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Introduction.
This month marks my first full year as a Student Affairs assessment professional. In reflecting back on the year, so many things I love about this work were front and center. But it’s not completely uplifting. Imposter syndrome s…
2023 Assessment Institute Faculty
(Backrow: Paul Holliday-Millard, Heather Strine-Patterson, Melissa Brown, Kristyn Muller, Sarah LaFrance, Chris Patterson, Shaun Boren, and Jerri-Ann Berry Danso.
Frontrow: Jennifer Lowman, Amy Pilcher, Britt Spears-Rhymes, Ciji Heiser, Renee Delgado-Ril…
Allow me to paint a picture: You, an assessment leader, have been given a seemingly impossible task: to tell the story of a failing program.
Now, you didn’t know going into this project that the program was failing. Anecdotal evidence was positive. The program has been around for some time …
New to Assessment and looking to connect? SAAL recently hosted a gathering for folk who have been working in assessment for less than two years. A group of 16 folks gathered to meet each other and talk about their experiences beginning their journey into assessment in Student Affairs work. The g…
Every year the needs of our students seem to become greater—and the expectation we will be able to help address these needs grows in parallel. In an era where universities seek to better understand and support student well-being, it's worth considering the relevance of Maslow's hierarchy of need…
As an assessment specialist with a deep passion for equity work, I stand firm in the belief that the more one knows, the more one sees. For this reason and more, it was a pleasure to join in Dr. Divya Bheda’s SAAL Structured Conversation, “Exploring New Frontiers Together: Taking Equity Wo…
At my institution, we talk a lot about telling the stories of our work. It’s central to everything we do in assessment. The problem is … this can be tough to do in our profession. Why? Well, when you think of storytelling, you might imagine something like this:
A neat, narrative arc.
…
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The Student Affairs Assessment Leaders (SAAL) is 5 months into its newly formed leadership board. As a fully volunteer run organization, the key foundations of innovation, service, passion and commitment comprise why this organization has survived for 15 years…
Reva Wittenberg, MPA, California State University, Sacramento
Having just started my position as Student Affairs Assessment Manager a year ago, I was excited to take the Applying & Leading Assessment in Student Affairs course to make sure I was on the right track and to continue to build my k…
Dr. Divya Bheda
Dear Colleagues,
I have been feeling frustrated lately. More so than usual. Here is why: How can so many of our student support colleagues and assessment leaders—who are all so strongly and passionately motivated by the need to be of service, who want to and often do make a…
Gavin Henning
Professor of Higher Education, New England College
In 1986, the year I graduated from college, one of the hottest books in bookstores (on bookshelves, not on Amazon since it didn’t exist then), was All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulgham. Throu…
The SAAL Blog is meant to be a place to highlight diverse voices and perspectives of assessment professionals from all skill levels. Over the course of the next year, you will hear from our blog writing team as we reflect on trends in assessment, respond to SAAL programs and events (i.e Structur…
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Education and assessment have always been an integral part of my professional life. I earned a BA from a teacher's college to become a secondary school teacher, followed by a master's in educational administration and a PhD in higher education …
“You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you are.” Yogi Berra
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I have always loved the Berra quote because it is so true, and has been my experience in life. I am the “Grandma” on the SAAL Board, having been involved in a…
To take a leadership role in Student Affairs assessment, you have to be a pretty interesting character. First, you have to want to work for students as an advocate in advancing their experience. You need to be happy doing this by influencing the work of others. A lot of our success relies on other…
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“You’re a wizard, Harry,” explains Hagrid, saving him from the infamous cupboard under the stairs and escorting him to Hogwarts. After years of living with his Muggle aunt and uncle, wondering …
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I’ve always been hesitant to take on a leadership role for an organization because I fear not being able to give my very best to all of my competing personal and professional responsibilities. However, when I was notified that I had been nominated …
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Like many who find themselves working in student affairs assessment, I sort of stumbled into the field not knowing exactly what I was getting myself into. I worked in the creative fields of architecture and advertising befor…
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As I sat in our new SAAL board onboarding meeting, I could not help but think, “what in the world am I doing here?” Here I was, someone who has only been working professionally (at all) for one year, and my ex…
Eight years ago, in 2015, SAAL put out a call for volunteers to compile topical resources to aid student affairs assessment pros. Content was sorted into seven topics: assessment culture, assessment planning, consulting and critique, success criteria and targets, critical approaches and ethics…
