Queens University of Charlotte Media Release
May 26, 2010

When you think about assessment, do you hear a solemn funeral march ringing in your ears? Perhaps your eyes roll. Maybe you think of assessment as an endless cycle of jumping through hoops.

Those on the Assessment Committee at Queens University of Charlotte want to change that mentality. Five committee members presented their work during 2 sessions of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU) Assessment Conference this week.

The first presentation, entitled “The Little Committee that Could: How the Assessment Committee at Queens University of Charlotte implemented outcomes assessment campus-wide,” described the process employed by the committee to create a culture of assessment on campus. The presentation reinforced the notion that student learning outcomes should drive academic program assessment.

The committee’s second presentation focused on the budgetary implications of assessment data. In this presentation, committee members described their Spring 2010 demonstration project which successfully tied assessment data to resource allocation at the university.

Both sessions were well-received by conference attendees, which included faculty and administrators from campuses around the southeast. In addition to the Queens Assessment Committee members, invited speakers included Dr. Susan L. Bosworth, associate provost at the College of William & Mary, and Dr. Steven M. Sheeley, Vice-President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).