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I’m a New Professional Leading Departmental Assessment

November 9, 2016 Missy Dominguez New York Film Academy

Before graduate school, the term “research” sparked white lab coat scientists wearing goggles studying liquids in beakers and test tubes into my imagination.  My undergraduate was not a primary research institution, and I did not expose myself to research opportunities with faculty. Yet, my first entry-level job included directing my department’s assessment efforts. How did I get there? And why was I, someone who in graduate school voluntarily earned a Student Affairs assessment certificate, completed a mixed-methods departmental assessment, and took research courses, doubting my ability to lead our department’s assessment?

Perhaps I was intimidated by taking on this seemingly non-entry level task among my higher-ranked colleagues. Maybe I was worrying about my competence to the same extent as other new professionals do so on their first year on the job (Renn & Hodges, 2007). Was my StrengthsFinder Responsibility theme weighing on me as I psychologically took on the important task of departmental assessment? Was I experiencing Imposter Phenomenon, or the feeling of being an “intellectual phony” that Clance and Imes (1978) found common in a sample of high achieving women? As an assigned female and person of color, was my self-doubt an internalization of White Supremacy and patriarchy as suggested by Jackson (2016)? Or, was I simply not fit to lead departmental evaluation?

Whatever the case may have been, I was hired with “Program Assessment and Design” in my job description, and while lacking full confidence, I was excited! I conducted a mixed-methods assessment for departmental improvement and measured our student employee’s learning. The following practices boosted my confidence in doing this whole ‘assessment thing’ well for my first time as a Student Affairs professional:

  • Engage personal strengths. Whether through formal programs like StrengthsQuest or from intrapersonal reflection, identify your strengths and how you can leverage them when conducting assessment. In example, due to my strength in strategic thinking, I found joy in endless researching of best assessment practices and planning a report outline. Since I enjoy connecting with others one-on-one, I met with multiple on-campus professional staff across campus for guidance. Engaging my strengths helped me have a positive and satisfying time throughout my assessment work—in turn developing a stronger assessment product.
  • Align departmental assessment with divisional, institutional, and professional standards. While a focus on continuous improvement is important at a program level, I also wanted to ensure the assessment would be aligned vertically and horizontally. For example, I modified our student learning survey questions to better utilize the National Association of Campus Activities Competency Guide for College Student Leaders.  To incorporate our divisional values, I aligned our student employee learning survey questions with our Division of Student Affairs “Four Themes.” At the institutional level, I mapped the survey questions to our University’s Undergraduate Learning Goals. My hope was that aligning our departmental assessment could lead to recognition of our student and professional staff’s work, whether on-campus or regionally through awards.


The departmental assessment survey questions, represented by the asterisk above, align with university goals, divisional values, and student leader competencies in the professional field of campus activities.

  • Look back into graduate schoolwork. Thankfully, I felt prepared to do assessment through my graduate school experience.  In preparation for conducting departmental assessment, I revisited presentations and resources from my University’s Student Affairs Assessment Committee. I also referred back to a comprehensive report I completed as graduate fieldwork when I conducted a mixed-methods assessment for departmental improvement. Graduate school course books on my work shelf were also proudly put back to use post-graduation.
  • Check professional resources. From the NASPA Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Knowledge Committee resources page, to other institution’s student affairs assessment committee pages like Portland State University Student Affairs Assessment Council, and materials from past workshops I attended like at the National Association for Campus Activities conference, several resources gave me input.
  • Utilize on-campus resources and professionals. A meeting with the Director of Institutional Research informed me both what survey tool to use, as well as which of the many campus goals to focus on outcome alignment. The Quantitative Skills Center Manager assisted me with how to visually represent the data results with graphs. Additionally, my colleague let me borrow a stack of books on qualitative research and assessment design.

What was my final push to boost my assessment confidence? To get over it. There will always be folks who can do research better than me. There will be tons of practices to choose from, and I won’t always know the best way to move forward (or more likely, maybe there just isn’t a best way). But, committing to evaluating the spaces I work in and putting recommendations to practice is a more important outcome than evaluating if I’m the perfect person to do the job. My hope is that new professionals, like myself, can learn to be less afraid of assessment; then, our institutions will become better for it!


Clance, P.R., & Imes, S.A. (1978).  The Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Interventions.  Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice, 15, 241‑247. http://www.paulineroseclance.com/pdf/ip_high_achieving_women.pdf

Jackson, J. M. (2016, April 20). It’s Not ‘Impostor Syndrome’ When You’re Black and Woman. Water Cooler Convos. Retrieved from http://watercoolerconvos.com/2016/04/20/its-not-impostor-syndrome-when-youre-black-and-woman/

Renn, K. A., & Hodges, J. (2007). The First Year on the Job: Experiences of New Professionals in Student Affairs. NASPA journal, 44(2), 367-391.


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