25-28 June 2024 // Costa Mesa, California

the Student Affairs Assessment Institute is proudly sponsored by

ACPA’s Student Affairs Assessment Institute, sponsored by the Commission for Assessment and Evaluation, provides a guided, curricular experience where participants can develop essential assessment knowledge and skills for their professional toolkit. It offers a balance of instruction and hands-on experience designed to ensure attendees leave with the assessment skills and knowledge necessary to develop and execute quality assessment plans on their campuses.

Whether you are brand new to assessment, taking on new responsibilities in your individual unit, or charged with developing a division-wide plan for assessment, the ACPA Student Affairs Assessment Institute is the answer for your professional development needs! The Institute is focused on providing developmental assessment knowledge and may not be the best professional development opportunity for more advanced practitioners. If you are unsure whether or not the Institute may be right for you or have general questions, please contact info@acpa.nche.edu and we’ll be happy to assist!

institute tracks & features

Assessment Institute attendees can select their track when they register for the Institute, making the experience educationally catered to each registrant’s professional journey. Tracks help guide attendees’ session selections at the Institute based on their focus area or role with assessment.

• Foundations Track  – Sessions will be focused on building foundational assessment knowledge and skills for individuals with limited training or experience with assessment. If you’re new to assessment, regardless of your position, this is where to start. Topics include: assessment cycle, basic terminology, data ethics, writing learning and program outcomes, basic quantitative and qualitative methods, and reporting results.
• Practitioners Track – Sessions will be focused on expanding assessment knowledge and skills for individuals tasked with championing assessment for one or more departments. If you’ve done some assessment but want to improve your ability to meet the assessment element of your job description, this is for you. Topics include: more advanced quantitative and qualitative methods, survey design, interviews & focus groups, data cleaning and analysis, and data visualization.
• Administrator Track – Sessions will discuss how to lead sustainable, equity-centered assessment and focus on strategies for effectively influencing change as a student affairs leader. Topics include: equity-centered assessment, effective storytelling, leadership, change management, navigating politics, and career trajectories. Leave the institute as a stronger, more impactful leader who advocates for and enables data-informed student success.

Keynote Speakers

Terah J. Stewart, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Terah J. Stewart, PhD (he/him) is an assistant professor of higher education and student affairs at Iowa State University. His research and writing focus on people, populations, and ideas that are hypermarginalized and/or those who have stigmatized identities including: college students engaged in sex work and erotic labor, fat students on campus/fatphobia and sizeism in postsecondary contexts, and identity-based student activism. He also engages conceptual and empirical work on antiblackness in non-black communities of color. His work centers critical disruptive onto-epistemological frameworks and theories to destabilize dominant ways of knowing and being; including Black/endarkened feminist, womanist, and afropessimist perspectives.

Dr. Stewart has notable practitioner and administrative experience in higher education and student affairs. Prior to his full-time faculty work he served as the Assistant Director for Intercultural Programming and Strategic Initiatives of the Student Life Multicultural Center, Program Manager for the Office of the Vice President for Student Life which included management of the campus-wide No Place for Hate Initiative and support of the Bias Assessment and Response Team all at the Ohio State University. He also has extensive experiences in University Housing at OSU and the University of Georgia where he managed assessment and evaluation for the department.

Dr. Stewart’s scholarship has often been referred to as cutting-edge and groundbreaking work. He was named a 2023 Emerging Scholar by ACPA College Student Educators International and a 2024 Diverse Issues in Higer Education Emerging Scholar. He has received the Nevitt Sanford Award and the Burns B. Crookston Award both for research endeavors from ACPA’s Commission for Faculty and Graduate Programs.  In 2023 he was awarded Outstanding Book for his unparalleled text Sex Work on Campus by the Association for the Study of Higher Education. He has also been recognized for his demonstrated teaching as the recipient of two teaching excellence awards in 2022 from Iowa State University College of Human Sciences and the Commission for Faculty and Graduate Programs respectively.

His research and writing has appeared in Action Research, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research and the Journal of College Student Development. Dr. Stewart is the co-author of Identity-Based Student Activism: Power and Oppression on College Campuses (2020, Routledge); and Sex Work on Campus (2022, Routledge).

Brandon D. Harris, Ed.D. (he/him/his)

Dr. Brandon D. Harris combines 8 years of non-profit professional development experience with 11 years of experience in higher education to help partners strengthen the onramp from college to career for students. His dedication to this task is illustrated in his recent publication exploring validation as motivation. His collaborative guides aiding educational leaders in helping “Today’s Students Become Tomorrow’s Professionals” have made him a regular contributor to various platforms and journals such as Henry Stewart and Sage Publications. He currently serves as director of assessment and research for student affairs at Loyola Marymount University where he provides equity-minded assessments supporting the needs and impacts of students and operations. From providing assessments highlighting the impact of student success, to providing leadership and informed recommendations around equitable data utilization for student, staff, and colleague audiences, Dr. Harris remains a regular asset in today’s climate of research and assessment. 

Hotel Information

The host hotel for the 2024 Student Affairs Assessment Institute is The Westin South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa. The room block for the 2024 institute has closed. For assistance, please contact Brian Hopkins, ACPA Director of Convention & Events, at bhopkins@acpa.nche.edu.

686 Anton Boulevard | Costa Mesa, CA 92626

tentative Schedule

*all times are listed in Pacific Time

Day 1

Wednesday, 26 June

Day 2

Thursday, 27 June

Day 3

Friday, 28 June