1992-93 academic year The Communications department begins surveying its graduating seniors and alumni to obtain information that can improve departmental programs.

Spring 1995 Dr. Frank Mastrianna (Dean) formed a committee comprised of two representatives from each of the three Business departments (Management and Marketing, Accounting, Economics and Finance). It was their task to develop an assessment program that would be acceptable to the faculty yet fulfill all present and future accreditation requirements. The components of their assessment program are as follows. First, based on employer feedback, recommendations by our Business Board of Visitors (1994), and faculty discussion, three skills were identified as being important for students to possess upon graduation. Specifically, they were communications skills – both written and oral and interpersonal skills. The second component was an external measure of what students learned in their major. The third component was an evaluation of our programs by our students. Next, assessment instruments were either identified or developed to assess each of these components. For the skills assessment, skills evaluation forms were developed. The ETS Field Exam in Business was selected as an external measure of our students’ business knowledge, while two surveys, the Senior Exit Survey and Alumni Survey, were developed to gain feedback from both our current students and alumni.

June 1996 Several CISBA faculty members attended an assessment workshop at Alverno College.

Fall 1996 The business departments follow the accountability approach of Jim Nichols of Institutional Effectiveness Associates. This approach focuses on goals, objectives, and measurement of objectives. Lori Zulauf (Accounting), Dave Culp (Economics and Finance), Abbass Alkhafaji (Management and Marketing) and Rich Arthur (Communications) as well as faculty and an administrator from several other colleges attended a workshop directed by Jim Nichols at California University of PA.

Fall 1996 In the wake of the Alverno workshop, the Computer Science department initiated work on a one-page form for each course that includes course objectives, instruction methods, and assessment techniques. For each of the department's three degrees, there are outcomes and abilities. Typical outcomes for the degrees are problem solving, critical, thinking, communication, and ethics. The department created a grid to see which abilities were covered in each course in two of the three majors (the information technology degree is a bit too new, yet).

Computer Science has surveys at various levels for each degree. Deborah Whitfield says that "these surveys are being revised as the questions were of the form 'Was xyz covered' and we received great responses (90% success!!!) This didn't give us much to work with so we are currently revising the surveys and making sure questions from each ability are asked and we will have four longitudinal questions (one for each outcome)."

Summer 1997 Based on CISBA’s mission statement, goals and objectives were proposed for the Business departments (and later approved by the faculty – Fall 1997)

November 1997 Lynn Guhde (Management and Marketing) and Lori Zulauf (Accounting) attended the Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis Assessment Conference.

1998-99 academic year An assessment report by the business departments shows that these departments follow a multi-pronged assessment approach.

• Program quality is assessed using an exit survey, an alumni survey, and enrollment and attrition figures.

• Oral, written and interpersonal skills are assessed with skills assessment forms and both surveys.

• Appreciation of cultural diversity is assessed with exit survey, scores obtained from the ETS Field Exam, and participation in international experiences.

• Business knowledge is assessed using the ETS Field Exam

• Preparedness to enter the workforce is assessed using an exit survey, an alumni survey, and job placement rates.

1998-99 academic year The Communication department developed goal statements that could be measured. The department determined what a graduate should know and be able to do and worked backward from there.

1999-00 academic year The Assessment Committee’s focus became continuous improvement as well as on-going evaluation and improvement of assessment techniques. Results from all assessment instruments over the past five years were summarized and analyzed by the committee. Based on the data analysis, the committee made program quality improvement recommendations to the business faculty.

Departments That Have Accreditation Requirements and Descriptions of Those Requirements

The Accounting, Economics and Finance, and Management and Marketing departments are all accredited by the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs.

Every ten years, SRU’s business departments undergo an ACBSP Accreditation. Business faculty perform a detailed self-appraisal measured against a set of ACBSP standards (see below) that define the characteristics of a quality program. After the self-appraisal is accomplished, a group of ACBSP-trained peers from other institutions come to SRU, and review the level of compliance with the standards. The report of the evaluation and the self-study are reviewed by yet another group of peers who are empowered to determine whether a program meets the standards and is, therefore, accredited.

ACBSP Standards

• Leadership

• Strategic planning

• Student and stakeholder focus (how the school determines requirements and expectations of students and stakeholders, e.g., employers, alumni, communities, etc.)

• Information and analysis (outcomes assessment program with evidence that the results are being used to improve the program)

• Human resource management and development

• Educational and business process management (the curriculum must include subjects dealing with the specifics of the global workplace and the more general aspects of global society)