Reflecting Metropolitan-Based Missions in Performance Indicator Reporting

Abstract

Boilerplate performance indicators that are devised with the college-town institution for traditional students in mind lack relevance for metropolitan universities, which are characterized by diverse, nontraditional, and commuter student populations. One metropolitan university, Wichita State University, has recently undergone an extensive and conceptually demanding process with the goal of arriving at a set of performance indicators that are meaningful to the institution itself and to the plurality of constituents it serves. This article outlines the process used to achieve appropriate mission-driven urban indicators, presents the results of their application in an actual setting, and gives academicians useful information about a number of considerations and techniques that should be taken into account when developing a set of appropriately metropolitan-based indicators.