University Assessment Committee

The University Assessment Committee (UAC) supports a process of continual self-evaluation and improvement across all educational programs at Rush University. In alignment with the Higher Learning Commission's criteria, the UAC serves as an oversight committee and primarily functions to review, provide recommendations to, and advise academic programs in accordance with the University’s assessment and evaluation plan/process. The UAC also collaborates with and advises the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE).

Learn more:

• Membership
• Committee Charges
• Process for Assessing Student Learning Outcome
• Additional Resources

Membership

The UAC consists of a minimum of 10 voting members, with representation from each of the four colleges, and additional non-voting (ex-officio) members.

Committee Charges

Program Review

• Oversee the academic program review process including reviewing academic program reports. 

Assessment of Student Learning 

• Review and analyze assessment and evaluation reports from various sources at the program, college, and university levels. 
• Request and review action plans developed in response to assessment and evaluation data/reports.
• Report assessment/evaluation findings and recommendations to relevant constituencies, serving as a liaison between OIE and respective programs and colleges.
• Review the University Assessment Plan every 3 years and recommend changes as needed.
• Review and contribute feedback on OIE’s assessment reports. 

Accountability

• Provide an annual report of UAC activities and recommendations to the University Faculty Council. 
• Periodically, the UAC and/or select members may be asked to directly participate in the preparation and/or review of materials for the University’s HLC accreditation. 

Process for Assessing Student Learning Outcome

The UAC annually collects student assessment data to provide programs an opportunity to present their outcomes related to their student learning objectives (SLOs). Student learning objectives are defined in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that a student has attained at the end (or as a result) of his or her engagement in a particular set of higher education experiences. In your program you might refer to these SLOs as terminal objectives or competencies. Student learning objectives should not be confused with program objectives or goals which might include graduation, employment, satisfaction, certification/licensure rates, etc. Although such indicators might be used as a proxy for instructional effectiveness, they are not direct measures of learning. 

On an annual basis, all program directors will:

1. submit their program’s terminal student learning objectives
2. provide outcomes data for 2 of these SLOs while describing the assessment methods employed to measure each outcome
3. describe how the reported outcomes will be used for the purpose of programmatic improvement
4. draft pertinent action items to help continuously improve student learning

Submit your program’s annual report of student learning outcomes

Additional Resources and Information

• Faculty Training for Annual Student Outcomes Reports
  • Training session PowerPoint (Rush login required)
  • Zoom session recording (Rush login required)
• Program Review Training
  • Video session recording (Rush login required)
• For more information on university-level reports and processes, please visit the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.