Key Speakers
Ralph Wolff
Past president of WASC. He currently serves as an independent policy consultant focusing on accreditation reform and policy development, competency - based education and other innovations to improve access, completion and quality, and has begun a major study comparing structures and practices of quality assurance agencies globally, including an emphasis on international branch campuses. A graduate of Tufts University, Wolff received his J.D. with honors from the National Law Center at Geor ge Washington University. He is currently a Fellow of Meridian International, a global think tank, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.
George Kuh
Founding Director, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).Adjunct Professor at University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign, and Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at Indiana University. He is an internationally recognized authority on assessment and improving the quality of the undergraduate experience. He has received numerous awards for his research and academic leadership from both scholarly and practitioner-based organizations. He has published 23 books and monographs, 75 chapters, and 220 articles.
Abdullah A Alqataee
Vice President for testing and measurement, National Center for Assessment in Higher Education, Saudi Arabia. A former associate professor at King Saud University, Psychology Department, specialized in research and measurement. Major role in establishing gifted and talented program in the Ministry of Education and King Abdulaziz and Companions Foundation for gifted and talented. Major research in test bias detection methods, assessing cognitive processing, and Arabic language assessment. Has published in bias detection methods, tests validation, IQ test construction and research methods.
Amy Driscoll
Former director of teaching, learning, and assessment at California State University, Monterey Bay. She developed an institutional approach to outcomes-based education. Prior to that she served as the director of community/university partnerships at Portland State University, where she initiated community-based learning and community Capstones. She has presented at AAC&U conferences and the National Assessment Institute and has mentored more than 60 institutions in assessment. Her books include Taking Ownership of Accreditation: Processes That Promote Institutional Improvement and Faculty Engagement (Driscoll & Cordero de Noriega, 2006), and From Outcomes-based Assessment to Learner-centered Education (Driscoll & Wood, 2007).
Linda Suskie
An internationally recognized consultant t, speaker, writer, and workshop facilitator on a broad variety of higher education assessment and accreditation topics. After seven years as a Vice President at the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, she now works with colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad. She has 40 years of experience in higher education administration. She has extensive hands-on experience in assessment, institutional research, strategic planning, and quality management. She holds a B.A. in Quantitative Studies from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in Educational Measurement and Statistics from the University of Iowa.
Terry L. Rhodes
Vice President for Quality, Curriculum and Assessment at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). He is Director of the VALUE project [Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education], a major component of the Liberal Education and America’s Promise, or LEAP initiative at AAC&U focused on enhancing the quality of student learning and its assessment through rubrics and e-portfolios. Prior to joining AAC&U, he spent thirty years as a professor and academic administrator at St. John’s University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Portland State University. He is the author or editor of four books and numerous articles on politics, public administration and assessment.
Cyd Jenefsky
Vice Provost for Strategy and Educational Effectiveness at the University of the Pacific. Her many years of work with WASC includes serving on review teams, cofacilitating workshops on outcomes-based program review, mentoring at assessment workshops, serving on the task force on the Changing Ecology of Learning in Higher Education, co-authoring the WASC Resource Guide for ‘Good Practices’ in Academic Program Review, and newly serving on the Eligibility Review Committee. She previously served as Professor and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at John F. Kennedy University. She received her BA from UC-Davis and her MA and PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Susan Platt
Executive Director of Assessment in the Division of Student Affairs at California State University ,Long Beach. Susan is also on the leadership team of NASPA’s Knowledge Community “Student Affairs Partnering with Academic Affairs” and has recently offered numerous workshops at NASPA national conferences and the WSCUC ARC related to assessment partnerships. Susan is an adjunct faculty member in the College of Education at CSULB and teaches graduate level courses in quantitative research methods. She is a proud alumna of the WSCUC Assessment Leadership Academy, Cohort V.
Kevin Grant
Assistant Dean of Student Development and Special Appointment Faculty member at Biola University. In this role, he leads the divisional assessment efforts, supervises the Biola University Learning Center (Tutoring & Disability Student Services), office of Student Communications, Academic Support Courses and Co-leads the Student Assessment Scholars program. Kevin is a sought after speaker, strengths-based coach and part-time faculty at CSUF teaching Intro to Educational Research & Assessment. He is a proud alumnus of the WSCUC Assessment Leadership Academy, Cohort VI.
Jillian Kinzie
Associate director, Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and the NSSE Institute for Effective Educational Practice. She coordinates research and project activities to facilitate the use of student engagement data to promote educational effectiveness. She co-authored ‘Student Success in College: Creating Conditions that Matter (2005)’, ‘One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice (2006)’, and ‘Piecing Together the Student Success Puzzle (2007)’. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of College Student Development, on the Board of Contributors of About Campus, and on the Advisory Board of the National Resource Center for the First Year Experience.
Michael Neal
Associate Professor of English at Florida State University. Neal's research interests explore the intersections of composition, writing assessment, and digital technologies. His current research includes overseeing curatorial work in a digital archive, exploring ethical considerations of digital composition, studying identity development undergraduate research mentoring programs, and developing assessment frameworks for multimodal composition. Neal teaches undergraduate courses in the Editing, Writing, and Media track of the English major and graduate courses in composition theory, research methods, visual rhetoric, and digital convergence culture.