2024 SAAL Award Recipients
SAAL Legacy Award
Individual award to highlight a professional that has made substantial
and lasting contributions to the field of Student Affairs assessment over time.
Recipient: Dr. Darby Roberts at Texas A&M University
“Darby Roberts was one of the founders of SAAL! She has been a steadfast member and active contributor to the SAAL community. She expressed and instilled a sense of curiosity among student affairs folks, as well as demonstrated responsibility for supporting and elevating the student affairs assessment community - at her institution, within SAAL, and for the field.”
Emerging Assessment Professional Award
Individual award to highlight a professional who is
new to the assessment field (less than 3 years).
Recipient: Brooke Errington at Texas A&M University
“Brooke is committed to curiosity, community, equity, and responsibility, as well as demonstrating impact, effectiveness, and innovation. Residence Life is undertaking the Division’s Comprehensive Program Review process this year, and Brooke is providing leadership to the overall process and the self-study team. She has also recently partnered with the Residence Life leadership team to develop their new strategic plan to ensure that the department’s goals align with both the Division of Student Affairs and Texas A&M University.”
Faculty Champion Award
Individual award to highlight a faculty member who has contributed
to the scholarship or teaching of Student Affairs assessment.
Recipient: Dr. Alice Mitchell, University of Maryland
“Alice is an Affiliate Assistant Professor for the University of Maryland, College Park student affairs program, having taught the Student Affairs Assessment course for a number of years. More recently, Alice has been actively involved in the research and scholarship of student affairs assessment, serving as the Associate Editor of the Journal for Student Affairs Inquiry, Improvement, and Impact and a Co-Editor of a New Directors for Student Services issue titled “Student affairs assessment: Nuanced practice to leverage equity” in 2022.”
Volunteer Service Award
Individual award for outstanding service to SAAL in the past year.
Recipient: The SAAL Committee for Community Development and Engagement
This year, the Community Development and Engagement Committee has been selected by the SAAL President to receive the Volunteer of the Year Service Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service to SAAL. Their dedication and impactful contributions have significantly advanced SAAL’s mission and vision over the past year. Volunteers are the heart and soul of SAAL, and their passion and dedication are what make us the thriving community we are today. These incredible individuals balance full-time jobs and countless responsibilities, yet they still find the time and energy to go above and beyond in service to SAAL’s mission. This committee has: designed and implemented a thoughtful and engaging SAAL awards program that celebrates the achievements of SAAL members, managed the SAAL blog, provided valuable resources, and fostered a sense of connection by sharing diverse voices from across the community around key student affairs assessment issues, and created ‘Monthly Wrap-Up’ emails to just name a few. It is with deep appreciation that we honor the Community Development and Engagement Committee with this well-deserved award.
Equity-Minded Assessment Award
Team or individual award for living out the values of equity, diversity, inclusion
and social justice and ensuring they are a meaningful part of assessment work.
Recipients: University of Oregon Basic Needs Program
“This project exemplifies how a commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice was woven into the collaborative efforts of the UO Basic Needs Program, UO Libraries, and faculty. The initiative aimed to reduce textbook costs, a significant barrier for many students, particularly those from historically marginalized backgrounds. In Spring 2024, the Basic Needs Program partnered with UO Libraries to address the issue of textbook affordability. Together, they sought to create a meaningful impact on students' access to education by integrating assessment tools that center the voices of students who are often underrepresented in discussions of educational equity. By integrating the values of equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice into every phase of the project, the team ensured that the assessment work was not only data-driven but also aligned with the mission to create a more equitable and inclusive academic environment. This collaborative effort highlights the critical role that assessment can play in promoting educational justice and ensuring that all students have the resources they need to thrive.”
Student Voice in Assessment Award
Team award for ensuring student voices are meaningfully
included throughout the assessment process.
Recipient: Dr. Ben Witts and Co-Curricular Assessment Working Group,
St Cloud State University
“This nomination recognizes the CoCurricular Assessment Working Group’s significant contributions to enhancing co-curricular education at St. Cloud State University and advancing effective assessment practices. The CCAWG has demonstrated a profound commitment to curiosity by developing a flexible definition of co-curricular activities that considers the student’s role in these experiences. This initiative involved extensive research and collaboration with various university stakeholders, showcasing a dedication to exploring innovative assessment methods that enhance student engagement and learning.”
Developing a Culture of Assessment Award
Team award for intentionally fostering a strong assessment
and data-informed culture at all levels of an organization.
Recipients:
Andrew Palmer & the University Housing team at Kent State University &
California State University Northridge Student Affairs Assessment Community of Practice (ACoP)
"“Student-Driven Program Development: The ISA team empowered a group of three International Community Assistants (ICAs) to create a signature program from scratch. This approach not only resulted in a tailored program but also served as an assessment of the ICAs' leadership and program development skills.”
“The ACoP started with 10 founding members, and since then has more than doubled its membership; the ACoP now counts at least one representative from each department in the division of Student Affairs. This growth has fostered a set of working relationships in which open dialogue about the practical measurement of strategic goals can occur. The annual culmination of the assessment cycle happens at their annual "ASSESStival" event, which is planned and executed by members of the ACoP. ASSESStival is an exciting division-level event, with over 150 attendees from Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, and Institutional Research.”
Innovation (or Creativity) in Assessment Award
Team award for new or unique assessment projects or methods.
Recipient: The Division of Student Affairs Assessment Team
at the University of North Texas
“The logic modeling process they created at UNT fits uniquely into many of their strategic vision categories. Logic models have increased their staff’s curiosity. Now they use the logic model book to work with one another on outcomes and programming initiatives that they didn’t even know were happening in other areas. The logic models build community, partnerships, and strategic assessment alliances that didn’t exist before.”
“Closing the Loop” Award
This is a Team award for using results,
which could include data visualization, storytelling/communication,
or making changes to practice as a result of assessment.
Recipient: The Division of Student Affairs at Indiana University, Indianapolis
“The Division of Student Affairs at Indiana University, Indianapolis developed a new habit of sharing data with academic schools about the percent of their students engaging with their programs and services. Through the practice of providing academic schools with reports focused on the students THEY serve rather than the students WE in the division of student affairs, we refocused on our shared responsibility: the students. As a result, all users of the reports – whether academic school faculty and staff or student affairs practitioners – can view the reports and take action to improve engagement for specific academic populations for specific programs.”
Exemplary Assessment Work at
Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) Award
To be eligible for this award, an individual or team needs to demonstrate how they are actively advancing and sustaining student success and creating opportunities for students that align with the mission of their specific institution. MSIs are institutions with the appropriate federal designation:
Asian American Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (ANNAPISIs)
Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNHs)
Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs)
Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)
Native American-Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs)
Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs)
Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs)
Recipient: Tondra L. Moore, PhD, JD, MPH at
Prairie View A & M University (HBCU)
“Since 2018, Dr. Tondra L. Moore has served as the Executive Director of Health Services at Prairie View A&M University an HBCU in Texas. Upon joining the institution, she instituted a strong assessment strategy for all Health Services departments that sparked the curiosity of long-time student affairs professionals but also demonstrated the responsibility to demonstrate the effectiveness of their efforts through assessment. With a background as a health services researcher and CAHME accreditation fellow, Dr. Moore began to train her staff to develop programs based upon a documented need and collect data to provide the documentation to support funding requests. Overall, Dr. Moore has established structured and uniform assessment strategies for student services, programming, and experiences at Prairie View in Health Services that have resulted in documented change. ”
Outstanding Student Contributions to Assessment Award
This is an Individual award for a full-time graduate or undergraduate student for their contributions to assessment at their institution and in the assessment community. This award is not intended to recognize a full-time professional who is also currently pursuing an advanced degree. Students must have been enrolled during the 2023-2024 academic year.
Recipient: Sakshi Gupta at Adelphi University
“Ms. Gupta has been contributing to assessment efforts as the Dean of Students’ Graduate Assistant for Assessment. She has been hands-on since the first day with assessment efforts and actively helped operationalize assessment processes across Student Affairs. This has included aligning assessment strategies with institutional priorities under the guidance of Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students, Dr. Joseph DeGearo.”
Special thank you to the Community Development and Engagement Committee:
Megan Bell, California State University, Los Angeles
Kyle Amore, Santa Clara University
Paul Holliday-Millard, UNC Charlotte
Ashley Farmer-Hanson, Rocky Vista University
Sophie Tullier, University of Delaware
Karina Knuston, University of North Dakota
And our guest reviewers:
Dr. Joe Levy, Excelsior University
(2024 recipient of the SAAL Legacy Award & SAAL Open Course Manager)
Jessie Johns, University of Missouri
(2024 recipient of the Emerging Assessment Professional Award)
Dr. Vince Nix, West Texas A&M University
(2024 Recipient of the Faculty Champion Award)
We couldn’t have done it without you!
We also want to thank everyone who nominated someone or themselves; your hard work is so meaningful to your institution and also to us. We hope that you continue recognizing your assessment colleagues and peers around the country.
This blog post was written by Paul Holliday-Millard, Senior Research Associate, Assessment & Qualitative Research; UNC Charlotte.