Student Affairs Assessment Council
Minutes
January 23, 2013
Attendance: Rebecca Sanderson, Maureen Cochran, Kami Hammerschmith, Carolyn Killefer, Remi Nagata,
Michele Ribeiro, Ozge Akcali, Linda Reid, Ann Robinson, Kent Sumner, Gus Bedwell, Tina Clawson, Carrie
Giese, Larry Roper, Luke Schalewski, Tom Watts, Jessica Baron, Kayleen Salchenberg
Comments from Larry:
Larry Roper joined us at the Assessment Council meeting to discuss plans for filling the Director role in Student
Affairs Research, Evaluation & Planning (SAREP) in anticipation of Rebecca’s retirement. Larry kicked off the
discussion by thanking Rebecca for the culture that she has worked to create around assessment within the
Division of Student Affairs. She has made a profound National impact in the field of Student Affairs
Assessment and OSU is often cited as a “best practice.”
To fill the Director role, Larry plans to form a search committee who will conduct a National search. He would
like to meet with the Assessment Council throughout the process in order to seek involvement and input on the
position description, keeping in mind contemporary issues in assessment. The Assessment Council is
foundational to this role and to the entire SAREP office and will continue to guide their work. Larry hopes to
have candidates on campus this spring.
The department was intentionally named “Research, Evaluation & Planning” as an organic process. The
intention is to help the division to focus on possessing knowledge of our programs (research), to develop ways
of understand if they work as we expect (evaluation), and using that information to inform future practices
(planning). In addition to filling the Director role, Larry has intentions of continuing to build the infrastructure to
support the SAREP department.
This is a difficult role which reaches far beyond the Division of Student Affairs at OSU; one in which the
individual will need to lead based on building relationships across the University and field of work. We do not
want someone who would impose a “have to” culture with assessment, as that never works & tends to be ego
threatening. The energy for Assessment needs to be cultivated over time.
Questions posed by Larry:
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What are the essential elements of this culture to preserve & how can we elevate it?
What are the needs of this group?
What are the important dimensions of this position?
Points raised by attendees (these are all things we’d like to keep in the Director role):
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Rebecca’s ability to translate and operationalize assessment in a way that Student Affairs professionals
is crucial; the new Director needs to be accessible.
We need someone who will understand that it’s ok to make mistakes and is willing to meet individuals
where they currently are.
Willingness to help 1:1 or at the department level; really willing to work with us
The Director’s role is really to keep the Division successful
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Rebecca has been our voice at SALT and Campus-Wide
We are discouraged from doing any busy work and are encouraged to always make it meaningful
Keep the momentum going – outside this Division we are often asked how we can get folks to
participate (reviews were given as an example); this is largely due to the grass-roots nature of our work.
The Council guides the process at every step.
The agenda isn’t imposed on the Council, the Council drives the agenda; although, Rebecca does a
great job of “inspiring” the agenda by keeping the group up-to-date on current issues and trends.
Other points raised:
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We may want to revisit the Assessment Council Charge; that is the guiding document for this role.
Rebecca’s Position Description will be shared with the group & feedback will be asked for by Larry.
NASPA Assessment & Persistence:
The NASPA Assessment & Persistence Conference will be taking place June 27-29 in Denver, CO. Program
submission date is March 4, 2013.
Compliance Assist Reminder:
The only items that need to be “related” in Compliance Assist are the Outcomes (relate to the appropriate
goal). For more information, please refer to page 5 of the instructional document or ask Rebecca or Maureen
for clarification.
Initiative 2 Discussion:
A question was raised about the recent e-mail that we received from Strategic Planning Initiative 2 soliciting
feedback. This spawned a discussion about what it is that they are working towards. Since Rebecca has been
working closely with that group and some others who have been in similar discussions, she added some clarity
to what that group has in mind.
Initiative 2 is interested in developing learning pathways for students and they’re looking at software to manage
these as well as student organizations. This is a similar idea to the Bacc Core Playlists which were recently
developed to help students to target the areas they are most interested in developing. This would not
necessarily involve creating new programs, rather, organizing existing programs into curriculum as a way to
complement their coursework.
Next Meeting:
February 13, 2013
Business Meeting
The Excel session that was originally planned for 2/13 has been moved to April
MU Council Room
9-10:30am
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