Assessment Excellence Award Winners

Congratulations to Ms. Adrienne Fraaza, Director of the Office of Student Transitions, and Dr. Amanda Karsten, Faculty Specialist in the Department of Psychology, who were co-winners of the University Assessment Steering Committee (UASC) 2021 Individual Assessment Excellence Award. The UASC deemed that the work of both Ms. Fraaza and Dr. Karsten be recognized with this award in 2021, as they were equally deserving.

Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Ross, an assistant professor in the Department of Finance and Commercial Law, who was awarded the University Assessment Steering Committee 2019 Individual Assessment Excellence Award on March 15, 2019 at the annual WMU Assessment in Action Conference. Dr. Ross has been doing innovative and compelling assessment research in regards to the quantitative skills of B.B.A. students in introductory finance courses to determine the effects of math ability and attitudes with how students perform these skills. He received several grants during the 2016-17 academic year for this assessment research and has continued this research to help facilitate student success in his course, department, college and at WMU. Dr. Ross has written several articles, shared his findings as peer-reviewed conference presentations and has helped to improve not only his finance course but he has also worked with WMU Mathematics faculty to help improve the MATH 1160 prerequisite course and facilitate a positive accreditation review from the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) for the Haworth College of Business.

Congratulations to Dr. James P. Cousins, the associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, who was awarded the University Assessment Steering Committee 2018 individual Assessment Excellence Award on March 16, 2018 at the annual WMU Assessment in Action Conference. Since the start when Dr. Cousins joined the Department of History, he has been instrumental in developing and promoting assessment efforts within the department and now within the College of Arts and Sciences. As a faculty member, he led an effort to create a comprehensive assessment program that could be used to track student progress across History's three undergraduate programs. And now as an administrator, he takes the time to meet with departments in the college individually to help them craft clear rubrics and consistent methods to assess the efficacy of programs in achieving student learning outcomes as well as providing constructive feedback for continued improvement. He is viewed by the chairs in the college as the assessment leader and expert and he is passionate about the importance of formal assessment. His leadership has led to many tangible changes in the way assessment is viewed and conducted throughout the college.

Congratulations to Ms. Megan Slayter who was awarded the University Assessment Steering Committee 2017 Individual Assessment Excellence Award at the annual WMU Assessment in Action Conference on March 17, 2017 for her assessment efforts in the Department of Dance. Through her work as the chair of the departmental assessment committee, as a faculty member, and now department chair, Megan has been a catalyst for rethinking the assessment planning process in the department and using the data to improve student learning. In particular, she was instrumental in identifying new ways to assess four key outcome areas within Dance: physical mastery, intellectual understanding, performance ability and writing skills through the development of the Personal Artistic Statement, just one of several key assessment tools she helped to develop.

Congratulations to Dr. Ann Chapleau, a faculty member from Occupational Therapy, who was awarded the University Assessment Steering Committee 2016 Individual Assessment Excellence Award at the annual WMU Assessment in Action Day Conference on April 8, 2016 for her work in Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS). She has written several publications on this topic, created a mobile and web-based app for GAS and worked on several projects focusing on goal attainment scaling.

Congratulations to Ms. Kate Langan, an associate professor from the University Libraries, who was awarded the University Assessment Steering Committee 2014 Individual Assessment Excellence Award at the annual WMU Assessment in Action Day Conference on March 21, 2014 for her article entitled, "Assessing the Academic Research and Writing Experience of Freshmen in First-Year Writing Courses."

Congratulations to Dae Shik Kim, a faculty member from Blindness and Rehabilitation Studies, who was awarded the University Assessment Steering Committee 2013 Individual Assessment Excellence Award at the annual WMU Assessment in Action Day Conference on March 22, 2013 for his article entitled, "Comparison Level of Satisfaction between Distance Education and On-campus Programs."

Congratulations to Katharine Cummings, the Associate Dean of the College of Education and Human Development on receiving the University Assessment Steering Committee 2011 Individual Assessment Excellence Award. Dr. Cummings was presented with the award at WMU Assessment in Action Day on March 25, 2011 for her article entitled, "Kiss My Assessment! Simplifying Assessment for Sustainability."

Congratulations to Bradford Dennis, the Education Librarian from the University Libraries, who received the first annual University Assessment Steering Committee Individual Assessment Excellence Award for his paper entitled, "Using Content Analysis Software to Analyze Survey Comments." He was publicly recognized and bestowed with this award at an awards luncheon on Friday, October 10, 2008.

Congratulations to the School of Music (SoM) Assessment Committee for being chosen as the University Assessment Steering Committee 2019 Assessment Excellence Unit Award winner. The SoM Assessment Committee, comprised of dedicated faculty from the SoM, has always taken assessment seriously but has worked diligently over the past several years to transform and improve upon assessment initiatives. They have moved from a largely grade-based assessment plan toward a focus on student learning outcomes. Students are now assessed in stages, based on two universal learning outcomes that balance the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills appropriate to each major so a more universal assessment of SoM learning can occur. Great strides have been made to improve the assessment process and per comments from Associate Dean Irelan (College of Fine Arts), "This transition away from a strictly grade-based assessment metric, which was the basis of the old plan, and toward a more comprehensive look at student learning marks the boldest innovation of the SoM plan. It is this kind of transformation that should be borne out of vigorous quality improvement initiatives."

Congratulations to the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) for being chosen as the University Assessment Steering Committee 2018 Assessment Excellence Unit Award winner for their assessment efforts in the Master of Public Administration program.  The faculty and staff in the school have displayed exemplary initiatives on the assessment of the MPA Program through a comprehensive process of program assessment planning and execution. These assessment efforts have helped the School rethink ways to improve the program structure and its delivery. They have moved beyond the scope of the requirements of their accreditation to creating a widely participated in culture of assessment with the focus on continuous improvement and student success.

Congratulations to Dr. Yvonne Unrau, (Director, Center for Fostering Success) and Ms. Ronicka Hamilton, (Director, Seita Scholars Program), and all those who work with the WMU Seita Scholars Program, who were the winners of the University Assessment Steering Committee 2017 Assessment Excellence Unit Award. The Seita Scholars Program was developed in 2008 to increase graduation rates among students in foster care and provides coaches who work with these students to establish annual benchmarks in 7 life domain areas (i.e., academics, finances, housing, health, social connections, identity, and life skills) to ensure that they will thrive at WMU and into their post-college careers.

The Seita Scholars Program has a strong commitment to continuous improvement to assure that the programs and services offered best meet the needs of these students and has incorporated assessment methods and measures into the culture of the work they do. Through what they have learned from this data, the program has been able to increase graduation rates, stabilize 2nd year retention rates, and close the gap on the number of student account holds and course withdrawals. Also noteworthy is the development of the Fostering Success Coaching Model, which was developed from a process of continuous data and feedback review within the program and launched as a national training program in 2013. Since then, over 250 professionals in higher education, child welfare and youth development arenas in 12 states have been trained in the model.

Congratulations to Monica Liggins-Abrams, (Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education, Associate Director of Broncos First Student Program), Randy Ott, (Center for Academic Success Programs, Director of CASP), and Chris Robinson, (Haworth College of Business, Assistant Director of Academic Advising), who were the winners of the University Assessment Steering Committee 2016 Assessment Excellence Unit Award for their work on the "Dr. Hernandez Breaking Chains Committee". The committee invited Dr. Paul Hernandez, an award-winning, nationally recognized speaker and leader in college access, success and pedagogy for educators to come to campus for a day of learning in September 2015. The three who won the award were part of this committee but were the ones who were instrumental in developing the assessments to learn how this educational opportunity impacted the University community, including faculty, staff and students. Findings indicated that the events were successful in achieving the learning objectives set forth by the committee and that attendees were positively impacted by their experiences. Conversations continue about what was addressed at the events and how to continue the momentum that was achieved that day.

Congratulations to Kim Ballard, (Director, University Writing Center), Katie Easley, (College of Arts and Sciences, Director of Student Success Services), and Chris Robinson, (Haworth College of Business, Assistant Director of Academic Advising), who were the winners of the University Assessment Steering Committee 2015 Assessment Excellence Unit Award for their work on the "Bronco Study Zone". These three individuals teamed up to create an assessment project to improve retention and success of probationary students. Their idea was to create a space where students could be sent for supervised mandatory study hours, in a quiet atmosphere free of the normal distractions students typically encounter. They launched their idea dubbed the "The Bronco Study Zone" in the fall of 2014. After the pilot semester was completed, in looking at percentages for students on probation, the University experienced a higher retention rate for users of the Bronco Study Zone than students who didn't use the BSZ. To learn more about the Bronco Study Zone, click here.

Congratulations to the Haworth College of Business Advising and Career Centers who teamed up to win the University Assessment Steering Committee 2014 Assessment Excellence Unit Award. These two units created an assessment project focused on retention called the Phoenix Project. They were also recipients of one of the Assessment Fellows Grants for the 2013-14 academic year, which helped them to fund the project. This unit award was given to Betsy Drummer, the director of Academic Advising, Geralyn Heystek, the director of the Haworth College of Business Career Center, and Chris Robinson, the assistant director of Academic Advising. They were also awarded first place in the Innovation in Business Education Award program sponsored by the MidAmerican Business Deans Association. Click here to learn more about the excellent assessment work of this team.

Congratulations to the Textile and Apparel Studies unit in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences for winning the University Assessment Steering Committee 2013 Assessment Excellence Unit Award. This unit has shown exemplary work in assessing student learning outcomes and using this information to improve program quality and student learning. The committee would like to thank this unit for being a model for other departments and units to follow in the pursuit of continuous improvement in student learning.

Congratulations to the Haworth College of Business for winning the University Assessment Steering Committee 2012 Assessment Excellence Unit Award. The college was recognized for their efforts to promote a culture of assessment within the college by providing support services via consultant training, which brought about new and renewed interest in the pursuit of improvement of student learning. They also revamped their B.B.A. and MBA assessment plans to be more targeted to student performance on key indicators as evidence of learning. The new plans will assess across programs, courses and sections. There was also the creation of the Assurance of Learning Council which has a focus on the continuous improvement of assessment planning, data evaluation and assessment practices in the college. The University Assessment Steering Committee commends the Haworth College of Business on the continual pursuit of excellence in student learning outcomes assessment and for being a role model for others to follow.

Congratulations to the WMU Bronson School of Nursing who was awarded the University Assessment Steering Committee 2010 Assessment Excellence Unit Award on Friday, March 12, 2010 during the first annual WMU Assessment in Action Day. The committee was pleased to recognize the assessment work of this department and their efforts to improve student performance in their programs and also to improve the programs and curriculum as well.

The faculty members in the WMU Bronson School of Nursing have shown a strong commitment to assessment and its use to improve the undergraduate program in their school and for this reason they have received the Assessment Excellence Unit Award for the 2009-10 academic year. The committee would like to thank the WMU Bronson School of Nursing for their continued efforts to improve the program quality in their unit and for being a positive role model for others to follow