Until recently, academic departments at Rivier College, a small Catholic liberal arts college in New Hampshire, operated largely in isolation and did not subject themselves to rigorous academic review. Departments wrote annual reports, but they tended to be perfunctory and impressionistic rather than data driven. Without rigorous review, the core curriculum expanded, and new programs proliferated without adequate student demand. “We were spiraling out of control. We were facing important decisions about where we wanted to put our emphasis in the future,” says Albert DeCiccio, academic dean at Rivier College.