Skip to content

Student & Program Assessment

UC Merced landscape

UC Merced Principles of Assessment

The University of California, Merced, unites high-quality undergraduate, graduate and research programs in a community bound by learning, discovery and engagement. UC Merced’s Principles of Assessment draw on the inquiry-oriented mindset of a research university, and embody the aspirational values and intentions of assessment as engaged by faculty, staff and students across the campus as supporting the excellence in our mission of education, research and public service. The Principles implicitly respect and support shared governance, in particular the faculty’s direct control of the educational curriculum and degree programs as empowered by the UC Board of Regents.

SSHA Office of Student & Program Assessment

In keeping with the campus’s Principles of Assessment, we advocate academic and administrative assessment practices that advance student learning, teaching, research and service. Through our work with faculty and staff members, we coordinate, facilitate and advance assessment practices and processes in support of evidence-informed decision making and planning.

Goals

  • Communicate assessment purposes, values, methods and resources within the school and across campus;
  • Provide strategic, methodological and logistical support for annual and periodic assessment activities that address priorities for advancing student learning and success;
  • Coordinate school assessment activities, both academic and administrative, in support of leadership priorities; and 
  • Support institutional efforts to advance the sustainable integration of assessment into campus planning and decision making at all levels.

Services

  • Consult and advise on assessment planning (e.g., campus assessment timelines, course learning outcomes, program learning outcomes, assessment methods, etc.)
  • Provide ad-hoc data reports and analyses in support of academic and administrative planning and decision making.
  • Promote assessment practices that allow faculty and staff members to focus on evaluating findings in support of continuous improvement in student learning and/or student success.
  • Direct faculty and programs to relevant campus and professional resources in support of continuous improvement in student learning and/or student success (e.g., Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning).

Data Request

If you would like to request data please contact SSHA Student & Program Assessment Manager Stephan Bera (sbera@ucmerced.edu). We consult with both the Registrar and Institutional Research & Decision Support on how best to fulfill data requests to ensure accuracy. Time to complete requests varies depending on the nature of the request. A UC Merced data request decision chart can be found here.

Surveys

Surveys are strategically employed as part of a plan for data collection that is grounded in specific goals or specific sets of goals (or questions). A UC Merced survey request decision chart can be found here.

Planning to survey includes an evaluation of whether the survey:

Planning to survey involves consideration of the larger campus context, including:

Participation in surveys is understood by stakeholders to be one of many ways to give back to UC Merced and advance our campus’ success.

Resources

The UC Merced assessment website is where you will find descriptions of UC Merced's

Together with policies, guidelines, templates and schedules, the UC Merced assessment website is the campus clearing house for assessment-related information.

For accreditation-related information, visit accreditation.ucmerced.edu.

 

Contact:

Stephan Bera

Student & Program Assessment Manager

Email: sbera@ucmerced.edu

Phone: 209-228-2937

Office: COB-1 237

 

Last Updated: April 2018

Assessment Questions: Please contact Stephan Bera.