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April 14, 2008
Division of Student Affairs Recognized by National Academic Standards Organization
Sandra Marquez Hall awarded for developing an efficient self-assessment strategy to strengthen university support areas.
Written by Sally Logue Post
Sandra Marquez Hall was awarded for her adaptation of the CAS self-assessment guidelines for the Division of Student Affairs.
A national academic standards organization has recognized the Texas Tech University Division of Student Affairs for its efforts to assess and strengthen its departments.
Sandra Marquez Hall, head of strategic planning for student affairs, submitted and received for her work conducted in the division the Ted K. Miller Achievement of Excellence Award in April from the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS).
The award, presented in Washington, D.C., is for Marquez Hall’s adaptation of the CAS review process for use by the 21 areas reporting to the Division of Student Affairs.
The Beginning
Texas Tech’s university-wide strategic plan requires departments to assess their goals each year. But the Division of Student Affairs leadership decided about two years ago to take that requirement a step further and look at how each department stacks up against standards established for higher education in the support areas.
The division includes student health services, the career center, residence halls, dining services, the student recreational center and many other support areas.
Jim Burkhalter, senior associate vice president, turned to the CAS assessment process to implement a plan to evaluate about four departments a year over a five-year period. Marquez Hall developed the training series and curriculum to help department directors navigate through the review process efficiently.
“My own area was one of the first to go through the process and we discovered that the tools were just too overwhelming,” she said. “I knew we had to simplify the process. So I went through and came up with some templates that rely on the CAS criteria, but are much easier for the departments to use.”
It’s that refinement of the original instruments by Marquez Hall that won the Division of Student Affairs the CAS award. She used the same basic 13 CAS criteria and tailored them to the different student services departments. The criteria measure everything from ethics to equity and access to facilities and technology to leadership.
“This is a self-evaluation tool and it requires a major commitment from our departments,” Marquez Hall said. “The training, curriculum and templates allow more people within a department to participate in the process and offer their input. In the end, they have all the information they need to write a final assessment report.”
Related
The Texas Tech Division of Student Affairs is devoted to enhancing the college experience through activities, facilities, programs and services available to all students.
Student Affairs is committed to the following values of
- Mutual respect and high ethical standards
- Cooperation and communication
- Creativity and innovation
- Community service and leadership
- Academic and intellectual freedom
- Pursuit of excellence
- Public accountability
- Diversity
The Assessment Process
The university’s Student Counseling Center is going through the process now. The department is presenting documentation related to the 13 CAS criteria to a committee comprised of Texas Tech faculty, students, staff and administrators outside the counseling center. The committee then rates the center using a four-point scale on how well they believe the center meets those criteria.
“Presenting to a committee outside our department gives us a fresh perspective about how our programs and services are perceived across a broad spectrum of the campus community,” said Eileen Nathan, director of the Student Counseling Center. “The process is useful because it challenges us to recognize any ruts we might be in unknowingly.”
Sandra Marquez Hall and Jan Childress accepted the CAS Ted K. Miller Award of Excellence on behalf of the Division of Student Affairs for advancing standards of practice for quality student programs and services.
An Added Component
Once a department has completed its assessment, another twist added by the division is to have an outside expert come in and evaluate the department’s evaluation.
“We ask nationally known experts in their fields to come in and look at the self-assessment reports and talk to the departments,” Marquez Hall said. “This is a piece our senior administrators wanted to add and I think it gives each department positive feedback and recommendations. I also think the experts we’ve had on campus already went away saying ‘they are doing some terrific things at Texas Tech.’ I think this award is another indication we’re doing good things here.”
Nathan is anticipating the outside review.
“I’m really looking forward to that part of the process,” Nathan said. “I believe it will be a unique opportunity to get feedback on every aspect of our department’s functioning from a counseling center director at a comparable university.”
Why Measure Performance
Michael Shonrock, vice president for student affairs, said it is vital to know how well the division is living up to its mission of promoting each student’s learning.
“Assessment of our departments is required in the university’s strategic plan, but this assessment plan allows us to dig deeper and look at how we measure up to the standards that have been established for higher education in the support areas,” Shonrock said. “The payoff is that we are better able to assess where we need to invest our resources in an effort to better our service and to help hold the line on college costs.”
Marquez Hall said the departments who have completed the process are now talking about how to strengthen any weak areas and are exploring improvements. Once every department has gone through an assessment, the process will start over again with the first departments.
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