Assessment | Student Life

As we seek to support students through cocurricular involvement and services, assessment helps us understand the student experience, ask questions that guide strategic impact and make changes to further develop comprehensive programs. Assessment is critical element in our approach to best serving students and supporting staff.

Student Life's four learning goals—Learn, Include, Lead and Engage—build a common framework for our approach to assessment and learning while recognizing the unique expertise of unit-level impact and contributions.

Assessment Summit

April 8, 2025

Nebraska Union +
Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center

8:15 a.m.

NEBRASKA UNION, CENTENNIAL ROOM

Check-In
Breakfast small bites and refreshments

8:45 a.m.

NEBRASKA UNION, CENTENNIAL ROOM

Welcome & Overview

Jordan Foreman-Black, Director of Assessment and Learning Outcomes

9 to 9:20 a.m. | Breakout Session 1

REGENCY A

The Right Tool Makes All the Difference: Using Roompact in Residence Life to Improve Resident Interactions

In Fall 2025, Residence Life adopted Roompact, a platform for managing residential curriculum, programming, and community experience. In this presentation, we will showcase how Residence Life assessed administrative processes, determined the right tool for our goals, and how we now use Roompact to individualize our interactions with residents. We will highlight two examples (resident room moves and Husker Student POWER Survey outreach) that demonstrate how we have been able to better serve students as a result of this change.

Residence Life

Abby Groth
Sara Chapman

REGENCY B

Counseling and Psychological Services Student Impact

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has been collaborating with The Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH) since 2019. CCMH is the largest national database on mental health among college students, currently including 268 university counseling centers serving over 185,000 unique college students seeking mental health treatment. In this presentation, we will highlight the main presenting concerns addressed at CAPS and examine the impact of our mental health treatment for students at CAPS. We will also highlight the potential impact on students' report of possible discrimination and insecurities on mental health.

Counseling & Psychological Services

Charissa Novasel
Hannah Amhad Ridzuan
Jessica Miller
Katie Meidlinger

Heritage Room

Maslow Was On to Something: Assessing Basic Needs Insecurity and Its Impact on Student Life

This presentation will share the results of a Spring 2025 comprehensive basic needs survey and the call to action to address basic needs insecurities on campus.

Student Advocacy & Support

Sarah Frankel-Russell

Unity Room

From Implementation to Improvement: Evaluating the I-3's Inaugural Year

Being that I-3 is a new program that is currently in the final phase of its initial implementation, the presentation will discuss:
What does a proposed assessment cycle look like for I-3 based on the initial experience (good/bad/indifferent)? As we consider year 2: What is the Plan, How do you Implement, Collect Data, Analyze & Report, and Improve/Act (next steps).

OASIS

Germán Ávila

9:30 to 9:50 a.m. | Breakout Session 2

REGENCY A

Navigating Tableau Through the University's FactBook

This hands-on session will introduce you to the University's Tableau web interface. You'll start by accessing the website on your own computer. Next, we'll discuss how to get around on the Home Page. Then, you'll explore the FactBook with parameter, filters and tooltips. Finally, we'll highlight ways to stay connected to your data without logging into Tableau every day.

Student Life Business Services, University Housing Facilities

Todd Lanham
Patrick Edwards

REGENCY B

The People and Numbers behind Holidays for Little Huskers

Brightening the holidays for UNL students and their children. Go behind the scenes of Holidays for Little Huskers, an annual program were UNL student-parents sign up their children to receive gifts for the holiday season from caring members of the UNL and Lincoln community.

Since fall of 2022, the Gender and Sexuality Center has conducted feedback surveys to assess donor and UNL student-parent experience. Learn about the people and numbers that make Holidays for Little Huskers a success story. This presentation will cover main themes, changes, and insight into the continued growth of the program.

Gender & Sexuality Center

Domonique Cudjo
Thandie Ncube

Heritage Room

From Slogan to Best Practice: Every Person and Every Interaction Matters

Prioritizing human interactions with students and collaborations with faculty, advisors and navigators are promoting equity, innovation and excellence in support of the institution's educational mission. In this session, we will discuss "Removing the Firewall" and "Owning the Gap," departmental strategies that helped SSD improve engagements with students, faculty and staff.

Services for Students with Disabilities

Barb Woodhead
Pablo Rangel

Unity Room

The Power of Partnership & Postcards: Increasing Attendance at Prevention Education Workshops

As we prepared for the third year of our peer-led prevention education initiative, we reflected on who was attending our Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence (SARV) workshops, and who we were missing. Our success in the first two years was fueled by our strong partnership with Residence Life and relying on the help of Resident Advisors (RAs), to help ensure students attend their assigned workshops. But to engage those who weren't participating, we got creative, combining additional strategic partnerships and postcards. The result? Increased attendance and greater impact.

Center for Advocacy, Response & Education

Melissa Wilkerson
Abby Ragain

10 to 11:30 a.m.

NEBRASKA UNION, CENTENNIAL ROOM

Keynote - Round Table Discussion

Lincoln-area Students

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

NEBRASKA UNION, CENTENNIAL ROOM

Lunch (provided)

12:30 p.m.

NEBRASKA UNION, CENTENNIAL ROOM

Afternoon Kickoff

Dee Dee Anderson, Vice Chancellor for Student Life

12:40 to 1 p.m. | Breakout Session 3

REGENCY A

ASUN Student Legal Services

Move immigration practice from Pilot to Implementation.
Tactics: Submit immigration services to Advisory Board for advice and approval. Expand training to all attorneys on approved practice areas.

Student Legal Services

Jeff White

REGENCY B

Help Me! Assessing Work Demand With IT Trouble Tickets

One of the primary duties of the Student Life IT Help Desk is to respond to users who ask for assistance via our trouble ticket system. Let's take a look at what the data is telling us about the Help Desk's workload and whether any adjustments need to be made to scheduling.

Student Life Business Services

Jeff Haas

Heritage Room

You Have to Start Somewhere

The Student Bowling League has been a part of the SLICE office since 2006. It attracts undergraduate and graduate students who participate in an 8- to 6-week program in the Husker Bowling Center.

Staff have collected satisfaction data from participants over the years and anecdotally it appears relationships among team members increased during the series. It also appears that participants meet others who are scheduled during the same session.

This session will examine if relationships change throughout the series. How can departments develop programs over an extended period to increase relationship-building and engagement among participants?

Student Leadership, Involvement & Community Engagement

Reshell Ray

1:10 to 1:30 p.m. | Breakout Session 4

REGENCY A

The Big Picture: Managing Photography Needs Across Student Life

Great photos tell our story, but getting the right shots at the right time takes planning. This session breaks down how photography requests are handled, who captures the moments, and how we balance demand-especially for after-hours events. We'll share key insights, highlight challenges, and outline our next steps to improve the process so our images better support Student Life's impact and brand.

Student Life Marketing

Daniel Kohler

REGENCY B

ASUN Student Government

As a part of the University of Nebraska's mission of academic and professional excellence, and ASUN's mission of providing resources for students, the Executive Team has entered into a pilot program to provide 250 free Grammarly Premium accounts to students on campus.

ASUN Student Government

Luke McDermott
Marlene Beyke

Heritage Room

Does TRIO work? A four year look at the 2020 UNL Upward Bound cohort

This presentation provides a follow-up on the 2020 Upward Bound cohort, examining their postsecondary outcomes as part of a six-year tracking cycle. Through survey data and alumni interviews, we assess the impact of Upward Bound programs and identify key factors influencing student success. Findings will inform upcoming program enhancements at UNL to better support future cohorts on their path to graduation.

TRIO Programs

Jamil Funnah
Nyankoor Timothy

1:40 to 2 p.m. | Breakout Session 5

REGENCY A

Accelerating to Analytics and Reports

We'll take our attendance data from raw scans to finished reports. Bring your NCard as we collect attendance data in NvolveU. First, we'll discuss how we can extract the data out of NvolveU. Second, we'll join that attendance report with University student and staff data to curate our data set. Finally, we review some common reports that can be generated from our refined data set.

Student Life Business Services

Todd Lanham
Hollie Swanson

REGENCY B

Supporting Staff: Assessing Training & Development in Housing Facilities

Supporting staff at all levels requires a clear understanding of their professional development needs. This session shares insights from a recent assessment of housing facilities personnel, conducted in alignment with Student Life's strategic goal to enhance staff development, engagement, and retention. We will discuss the purpose behind the survey, key findings, and how the results can inform future training initiatives. Attendees will gain a better understanding of how assessment can be used to shape meaningful development opportunities that support and retain staff in housing facilities roles.

OVCSL, University Housing Facilities

Ruth Oliver Andrew
Eren Beesley

Heritage Room

Student Life Strategic Plan: Where we’ve been and where we’re going

Student Life adopted our current strategic plan in 2021, with an update in 2023. Come learn more about the current strategic plan, what we’ve accomplished, how we manage it across the division, and the next steps as we look to developing a new strategic plan after our plan ends in 2026.

OVCSL

Tony Rathgeber

2:10 to 2:30 p.m. | Breakout Session 6

REGENCY A

Data Driven Insights: Analyzing Three Semesters of Chapter Programming Data

During Fall 2023, Fraternity & Sorority Life began utilizing a Chapter Semester Report that each organization is required to complete. In the report, chapters share information about philanthropy dollars raised, community service hours given, and member development programs completed during the semester. FSL now has three semesters of data from the community and will be sharing what has been learned.

Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life

Leigh Thiedeman
Kate Reyome
Devin Johansen

REGENCY B

Reflections-Helping Student Reflect on Their Choices

In Spring 2025, Student Conduct & Community Standards (SCCS) conducted an assessment project to assess student learning outcomes from the Reflection Letter/Video of Understanding. This educational outcome adopts a restorative approach to help students recognize how their behavior impacted members of their community and develop strategies to make better decisions when faced with similar situations. This presentation will explore the process of this assessment, including analysis of learning outcomes and opportunities for improvement.

Student Conduct & Community Standards

Andie Barefield
Kia Hill

Heritage Room

Student Life Strategic Plan: Where we’ve been and where we’re going

Student Life adopted our current strategic plan in 2021, with an update in 2023. Come learn more about the current strategic plan, what we’ve accomplished, how we manage it across the division, and the next steps as we look to developing a new strategic plan after our plan ends in 2026.

OVCSL

Tony Rathgeber