Blog by Sean R. Roberts, Professor of the Practice of International Affairs; Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies, GW Elliott School of International Affairs
The Problem:
In my capacity as Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies at the Elliott School since June 2025, one of my most critical tasks is to schedule classes for each semester to ensure that students are able to meet their degree requirements while simultaneously guaranteeing that classes are not underenrolled and, thus, cancelled. Between the fall and spring semesters, this entails scheduling about 170 classes, roughly half of which are taught by part-time faculty members. Additionally, the window of time during which the scheduling should be done is relatively short. This context incentivizes mostly reprogramming courses that have been taught in prior years and leaves little room for innovation in the curriculum or quick responses to budget cuts.
The Solution:
Faced with this problem, I came up with a project to help make this process more rational, efficient, and data-driven. My Program Coordinator, who is the one staff member over whom I have supervisory authority, Michael Pincus, is particularly interested in data analysis, and I was confident that he would welcome such a project. I presented him with the problem and asked whether he would be able to put together a self-populating spreadsheet that could provide data from previous years to assist in the scheduling process. I mentioned that some of the data I needed included the history of enrollment numbers, the attributes of the courses for fulfilling concentration requirements, the number of students declaring different concentrations, and whether instructors were part-time or full-time. After going back and forth on several drafts, he was able to provide me with this draft (see screenshot below), which draws data from Tableu and PowerBI into Microsoft Excel.
This spreadsheet, which also includes an automated color-coated status for classes, categorizing them as Full, High Demand, Stable, Review, or Low Demand, has already served me well in responding to quick turnaround requests to cut classes in our Fall 2026 schedule due to budget requests. I also anticipate it being useful in fulfilling numerous tasks involved with maintaining the curriculum, scheduling, and pondering new curricular needs.
The Future of this Project
Unfortunately, my program coordinator is leaving his position this summer to pursue further study involving his passion for data analytics, and it is unlikely that his replacement will have this same skillset. Thus, he has proposed to make this spreadsheet accessible online and automatically updated going forward. Given that the actual mechanics of doing so is beyond my expertise, I am unsure whether it will be successful, but my program coordinator is quite confident that he can accomplish it using Python. For those with greater knowledge of computer languages than myself, the screenshots below show both the code he proposes and the resulting self-populating spreadsheet.
Lessons Learned from GWALA
While this project may not immediately appear linked to my experience in the GWALA program, it was undoubtedly inspired by GWALA sessions. First, GWALA helped me focus on my work prioritization, and I identified class scheduling and curriculum development as the top priority among my tasks, yet also as one to which I had not been able to devote enough time this year. This project will help me to complete this task much more efficiently, freeing up time to think about the substance of the courses I am scheduling. Second, GWALA greatly improved my management style, and I realized that I should find work for my project coordinator, which is both exciting for him and useful to me. This project perfectly fit that profile. Finally, GWALA also highlighted the importance of aligning my work with the University’s priorities. At present, one of the key priorities of GWU is finding ways to cut costs without negatively impacting our core mission. As a central part of our core mission is pedagogical, this project and its resulting tool will allow me to make informed decisions when asked to make cost cuts while simultaneously maintaining the cohesion and progressive improvement of the undergraduate curriculum at the Elliott School for which I am responsible.