The purpose of the annual presidential review of Dr. M. Christopher Brown II is 1) to provide the Board of Regents with the information that they can use to evaluate the President's productivity and success, 2) to serve as a source of performance feedback for the President himself, 3) to elicit comments from other sources concerning the President's performance as determined by the Regents, and 4) to enhance the confidence of the Kentucky State University family and the public that the mission and vision of KSU are being fulfilled, thus solidifying their trust in his leadership. President Brown understood the purpose of the evaluation and cooperated willingly in its execution.
A significant aspect of the 2019 annual evaluation of the President of Kentucky State University involves the survey responses of members of the Board of Regents. The Board has the responsibility of evaluating the performance of the President and the Board utilizes a set of performance metrics that are linked to the strategic institutional priorities. A survey instrument was developed in-house that represented a qualitative assessment of the perceptions of the Board members. Also, the instrument afforded the Regents the opportunity to make individual comments. A qualitative assessment is bound by certain limitations that may not yield the concrete factual information that some expect. It's value is that it allows the “perceptions” of respondents to be compared to a range of other data that together will provide a more robust evaluation.
The expectation is that the overall evaluation will be both fair and authentic so that the Board can make an informed decision. The Board responses will be compared to the self-assessment performed by President Brown which documented his performance and institutional priorities and goals. This decision is in line with what occurs at many other institutions who conduct a full 360 degree evaluation of the president every 3-4 years.
The consultant is Dr. James A. Anderson who served as the Chancellor of Fayetteville State University from April, 2008 until June of 2019. He also worked at a second HBCU, Xavier University of New Orleans, where he chaired the Psychology department. He is well published in the topical areas of assessment and evaluation, and he served as a senior administrator responsible for assessment and academic program review at three large research universities (Texas A&M, North Carolina State University, and the State University of New York at Albany). He is also a consultant for the accrediting body, SACSCOC and in that capacity he chairs site visits to HBCU's and minority serving institutions.