March 15, 2008

Student Affairs Leader - March 15, 2008 - Full Issue PDF
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An Accountability Program Primer for Administrators
By Trudy W. Banta
These are exciting times to be in the field of outcomes assessment in higher education. Thanks to the spotlight that Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has placed on collecting and reporting standardized test scores in secondary education, there is a lot of interest in the work my colleagues and I have done to help faculty identify and develop ways to assess student learning and institutional effectiveness and then use assessment findings to improve students’ educational experiences.

News Capsules
Northern Illinois University: At press time, we are still trying to digest the terrible news about the shooting at this close-to-home campus. Many of us here at Magna Publications are parents of college students, and so this tragedy affects us on many levels. We are left wondering what kind of world we have created for the next generation…and what steps we must take to address the many challenges that are rising to the surface.

A Clearer Picture of College Drinking
By Dennis R. Black
College and universities daily deal with student drinking and the consequences of their drinking. The severity and pervasiveness of harmful drinking has been documented over the years. Now, the federal National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has updated its 2002 report “A Call to Action: Changing the Culture of Drinking at U.S. Colleges.”

Fund-Raising 101
Increasingly, fund-raising is becoming a part of the portfolio for many student affairs administrators. In our experience, it is a time-consuming activity. It can also be a difficult task in tough economic times, as competition for dollars both within and without the institution increases.