University Academic Assessment Committee

Meeting began at 9:00 AM

Committee Members Present:

Jarrod Rossi, Dr. Jeremy Alm, Dr. Donna Fong, Dr. Jackie Jensen-Vallin, Xenia Fedorchenko, Dr. Jenny Zhou, Dr. Ricardo Tovar-Silos

Committee Members Absent:

Dr. Kye Kang

Guests:

Dr. Samuel Jator, Dr. Kyle Boudreaux

Dr. Samuel Jator started the meeting by welcoming and thanking the committee for accepting the invitations to serve on the committee and asked everyone to go around and introduce themselves.

Jarrod mentioned to the committee to let everyone know if they were not aware that the Office of Assessment has moved from the Office of Accreditation and Assessment and now falls under Data, Analytics, Reporting, and Analysis.

Jarrod went over a brief overview of the duties of the new UAAC, including academic program, course, and core curriculum/course assessments. One aspect of the new UAAC will be to provide objective, standardized feedback to departments regarding assessment plans and reports. The committee will develop feedback rubrics that will be put into Watermark. The goal of this committee is to create and maintain a successful assessment process and continue to meet regularly.

Another task for the committee will be to define what constitutes an “academic program” with regards to assessment. Lamar will assess programs down to the concentration level. Dr. Samuel Jator and Dr. Kyle Boudreaux are meeting with departments who have concentrations and see if the “concentration” terminology is needed or if “track” or “emphasis” could be used instead.

• Related, a policy for stand-alone minors and stand-alone certificates will need to be developed, along with a policy for degrees that offer a teaching certification. Having these policies in place will allow for consistent assessment across the university.

Jarrod told the committee that assessment reporting will be moving over to the new Watermark this semester for the 2024-2025 academic year. Training starts on November 6, 2024.

Jarrod asked the committee for help in developing the academic assessment committee charter.

Money was secured for 3, $5000 assessment related grants. The committee will develop the application and selection criteria, and the information will be posted on the assessment website.