Assessment Steering Committee Meeting
MINUTES
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009
TYPE OF MEETING Assessment Steering Committee
FACILITATOR
NOTE TAKER
Jim Sherohman, University Assessment Director
ATTENDEES
11:00-12:00
AMC- Mississippi Room
Holly Evers
HCOB: Carol Gaumnitz Cont. Studies: Patricia Aceves
COE: Elaine Ackerman Academic Affairs: Mitch Rubinstein
COFAH: Wendy Bjorklund Undergraduate Studies: Amos Olagunju
COSE: Maria Womack Graduate Studies: Melanie Guentzel
COSS: Joe Melcher Student L&D: Jim Knutson-Kolodzne
LRTS: Chris Inkster Institutional Research: Kim Oren
Gen Ed: Vacant Student: Vacant
Guest: Michael Gilbert (UGS)
Topics
MOTION
DISCUSS
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 10, 2008
Motion to approve minutes – Wendy Bjorklund
2 nd - Chris Inkster
Motion passes unanimously.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Jim Sherohman reminded committee members that we ended the semester with feedback from our HLC Assessment Academy Electronic Network mentor. After a brief discussion, he will send out copies of our response to the academy mentor to the committee.
Attendance at the assessment workshop’s during January Workshop Days was good:
 Linking Course Level Assessment of Student Learning to Program
Assessment on Tuesday at 9am had 27 attendees
 11 people attended the program on the 2007-8 Assessment Grants
 15 people attended the program on CLA in the classroom. The attendees seemed very interested in the program, which suggests that a CLA in the
Classroom Academy in St. Cloud would attract many participants. Dr
Sherohman noted that CLA has offered many academies recently. For example, within the next three months it is offering one in La Crosse and three in Madison.
A proposal for a presentation on the SCSU Assessment Peer Consulting Program was accepted for the Assessment Academy Learning Exchange and Showcase, which is held in conjunction with the HLC annual meeting. An accompanying paper coauthored by Elaine Ackerman, Wendy Bjorklund, Lisa Foss, Sandra Johnson, Joe
Melcher, and Jim Sherohman will be published in the Collection of Papers for the HLC

MOTION
DISCUSS
MOTION
DISCUSS
MOTION
DISCUSS conference.
OTHER REPORTS
Kim Oren reported that he and several other ASC members will be meeting with a
Student Life and Development leadership committee and representatives from other units that assess learning outside of courses, to discuss incentives and rewards for doing assessment work. He will report back to the committee on their discussion.
COMMITTEE BUSINESS
Retention Study
Kim Oren gave committee members a briefing on the plans for a data driven retention study. He passed out copies of the data that the University possesses on all incoming students and asked for feedback. They are trying to determine if any of the information can be used to predict retention and graduation. They are going to see what patterns emerge after data mining. n/a
Committee Composition
At the December 10 meeting Jim Sherohman described feedback from an
Assessment Academy mentor who noted the occasional collaboration between CETL and Assessment and asked about the prospects for future collaboration. In response, a committee member suggested that we consider adding the CETL Director to the committee, which led to this item being placed on the January 14 meeting agenda.
The committee considered the following:
 CETL and University Assessment often collaborate and have overlapping goals
 CETL representation on the Assessment Steering Committee would facilitate communication and would enable both CETL and Assessment to more effectively meet their goals
 The Director of CETL agrees with the previous points and supports adding the CETL Director position to the Assessment Steering Committee.
Motion to add the director of CETL to the University Assessment Committee-
Wendy Bjorklund
2 nd - Elaine Ackerman
Motion passes unanimously.
Possible visit to SCSU by John Tagg
John Tagg, author of The Learning Paradigm, will be in Bloomington for the upcoming
Collaboration Conference on February 13 th and 14 th . Dan Wildeson has invited him to come to campus the day before the conference (February 12 th ). He is seeking individuals to help with planning the visit, as well as, any other support that we can offer. A planning meeting is tomorrow; let him know if you would like to attend.
Motion to approve up to $500 to support a visit to the University by John Tagg-
Joe Melcher
2 nd - Elaine Ackerman
Motion passes unanimously.