing midshipmen to make good academic choices and major selection

    • Design for new space and improved access

  • Evolution of role of Registrar and the Registrar's Office

    • Design for new space and improved access

  • Assessment of student learning for improvement

    • Explicit linkages between course, program/core, and institutional goals

    • Use of assessment results for greater understanding of midshipman development, improved dialogue within and between departments, and to improve educational experiences

Providing opportunities to excel

  • Creation of Human Performance Lab in support of physical excellence

  • United Kingdom International Scholarship Program

    • Stabilized funding with 100% gift funded support

  • Consistent number of recipients of national and international scholarships on an annual basis

  • Trident Scholar Program

    • Stabilized at about 12 scholars per year

    • Approaching 100% gift funded support

  • Bowman Scholar Program

    • Nearly all Bowman slots filled annually

    • 100% gift funded support

Increasing cross-cultural opportunities, regional awareness, and foreign language study

  • International Programs Office is the focal point

    • Stabilized staff support

    • Leahy location enhances “adjacency of staff”

  • High quality immersion experiences increased

    • Academic credit awarded for courses taken abroad

      • A minimum of 9 credits required

      • 12-15 credits typically completed

    • All midshipmen engage in language study while abroad

    • Participation increased

    • Number of participating countries increased

    • Expanded programs to include STEM majors

    • 100% gift funded support

  • Expanded the “Center for Regional Studies”

    • Extended scope to 5 regions

    • 100% gift funded support

Emphasizing working on authentic and challenging problems across the curriculum

  • Focusing on midshipmen academic accomplishments

    • Creation of Academy-wide Capstone Day & Research Poster Days

      • Further development and demonstration of oral presentation skills

      • Celebration of academic work products from all disciplines

      • Significant gift funded support

  • Using best pedagogical practices to support learning

    • Incorporating hands-on work; e.g., project-based learning, throughout the curriculum

    • Significant gift funded support to project-based learning

  • Stabilizing Naval Academy Science and Engineering Conference (NASEC) with 100% gift funds

  • Partnered with US Naval Institute to create annual Naval History Symposium

faculty and Staff Support

Creation of staffing model

  • 294/294 model

    • Civilian 294 stable

    • Military 294 gap shrinking

      • USN -- recalled reservist billets (30) 100% filled

      • Permanent Military Professor (PMP) program increased to 50 billets and 100% filled

    • Permanent Military Instructor (PMI previously JPMP) program created with 40 billets and near capacity

  • Contracting of adjunct hiring

    • Reduction in need for adjunct hiring, greater than 75% increase to adjunct pay, over 10 years, to offer a competitive rate for the region, and significant annual savings (> $1M)

    • Adjunct labor managed through outside contractor in order to preserve positions for full time hires

Creation of Instructor of Practical Applications (IPA) technical lab support model for STEM disciplines

    • Professionalized lab support

    • Aid in instructional activities

Support of teaching and learning

  • Teaching and Learning Office re-energized as Center for Teaching and Learning

    • National search process used to recruit and hire new director

    • New positions for a two Deputy Directors

    • Dedicated centrally located office and technologically well-appointed, flexible workshop space in Mahan Hall

    • Revitalized faculty programs to develop improved teaching and mentoring skills

    • Full menu of teaching focused programs

    • Signature programs include:

      • Master Instructor Program

      • Annual Teaching & Learning Conference

      • Formative Analysis of Classroom Teaching (FACT) Program

Support for research and scholarship

  • Indirect cost recovery

    • External grant indirect cost recovery model created to provide needed full-time equivalent (FTE) position relief

    • Approaching $800K per year in funding for staff salaries that support research admin

    • Research Office financial staff increased by 2 FTE based on indirect cost funding

  • Elimination of 51% rule that negatively impacted reimbursable research

Solidified and published performance expectations

  • Annual memo on promotion/tenure expectations provides written clarity to all – created in consultation with P&T committee

    • Revised Performance Appraisal Review System (PARS) (incorporated into DPMAP now)

    • Tri-fold “performance expectations” handout reinforces stated standards / expectations – created in consultation with department chairs

    • Tri-fold “departmental citizenship” handout reinforces stated standards / expectations for being a good institutional and department citizen – created in consultation with department chairs

  • Revised New Faculty Orientation Program– 3 mornings of mentoring, small group work, and case studies to help new faculty acclimate to USNA

increases in gift funding

  • New 100% gift funded chairs: Krekel, Looker, Keyser, Crowe, Davis, Sammon, Thomas Paul, and several more within departments

  • Cyber – faculty, programs, facilities

  • Faculty travel and professional development

  • Project-based learning

  • International immersion

  • Center for Academic Excellence

  • Naval Academy Science and Engineering Conference

  • Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference

  • History Honors program

information Technology Support

Hardware and infrastructure to support current and future teaching and learning

  • Laptops for midshipmen

  • Reduction in desktop machines in favor of laptops and docking stations

  • Mission WiFi

  • Guest WiFi

  • Cloud access; gmail; google file stream

  • Support for iPads, iPhones/Android, BYOD

  • VPN from off the Yard

  • Admin access “on demand”

  • IT help desk in Nimitz Library

  • Academic IT strategic plan

General accomplishments

Accreditation Related

  • MSCHE accreditation maintained

  • Programmatic accreditation:

    • American Chemical Society accreditation maintained

    • ABET accreditations maintained

    • Several new programs accredited on first attempt (General Engineering, Nuclear Engineering, and Cyber Operations)

Cyber Related

  • Cyber Operations program – In the 1st cohort in the nation to be ABET accredited

  • NSA Center for Academic Excellence - Cyber Operations certification

  • Cyber core courses developed for 4/C and 2/C midshipmen

  • Center for Cyber Security Studies

    • Center 100% gift funded

    • Cyber Fellows 100% gift funded

      • International experts on our faculty

    • Policy and technical cyber competition successes

    • Robust lecture series and host for national conferences

Construction

  • Hopper Hall (computing related disciplines)

  • Renovated Rickover Hall

  • Renovated Building 105 (home of Political Science and Languages & Cultures)

  • Renovated Nuclear Engineering labs

  • Consolidated computing based disciplines from across divisions in contiguous spaces in Hopper Hall and Nimitz Library

  • Remodeled 1st deck of Nimitz Library; expanded study space and a new coffee bar

    • Remodeled Writing Center, IT help desk, more midshipman study space (and more renovations planned)

Changes to Academic Program

  • New majors

    • Data Science Major

    • Foreign Area Studies major

    • Nuclear Engineering major

    • Operations Research major

  • Sunsetting Information Technology major (Class of 2024)

  • To align better with the curriculum, renamed Systems Engineering major to Robotics and Control Engineering

  • Revised Economics major to be a Quantitative Economics STEM major

Diversity

  • Increases in the diversity within the academic cost center

    • Office of the Provost:

      • Senior administrators 40% female / 60% male

      • Entire staff 72.5% female / 27.5% male

    • Increases in underrepresented faculty hires in all schools

    • Focused discussions on equity, diversity, and inclusion; microaggressions; and implicit bias

    • Diversity Search Advocate program for all AD faculty positions

    • Diversity statements in faculty position advertising

Strategic Planning

  • Academic IT plan created

  • Center for Academic Excellence strategic plan created

  • Library strategic plan created

  • HUMSS strategic plan in progress

  • Center for Teaching & Learning strategic plan in progress

Visiting Committees

  • Visiting committee intent focused on improving educational program

  • Memorandum of Understanding and Status Update added to increase mutual accountability

Library

  • Research & Instructional Librarians moved from GS to AD

  • Promoting information literacy

  • “Information commons” focus: redesigned 1st floor patron space with coffee bar

  • WiFi access available in all areas

  • IT help desk

  • Writing Center

  • Remodeled 1st floor to modernize entire area and provide additional study space

Budget Office

  • Professionalized budget office

  • Focused support for conferences / gift fund use

  • Improved budget tracking; requirements driven budgeting

Communication

  • Annual faculty convocation

  • Regular town halls – 3 per semester

  • Department brown bag lunch, upon invitation

  • Weekly meetings with School and Division Leadership

  • Weekly meetings with Provost's staff

  • Monthly meetings with Department Chairs

  • Academic Assembly meetings: 2-3 per semester

  • Summer offsite with academic leadership

  • Summer Chairs' Retreat

  • Provost Pulse as a periodic newsletter

  • Monthly meetings with Associate Deans

Response to COVID-19

Maintained safe workspaces

  • Vaccines provided to all faculty and staff who chose it

  • Temporary remote work agreements

  • Extended remote work agreements for medical and dependent care

  • Purchasing and distribution of technology to enable remote work, teaching, and learning

  • Following of CDC and DoN guidance for social distancing and hygiene

  • Purchasing and distribution of cleaning supplies for classrooms and workspaces

Faculty compensation, staffing, and career progression

  • Merit pay plan was implemented as normal

  • Robust summer labor program provided 12 months of pay to teaching volunteers

  • Hiring plan was implemented as normal

  • Tenure clock extension was granted to all who desired it

  • Faculty workshops, training, and demonstrations provided to support all USNA instructors in online environment

Maintained integrity of 47 month program

  • Graduated the Class of 2020 on time with normal graduation rates

  • Led a robust summer school program that supported reduced contact hours throughout AY21 and summer training goals