Spotlight for Career Services Professionals, October 26, 2011 

Three years ago, the division of student affairs at Stony Brook University created an assessment team and charged it with building capacity for staff to use assessment as part of planning and practice.   

“While functional areas were expected to use assessment in their departments, the team wanted to create an initiative that would support student learning across all functional areas and focus on something we had in common,” explains Marianna Savoca, Stony Brook’s career center director. “We chose student employment.”  

The team chose the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ (AACU) Essential Learning Outcomes as the basis for its initiative. AACU’s essential learning outcomes include: 

• Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
• Intellectual and Practical Skills
• Personal and Social Responsibility
• Integrative and Applied Learning

“As the director of the career center, I advocated for an additional outcome: career development,” Savoca notes.  

The team used theories of student development as a foundation from which members created observable behaviors for each outcome. Supervisors of student employees—some of whom have no background in student development theory—attend training sessions each semester.  

“We can’t expect staff to assess student development without them having a good understanding of what that involves,” Savoca explains.   

Each functional area in Stony Brook’s division of student affairs chooses a focus for the year from among the five outcomes. At the beginning of the term, supervisors review with their employees the expectations for learning and development beyond the scope of job responsibilities.   

“Periodically throughout the year there are brown bag lunch meetings for staff to gather and discuss their unit plans, get help and suggestions from each other, and share best practices,” Savoca notes.  

In terms of program outcomes, she says: “We know the program has improved student learning based on year-end assessments conducted by supervisors. Supervisors also have shared results during debrief meetings at the end of each year. 

She adds that “SELO,” as the program is being called at Stony Brook, is now part of a larger divisional staff development initiative, through which staff may earn a certificate in assessment.   

“The most exciting thing happening this year is that we have offered SELO to supervisors of students outside of our division,” Savoca says. “These supervisors will be invited to our trainings, brown bags, and other capacity-building activities so they will engage their students in a more purposeful, learning-oriented experience.” 

For more information on Stony Brook University’s initiative, see http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/assessment/toolkit.shtml.