President's Office
Monday Morning Memo
November 3, 2008
Dear NMSU Campus Community:
"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals."
– Marie Curie (1862-1934)
Good morning! Thank you to everyone who hosted and participated in our Homecoming 2008 activities. It was great to see so many returning alumni and learn about their successes. We also enjoyed sweet success as our women’s volleyball team defeated Boise State in three sets and our men’s and women’s basketball teams emerged victorious in their respective exhibition games.
As we celebrate the successes on campus and in our community, it is important to share the progress NMSU is making to assess its efforts. Our recent reaccreditation by the Higher Learning Commission—with a full ten-year accreditation for the first time in our history—has become a springboard for renewed energy and increased efforts in improving education. Significant strides were made to chart new directions in using evidence of student learning to improve courses and programs. Based on these strides, NMSU developed an action plan to move forward.
Incorporating assessment at the heart of the institution is the driving force of this plan and various units across campus are making great strides in promoting dynamic new strategies to measure improvement. Some of our noteworthy endeavors include:
- The Division for Student Success has worked on moving from operational outcomes to learner centered outcomes – the focus is on the student, not the process. They have recently published Charting a Map to Student Success: Learning Outcomes (available at http://success.nmsu.edu/plan-of-action-080708.pdf).
- The Teaching Academy has brought in numerous guest speakers to develop faculty understanding and application of assessment in the classroom and how it can positively impact their scholarship. The Teaching Academy also continues to offer workshops and discussion groups dealing with all levels of assessment, including program and general education assessment.
- Each of our academic colleges is working on assessment programs. The College of Education has implemented Tk-20, an online system that helps track students’ progress and gives individual instructors immediate feedback on student success. The College of Arts and Sciences successfully launched the first round of assessment for the State Common Core during the past academic year. The colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics, Business, Engineering, as well as Health and Social Services are actively participating in initiatives that allow them to measure quality and secure progress.
- Several university-wide assessment groups have been building a culture of assessment across campus. New support mechanisms are being put into place to build alliances with departments to improve programs and services, strengthen communication and understand how assessment promotes program excellence.
We look forward to initiating new directions as we strengthen our commitment to continuous improvement in everything we do. Have a great week and Go Aggies!
Waded Cruzado
