Prompted by a negative accreditation report that put the institution on notice as needing to address resistance among faculty and administrators to engage in systematic assessment work, the senior leadership at Bourn University launches an initiative to develop a university-wide integrated assessment program. A new Vice Provost for Academic Programs position (filled by Dr. Nadine MacArthur) is created to spearhead the effort. Aware of long-standing campus animosity generated by the current system, Vice Provost MacArthur adopts a process designed to foster both new ideas and a new campus mindset about assessment. The case describes the process undertaken to create an assessment system that is empirically rigorous and politically acceptable. Following a two and a half year development period, Bourn’s first complete assessment cycle is implemented. More academic departments participate in subsequent rounds of the assessment process. Ultimately, Bourn passes its focused reaccreditation visit, though additional recommendations are issued in order for the institution to satisfy all accreditation criteria during its next visit in four years.

Subjects: Assessment, Performance Indicators, Planning
Setting: Private, Research University