The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the National Orientation Directors Association (NODA) have recognized NIU’s Division of Student Affairs with significant national and regional awards for programmatic and personal accomplishments.
The Asian American Center was recognized nationally as a Bronze Award recipient at the 2006-07 NASPA Excellence Awards program for excellence in the International, Multi-Cultural, Cultural, LGBTQ, Spirituality, Disability category. The center received the Bronze Award, denoting its Peer Mentor Program as the third best program in the nation.
Denise Rode, director of Orientation & First Year Experience, was honored with the Outstanding Contributions to the Orientation Professions Award at NODA’s recent national conference.
Rode has made significant contributions to higher education through her publications, presentations, and active service in promoting excellence in student orientation, at NIU and across the nation. As an additional testament to her commitment to the profession, Rode has served as editor of the “Journal of College Orientation and Transition,” a national publication in the field of orientation, retention and transition.
Donna Schoenfeld, director of Health Enhancement, recently received the Mid-Level Student Affairs Professional Award from NASPA Region IV-East. Schoenfeld has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the profession and NASPA by serving as chair for the Region IV-E Health in Higher Education Knowledge Community. Schoenfeld was instrumental in implementing LEEEP (Life Enhancing Eating and Exercising Program), a Health Enhancement program that targets traditionally under-represented students.
NASPA Region IV-East also recognized NIU’s Unity in Diversity Steering Committee with the Celebration of Diversity Award. The award is based on an institution’s successful record of achievement in improving the campus climate for diversity through student development programming, personnel practices, equal opportunity, staff development activities and student support services. The Unity in Diversity Steering Committee, which reports directly to the vice president for Student Affairs, is comprised of NIU faculty, staff and students.
A new portfolio assessment program in the undergraduate nursing program is bringing about changes in the curriculum.
Under the leadership of Jeanette Rossetti, chair of the Portfolio Subcommittee; subcommittee members Sharon Coyer, Stacie Elder and Mary Elaine Koren; student members Julie Gebhardt and Hillary Kirschbaum; nursing administrative representative Connie Uhlken; nursing portfolio consultant Julie Robertson; and NIU Writing Across the Curriculum Coordinator Brad Peters, the nursing program launched the new portfolio assessment program for the undergraduate curriculum in the fall 2003 semester.
The Nursing Portfolio Program demonstrates the powerful impact faculty can have on improving the integrity of a curriculum when they come together as a group to assess curricular effectiveness.
Assessment is done on portfolios submitted from students at the end of their junior year to determine how well they are doing in the areas of critical thinking, therapeutic interventions, writing and self reflection. This submission time allows faculty to assess the effectiveness of the foundational nursing courses in preparing students for the important senior year. Feedback also is given to students about the strengths and weaknesses of their portfolios so they can focus on improving in weaker areas during their last academic year in the program.
Nursing faculty come together twice a semester to conduct portfolio assessment which involves three to four hours of faculty time each semester. Portfolio assessment consists of two sessions which are held during general faculty meetings.
The first is a preparatory session in which faculty assess the same two “practice” portfolios using the Nursing Portfolio Program Rubric, followed by a comparison of the faculty ratings. The preparatory session is crucial for ensuring inter-rater reliability. One or two weeks later, the formal assessment of student portfolios takes place. Faculty members assess portfolios in teams. Each portfolio is read and rated by two faculty reviewers according to the criterion on the rubric. If the two ratings differ more than one point, the portfolio will be read by a third faculty reviewer.
Following the reading and ranking of the portfolios, faculty members discuss strengths and weaknesses of the portfolios that were reviewed. It is during these faculty discussions that curricular issues are identified and solutions are considered. Issues also are sent to the Nursing Program Curriculum and Evaluation Committee for follow-up.
Faculty are changing assignments based on these curricular discussions and portfolio assessment findings. For example, the portfolio assessment trend data indicated that students were doing well in the assessment aspects of the nursing process but were weaker in the areas of interventions and evaluation. Consequently, some faculty changed assignments to include interventions and evaluation. As a result, nursing students are obtaining richer classroom experiences and thus benefiting from portfolio assessment findings.