Structure and Organization

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) at Southern University and A&M College is under the leadership of the Executive Director for Institutional Effectiveness, Policy and Planning, who reports to the System Vice President for Strategic Planning, Policy and Institutional Effectiveness. The Executive Director for Institutional Effectiveness, Policy and Planning is supported by the Director for Institutional Research and Assessment.

OIE is organized into two (2) primary departments:

• Institutional Research Department (IRD): IRD collects, compiles, organizes, analyzes, summarizes, and disseminates data and information to inform executive decision-making pertaining to policy development; academic and administrative planning; budgeting; implementation; assessment, and compliance. IRD provides accurate and timely data and information in response to the needs of the various institutional internal and external constituencies in ways that are both accessible and useful. Through research, IRD meets the detailed reporting requirements of state, federal, and higher education associations, agencies and organizations, thereby ensuring that the University remains in compliance with reporting mandates.
  • IRD is supported by the following staff:
    • Assistant Director for Institutional Research
    • Database Senior Analyst/Programmer

• Planning and Assessment Department (PAD): PAD promotes the achievement of institutional goals and accomplishment of the institution’s mission by fostering continual improvement of the institution’s programs and services for the benefit of the University community. The institution’s strategic plan (Imagine 20K: 2018-2030) serves as the cornerstone of all research-based planning and assessment efforts across the campus. PAD is charged with the execution of the 5-Phase IE Model at the macro (institutional) and micro (unit) levels.

  • Summary of SUBR’s 5-Phase Institutional Effectiveness Model centered on the Mission

  • Institutional / Strategic Planning – Phase 1
    • Ongoing: SUBR demonstrates that institutional planning is ongoing. SUBR’s strategic plan, mission statement and institutional goals and outcomes have been reviewed and revised continuously since in 2014 and there have been no gaps in the implementation of revised strategic plans. By adopting an institutional effectiveness model with defined timeframes, each succeeding implementation cycle has flowed seamlessly from the preceding cycle carrying with it elements of the previous cycle. SUBR demonstrates the linkage between its mission and institutional goals and outcomes.
    • Comprehensive: The strategic planning process at SUBR is comprehensive, as evidenced by broad?based engagement and input from faculty, student, staff, administrators, alumni, and governing board members. The comprehensive strategic planning process was facilitated by external consultants. Strategic planning committees have been used to advance the strategic planning process.
    • Integrated: SUBR demonstrates that institutional planning is integrated and not done in isolation. During the strategic planning process, the work of the strategic planning committees demonstrated the interaction among/between units at the macro (institutional) and micro (unit) levels. Program/unit goals were clearly connected and aligned to the institutional goals. The budget for the institution reflects the priorities of the institution.
    • Research-Based: SUBR uses institutional research and data to inform decision-making. Targets / benchmarks for each expected outcome aligned to each goal within the strategic plan were set based on longitudinal reviews of institutional data. Baselines were also established for the outcomes aligned with each goal. Examples of data usage during the strategic planning process includes consultant surveys and SWOT analysis reports, & internal assessment data.
  • Implementation of Strategic Plan – Phase 2
    • The implementation phase of SUBR’s Institutional Effectiveness Planning and Assessment Model is typically executed from August through May –throughout the academic year. Strategies identified in the strategic plan (Imagine 20K: 2018-2030) are implemented by executive champions and their faculty and staff to achieve expected outcomes aligned to the ten (10) institutional goals designed to advance and accomplish the institutional mission.
  • Assessment of Strategic Plan – Phase 3 
    • Ongoing: SUBR demonstrates that assessment of the strategic plan is ongoing, evidenced by the use of an institutional accountability scorecard, the submission of institutional assessment data into the Louisiana performance Accountability System (LAPAS), and the systematic review of the institution’s mission by the Southern University Board of Supervisors. Assessment has been continuous with no and gaps between assessment cycles. Based on the institutional effectiveness model, assessment results are used to demonstrate continuous improvement of institutional quality.
    • Integrated: At SUBR, assessment is not done in isolation. Instead, assessment is an integrated component of the institutional effectiveness model, representing phase 3 of the model, and occurring after the planning and implementation phases.  SUBR uses an assessment committee for comprised of faculty and staff that represents a cross-section of the institution.
    • Comprehensive: Assessment of the strategic plan is comprehensive, evidenced by the fact that the goals and expected outcomes with Imagine 20K:2018-2030 are assessed on an annual basis.
    • Research-Based: Improvements in institutional quality are documented on the basis of assessment data.
  • Continuous Improvement of Institutional Quality – Phase 4
    • The improvement phase is typically executed in June-July. Based on the review and analysis of the outcomes data depicted in SUBR’s Year 1 Accountability Scorecard that captured the assessment results of SUBR’s Strategic Plan – Imagine 20K: 2018-2030 – the University met or exceeded 90 percent of its expected outcomes – a remarkable achievement and testament to the work (implementation of macro-level strategies and action plans) by the executive team and the entire campus community.
  • Budgeting – Phase 5
    • Louisiana subscribes to performance-based budgeting (PBB), a budgeting model that links allocated funds to measurable results. At the institutional (macro) level, performance-based budgeting is linked with strategic planning and accountability, where planning and assessment informs resource allocation and budgeting. PPB budgets use institutional mission, institutional goals, and institutional objectives/expected outcomes identified in an institution’s strategic plan to explain how and why public funds are spent. PBB allocates resources to achieve institutional goals and objectives that ultimately allows the institution to accomplish its mission. Louisiana enacted its own legislation in 1997 that contained similar requirements to the federal GPRA Government Performance Results Act (GPRA) of 1993. Title 39 contains the primary requirements related to Louisiana’s PBB process. LA R.S.39:87.1 states that: 

“It is the intent of the legislature that performance-based budgeting practices be established throughout Louisiana state government. The legislature recognizes the value of relating funding to expected performance in order to ensure efficiency and economy in the expenditure of state funds.”

At the institutional (macro) level, Southern University and A&M College conducts budget hearings to determine resource allocations based on the institutional priorities – institutional goals and outcomes expressed in the Strategic Plan – Imagine 20K: 2018-2030. Annual budget planning is coordinated by the Budget Office in conjunction with the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor/Executive Vice President. Budget planning includes the development of the University's annual operating budget, which typically occurs from June through July of each year. The development of the University's annual operating budget requires each member of the President-Chancellor’s cabinet to develop budget requests for their units. Examples of 2019-2020 budget requests from the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, Vice Chancellor for Research and Strategic Initiatives, and Associate Vice President for Human Resources demonstrate the alignment between budget requests and the strategic priorities (institutional goals and outcomes) identified in SUBR’s Strategic Plan – Imagine 20K: 2018-2030.

The University Budget Committee holds budget hearings with members of the cabinet to review unit funding requests before making recommendations to the President-Chancellor. The 2019 Budget Hearings Schedule is attached. The University Budget Committee is comprised of the Faculty Senate President, Staff Senate President, Student Government President, Title III Director, two Academic Deans (College of Business and Division of International Programs), two Vice Chancellors (Student Affairs & Enrollment Management and Research & Strategic Initiatives), and a staff member (Director of On-line Learning). The University Budget Committee is co-chaired by the Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration. The charge to the University Budget Committee is to review revenues and make recommendations on budget allocations that are linked to the goals and objectives/outcomes identified in SUBR’s Strategic Plan – Imagine 20K: 2018-2030.The University Budget Committee’s recommendations are compiled by the Budget Office and presented to the Executive Vice Chancellor/ Executive Vice President for review. Next, the budget recommendations are presented to the President-Chancellor for final review and approval. Following approval of the preliminary University annual operating budget by the President-Chancellor, the budget is presented for approval by the Southern University Board of Supervisors.

In effect, the Southern University Board of Supervisors exercise oversight of the budget approval process which begins with the annual submission of the operating budgets. Generally, this process occurs between the end of the legislative session in June and the first of September. The President-Chancellor presents the individual campus annual operating budgets to the Finance Committee of the Board for review and preliminary approval at its monthly public meeting. Upon approval by a majority of the membership of the Finance Committee, the annual operating budgets are presented to the full Board for final approval. SUBR’s 2019-20 Annual Operating Budget was presented by the President-Chancellor to the Southern University Board of Supervisors on August 23, 2019. The SUBR 2019-20 operating budget reflects the allocations that were made to each of the University's major units, as well as the allocations to support the second year of implementation of the SUBR’s Strategic Plan – Imagine 20K: 2018-2030.

• PAD is supported by the following staff
  • Senior Planning and Evaluation Analyst
  • Research and Data Analyst
  • Assessment Analyst