This annual award recognizes outstanding contributions, commitments, and efforts that academic and academic support programs have made to their improvement through full-cycle assessment.
The selected program will receive $1,000 to be used to advance its work on assessment, teaching and learning.
Programs may self-nominate for this award by sending an email to Elise Radina, Associate Provost, radiname@MiamiOH.edu, or the Provost Office, provost@MiamiOH.edu by December 5, 2025. Members of the University Assessment Fellows Committee may nominate programs also. The primary documents used for review are the annual assessment reports submitted for the previous three years.
For self-nominations, departments may submit a one-page memo that explains how the departmental assessment activity meets the selection criteria.
The University Assessment Fellows Committee reviews these documents and then selects and notifies the winner by the end of February. Award winners are recognized at the annual awards recognition event held in March.
Selection Criteria
Clear articulation of assessed learning or other outcomes
Clear alignment between outcomes and selected assessment measures
Use of multiple measures (direct, indirect)
Presentation of collected evidence
Involvement of key stakeholders (faculty, staff) in the assessment process
Use of assessment results for meaningful educational improvement
Educational improvement strategies tracked over time
Examples of activities that can be supported by the award funds include but are not limited to:
Assessment retreat
Faculty meetings or workshops on teaching and learning
Assessment consultant
Travel to assessment-related conference
Professional development funds for faculty member leading program-level assessment planning
Student employment for assessment assistance
Software to support assessment processes
Books or other resources on assessment
Incentives for students to engage in assessment processes (focus groups, surveys)
Past Winners
2025
Department of Languages, Literatures & Writing
2021
Department of Global & Intercultural Studies (BA, American Studies; BA, Latin American, Latino/a, and Caribbean Studies)
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (MS, Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering)
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (BA, Psychological Science)
2020
Department of Art (Art Education)
Department of Microbiology (Undergraduate education)
Department of Family Science and Social Work (M.A. Social Work)
2019
Project Dragonfly (Department of Biology)
Department of Political Science
Department of Engineering Technology
2018
Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering
