Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Responsibilities

• Provide guidance to the assurance argument process in terms of planning, organization, and timetables.
• Plan the assurance argument, including the committee structure, its membership, the assurance argument timetable, campus-wide meetings and the development of the assurance argument plan.
• Orient and educate both members of the various criterion sub-committees and the campus community regarding the assurance argument process, particularly regarding the concept of institutional effectiveness.
• Inform all constituents of the progress of the assurance argument and coordinate communication among the committees.
• Monitor the entire assurance argument process including focus, research, clarification, drafting, and revision.
• Work with administration and other functioning areas on campus to schedule on-campus workshops and/or assemblies related to the assurance argument process.
• Develop a system for cataloging and storing evidence in order to build a resource depository for NPU’s assurance argument committees and the Higher Learning Commission visiting team. The coordinator will be assisted by resource team members and other committee members to complete this project.
• Report any non-compliance issues to the provost and upper administration.
• Oversee the final phases of the assurance argument document.
• Serve as a primary liaison to the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and NPU to prepare, if needed, any follow-up concerns noted by the visiting team.
• Through the Office of the Provost, update upper administration and the Board of Trustees on a regular basis.
• Guide the executive committee towards producing an addendum to update the assurance argument report for the HLC visiting team.

Steering Committee Members

Committee Co-Chair: Lisa Bunu Ncube, Associate Provost for Institutional Assessment and Professor
Committee Co-Chair: Sumi Song, Director of Global Education Office of International Affairs

Criterion 1. Mission

Chair: Karl Clifton Soderstrom, Professor, Philosophy
Ellen Almer, Senior Content Manager, UMC

Criterion 2. Integrity: Ethical and Responsible Conduct

Chair: Lori Scrementi, Dean, School of Professional Studies
Ann Hicks, Dean & Professor, SBNM
Sharee Myricks, Office of Diversity

Criterion 3. Student Learning and Effective Teaching

Chair: Ted Zervas, Professor of Education / Coordinator of MATC

Criterion 4. Teaching and Learning: Evaluation and Improvement

Chair: TBD
Susan Rabe, Associate Dean & Professor, Humanities
Emily Wagner, Associate Director, Seminary Student Services

Criterion 5. Resources, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness

Chair: Trevor James, Associate Dean of School of Professional Studies, Associate Professor, Director of Business Program
Amy Governale, Assistant Professor of Psychology Graduate and Adult Programs
Lee Sundholm, Professor of Economics, School of Business and Nonprofit Management
Rob Anderson, Assistant Director of Finance, Senior Accountant

Federal Compliance

Chair: Aaron Schoof, Senior Director of Data and Administrative Services

Evidence Collection and Cataloging

Chair: Matt Ostercamp, Library Director

Campus Outreach and Education

Chair: Liza Ann Acosta, University Dean & Professor
Melissa Pavlik, Director of the Writing Center & Assistant Professor

Quality Initiative

Chair: Sumie Song, Director of Global Education

Seminary Representatives

Chair: Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, Interim Dean of Faculty, Professor of Theology & Ethics