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For many, assessment can seem overwhelming, but this no longer seems to be true for the staff at the Student Center and Campus Activities (SCCA). Recently, the SCCA shifted their approach to assessment to make it less intimidating and more rewarding for their teams. To gain a better understanding of their new outlook and to see if they could offer suggestions on how to make it work for other departments, we sat down Lauren Kuski, the associate director of Programming and Administrative Operations, and Joe Lizza, director of the SCCA.

Lauren, who has taken charge of the new assessment initiative, said that the biggest change was to make assessment a “team effort rather than it being focused on one individual person.” While Lauren is the coordinator, additional team members have their own responsibilities that contribute to the initiative as a whole, and she ensures that everyone is able to stay on track and complete their work to make the process run smoothly. She has made it part of her role to open up the discussion that assessment can - and should - take place “throughout the year, rather than that one time of year you’ve always collected data. We’re having these conversations consistently, talking about what we have hopes and dreams of accomplishing - for our department as well as what we’re interested in, generally. Intentional and consistent assessment can have a big impact on those outcomes.”

Some of the biggest changes directly attributed to assessment are those they’ve seen with staff engagement. “Our professional staff and graduate staff are dedicated and they know what we’re trying to accomplish with our assessment initiative - this makes the process more straightforward,” said Lauren. Joe added that it helps when assessment is, “meaningful for [the staff] in their roles. If you tell someone that they have to assess something and they feel that it is not either important, relevant, or it doesn’t need to be assessed, they are not going to put the full effort in.” When staff understands the purpose, it becomes easier for them to participate, it is less daunting to implement, and everyone feels that they have gained meaningful information. 

The SCCA employs approximately 100 undergraduate students in seven areas. These areas range from facilities, who help keep the building pristine, to É«ÀÇÉçÇø After Hours (RAH), which hosts events every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night for É«ÀÇÉçÇø students. Through their new strategic evaluations, the SCCA has been able to gain a better understanding of the student employee experience. They have found that over 96% of student staff were satisfied with their experience. Additionally, more than 93% of student employees feel that they have grown and improved their professional skill sets.

One of the most important categories Lauren has been able to analyze is overall well-being of SCCA student employees. This area is important for a variety of reasons, most notably its contribution to: improving student retention within the university, giving students a comfortable space to discuss any concerns, and forming deep-rooted connections to É«ÀÇÉçÇø and the SCCA. According to Lauren, SCCA student employees feel, “our environment is safe, welcoming, and inclusive. They feel more connected to the university community and they have made friendships within our department.” 

The connection to the university that is fostered through SCCA employment is a point of pride for Lauren. “We’re seeing that we’re retaining more students at SCCA. A lot of our students say that part of the reason they decide to stick with É«ÀÇÉçÇø is because they work for us and they found a community.” Additionally, feedback has revealed that employment has allowed students to feel more prepared for what is to come after they graduate, whether it be graduate school or professional employment.

Assessment has greatly benefitted the SCCA and they believe that it may also be advantageous for other Student Affairs departments. Lauren and Joe shared some tips with us for how other teams may be able to approach assessment in a less daunting and more beneficial way.

• Start small - Breaking up assessment into smaller sections, such as by month instead of by year, makes it easier to tackle.
• Know what you’re assessing and why. Being able to understand the “why” of assessment allows employees to see its value and recognize the positive changes it can bring about.
• Create a common, clear, and specific language to use in assessment. This will allow all team members to understand all aspects of assessment, including its results and goals.
• Use a calendar. This allows departments to plan out time for assessment at the beginning of a period, which makes it easier to complete evaluations and keep all employees on the same page.
• Tell a story. Assessment is storytelling - spending the time and energy to educate your team on how this all fits in [and] why it matters allows you to decide what story you want to tell across campus about your department.
• Understand that not everything can be assessed at once and determine which areas to focus on in order to make assessment simpler.

The SCCA has demonstrated that assessment can actually be a lot simpler than it may initially seem and it has the ability to bring about many positive changes. Viewing this task with a fresh approach can generate both large and small positive changes in your department, too!