Please join me in congratulating our ESU Assessment Champions for 2018.
On behalf of Emporia State University, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, and the Student Learning Assessment Council, congratulations are in order for the 2018 Assessment Champion Award winners. The Assessment Champion Award recognizes the outstanding efforts of Emporia State University faculty in perpetuating exceptional learning experiences for our students using assessment as a change agent. Nominations are made by the campus community and the Student Learning Assessment Council votes for the annual award winners. The award includes a "Recognition Letter, an Award Plaque and a $250 stipend."
Bios of Assessment Champions:
Michael Dennis, PhD – Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Theatre, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Since 2008, Dr. Dennis has served in many lead roles in assessing student learning for the department. He has designed scales to measure student learning from multiple courses related to our department goal "Develop research-based projects and communicate results orally and in writing." He has assessed student artifacts from multiple courses including SP 312, Theories of Communication where students demonstrated in writing that they are capable of describing and summarizing communication theories and their concepts, as well as of applying them to their own pragmatic realities. As students were required to read and discuss many articles portraying relevant primary research, he implemented a three week unit on Research Methods early in the semester to prepare them to understand and critique the articles. He sought to assess the extent to which this module was effective in addressing the department's Goal 2a. These assessment findings led to re-offering SP 580, Analysis of Communication Studies (Capstone course in research methods) which was reinstated as a core requirement for Communication Majors. Since 2013, Dr. Dennis has continuously engaged in assessment practices that have informed curriculum changes and improvement in student learning in capstone courses. In addition, he has also assessed student learning performances in general education courses SP101-Public Speaking, while utilizing the Association of American Colleges and Universities' Oral Communication Value Rubric aligned with KBOR core outcomes. Conclusively, the assessment efforts of Dr. Dennis have improved the department's curriculum and the student learning experience, he is worthy of being named an Assessment Champion!
Katherine "Kat" O'Meara, PhD – Assistant Professor/Director of Composition, English, Modern Languages and Journalism, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Dr. O'Meara has excelled in implementing assessment best practices for the Composition program. Since her hiring in the fall of 2017, she has redefined the rubrics used in assessing student success in written communication and has aligned these rubrics with the American Association of College and University's Value Rubrics for Written Communication and Critical Thinking. She has led the Composition Committee's work in directing program improvement using assessment data from multiple years of assessment practices. These practices include multiple reviewer scoring of individual student artifacts and portfolio analyses. Dr. O'Meara also served as a member of the AY2017 General Education Assessment Team. She has made immediate contributions to the university-wide assessment of our general education program. Her research is directed toward understanding how courses in other disciplines contribute to instruction in writing and mastery of writing skills and is informing her efforts to impact writing within the disciplines and across the curriculum at ESU. As Composition program director, she is the primary person coordinating the assessment of Composition I and II courses.
Phil Kelly, PhD - Professor and John Barnett, PhDAssociate Professor - Department of Social Sciences, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Just a few years ago, political science assessment was still using an outdated multiple-choice test not well-aligned with the program's learning objectives. Today, the assessment of the program has both increased and improved immensely. Dr. Barnett has worked closely with Dr. Kelly and chair Dr. Michael Smith to completely redesign assessment practices for the Political Science program. Starting in 2016, Drs. Barnett and Kelly adopted a new rubric aligned with learning outcomes and learning objectives from the revised curriculum map. They have integrated capstone experiences into two upper-division political science courses (PO 500 and PO 501). Most remarkably, in 2017, Drs. Kelly and Barnett each separately evaluated each student's political science capstone paper, thus producing a dataset for evaluation in which interrater reliability was measured. In addition, Drs. Barnett and Kelly contributed to the adoption of policies (multiple drafts and standardized language) to addresses weaknesses in student writing and composition identified by assessments. These efforts resulted in AY2017 student learning outcomes for writing and composition skills showing remarkable gains as compared to AY2016 results.
Christopher Stone, PhD - Assistant Professor and Associate Chair - School of Business
Dr. Stone has served as the Chair for the Council on General Education during AY2017-2018. His leadership has included collaborating with the Director of General Education and General Education faculty in perpetuating university-wide assessment efforts for the General Education Program. In October 2018, he attended the Higher Learning Commission's General Education Assessment Workshop which focused exclusively on assisting ESU as it navigates change strategies to improve the overall assessment practices of the general education program. His leadership in general education assessment will include input in designing and implementing future assessment plans. Dr. Stone is also integrally involved in assessment for the School of Business in his role as Associate Chair as he collaborates with his colleagues in ensuring that the School of Business remains accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).
Gary Wyatt, PhD - Associate Provost, Dean of the Honors College, and Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Crime and Delinquency Studies
Dr. Wyatt, has provided leadership in ensuring that the university has planned and implemented assessment strategies aimed toward quality student learning experiences. Formerly as the Director of General Education, Dr. Wyatt first led the charge for implementing an assessment plan for the General Education Program. These efforts served the institution well, as it embraced the changing climate of assessment and accountability. As the first Dean of the Honors College, he led groundbreaking efforts to embed assessment practices into every operational component of the Honors program including the assessment of student learning outcomes in Honors courses. He also leads assessment efforts for faculty driven leadership and student engagement in learning the Kansas Leadership Center's principles and competencies. Dr. Wyatt's attention to detail and inclusive assessment efforts have led to our students' engaging in unique high-impact learning experiences dedicated to learning civic leadership competencies in perpetuation of the university's mission of preparing students for lifelong learning, rewarding careers, and adaptive leadership, and for its' vision of changing lives for the common good!
