Excellence in Assessment Award

These awards recognize individuals or teams demonstrating excellence in the use of assessment data to improve student learning, retention, the learning environment, and/or a culture of continuous improvement. Individuals and groups of faculty and staff members are encouraged to apply and not limited to areas within Academic Affairs. Two $500 awards are available. One award is for course-level assessment, and one is for recognizing other types of assessment activities. Group awards are disbursed among recipients.  

Excellence in Assessment – Course Level 

This award is designed to recognize and showcase outstanding efforts by faculty and staff who have made a significant contribution in the area of assessment of student learning at the course level. An outstanding assessment process is characterized by the use of assessment results to improve learning.  Course level submissions must be for a course taught within the last two academic years and data from more than one cycle and/or ongoing data is preferred, although not required. 

Excellence in Assessment – Beyond Course Level 

This award is designed to recognize and showcase outstanding efforts by faculty and staff who have made a significant contribution beyond the individual course level, including but not limited to: program assessment, co-curricular assessment, and assessment processes and practices that support a culture of continuous improvement. An outstanding assessment process is characterized by the use of assessment data to improve the intended outcomes and the communication of assessment results with stakeholders. Data from more than one cycle and/or ongoing data is preferred, although not required.  

Eligibility 

All members of the University community are eligible for this award. Past recipients of the award, either as an individual or as part of a group, are eligible following expiration of the fifth year after receiving their award. 

Criteria for Evaluation  

1. Outcome(s): clear, measurable outcomes describing the goals of the assessment
2. Methods: assessment methods used are appropriate for the outcomes 
3. Criterion for Success: goals or target success rate is reasonable 
4. Results: data are directly and logically linked to the outcomes they are purported to measure 
5. Actions: description of how assessment results are used to inform decision making
6. Communication: A clear plan exists to disseminate the assessment process, tools, or outcomes to appropriate parties

Nomination Process 

All nominations must be submitted electronically via Academic Awards Nomination Form . No email nominations will be accepted.   

The Secretary of the Academic Senate will follow up with nominees, providing them with a copy of the Excellence in Assessment Award Criteria, Eligibility and Nomination process, and requesting of them the following:  

• A brief report describing why the nominee is deserving of the award and highlighting each of the 5 criterion that raise the assessment activities to a level of excellence. 
• Relevant examples of the assessment work completed by the nominee, including but not limited to reports generated by Nuventive Improve or other software used to track assessment data (e.g., ExamSoft). 

Deadline

The deadline to submit you nomination via the Academic Awards Nomination Form is 5:00 pm, Friday  January 17, 2025.  Late or email nominations will not be accepted.