Department Profile
Multi-year historical analysis of a department’s programs, students, and instructional output
The Department Profile is a deep-dive tool under Explore → Department Profile. Unlike the Dept Dashboard — which auto-loads and focuses on what’s happening this term — the Profile generates a comprehensive historical view on demand. Expect a 10–30 second load time; results are cached so subsequent views are faster.
Select a department (and optionally a campus) and the report assembles automatically.
Headcount
Trend charts showing how many students have been enrolled in the department’s programs over time, drawn from declared program records rather than course enrollment. Broken out by:
- Undergraduate majors
- Undergraduate minors
- Graduate majors
- Graduate minors
This is program-based headcount — students who have declared a major or minor in the department, counted at the point they entered the program. It answers “how many students are in our programs?” rather than “how many students are sitting in our classrooms?” For the latter, see Dept Dashboard.
Enrollment
Section-level enrollment analysis across all terms in the data:
- Highest total enrollment — courses ranked by total students enrolled over time
- Highest mean enrollment — courses ranked by average section size
- Mean enrollment distribution — histogram of typical section sizes across the department’s offerings
Useful for understanding which courses carry the most instructional load and where section sizes cluster.
Demographics
How the mix of new entrants has shifted over time for declared majors and pre-majors in this department. Students are counted once — at their first term in the program. Categories include First-Time Freshman, Transfer, Continuing, and others drawn from Banner classification codes.
Useful for understanding whether your student pipeline is changing — more transfer students, fewer freshmen entering pre-major, and so on.
Degrees
Degrees awarded by programs in the department over time:
- By major — trend lines for each degree program
- By program stacked — combined view showing the relative contribution of each program to total degree output
Declines in degree production often lag behind enrollment changes by several years, making this a useful leading indicator for program health.
Credit Hours
A detailed breakdown of Student Credit Hours (SCH) generated by the department’s sections. SCH = enrolled students × course credit value. Only enrollments with a passing final grade count (A through C, CR). The tab includes:
- By level and subject code — SCH per term split by course level (lower 100–299, upper 300–499, graduate 500+) and by subject code prefix. Departments that teach under multiple subject codes (e.g., BIOL and BIOC) appear in separate facets.
- By subject code combined — same data collapsed across levels, showing total SCH per subject code as a stacked bar over time.
- By major (home vs. outside) — whose students are taking these courses? Home majors are students whose Banner major code matches the department’s programs; outside majors are everyone else — other programs, pre-majors, undeclared students. Shown separately for lower and upper division.
- By instructor type — SCH attributed to Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Lecturer, Term Teacher, TPT (temporary part-time / adjunct), and Grad (graduate teaching assistant). Requires HR data to be loaded; charts are hidden if HR data is unavailable.
The methodology note at the top of the tab explains exactly what is and isn’t counted.
DFW
D grade, F grade, and Withdrawal rates for department courses, with instructor-level comparison. This section is password protected — contact your CEDAR administrator for access.
DFW data is intentionally not public within the app because it involves identifiable information about specific instructors. The data is intended to help departments understand patterns at the course and program level and to support instructors — not to evaluate individuals punitively.
Downloading a report
Once a profile has loaded, a Download HTML Report link appears. The download generates a self-contained HTML file with all charts and tables, formatted for printing or sharing.
Common questions
Why is my department missing from the list? The dropdown shows departments with course data in CEDAR. If your department is missing, it may use a different Banner code than expected, or may not have section data in the current dataset.
Why don’t the credit hour numbers match what IR reports? CEDAR counts only enrollments with passing grades. IR may count all registered students, all attempted credits, or use a different term cutoff. The Credit Hours tab explains the exact methodology.
Can I compare two departments side by side? Not currently — generate profiles separately for each department. Cross-department comparison is on the roadmap.