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Appendix I Letter from James Coleman, Chair-NRC Committee Sent to All Individual Sea Grant Program Directors 185
APPENDIX I 187 Ocean Studies Board 500 Fifth Street, NW, Room 752 Washington, DC 20001 Phone: 202 334 2714 Fax: 202 334 2885 www.dels.nas.edu/osb March 28, 2005 Dear (director's name entered here): As Chair of the new National Academies committee to evaluate the Sea Grant review process I am writing to you to ask your assistance. In order to fully address our charge, we need information and materials to inform our process and give us input regarding the experiences of the state pro- grams in the review process. At the request of Congress, the Academies has named a committee to assess new procedures adopted since the release of the 1994 NRC report, and in particular examine such things as the effectiveness of those changes, the effectiveness of program review procedures, and an assess- ment of the usefulness and fairness of the metrics developed for program evaluation. The full task statement is available at: http://dels.nas.edu/ osb/Seagrant.shtml. I would like to request the following materials from your office: · Any Final Evaluation Letters from NSGO · PAT Reports from Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 (if available) · Your response to the PAT reports · Any Cycle 2 briefing materials you have available In addition, I'd like you to consider the following questions, and send any thoughts or estimates you have to the Academies at the address listed
188 APPENDIX I above, to the attention of Ms. Nancy Caputo. Please understand that any materials that are shared with the committee will be included in a pub- licly accessible file. If you have concerns regarding material you deem sensitive please contact Jennifer Merrill, the study's director, at the phone number above to discuss possible alternatives. What do you believe is the primary goal of the four-year review? Do you feel your program has improved as a result of the PAT and evalu- ation process? If so, how? Do you have any concerns about the current process you would care to share with the committee? How would you change the current evaluation process, and why? If you've completed Cycle 2 of the PAT process, do you have an estimate of the cost? Please try to give a breakdown of travel and meeting costs, publication, and staff time estimates. (Cycle 1 cost estimates were com- piled by the SGA and the committee will be accessing those estimates.) On behalf of the committee, I'd like to thank you for taking the opportu- nity to share your ideas and information with us. We are all looking forward to working with you and hearing from you in the coming year as we pursue our evaluation. If you should want additional information on the project or have questions regarding your submissions, please contact Jennifer Merrill at the address and phone given above, or at jmerrill@nas.edu. Best regards, James M. Coleman Chair, NRC Committee to Evaluate the Sea Grant Program Review Process Boyd Professor, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College