Student Affairs Assessment Council (SAAC)

The Student Affairs Assessment Council (SAAC) was established in 2000 by then Vice President for Student Affairs, Barbara Holman, in response to a call for accountability within higher education through formalized and transparent assessment efforts.

Since her arrival at UM in 2003, Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Teresa Branch has maintained the original structure of the Council but evolved the types of assessment to include learning outcomes.

The VPSA initiated a 7-year process of program reviews for the purpose of ensuring that units are maintaining standards of service delivery in keeping with national benchmarks. Internal and external reviews assist in measuring the effectiveness in attaining the department's goals.

This program review process is an integral part of the planning-assessment continuum. Conversations about program reviews are included in the work of the Council.

In 2012 the Division of Student Affairs contracted with CampusLabs (formerly Student Voice) to use the Baseline module to improve the assessment efforts of the Division.

Members

The Student Affairs Assessment Council is comprised of a representative from each department within Student Affairs, a representative from the Office of Budgeting, Planning, and Analysis, and a faculty member. The 2011-2012 Council members include:

• Teresa Branch, Vice President for Student Affairs
• Liz Roosa Millar, Chair, University Center
• William Innes, Office of Budgeting, Planning, and Analysis
• Terri Jarvey, American Indian Student Services
• Sonja Tysk, Campus Recreation
• Laurie Fisher, Career Services
• Linda Green, Curry Health Center
• Mika Watanabe-Taylor, Disability Services for Students
• Juana Alcala, Enrollment Services
• Mona Mondava, Foreign Student and Scholar Services
• Melissa Steinike, Griz Card Center
• Rita Tucker, Residence Life
• Kelly Magnuson, Residence Life
• Jesse Neidigh, Student Affairs Information Technology
• Adrianne Donald, University Center
• Jennifer McMillan, University Center
• Byron Drake, University Dining Services

Charge

The Student Affairs Assessment Council (SAAC):

   1.  Assists units in assessment of their programs and services to evaluate how well the Division of Student Affairs is fulfilling its mission by: 

a. discussing and reviewing assessment projects and procedures of individual units;

b. facilitating collaboration on projects; and

c. serving as a forum for members to improve assessment skills and sharing ideas.

   2.  Meets monthly to help units stay on task with assessment, keep the VPSA informed of assessment projects, and to further development assessment skills.

Types of assessment include:

1. collection and analysis of retention data, statistics, and demographic information;
2. student satisfaction surveys;
3. program evaluations and assessments of learning outcomes; and
4. departmental program reviews (internal and external).

Assessment Plans and Reports:

Each Student Affairs unit is encouraged to utilize individualized assessment plans to guide the annual assessment process. The SAAC compiles a division-wide assessment plan at the beginning of each assessment cycle. The Division requires annual assessment reports from all Student Affairs units, which are compiled by the VPSA office and published individually to this website. These reports serve as a resource within the Division and provide evidence of assessment for review by the Accreditation Committee and other interested constituents.