Office of Assessment and Accreditation

The Office of Assessment and Accreditation (OAA) supports an academic environment and campus-wide culture of continually striving for improvement; in particular, to ensure an excellent education for all WSU students.  OAA  collaborates with all campus offices and constituencies to assist the institution in data-informed decision making.  To this end, we are led by the following goals:

ASSESSMENT

To view assessment primarily as a structured process of improvement. We strive to provide guidance to the entire University that will assist and support cyclical and ongoing outcome-based, evidence-based self-assessment; in particular, our goal is to foster a culture of academic and pedagogical excellence supported by self-evaluation to identify areas of improvement

ACCREDITATION

To coordinate and centralize accreditation pursuits across the institution, including records keeping and maintenance of relevant data platforms. OAA will be a source of counsel, resources, and information for all areas of the university with respect to accreditation, supporting both programmatic and institutional accreditation. Recognizing there are many non-accredited programs on campus, OAA will also support them in regular program review and improvement efforts

PLANNING

To support and organize ongoing University planning efforts as they relate to accreditation, ensuring all departments, offices, and divisions align with large-scale university plans. Additionally, OAA will continually assess and update planning guides and planning support documents to reflect trends and shifts in the landscape of higher education

DATA

To provide data to the campus community to support evidence-based decision making at all levels of the institution