WINONA
STATE
UNIVERSITY
AL
UM
N
I
NEW S
Winter 2002
Research Grant Benefits Current Students nformation. It’s a powerful thing. When a
university knows what students think, want, and feel, the institution is able to respond with educational, recreational, building or maintenance needs that attract and retain students. In October 1999, the five-year funding cycle on
According to Dr. Susan Rickey—Hattfield who wrote the grant proposal and heads the University’s assessment efforts, “Students benefit from this
because they have an opportunity to tell us a lot about the university (through the web based
surveys) and also because their faculty have access
Winona State University’s $1.367 million
to data (like a summary of the courses that they've
Strengthening Institutions Grant, awarded by the United States Department of Education, began. The grant has funded the University’s efforts toward comprehensive assessment of all of its programs and services, enabling WSU to collect, analyze, and distribute information gleaned from surveys
taken) during advising.”
administered to students. This information is used to further strengthen the University’s enrollment,
physical plant, and programs. As part of the grant project, software was developed to integrate the various
WSU has just started the third year of the project
during which time the University has developed and implemented the student surveys and has pilot-tested some of the data access templates with faculty and staff. The College of The five colleges at WSU Business, the College of Science and Engineering, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, the College of Education, and the College of Liberal Arts have integrated the information from their —
—
student records databases
surveys and other assessment methods and have made changes in academic programs as a result of
on campus and web-
what has been learned. Surveys have sought such
based student surveys
information as student satisfaction in a number of
and templates were also
areas and
developed so faculty and
topics including their academic departments, advising, instructional methods and
staff could access the
materials, the skills students
data.
have been taught in the
The types and amount
departments, and the library
of information are not
and computer labs. In
only beneficial, but also timely. University officials
to describe how much time
have real-time access to
data which aids in timely decision making. Current
addition, students are asked
they spend in the library, meeting with advisors, and studying.
students who are
participating in the
continued on pg 5
research will benefit.
Postmaster: If undeliverable as addressed, please send Form 3579 to Office of University Advancement, Winona State University, PO. Box 5838, Winona, MN 55987-5838.
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