Council Members
- Germán Bollero, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Chair
- Staci Provezis, Office of the Provost, Co-chair
- Steve Petruzzello, College of Applied Health Sciences*
- Mari Altshuler, College of Education*
- Gary Beck Dallaghan, Carle Illinois College of Medicine
- Devon Hague, College of Veterinary Medicine*
- Michelle Hutchens, Gies College of Business*
- Eric Johnson, College of Law*
- Jennifer Jones Barbour, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
- Hsin-Yi “Sandy” Kao, Office of Student Affairs
- Mary Lowry, Graduate College
- Ewa Maslowska, College of Media
- TBD, Student
- YoungAh Park, School of Labor and Employment Relations
- Ben Schaap, School of Information Sciences
- Ollie Watts Davis, College of Fine & Applied Arts*
- Jim Wentworth Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning*
- Chi-Fang Wu, School of Social Work
- Jen-chien Yu, University Library
- Craig Zilles, Grainger College of Engineering
- Linell Edwards, Office of the Provost, ex officio
Charge Letter
Dear Colleagues,
Our campus is committed to the educational achievement of our students, and we strive to offer educational programs that are of the highest quality. A regular and thoughtful practice of articulating and assessing student learning outcomes allows our campus to ensure that our graduates are receiving the world-class education that we promise.
To promote and guide these activities on our campus, I am appointing you to the Provost’s Council for Learning Outcomes Assessment (C-LOA). You were each nominated to serve on the Council by your dean or other unit leader because of your broad understanding of quality teaching and learning and your commitment to continuous improvement of teaching and curricula. Many thanks to the previous members of this group who have successfully fostered the assessment work on campus. Some are continuing on the Council, while others (i.e., Justin Aronoff, Robert Baird, Jonathan Foreman, Sudarshan Krishnan, Jennifer Nelson, Julian Reif, Kari Sanderson) are rotating off the Council. I welcome all new members to the group, who are noted with an asterisk in the list above. All new members have been asked for a three-year commitment.
The Council is tasked with fostering a practice of ongoing and meaningful assessment to meet program and institutional accreditation needs. As such, the role of C-LOA is to provide oversight of the assessment of student learning at both institutional and unit levels, ensuring that learning goals are identified, continuous evaluation is conducted, and evidence is used to enhance educational quality. By doing so, C-LOA will help build a culture of assessment focused on improving academic excellence, while respecting the diverse goals and evidence types across different programs.
For the 2025-26 academic year, beyond the core activities, I ask you to:
- Consider innovative ways generative AI may be used in learning outcomes assessment. Identify potential opportunities, challenges, and unintended consequences of these uses, and recommend parameters or guiding principles for their responsible and effective integration. In addition, reflect on how AI might support the work of C-LOA and suggest appropriate guidelines for its use in this context;
- Develop a list of objectives to guide both the annual assessment update and the review process, highlighting the purpose of this work and the intended outcomes;
- Discuss the assessment of general education and make recommendations on next steps;
- Examine the role of curriculum mapping in assessment and propose next steps to support campuswide discussions of program curriculum maps; and
- Review the college-level reports, presentations, PITA nominations, exemplary nominations, any programs identified by the college as needing a second level review, and single unit colleges learning outcomes assessment reports.
Germán Bollero, Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, has agreed to continue to chair this Council, for which I am grateful. Associate Provost Provezis will serve as the co-chair, and Linell Edwards will serve as support for the Council as ex officio member. A member of my staff will contact you shortly to set up a schedule of meetings.
C-LOA plays a vital role in promoting assessment practices, ensuring educational quality, and supporting continuous improvement across the university. Thank you in advance for your work on this important task.
Sincerely,
John Coleman
Provost
Executive Summary
The Council for Learning Outcomes Assessment (C-LOA) advanced its mission to strengthen learning outcomes assessment by clarifying reporting processes, addressing faculty engagement challenges, and exploring key priorities including curriculum mapping, AI integration, and communication.
Meetings highlighted variability in college-level practices driven by accreditation, uneven workload and report quality, and the need for clearer guidance, streamlined processes, and stronger faculty participation. The Council established subgroups (i.e., AI, curriculum mapping, communication) that developed practical recommendations such as leveraging AI tools, improving curriculum map accessibility and review, and enhancing communication strategies and resources (e.g., repositories, transition supports).
Collectively, the Council moved from identifying challenges to proposing actionable, campus-wide improvements to assessment infrastructure, consistency, and impact, with increased emphasis on collaboration and support from units like libraries and student affairs.