COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE (CASAC)
Achievements, Current Actions, and Challenges
(Rev. October 15, 2015)
Mission Statement
In collaboration with the EMU University Assessment Committee, CAS Dean’s office and the
College Advisory Council, CASAC is faculty-led and focused on assisting administrators,
faculty and programs in building systems to evaluate student learning from programmatic
perspectives.
Contributors to CAS’s Efforts to Assess Student Learning
 CAS Degree programs submit assessment reports and plans to CASAC, which
provides supportive responses and archives the documents.
 General Education courses: Through an agreement between CAS departments and
the General Education Program, departments are responsible to develop and
implement assessments of student learning in terms of the GEP’s student learning
outcomes (for list of SLOs, see, http://www.emich.edu/gened/gened/outcomes.php).
Assessment plans and reports are submitted to the General Education
Subcommittee on Assessment (GESA).
 Accredited programs (e.g., CAS education programs linked to College of Education)
may use accreditation reports for degree program submissions to CASAC.
What has CASAC accomplished in terms of assessment of student learning?
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Toward reaccreditation efforts and EMU’s continuous improvement model,
coordinated efforts with IRIM, University Assessment Committee, Provost’s and
Deans’ offices, Faculty Development Center, and college assessment committees.
Formed and sustained faculty-led assessment committees, which include
representative administrators (e.g., department heads, associate deans, and liaisons
from Halle Library, College of Education, General Education, and CAS).
Based on a decentralized model, and with faculty support, initiated, implemented,
sustained, and evaluated programmatic systems of assessing student learning.
Annually, solicited and reviewed assessment plans and reports for nearly 80% of
the 134 CAS programs.
Increased capacity among faculty who contribute to assessment systems (e.g., 50-60
CAS faculty members directly contributed to plans and reports during 2014-15).
Trained faculty through University Assessment Institute—coordinated by the Faculty
Development Center and members of CASAC (75 faculty over the past three years).
Improved program submission systems (e.g., constructed an online system).
Contributed to the University Assessment Committee and Steering Committee for
Higher Learning Commission Accreditation, among other accreditation efforts.
Submitted annual reports for review to the University Assessment Committee and
CAS Dean’s offices.
What is CASAC in the process of accomplishing?
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Configuring effective systems of assessment planning and reporting.
Building capacity among administration, faculty, and lecturers.
Coordinating efforts among the CAS degree programs, the General Education
Program, and accredited programs to enhance efficiency and avoid unnecessary
repetition.
Improving Web presence (e.g., exemplars, resources to support instructor and
administrative efforts, and a calendar of due dates and events).
Encouraging EMU administration to include assessment in strategic and budget
planning.
Encouraging and demonstrating to administration and instructors how to use
assessment results (and methods of “closing-the-loop”) as part of public relations.
What challenges does CASAC face?
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Improving methods of programmatic assessment of student learning. CASAC
urges a discipline-based approach, which makes sense for a comprehensive and
complex university; however, that also implies unique approaches to assessing
student learning that contributes to multiple and distinct data sets.
Enhancing methods and increasing resources for instructor training and for
soliciting, responding to, and representing programs’ assessment efforts.
Improving quality and number of resources available on assessment websites.
Training instructors for sustained assessment practices and expectations.
Supporting administrators and instructors in their efforts to improve
assessments practices, including how to use findings to promote programs.
Seeking administrator, faculty, lecturers and student feedback on assessment.
Engaging students in programmatic assessment processes.
Overall, EMU continues to shift the culture of assessment from efforts of individual
instructors only to programmatic and individual instructors.
CASAC Members for 2015-16
Faculty
Doug Baker, Faculty, English <douglas.baker@emich.edu>
John Dunn, Faculty, English <jdunnjr@emich.edu>
Jenny Kindred, Faculty, CMTA <jkindred@emich.edu>
Cynthia Macknish, Faculty, World Languages <cmacknis@emich.edu>
Department Heads
Arnold Fleischmann, Political Science <afleisch@emich.edu>
Jacqueline Goodman, Women’s & Gender Studies <jgoodma9@emich.edu>
Richard Sambrook, Geography & Geology <rsambroo@emich.edu>
Ex-Officio & Liaisons
Kate Mehuron, Associate Dean, ex-officio <kmehuron@emich.edu>
Chris Foreman, Liaison-Gen Ed, <cforeman@emich.edu>
Suzanne Gray, Liaison-Library, <sgray17@emich.edu>
Beth Kubitskey, Liaison-COE, <mkubitske1@emich.edu>