The Retention and Student Success team receives the “Best Use of Results” award from Lois Agnew, associate provost for academic programs. From left: Hope Smalling, Radell Roberts, Lois Agnew, Kal Srinivas, Samantha Trumble, ShawnMarie Parry, Priyasha Sinha Roy ’24 and Prabin Raj Shrestha ’24

Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness (IE) presented awards to several faculty and staff members, students, offices and programs during the One University Assessment Celebration on April 26, in the School of Education, Education Commons.

In her opening remarks, Lois Agnew, associate provost for Academic Programs, highlighted the importance of celebrating the various ways faculty, staff and students have engaged in assessment practices, illuminating our strengths but also reinforcing a commitment to continuous improvement. Awards were given in five categories:

• Assessment Champion: Recognizing campus community members who advocate for meaningful assessment to enrich the student experience and who have made outstanding contributions to the University’s culture of improvement.
• Outstanding Assessment: Recognizing a distinguished academic, co-curricular and functional area for overall robust assessment.
• Best Engagement Strategies: Recognizing programs/units for engaging faculty, staff and students to participate and contribute to the assessment process.
• Best Use of Results: Recognizing an academic, co-curricular and functional area for how assessment results are used in making decisions.
• Collaborative Inquiry and Action: A new award recognizing a unit that collaborates with others outside of their primary school, college or division to use assessment methods and data, resulting in actions to improve student learning and campus operations.

This year’s recipients included:

• Assessment Champion | Academic: Blythe Bennett, program manager, School of Information Studies
• Assessment Champion | Co-Curricular/Functional: Jessica Newsom, assistant director, Living Learning Communities
• Assessment Champion | Shared Competencies: Maureen Thompson, undergraduate director and associate professor, Department of Public Health, Falk College
• Outstanding Assessment | Academic Programs: Forensic Science Undergraduate and Graduate Programs, Forensic and National Security Sciences Institute, College of Arts and Sciences (A&S)
• Outstanding Assessment | Co-Curricular: Student Outreach and Support, Student Experience
• Outstanding Assessment | Functional: Future Professoriate Program, Graduate School
• Best Faculty Engagement Strategies: Human Development and Family Science program, Department of Human Development and Family Science, Falk College
• Best Staff Engagement Strategies: College of Professional Studies Dean’s Office
• Best Student Engagement Strategies: Living Learning Communities, Student Experience
• Best Use of Results | Academic: Film program, Department of Film and Media Arts, College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA)
• Best Use of Results | Co-Curricular: ���ϲ����� Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (The SOURCE)
• Best Use of Results | Functional: Retention and Student Success
• Collaborative Inquiry and Action: Barnes Center at The Arch

After the awards, 2023 Assessment Leadership Institute participants were recognized for their poster presentations detailing assessment activities over the past year:

• Keonte Coleman, director of assessment and program review and assistant professor, Newhouse School of Public Communications
• Nadeem Ghani, assistant teaching professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS)
• Dimitar Gueorguiev, Chinese studies program director and associate professor, Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
• Jody Nyboer, associate professor, School of Design, VPA
• Kathleen Roland-Silverstein, associate professor, presenting with Isabel Hampton ’24 and Katie Weber ’24, Sentor School of Music, VPA
• Darwin Tsen, Chinese language minor coordinator and assistant teaching professor, Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, A&S
• Andrea Willis, director of academic programs, College of Professional Studies

Recipients of the inaugural “Student Engagement in Assessment” grant were also acknowledged for their poster presentations showcasing the collaborative experiences of students, faculty and staff:

• Biomedical and Chemical Engineering: Tessa DeCicco ’25, Kerrin O’Grady ’25, Jade Carter ’24, Carly Ward ’24, Natalie Petryk ’21, Bridget Sides ’25, Mia Paynton ’25 and Doug Yung, associate teaching professor, Biomedical Engineering undergraduate program director, ECS
• Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS): Student Success Advisory Council, which includes Eadin Block ’26; Margot MacKechnie ’26; Gary Shteyman ’26; Karen Toole, coordinator of academic support, Center for Disability Resources; Tasha Terzini, advisor, A&S; Kate Bussell, assistant director of academic expectations CLASS; and George Athanas, associate director, CLASS
• New Student Programs: Winnie Naggar ’24 and Butch Hallmark, interim director, New Student Programs
• Retention and Student Success: Prabin Raj Shrestha ’24 and Hope Smalling, functional business analyst, Retention and Student Success

Jerry Edmonds, senior assistant provost, shared final remarks. He noted that ���ϲ����� achieved “two important milestones this year. It is the fifth annual celebration highlighting the dedicated efforts of faculty, staff and students to assess and improve, as well as 10 years since the University embarked on a campus-wide initiative of systematically collecting evidence to inform decision-making across our campus.” He concluded with thanks and appreciation for everyone’s continued efforts.

Visit the  for event photos, presentation materials highlighting recipients’ achievements and posters.

Story by Laura Harrington, associate director, Institutional Effectiveness 

Academic Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness (IE) are pleased to announce a call for nominations for . through Friday, March 22.

Nominations for the One University Assessment Awards are open through March 22.

The assessment awards recognize faculty, staff and students for their efforts to examine and enhance learning and campus operations. The meaningful and sustainable practices with which they engage to provide students with an unsurpassed learning experience will be showcased.

“Assessment plays a critical role in our effort to fulfill our goal of providing the best possible academic experience for our students,” says , associate provost for academic programs. “I look forward to celebrating the many ways in which faculty, staff, and students are participating in assessment practices that illuminate our strengths and enact our commitment to consistent improvement.”

The fifth annual One University Assessment Celebration will be held Friday, April 26, 2024, at 1 p.m. in the School of Education. Twelve awards will be announced in the following categories:

• Assessment Champion
• Shared Competencies Champion
• Outstanding Assessment
• Best Student, Faculty, and Staff Engagement Strategies
• Best Use of Results

Visit the for more information, including award descriptions, past recipients and event photos. If you have any questions, please contact the Assessment Working Team.

Bryan Dewsbury

Dewsbury has a compelling personal narrative about how he fell in love with teaching and became engaged in research about what he terms “deep teaching.” While his field is biology, his approach to engaging all students applies across disciplines, as demonstrated by the recently published “Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching,” which he co-authored, and his 2020 PLOS ONE paper, “.”

Keynote Address

Dewsbury will give a on Wednesday, Oct. 11, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Peter Graham Commons, 114 Bird Library. In this talk, the role that a liberal, inclusive and equity-minded higher education can play in creating and sustaining a socially just society will be reexamined. The behaviors, attitudes, mindsets and strategies that create classrooms where students are prepared to be active participants in an evolving democracy will be considered. Strategies for participants’ own relearning and consideration will also be discussed.

Faculty Workshop

For faculty interested in experimenting with his approach, Dewsbury will lead a workshop the following day. “” will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Lundgren Room, 106 Life Sciences Complex.

About Dewsbury

Bryan Dewsbury is an associate professor of biology at Florida International University where he also is associate director of the STEM Transformation Institute. He is the principal investigator of the Science Education And Society program, where his team conducts research on the social context of education. Dewsbury is a fellow of the John N. Gardner Institute and the RIOS (Racially-Just Inclusive Open Science) Institute.

In addition to co-authoring the book referenced above, Dewsbury is the author of the upcoming book, “What then shall I teach? Rethinking equity in higher education.” He is the founder of the National Science Foundation-funded Deep Teaching Residency, a national workshop aimed at supporting faculty in transforming their classroom to more meaningfully incorporate inclusive practices. Dewsbury conducts faculty development and provides support for institutions interested in transforming their educational practices pertaining to creating inclusive environments and, in this regard, has worked with over 100 institutions across North America, the United Kingdom and West Africa.

Pathways to Deep Learning is a collaboration of the and the as part of the Focus on Teaching and Learning series.

Students studying at their computers inside Bird Library.

The professional development sessions for faculty are scheduled for Monday, Dec. 5, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in person at 120 Crouse-Hinds Hall; and Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. via Zoom.

The Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Shared Competencies and the is requesting feedback from faculty regarding all elements of the rubric. This includes its framing language, preamble and guidance, outcomes, corresponding indicator language, and any other changes in content or description language that faculty would like to see. Those wanting to provide feedback can .

, associate director of , says the Information Literacy and Technological Agility rubric was created collaboratively by a community of practice consisting of faculty, librarians, and staff members from across the University. Those members include:

• Michelle Blum, associate teaching professor, mechanical engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Ari Chakraborty, associate professor of chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences
• Shiu-Kai Chin, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Larry Davis, associate professor, School of Architecture
• Kelly K. Delevan (co-chair), information literacy librarian, ���ϲ����� Libraries
• Sarah Fuchs, assistant professor, College of Arts and Sciences
• LaVerne Gray, assistant professor, School of Information Studies
• Butch Hallmark, assistant director, new student and family programs, Office of First-Year and Transfer Programs
• Megan Oakleaf, associate professor, School of Information Studies
• Whitney Phillips, assistant professor, Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, College of Visual and Performing Arts
• Penelope Pooler Eisenbies, professor of finance practice, Whitman School of Management
• Jane Read, associate professor, geography and the environment, College of Arts and Sciences/the Maxwell School
• Jon Ryan, support analyst II, Information Technology Services
• Jian Qin (co-chair), professor, School of Informational Studies
• Shane Sanders, professor, sport management, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
• Amanda Johnson Sanguiliano; associate director, Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment
• Kyla Wagner, assistant professor, communications, the Newhouse School
• Patrick Williams, humanities librarian, Digital and Open Scholarship Lead, ���ϲ����� Libraries
• Jamie Winders, professor, geography and the environment, College of Arts and Sciences/the Maxwell School
• Austin Zwick, assistant director, assistant teaching professor and honors director, Policy Studies, College of Arts and Sciences/the Maxwell School

In addition, a number of faculty and librarians tested the rubric through the Shared Competencies Academy: Signature Assignments for ILTA. They include:

• Lori Brown, associate professor, School of Architecture
• Shiu-Kai Chin
• Kelly Delevan, information literacy librarian, ���ϲ����� Libraries
• Sharon Dotger, associate professor, School of Education
• Penelope Pooler Eisenbies
• LaVerne Gray
• Bryce Hruska, assistant professor, Falk College
• Seyeon Lee, assistant professor, College of Visual and Performing Arts
• Megan Oakleaf
• Will Sheibel, associate professor, College of Arts and Sciences
• Kyla Wagner
• Julia White, associate professor, School of Education
• Austin Zwick

“The rubric articulates what ���ϲ����� students should know and be able to demonstrate by the time they graduate through six ILTA learning outcomes, specific indicators, performance levels, and performance descriptors,” Johnson Sanguiliano says. “It will continue to evolve as we collect feedback from faculty, librarians, and staff who utilize it to reflect on student learning.”

The Shared Competencies are ���ϲ�����’s six institutional learning goals. They enhance undergraduate education through an integrated learning approach. Undergraduate students develop these competencies through their major degree courses, liberal arts requirements, and co-curricular experiences. Aside from Information Literacy and Technological Agility, the other competencies are named Ethics, Integrity and Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion; Critical and Creative Thinking; Scientific Inquiry and Research Skills; Civic and Global Responsibility; and Communication Skills.

The awards recognize and celebrate the efforts of faculty and staff who delivered learning experiences and services through innovative modalities and reflected on learning and operations during the 2020-21 academic year. Awards were given in four categories:

Tiffany Koszalka, professor of instructional design, development and evaluation (IDD&E) in the School of Education, accepts an Outstanding Assessment Award on behalf of the IDD&E department. Also pictured is Chris Johnson, associate provost for academic affairs and professor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

• Assessment Champion—recognizing campus community members who advocate for meaningful assessment to enrich the student experience and who have made outstanding contributions to the University’s culture of improvement.
• Outstanding Assessment—recognizing a distinguished academic program within each school/college, co-curricular program/unit and functional unit for overall robust assessment.
• Best Engagement Strategies—recognizing programs/units for engaging faculty, staff and students associated with the program/unit to participate and contribute to the assessment process.
• Best Use of Results—recognizing an academic program, co-curricular program/unit and functional unit for how results from the assessment process are used in making decisions.

This year’s recipients include:

• Assessment Champion—Kimberly Salanger, functional business analyst and accreditation coordinator in the School of Education, and Qingyi Yu, assistant director of health analytics, Barnes Center at The Arch
• Assessment Champion/Shared Competencies—Anne Mosher, Provost Faculty Fellow and associate professor of geography and the environment in the Maxwell School
• Outstanding Assessment | School of Education—Department of Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation
• Outstanding Assessment | School of Architecture—Dean’s Office
• Outstanding Assessment | College of Arts and Sciences—art history bachelor of arts degree program
• Outstanding Assessment | College of Engineering and Computer Science— mechanical engineering bachelor of science degree program
• Outstanding Assessment | Falk College—public health bachelor of science degree program
• Outstanding Assessment | iSchool—information systems master of science degree program
• Outstanding Assessment | College of Law—Academic and Bar Support
• Outstanding Assessment | Whitman School of Management—management bachelor of science degree program
• Outstanding Assessment | Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs— geography master of arts degree program
• Outstanding Assessment | Newhouse School—Newhouse Assessment Committee
• Outstanding Assessment | College of Visual and Performing Arts—acting bachelor of fine arts degree program
• Outstanding Assessment | College of Professional Studies—Online Degrees and Certificates
• Outstanding Assessment | Co-Curricular—Community Standards
• Outstanding Assessment | Functional—Student Outreach and Retention
• Best Faculty Engagement Strategies—linguistic studies program
• Best Staff Engagement Strategies—Center for Learning and Student Success
• Best Student Engagement Strategies—Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate Seminar Assessment
• Best Use of Results | Academic Programs—environmental and interior design bachelor of fine arts degree program
• Best Use of Results | Co-Curricular—Student Living
• Best Use of Results | Functional—College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office

Visit the to see event photos and presentation materials describing recipients’ efforts to examine and enhance learning and operational success.

• The IEA office is accessed using the south (first-floor) entrance to CHH.
• Please let the building attendant know you are dropping off or picking up exams from IEA.
• Short-term parking is available in the half circle between Newhouse and CHH. To gain access to this area, please tell the parking attendant that you are dropping off or picking up exams from IEA.
• Exams can also be submitted using the secure IEA drop box located next to the Waverly Avenue entrance of CHH. Instructors must contact us at examscoring@syr.edu to inform that exams have been dropped off in the box.

Full details with pictures of the entrance, parking, and drop-box locations can be found on our website: 

For questions or more information, contact the exam scoring team at  315.443.9673 or examscoring@syr.edu.

The event will recognize and celebrate the efforts of faculty and staff who delivered learning experiences and services through innovative modalities and reflected on learning and operations in their 2019-20 assessment and action plans. Awards will be given in three categories:

• Outstanding Assessment, recognizing a distinguished academic program within each school/college, co-curricular program/unit and functional unit for an overall robust assessment and action plan.
• Best Engagement Strategies, recognizing programs/units for engaging faculty, staff and students associated with the program/unit to participate and contribute to the assessment process.
• Best Use of Results, recognizing academic programs, co-curricular program/unit and functional units for how results from the assessment process are used in making decisions.

“We are grateful for the efforts that faculty and staff have put forth to assess student learning and operations,” says Chris Johnson, associate provost for academic affairs. “These efforts are important in the University’s mission to provide students with an unsurpassed learning experience.

The 2021 awardees are:

Outstanding Assessment category

• B. Arch., School of Architecture
• Arabic minor, College of Arts and Sciences
• Educational Leadership C.A.S., School of Education
• Bioengineering B.S., College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Nutrition Science B.S., David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
• Applied Data Science M.S., School of Information Studies
• Law J.D., College of Law
• Real Estate B.S., Martin J. Whitman School of Management
• Public Administration MPA, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
• Broadcast and Digital Journalism M.S., S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
• Fashion Design B.F.A., College of Visual and Performing Arts
• English Language Institute, University College
• Office of Student Living (Co-curricular program/unit)
• Center for Disability Resources (Functional unit)

Best Engagement Strategies category

• Department of Human Development and Family Science, Falk College (academic programs, faculty engagement)
• Office of Multicultural Affairs (co-curricular programs/units, staff engagement)
• College of Law Dean’s Office (functional units, staff engagement)
• Shaw Center for Public and Community Service (co-curricular programs/units, student engagement)

Best Use of Results category

• Social Work B.S., Falk College (academic programs)
• Dean of Students Office (co-curricular programs/units)
• Office of Admissions (functional units)

The 2021 honorees were chosen by the Assessment Working Team, which reviewed the 2019-20 annual progress reports and referenced the feedback rubrics describing University expectations for each phase of the assessment process.

“Student course evaluations and exam scoring are more aligned with our office’s mission in terms of using assessment to inform teaching and learning,” says Gerald Edmonds, senior assistant provost for academic affairs. “Both processes will be under the provost’s umbrella, with a primary focus on academics.”

In 2014, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment was created to facilitate a campuswide effort for continual improvement of the student experience at the University and ensure more robust documentation of programs and services. The need for institutionwide assessment was especially important as the Middle States Commission on Higher Education—the University’s federally recognized accrediting body—called for greater emphasis on student learning outcomes assessment. IEA’s assessment working team consults with and provides support and resources to academic programs, departments and units as they implement assessment and action plans and program review.

The transfer of course ratings and exam scoring is another step in building a consolidated portfolio of documentation to ensure student success.

“For the spring semester, OIR will maintain primary responsibility of course ratings and exam scoring, as IEA staff members are trained,” Edmonds says. “We will then begin the transition over the summer, with our staff taking the lead with backup from OIR.”

To accommodate the new responsibilities, one position from OIR, open due to a retirement, was shifted to IEA.

“IEA staff is looking forward to working with faculty, staff and students in continuing to provide these important services to the campus community,” Edmonds says.

Students, faculty and staff shouldn’t notice any difference once the transition is complete, except that exam scoring materials will need to be brought to IEA in Steele Hall. Faculty and staff will be notified when that change occurs.

“We have worked closely with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment on a number of projects over the last couple of years,” says Seth Ovadia, OIR assistant director. “I’m confident that the transition will be seamless.”

Exam scoring, using Scantron forms, is done through a secure manual scanner process. While the bulk of student course evaluations are completed at the end of the fall and spring semesters, course evaluations are administered throughout the year. Toward the end of all courses, students receive an email with a passcode announcing the online evaluation portal is open, and can then evaluate and comment on their courses. The online survey system, built by OIR staff member Julie Hall, generates reports for faculty members.

“The survey allows students to give feedback on their course experience and instructor,” Ovadia says. “We administer over a quarter of a million course evaluations a year.”

The transfer to IEA will allow even greater opportunities for evidence-based decision-making.

“IEA has expertise in learning outcomes and formal assessment,” Ovadia says. “Course evaluations are tied into student learning outcomes, curricular review and academic planning—which Jerry’s staff excels at.”

As the transition is underway, IEA is planning on updates of software, technology and procedures for the future. School and college members of the University Assessment and Accreditation Committee (UAAC) are receiving regular briefings and updates. Individual school/college detail briefings are also underway.

Questions or comments about student course ratings and exam scoring can be directed to assessment@syr.edu.

Photos and information on the posters from the event can be found on the . Winners of the awards were:

Anne Mosher was the recipient of the Best Faculty Engagement Strategies award.

Best Faculty Engagement Strategies
“Improving Learning Outcome Statements: How to Use Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy as a Base Map”:
Anne Mosher, chair, Citizenship and Civic Engagement, Maxwell School

Colleen Cicotta and Sierra Eastman ’20 were the recipients of the Best Staff Engagement Strategies award.

Best Staff Engagement Strategies
“Community Engaged Learning Outcomes”: Colleen Cicotta, associate director; Sierra Eastman ’20, Shaw Center leadership intern; Mary Ann Shaw Center for Public and Community Service

Jason Curry and Kimberley Salanger were the recipients of the Best Use of Results award.

Best Use of Results
“Data Driven Decision Making: This is what we are all about!”: Kimberley Salanger, assessment data coordinator and functional business analyst;
Jason Curry, assistant teaching professor; School of Education

Ambika Krishnakumar, Rachel Razza and Eunjoo Jung were the recipeints of the Best Poster Design award.

Best Poster Design
“Development of Young Scholars and Their Career-Preparedness: Human Development and Family Science Assessment Report”: Eunjoo Jung, associate professor and undergraduate director; Ambika Krishnakumar, professor and chair; Rachel Razza, associate professor, Human Development and Family Science, Falk College

Kal Srinivas and Hopeton Smalling were the recipients of the People’s Choice award.

People’s Choice
“Orange SUccess: Managing Change, People, Technology, and Process”:
Kal Srinivas, director for retention;
Hopeton Smalling, functional business analyst; Academic Affairs and Enrollment and the Student Experience

Award judges for the event were Carol Faulkner, associate dean for academic affairs in the Maxwell School; Ralph Lorenz, senior associate dean in the College of Visual and Performing Arts; and Sarah Smith, research associate in the Office of Institutional Research.

Chris Johnson, associate provost for academic affairs; Bruce Carlson, facilities manager in the College of Engineering and Computer Science; Monica Stitt-Bergh from the University of Hawaii at Minoa Assessment Office; and ���ϲ����� Libraries all played a role in the inaugural event. For questions regarding the event, email assessment@syr.edu.

From 1-2 p.m., attendees are welcome to view the posters and vote for the People’s Choice Award. All voting attendees can enter to win a raffle prize. In addition to the People’s Choice Award, judging for other award categories will take place during this time (Best Faculty/Staff Engagement Strategies, Best Use of Results and Best Poster Design). At 2:15 p.m., Chris Johnson, associate provost for academic affairs, will provide brief remarks and present the awards.

All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to attend the event to learn more about how campus constituents have been using assessment to enhance student learning and campus operations. Free snacks and swag will be available.

Poster presentations include work from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Falk College, School of Information Studies, Maxwell School, Newhouse School, School of Education, University College, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Center for Learning and Student Success (CLASS), Shaw Center, Orange SUccess, ���ϲ����� Libraries and IEA.

Questions regarding the event or accommodations requests can be sent to the Assessment Working Team at assessment@syr.edu.

• an overview of Tk20 assessment planning and documentation for academic programs and co-curricular/functional areas, as well as other Tk20 components;
• information on hands-on training scheduled for later in the spring semester; and
• question and answer opportunities.

Tk20 will be available for faculty and staff to use during the University’s next assessment reporting window: academic programs (April 16-Sept. 30, 2018) and co-curricular/functional areas (July 1-Sept. 18, 2018).

General information sessions will be held: Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2-2:30 p.m. at 114 Bird Library; Thursday, Feb. 8, 10-10:30 a.m. at 114 Bird Library; Monday, Feb. 12, 10-10:30 a.m. at 114 Bird Library; Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2-2:30 p.m. at 500 Hall of Languages; Tuesday, Feb. 20, 10-10:30 a.m. at 114 Bird Library; Thursday Feb. 22, 2-2:30 p.m. at 500 Hall of Languages; Monday, Feb. 26, 2-2:30 p.m. at 114 Bird Library; and Wednesday, Feb. 28, 9-9:30 a.m. at 500 Hall of Languages.

Come learn about this great addition to our assessment toolbox!

Laura Harrington
Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment
315.443.1368
lalvut@syr.edu

Website:

Ensuring that students learn what faculty want them to learn has become a mantra of sorts that undergirds one of the most compelling trends in today’s sharply competitive higher education marketplace: assessment of student learning outcomes.

“Broadly speaking, the concept of assessment is not at all new in my department,” McConnell says. “Almost every department faculty meeting I’ve ever attended since coming to SU in 1985 has featured a discussion of how to improve our curriculum in some way or other. It was the rare academic year when we did not adopt some new tweak to our curriculum in response to observed shortcomings in our students’ mastery of what we were trying to teach them.”

Ensuring that students learn what faculty want them to learn has become a mantra of sorts that undergirds one of the most compelling trends in today’s sharply competitive higher education marketplace: assessment of student learning outcomes. As workplaces evolve ever more rapidly, and societal calls for accountability and return on investment grow more insistent, colleges and universities nationwide are formulating and adopting protocols for formally measuring just how well students are learning what professors want them to learn—and how well the skills and knowledge they cultivate during their time here serve them after they leave.

As of 2015, the American Association of Colleges and Universities reports, 87 percent of its member institutions conduct assessments of learning outcomes across the curriculum—a 15 percent jump from 2009.

���ϲ����� began its own push to formally institutionalize a campuswide culture of assessment—for all academic, co-curricular and functional units—three years ago. Since that time, each school and college has incorporated an assessment plan into its individualized strategic plan. While assessment activities have taken place to varying degrees across some departments, schools and colleges for years, the current push calls for expanded documentation and establishes Universitywide expectations, processes and supporting resources for ongoing assessment.

“Both faculty and staff have worked diligently on this effort over the last three years,” says Gerald Edmonds, assistant provost for academic affairs in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment. “They have put in a lot of effort to develop outcomes, implementation plans and methods of documenting results. And we are now at a place where we are seeing the benefits of those conversations.”

McConnell sees clear advantages to formalizing the process. “This move normalizes and systematizes these activities and provides a common language, making it possible for disparate subject areas to share results and practices,” McConnell says. “Learning outcomes expressed in simple, nontechnical language, and data detailing how well we succeed in preparing our students to meet expectations are essential as we face an increasingly skeptical public.”

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment outlines a collaborative assessment process including faculty, academic deans and department chairs and directors, with input from students and staff. Faculty themselves develop student learning outcomes and rubrics, discuss results and take actions. “The idea is for faculty to systemically—and systematically—reflect on their programs of study from a holistic standpoint and examine how the pieces fit together,” Edmonds says. The assessment process is driven by two overarching questions:

• What are the skills, knowledge, attitudes and dispositions students are expected to acquire from the program?
• What evidence do we have that they have done so at the completion of the program?

When Rochelle Ford arrived at ���ϲ����� in 2014 as newly appointed chair of the Department of Public Relations at the , one of the first things she asked to see was data on what students were currently learning, how well they were learning it and how well it matched what industry employers wanted them to know. She also sought input from alumni and hiring managers on how well Newhouse students were prepared for internships and jobs in terms of skills, knowledge, attitudes and ability to acclimate to the workplace.

It was a means, she says, of assessing just how well the department was meeting its academic objectives and how well-equipped its graduates were for success in the workplace. “All this information gave our department data to build strategically and to celebrate what we do well,” says Ford. “We knew we could not rest on our laurels and reputation, and we used that data to make necessary curriculum changes.”

The following fall, the department applied for external recognition from PR Week, the top public relations trade magazine, highlighting its assessment activities and changes. It went on to win PR Week’s award for Outstanding Public Relations Education Program, earning recognition in 2016 and 2017 as the number one school in the country for students interested in studying public relations.

Joseph Comprix, who as chair of accounting at the has been coordinating assessment for his department, says the process has been highly collaborative and the benefits clear. “I think it’s really important to follow a process like this because we all get so busy teaching our courses that sometimes we lose track of the big picture,” Comprix says. “Assessment makes sure that we are working together, and it also allows us as a group to make changes to the curriculum as the skill set that students need to succeed post-graduation evolves. If assessment becomes a part of the culture, what that really means is that we continually adapt and improve our teaching with each cycle of assessment. In other words, the process allows us to just keep getting better.”

The move toward institutionwide assessment took on particular urgency in 2014, after the Middle States Commission on Higher Education—the University’s federally recognized accrediting body—revised its reaccreditation standards to include a more rigorous emphasis on student outcomes assessment. Several universities encountered difficulty in meeting the new standards, and ���ϲ�����’s own reaccreditation process was just getting underway. The University’s Reaccreditation Steering Committee, which Ford co-chairs, is due to submit its reaccreditation self-study report to Middle States later this month. A campus visit by a reaccreditation team—the final step in the multiyear reaccrediting process—is scheduled for March, and a decision from Middle States on the bid for reaccreditation is expected in June.

“I want to emphasize that there already was, in some schools and colleges or departments, a strong tradition of specialized accreditation” prior to the institutionwide push, Edmonds says. “But others didn’t have any formal tradition because there was no external accrediting group to answer to. It’s not that we weren’t doing it; we just weren’t documenting it to the degree now required by both internal stakeholders and external agencies. We also began to look at best practices of our peers, and we realized this is what we need to do to bring us to where we should be.” While Middle States’ expectations admittedly added urgency to the effort, he adds, “This is not ‘Middle States’ assessment’; this is ���ϲ�����’s assessment.”

Kathy Hinchman, associate dean and professor in the , says that assessment, done well, enhances the quality and coherence of academic programs across multiple courses. “Systematic review of student learning outcomes invites faculty to understand better not only the impact of their own teaching, but also the impact of their teaching in combination with what students learn from other classes,” Hinchman says. “It provides a reality check to ensure that our programs of study are yielding desired outcomes—or that they are revised so that they are more likely to do so.”

As the University’s point person for assessment, Edmonds has spent much of the last year meeting with academic deans and other campus stakeholders to explain the three-phased assessment process, answer questions and, when necessary, offer reassurance about the nature and intent of the effort. Some faculty, for instance, have expressed concern about how assessment protocols might impede academic freedom. “Occasionally there’s this misperception that this office is dictating assessment and outcome processes,” Edmonds says. “We aren’t. We are a service to support faculty and academic freedom—not a ‘regime’ imposing this on faculty.”

McConnell acknowledges the concern. “Academic freedom is very precious and, these days, is increasingly fragile,” he says. “So we should always be concerned and vigilant about possible threats to it. Learning outcomes that are sufficiently broad, and drafted with ample input from all constituencies are essential to addressing concerns about academic freedom. I should also stress that academic freedom does not mean freedom to ignore the effectiveness of one’s work or shy from attempts to improve it.”

Edmonds says the message is slowly spreading. “Some faculty who were initially resistant have actually become very helpful to the process,” he says, once they understand the process is driven by departmental faculty themselves.

Ford, who led the student learning assessment effort for the Newhouse School’s Department of Public Relations, can attest to that. She recalls the reaction of a colleague to a presentation her department gave on the results of their assessment effort. “He was a senior professor and director of another program in the school, and after our presentation, he said, ‘Now I get it! Assessment really does show us across the board what our students are learning in a way I didn’t know before. There is real value in helping us to get better and be pre-eminent.’

“That,” says Ford, “was one of my best moments as chair of the department.”

For more information on institutional assessment at ���ϲ�����, go to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment website .