Updates from the 2023 Student Affairs Assessment Institute

For the 2023 Student Affairs Assessment Institute, co-chairs Drs. Shaun Boren and Paul Holliday-Millard led a diverse group of professionals to re-imagine and modernize the institute experience.  For a better part of a year, the co-chairs and institute faculty reviewed the ASK Standards and the NASPA/ACPA joint competencies on Assessment, Evaluation, and Research to ensure that the institute curriculum was aligned with our professional standards. Three new tracks emerged from this process: a foundations track, a practitioners track, and an administrators track.

• Sessions in the Foundations Track primarily focused on building foundational assessment knowledge and skills for individuals with limited training or experience with assessment. This track was ideal for someone who was new to new to assessment, regardless of their position. Faculty presented on the following topics: assessment cycle, basic terminology, data ethics, writing learning and program outcomes, basic quantitative and qualitative methods, and report results.
• Sessions in the Practitioners Track focused on expanding assessment knowledge and skills for individuals tasked with championing assessment for one or more departments. This track was specifically designed for individuals who have some assessment experience but want to improve their ability to meet the assessment demands of their job. Faculty presented on the following topics: more advanced quantitative and qualitative methods, survey design, interviews & focus groups, data cleaning and analysis, and data visualization.
• Sessions in the Administrators Track focused on supplementing assessment knowledge and skills for leaders of a department, division, college, or university. This track was intentionally designed for individuals who’ve done some assessment but want to build your application of assessment as a unit leader. Faculty in this track presented on the following topics: strategic planning, prioritization, alignment with campus partners, storytelling, and using results.

These tracks were designed as a logical sequence for participants to remain in a track rather than switch around. Similarly, faculty assisted with multiple sessions within their tracks to provide continuity and build rapport with their cohort. Additionally, as the new curriculum took shape, institute faculty were challenged to determine ways they could infuse equity assessment practices into their content and build in more intentional ways for faculty and institute attendees to engage throughout the institute. Sessions were lengthened to spend more time for this engagement with the content.

We also celebrated the Institute’s 20^th anniversary by having Dr. Gavin Henning, one of its original founders and former President of ACPA, serve as keynote speaker. Other keynotes included Drs. Anne Lundquist and becky martinez.  We’re excited to see how the institute continues to evolve to meet the growing needs and demands of our field.

Registration for the 2024 Student Affairs Assessment Institute is now open! Join us in sunny Costa Mesa, California from June 25th – 28th, 2024!

A special thank you to our outstanding 2023 faculty who helped to support the changes. Faculty are pictured below: