Assessment and Accreditation Council
The Assessment and Accreditation Council advises on and facilitates matters related to:
- Student learning outcomes assessment
- The University's reaffirmation of accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission
In 2008, the Council was charged by the Provost to look more comprehensively at student learning outcomes assessment. Over the past eight years, the Council has been working to facilitate a campus-wide effort focusing on the assessment of student learning outcomes at both the undergraduate and graduate curricular and the co-curricular levels. As part of their early efforts, the Council developed a first-generation framework for the assessment of student learning outcomes and established an annual Learning, Teaching and Assessment Forum. Following Northwestern's 2014-15 accreditation review, the Council established a Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Subcommittee in September 2015. The subcommittee's charge is to work across schools and units to identify strategies that encourage and support assessment at the course, program, and school level. The subcommittee comprises members of the Assessment and Accreditation Council as well as additional faculty members and staff involved in assessment activities. In 2015-16, the Subcommittee developed a strategic framework for assessment within Northwestern's decentralized model to articulate an institutional strategy for student learning assessment.
Additional information about learning assessment at Northwestern, including the strategic framework and efforts of the Council and Subcommittee, can be found on the Searle Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning's Assessment of Student Learning website.
In addition, the Council serves as an advising body for the University's reaffirmation of accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission. Northwestern was recently reaffirmed for accreditation in July 2015 and will undergo its next comprehensive evaluation for reaccreditation in 2024-25. More information about Northwestern's accreditation process can be found on the University Accreditation page.
Council Members
- Bennett Goldberg, Committee Chair and Director, Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching, Assistant Provost for Learning and Teaching
- Rob Aaron, Executive Director of Student Affairs Assessment and Planning, Student Affairs
- Mark Adler, Professor of Pediatrics (Emergency Medicine) and Medical Education, Feinberg School of Medicine
- Megan Blackwelder, Associate Vice President of Program Review, Administration and Planning
- Ron Braeutigam, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Harvey Kapnick Professor of Business Institutions, Economics, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
- Stephanie Brehm, Academic Affairs Program Coordinator, The Graduate School
- Wes Burghardt, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Engineering and Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Susanna Calkins, Director, Faculty Initiatives, Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching
- Shoshannah Cohen, Manager of Institutional Analysis, Administration, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
- Andrea Conklin Bueschel, Associate Provost for Strategy and Policy, Office of the Provost
- Debbie Crimmins, Associate Director of Institutional Research, Office of Administration and Planning
- Mary Finn, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
- Sharisse Grannan, Assessment Associate, Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching
- Larry Hedges, Board of Trustees Professor of Statistics and Social Policy, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
- Linda Jacobs, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, Bienen School of Music
- Jake Julia, Vice Provost for Administration, Office of the Provost
- Kyla Katz, Director of Advising and Student Affairs, Studies Advisor, and Lecturer, School of Communication
- Peter Kaye, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate and Credit Programs, School of Professional Studies
- Christopher Martin, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs: Curriculum, Pritzker School of Law
- Michael Mazzeo, Associate Professor, Strategy, J. L. Kellogg School of Management
- Michele M McDonough, Lecturer, Molecular Biosciences, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
- Lisa Metzger-Mugg, Executive Director, Administrative Initiatives, Office of the Executive Vice President
- Leah C. Neubauer, Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine; Director, Accreditation and Assessment, Program in Public Health, Feinberg School of MedicineDevelopment and Assessment, Health Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine
- Susan Olson, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, School of Education and Social Policy
- Laura Panko, Assistant Dean (Academic), Administration, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
- Amit Prachand, Assistant Vice President, Information & Analytics, Administration and Planning
- Jenny Puchtel, Director of Change Management, Office of Change Management
- Angela Ray, Associate Dean for Academic Affair, The Graduate School
- Robyn Schuster, Director, Dean's Office, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications
- Babette Seligmann Sanders, Associate Professor, Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine
- Roxanne Sellberg, Associate University Librarian for Research and Administrative Strategies, Library Administration
- Patricia Telles-Irvin, Vice President for Student Affairs
- Lee West, Director of Undergraduate Education, Office of the Provost
- Charles Whitaker, Associate Dean (Academic), Professor, Clinical, Journalism, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications
- Hariclea Zengos, Director, NU-Q Liberal Arts Program, NU Qatar