Staff & Associates
Gianina Baker, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois
Peter Ewell, Senior Scholar, Vice President of the NCHEMS
Stan Ikenberry, Co-Principal Investigator, University of Illinois
Natasha Jankowski, Project Manager, University of Illinois
Jillian Kinzie, Associate Research Scientist, Indiana University
George Kuh, NILOA Director, Indiana University
Staci Provezis, Research Associate, University of Illinois
Gloria Shenoy, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Illinois
Gianina Baker is a PhD student in the Educational Policy, Organization & Leadership program at the University of Illinois. She earned a Master’s degree in Human Development Counseling from Saint Louis University and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University. Prior to her doctoral studies, she worked as a Counselor at Richland Community College in Decatur, IL, and was a research assistant for the Office of Community College Research & Leadership at Illinois. Gianina’s research interests include access and equity issues for students and administrators of underrepresented groups, student learning outcomes assessment at Minority Serving Institutions, and other issues within higher education policy.
Peter Ewell, Senior Scholar of the project is also Vice President of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS). Ewell’s work focuses on assessing institutional and higher education system effectiveness and the outcomes of college, and involves both research and direct consulting with institutions and state systems on collecting and using assessment information in planning, evaluation, and budgeting. He has direct initiatives funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the National Institute for Education, the Consortium for the Advancement of Private Higher Education, the Pew Charitable Trusts. In addition, he has consulted with over 375 colleges and universities and twenty-four state systems of higher education on topics related to performance indicators and the assessment of student learning. Dr. Ewell has authored seven books and numerous articles on the topic of improving undergraduate instruction through the assessment of student outcomes. In addition, he has prepared commissioned papers for many agencies including the Education Commission of the States, the National Governors’ Association, the National Conference of State Legislators, and the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education. A graduate of Haverford College, he received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 1976 and was on the faculty of the University of Chicago.
Stan Ikenberry, co-principal investigator, has had a long and visible career in American higher education as an academic leader and student of higher education policy. He held major academic and administrative posts at West Virginia University and Penn State University prior to serving as president of the University of Illinois from 1979-1995 and 2010. Ikenberry worked closely with and led the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, AAU, and NASULGC. From 1996 through 2001 he served as president and chief executive officer of the American Council on Education, where he served as the national spokesperson on public policy issues related to higher education on the national level. Relevant to the particular focus of this proposal, Ikenberry is experienced in the workings of accreditation and served as co-chair of the “President’s Work Group on Accreditation” that recommended to the national higher education community the founding of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. CHEA and other accreditation groups and higher education associations have become increasingly engaged with the challenge of assessment of learning outcomes at the collegiate level.
Natasha Jankowski, Project Manager, is a PhD candidate in Educational Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois. She earned a Master's degree in Higher Education Administration from Kent State University and a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Illinois State University. She previously worked for GEAR UP Learning Centers at Western Michigan University, taught Orientation 101 at Kent State University, and worked with community colleges and public policy. Her main research interests include assessment and evaluation, organizational evidence use, and accreditation.
Jillian Kinzie, IUCPR associate research scientist, is responsible for organizing the day-to-day activities related to the case study portion of this project. She played a similar role in managing the field research reported in Student Success in College, for which she was a senior co-author. In her role as associate director of the NSSE Institute for Effective Education Practice, she has worked with dozens of campuses to develop assessment strategies and advise on using the data to improve student learning. She was the co-principal investigator on a Teagle-funded project to evaluate the efficacy of its investment in supporting the development and use of assessment instruments in liberal arts college settings.
George Kuh, co-principal investigator and project director, has published more than 300 items (23 books and monographs, 75 chapters, 220 articles), and is an internationally recognized authority on assessment and improving the quality of the undergraduate experience. He has received numerous awards for his research and academic leadership from both scholarly and practitioner-based organizations. Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Higher Education at Indiana University, Kuh directed the IU Center for Postsecondary Research between 1999 and 2010, which attracted more than $11 million in grants and contracts during this period. He was principal or co-principal investigator for projects that accounted for $9.5 million of that work, including $3.9 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts to develop and implement the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which has been used by about 1,400 four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. Kuh also has provided leadership for the development and use of other large-scale institutional improvement tools including the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement, the Law Student Survey of Student Engagement, the College Student Experiences Questionnaire Assessment Program, and the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project. In addition, Kuh has directed several multi-institutional studies using qualitative case study methods (such as those to be used in this proposed project), two of which resulted in major books (Involving Colleges, 1991; Student Success in College, 2005/2010).
Staci Provezis is a Research Associate for the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA). She participates in various research projects undertaken by the Institute. In addition, she serves as the Senior Communication and Evaluation Coordinator in the Office of the Provost at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she focuses on communication, accreditation, and evaluation related matters. She has presented at several national conferences and her area of interests include student learning outcomes assessment, accreditation, and institutional transparency of student learning outcomes assessment information. Before joining NILOA, Staci worked in various collegiate academic and student affairs positions, including directing a first-year experience program at the University of Pittsburgh, coordinating the study abroad program at Eastern Illinois University, and teaching English courses at several community colleges. She holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Illinois, and an M.A. and B.A. in English Literature from Marshall University.
Gloria Shenoy is a doctoral student in the Higher Education Program at the University of Illinois. She earned her BS in Business and Communications from Calvin College and her MS in Advertising from University of Illinois. Shenoy has worked in public relations, taught abroad in China, and was the program coordinator for a living learning community. Her research interests are in international students at community colleges.