Office of Institutional Research Self-Study Records
Collection
Identifier: Series-0067
The self study records consist of the files of the Chairs of the Steering Committees for 1970, W. Cecil Godley, and for 1980, Ed Clark as well as the files of 1990 Steering Committee member Verna Howell. The files include correspondence with University administrators and faculty, correspondence from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, minutes of Steering Committee meetings, documentation related to the Visitation Committee and copies of the self studies for the University, its colleges and departments. There are also a few self studies for a number of auxiliary activities. The 1990 Self Study material includes supplementary documentation related to the creation of the University's Self Study; the title of University publications has been photocopied and the publications removed to the appropriate publications file. The series is arranged by decade for each self study, beginning with the first in 1960 followed by the 1970, 1980, and 1990 self studies. Within each self study, the records of the Steering Committee including the University's Self Study are followed in alphabetical order by the reports of the colleges and that college's departments and offices. Reports from auxiliary activities follow. In the case of the 1990 self study, the supplementary documentation is located directly behind the self study and before the committee records. There are no special restrictions on the use of this series.
The Office of Institution Research was founded in 1989 to centralize data collection at Clemson in preparation for the 1990 institutional self-study for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Clemson was one of the first institutions to conduct a self-study when the program was initiated during the late 1950s. In November 1959, a Steering Committee was appointed, and by August of 1961 the self-study was completed with a report from the Visitation Committee prepared later that year. In similar fashion, in 1970, 1979, and 1989 Steering Committees were appointed by the President of the University. These committees solicited the nominations of college and department self study committee members who created self-study reports for their colleges and departments. Until 1989, Clemson's self study activities focused upon the preparation of the decennial self study requirement. Some colleges, such as Agriculture, prepared five year updates on their self study or other reports to accrediting bodies. By the late 1980s, accrediting bodies expected institutions to conduct ongoing assessment activities, which in turn required an office with permanent staff.
15.7 Cubic Feet (39 boxes including 1 oversize folder)
English
Records of some of the earlier Self Studies were acquired during the initial survey of campus records during the 1980s; later accessions came through the Records Center from the Office of Institutional Advancement. Printed self-study material located in accessions of college and department records has also been added. The following accessions have totally been incorporated into this series: 89-41, 89-157, 91-49, 91-84, 96-79, 97-61, 98-95, 98-147, and 99-123. In addition, parts of the following accessions have been processed into this series: 86-98, 87-79, 90-12, 99-114, 99-117, 00-98, and 00-120. A total of 38.9 cubic feet of material was processed.
Michael Kohl, Unit Head of Special Collections, processed these records in 2000 with help from student assistant Dana Murphy.
The conversion of this finding aid to Encoded Archival Description format was made possible with a grant from the South Carolina State Historical Records Advisory Board in 2009-2010. The finding aid was prepared for encoding by Kristi Roberts.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository