Presentation: An important step in assessment

By now, we're all in the midst of semester frenzy. The last thing on our minds might be presentations. However, to make our assessments more useful to many audiences, we need to be getting "out there."

Obviously, we know about big national conferences, such as NASPA, ACPA, and AIR, as well as the major national conferences in the various fields of student affairs work. However, a growing number of opportunities to discuss assessment are also rising. Let me describe the one we host here at the University of Michigan.

In 2004, the University of Michigan Division of Student Affairs hosted its first ever Research Symposium. This event was meant to elevate the use of research across the Division of Student Affairs, and to start conversations and collaborations between units. We wanted an event that was about all aspects of research and assessment in student affairs. It was deliberately not about "let's show off our numbers," but more inclusive of presentations at all stages. Certainly, results were great, but so were presentations talking about methods, application of results to practice, and research design dilemmas. Our target audience was not just researchers in student affairs, but the whole range of student affairs professionals. We're seeing more and more of our colleagues not only develop skills, but also excitement around what they learn about their educational efforts.

Our Research Symposium is open to colleagues across the nation, and we hope that many of you will consider sending a proposal or simply attending. I've included the call for proposals in this post so you can save the date and plan to join us. This is intentionally a symposium for all engaged in student affairs work. Assessment loses meaning if only a few of us are discussing it.

We're also excited to hear from others who have developed these efforts. We have one approach, and we would love to hear about how other colleagues are pursuing this work.

The Division of Student Affairs at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce calls for proposals for Deconstructing Theory to Practice: The Sixth Annual Student Affairs Research Symposium on 12 May 2009. The 2009 Student Affairs Research Symposium invites presentations from staff, students, and faculty on topics related to issues of theory to practice in our work with students.

As we integrate theory and practice, we examine how to apply research to our daily work with students, and apply what we learn from students to research in progress. Questions we'll pursue include:

•     How do we use data to make decisions, large and small?
•     How do the developmental theories we read change our behavior with students?
•     As we finish an assessment or research project, what do we do with the information we have collected?
•     How does practice inform research and theory?

The call for proposals will describe more about how you and/or your colleagues can submit proposals for this event. Get to the call for proposals at:

http://www.umich.edu/~rsa/symposium09call.html

We invite our colleagues at institutions across the nation to share their research and dilemmas, to build a true dialogue around the application of theory to practice and the ways that practice shapes theory. If you have particular colleagues who you would like to see present (or who you would like to join in collaboration), please forward this message.

Proposals are due 15 January 2009, and should be sent to mmatney@umich.edu.

If you have questions, please contact Malinda Matney, Senior Research Associate for the Division of Student Affairs, at mmatney@umich.edu. This promises to be an exciting day of conversations and collaboration with our colleagues, both within the University of Michigan's Division of Student Affairs and from student affairs areas nationally.