Inspire, Winter 2004

10 Winter 2004 What’s Your Opinion? While many alumni haven’t heard much about the assessment movement on campus, they soon will! Beginning in January 2005, Cedarville alumni will be receiving a survey packet asking them to tell us about their experiences before and since graduation. The survey will involve ALL CU alumni from 1986 to 2006 over a five-year period and will be the largest sustained survey of CU graduates in the history of the University. Dr. Sharon Johnson, director of institutional research and effectiveness, is working with every division and department on campus to create a continuous assessment process. “We have more than 60 different assessment units. Each unit is responsible for developing a mission statement, a set of five objectives or key results, a method for measuring how effectively each of those objectives is being met, and a standard for benchmarking those results,” Sharon said. The annual alumni survey is part of that measurement effort. Graduates from each of the 13 academic departments will receive a survey in the mail that will contain both a question set common to all graduates AND a set of questions unique to the majors from each department. “The responses will help us assess both the general value-added impact of our University on our grads, but also the impact each department had in terms of preparing students for the challenges they have encountered in their particular fields of study,” Sharon summarized. Beyond the alumni survey, University personnel campus-wide are busy sharpening their unit mission, identifying concrete results-oriented objectives particularly framed in “student- impact” language, and developing assessment processes and tools to help measure and analyze unit impact. “The end result is to create a culture of assessment,” Sharon continued, “one where each unit on campus is more carefully attuned to the impact it is having on students and is making the continuous changes needed to become even more effective.” Results from the various assessment efforts will be published in an annual assessment review at the end of each academic year. The results will be made broadly available to people both on and off campus. The assessment review process is only part of a broader self-study effort in which the Cedarville University community is engaged under the new leadership of Dr. Bill Brown. “The transitions in several key administrative and academic posts have provided a unique window of opportunity to step back and review where we have been, analyze where we now stand, and move forward with an even greater commitment toward the future,” Sharon said. “Eventually the assessment process will work in close connection to both the strategic planning and budgeting processes.” CDR Election Coverage Leads to National Attention From 8 p.m. on election night to 5:30 a.m. the next day, CDR Radio, The PATH® partnered with CNNRadio to provide uninterrupted coverage of the national election. Their programming led to more attention than they could have anticipated. CDR had two reporters in the field (one in Columbus, one in Cincinnati) and a CNNRadio reporter in California customizing reports on Proposition 71 (stem cell research) for them. Listeners heard interviews with Cal Thomas, Al Mohler Jr., Dennis Rainey, Richard Land, Ken Hutcherson, David Keyes (the Kerry campaign’s religion liaison), and David Zanotti. In the CDR newsroom, Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño ’94 (left), associate professor of political science, provided insight on thinking Christianly about the election itself, the returns, the broader political culture/history, and its implications. The next day, CDR discovered that their coverage had been monitored by the producers of the CNN TV show “Paula Zahn Now.” CNN asked CDR for Christian sources (station/network partners) in Columbus to find out why Ohio evangelicals turned out in such large numbers for George W. Bush. This resulted in CDR being part of a November 3 CNN feature story about the impact of Christians in the election. The three- minute story talked about the impact of Christian radio, complete with audio clips of The PATH® and visual shots of The PATH® patriotic window sticker. CDR’s election coverage also resulted in increased media exposure for Gerson. His post-election comments were broadcast on the USA Radio Network on November 8, reaching more than 1,100 radio stations from coast to coast as well as the Armed Forces Radio Network. He has also been interviewed by The Columbus Dispatch and Dayton Daily News to explain why moral issues played such a key role in this election. Chad Bresson ’86 (right), news director for CDR, stated, “We’re fortunate at The PATH® to have management and ownership committed to informing Kingdom listeners in a credible way about what is going on around them. We were able to provide this kind of election coverage because this is what we do 24/7/365. … The PATH® has been blessed with tremendous resources to satisfy the awareness instinct of Kingdom citizens.”