Memorandum

To: USC Columbia Administrative Units
From: Donna K. Arnett, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Ed Walton, Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Date:  August 13, 2024
Subject: Administrative Unit Assessment

Since the University’s SACSCOC Reaffirmation in 2021, USC Columbia has committed to enhance annual planning and assessment activities to foster a culture of best practice regarding institutional effectiveness processes. The University will implement lessons learned from our last reaffirmation to improve efficiency, quality, and embrace continuous compliance.

The Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics has been tasked with the responsibility of working with University administrative units to help administrators navigate the new administrative unit assessment (AUA) process. The new AUA process will be accomplished by revitalizing the previously established Blueprint for Service Excellence process for administrative units. Administrative units assessed for SACSCOC Standards 7.3 or 8.2.c will now draft either a Blueprint for Administrative Excellence or a Blueprint for Academic and Student Services Excellence in a new, temporary Blueprints 2.0 SharePoint site. Please know that this reporting is meant as a way to catalog and document what you are already doing. It is not meant to create significant additional work or process redesign.

Dr. La Trice Small, Director of Institutional Assessment, will be reaching out to schedule time with each of you to discuss the new AUA process. Your participation and collaboration in this effort will ensure that we have a smooth transition to the new AUA process. Together, we can create a consistent, meaningful, and streamlined process that supports our administrative units while also meeting the mark for University accreditation needs. Thank you in advance for your support!