The academic unit head or designee(s) develops a written Interim Report (IR) addressing issues related to the previous APR. The Interim Report should be submitted to the dean for review and approval and then forwarded by the AUH to the Office of the Vice Provost. The IR is due with the department Annual Report in May and should be submitted as a stand-alone document. If the report is not submitted, a program will be marked as non-compliant with the university APR Guidelines.

The completed Interim Report is reviewed by representatives chosen by the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Curriculum. After reviewing the Interim Report, these representatives will recommend further action(s) as needed.

If further actions are recommended, one option, but not required, may be for external consultants to review the documents provided by the university, possibly conduct an external review/site visit, and submit a written External Interim Report (EIR). If no external consultation is required, skip to Stage Six.

Within four weeks of receiving the EIR, the academic unit head and program faculty develop an action plan for integrating the results of the Interim Report. The plan is submitted to the dean for review and input. When approved, it is submitted to the Office of the Provost.

After receiving an acknowledgement that the report has been sent to the provost’s office, the AUH must revise the APR objective in the JMU STAR Tool to reflect these changes. Results of the actions must be included in the program’s annual report. Stage Five is an ongoing process, and the results should continue to be included in the annual report until the action plan is completed or other decisions are made in regard to the recommendations.