Executive summary of the Religion and Theology Department Review (Spring 2020)
As part of Redeemer’s institutional quality assurance process, the Department of Religion and Theology completed a Self‐Study Report of the Biblical and Theological Studies, Urban and Intercultural Ministry, Youth Ministry programs in August 2019. A review team comprised of two external and one internal reviewer performed a site visit on March 6, 2020, meeting with students, faculty, and relevant support staff and senior administration. The team subsequently submitted a final External Reviewers’ Report on April 15, 2020.
The review team praised the Religion and Theology department’s programs for their numerous strengths, including: committed faculty who have stabilized the department’s programming, recent programming updates and initiatives, strong part-time faculty, strong and diverse research and professional expertise of the full-time faculty, and alumni who are well prepared for their future education and career challenges. Areas for improvement include: articulating more clearly the Reformed nature of the programming in the departmental mission statement and program-level learning outcomes; strengthening treatment of systematic theology and extending the biblical studies course offerings; tweaking course requirements and electives to help bring greater balance of coverage for the programs; and supporting the faculty both in terms of institutional resourcing and through a more systematic approach to class caps, especially at the first-year level.Based on their Response, approved on September 17, 2020, the Religion and Theology department has plans to implement the Review Team’s programmatic recommendations, many of them already to be completed during the current academic year
