Small institutions face unique challenges gathering meaningful assessment data, like small sample sizes easily skewed by outliers, difficulty preserving anonymity in qualitative data, IR/IE offices with a staff of 1FTE or less, and low faculty bandwidth due to administrative multi-tasking. This session will offer participants a chance to share their small school struggles and explore how to lean into the strengths of a more personal environment by rethinking approaches to program review and assessment.   

Kristen Kearns, Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment, St. Patrick's Seminary and University

Program review is vital for academic quality and continuous improvement but often strains small universities with limited resources. Learn how American Jewish University (AJU)—a “micro” university with about 160 full-time students—built a sustainable, right-sized review system aligned with WSCUC standards. Through practical tools, case examples, and lessons from AJU’s five-year PLO/ILO-based cycle, participants will gain scalable strategies to strengthen program quality, generate actionable insights, and impress peer reviewers.

Robbie Totten, Provost, American Jewish University
Danielle Sassman, Associate Provost, Institutional Effectiveness, American Jewish University
Tracy Kurzy, University Registrar and Director of Assessment, American Jewish University

In 2022/2023, Saint Mary’s College revised its program review process to make it data informed, manageable and meaningful. This change revealed the need for robust faculty/staff training to become effective reviewers and understand assessment processes. In this presentation, we show how the use of faculty learning/working communities can increase internal capacity for these activities and create professional development opportunities for faculty and staff, even in economically challenging times. 

Vidya Chandrasekaran, Director of Assessment and Educational Effectiveness, Professor, Saint Mary's College of California
Jackson Battista, Program Review Committee Member, Professor, Saint Mary's College of California
Meghan Sweeney, Chair of Program Review Committee, Professor, Saint Mary's College of California
Nekesha Williams, Associate Professor and Program Director for the Environmental and Earth Sciences, Saint Mary's College of California