University Assessment Panel
(FS Bylaws, Article 4.8)

Membership of University Assessment Panel

4.8 University Assessment Panel

4.8.1 Composition The University Assessment Panel shall consist of the following members: 

4.8.1.1 Chair The assistant vice provost for assessment and accreditation or provost's designee in a similar role who shall serve as the chair of the University Assessment Panel, ex officio, nonvoting.

4.8.1.2 Faculty Representation Faculty members, which may include any full-time faculty as defined by Article 6.1.1 of the University Constitution and Bylaws, from each of the colleges, as follows: 

(A) Fourteen faculty representatives shall be chosen as follows: One from the College of Law; two each from the Colleges of Business, Education, Engineering and Engineering Technology, Health and Human Sciences, and Visual and Performing Arts; and three from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (one each from the areas of humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences);

(B) Faculty shall be elected by the college council of the college they represent, or by the college faculty if there is no college council. They shall serve three-year staggered terms beginning in the fall semester.

4.8.1.3 Staff Representation 

(A) One staff member from academic support and/or student affairs units, appointed by the vice provost for academic affairs.

4.8.1.4 Libraries Representation

(A) One staff or faculty member from the University Libraries.

4.8.1.5 Student Representation

(A) One or two students, undergraduate or graduate, shall be appointed annually as voting members of the panel. The appointments shall be made by the president of the Student Government Association from a list of nominees submitted by the college student advisory committees. Each student advisory committee shall be entitled to nominate annually one undergraduate or graduate student, as appropriate to degrees offered in that college. Terms of office for student members shall begin at the beginning of the fall semester; no such terms shall extend beyond the beginning of the succeeding fall semester. Students shall be eligible for reappointment to successive terms. If the Student Government Association appointment deadline passes without filling this membership position, then the UAP may nominate one or more students to be a member of the panel.

4.8.1.6 Administration Representation

(A) One associate or assistant dean responsible for curriculum assessment, appointed by those persons; they shall serve a two-year term beginning in the fall semester;

(B) Representative from the Office of Accreditation, Assessment and Evaluation, nonvoting, serving as an assistant chair;

(C) Associate director, Educator Licensure and Preparation, ex officio, nonvoting.

(D) Representative from the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, nonvoting.

4.8.2 Duties The duties of the University Assessment Panel shall be:

4.8.2.1 To review the university mission statement, other statements of university objectives, and state-level policies as a context for assessment;

4.8.2.2 To serve in an advisory capacity to review and provide input on activities pertaining to regional accreditation, and to support the university with preparation of assurance arguments and other initiatives conducted to fulfill accreditation mandates;

4.8.2.3 To provide advice on performance measures and benchmarks to be used externally for state approval and internally for program review processes;

4.8.2.4 To review and approve assessment plans for new programs prior to submission for IBHE review;

4.8.2.5 To work with the General Education Committee and the Committee on Initial Educator Licensure Preparation on assessment activities in the general education program and in initial teacher licensure programs, respectively;

4.8.2.6 To support campus-wide assessment activities to improve learning outcomes; to support programmatic assessment activities in coordination with academic program review schedule, advise departments preparing for program review, and provide input to the Academic Planning Council on assessment progress of student learning outcomes or programs under review;

4.8.2.7 To support departments and colleges preparing for the assessment component of discipline-specific accreditation reviews;

4.8.2.8 To review and update the university academic assessment plan to make recommendations for funding support for expanded assessment activities of departments and colleges.

4.8.2.9 To approach all of the listed duties with the goal of promoting equity in assessment practices; to support programs in identifying disparate impacts and equity gaps evidenced in student outcomes; and evaluating the effectiveness of these efforts.

University Assessment Panel
Meets the first and third Fridays of the month from 10 a.m. to noon.

Meeting Minutes