This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Keeney, R. L. Articles by von Winterfeldt, D. Search for Related Content

Evaluating Academic Programs: With Applications to U.S. Graduate Decision Science Programs

Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Box 90120, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0120
Stern School of Business, New York University, 44 West 4th Street, New York, New York 10012-1106
School of Policy, Planning, and Development, University of Southern California, Ronald Tutor Hall, Room 310, Los Angeles, California 90089-2902
keeney{at}duke.edu
ksee{at}stern.nyu.edu
winterfe{at}usc.edu

This paper describes a decision analysis methodology to evaluate academic programs. It avoids the shortcomings of the well-known evaluations of universities and academic programs produced by the public media. In addition to evaluating traditional departments and schools, the methodology is designed to evaluate interdisciplinary programs or fields that typically span many areas of a university, such as operations research, risk analysis, and decision science. We first discuss general principles of using this methodology for the evaluation of disciplinary or interdisciplinary academic programs. Next, we apply this methodology to interdisciplinary graduate decision science programs in United States universities, focusing on both prescriptive decision analysis and descriptive decision research. Finally, we suggest how the methodology might be implemented to evaluate operations research programs.

Subject classifications: academic program evaluation; decision analysis; applications; education systems; operations; utility/preference; multiattribute.
History: Received January 2005; revision received May 2005; accepted September 2005.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Wallenius, J. S. Dyer, P. C. Fishburn, R. E. Steuer, S. Zionts, and K. Deb Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Multiattribute Utility Theory: Recent Accomplishments and What Lies Ahead Management Science, July 1, 2008; 54(7): 1336 - 1349. [Abstract] [PDF]