Letter from M. Tom Basuray to Elaine Hedges, 1993

TOWSON STATE UNIVERSITY Towson, Maryland 21204-7097 May 24, 1993 Dr. Elaine Hedges Assessment Coordinator Womens Studies Program Towson state University Towson, Maryland 21204 Dear Dr. Hedges: RECEIVED MAY 26 1993 COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS Department of Management (301) 830-2934 The 1992-93 AY has been a remarkable year for the Majors Assessment project at TSU. In the past twelve months thirty one (31) of thirty three (33) academic majors initiated their assessment planning for implementing the first cycle of majors assessment. Thirteen (13) majors are either ready or close to being ready to implement the data collection for assessing identified student learning outcomes. Others will be completing their detailed plans by Fall of 1993. By any standard this is an outstanding achievement in launching academic department based assessment programs. In this endeavour TSU is truly far ahead of the pack within the UMS community. And this at a time of severe resource constraints. None of these would have been possible without the tremendous committment of the departmental Assessment Coordinators and the support of the Chairs as well as the faculty. This, in my view, has been a truly bottom-up process. The Majors Assessment Resources Subcommittee (MARS) at TSU has been fortunate in receiving such high level of committment from all involved in the process especially, the Assessment Coordinators. MARS will continue to guide and facilitate the process towards successful completion of the first assessment cycle. Like the Assessment Coordinators the members of MARS are a dedicated group, truly committed to making assessment into a powerful tool for change in student learning outcomes. After five years of continuous involvement with assessment at TSU I have decided to step away from the ongoing process for a while. This will help me develop some fresh perspectives and provide MARS with a change in leadership. Such changes are vital for maintaining the robustness of the process. Dr. Ralph Blasting from the Theatre Arts Department will be the next Chair of MARS. He has been associated with MARS and the University Assessment Council (UAC) for the past three years. Thus, the leadership of MARS will be in extremely capable hands in the coming year. I am very excited by the prospects.