Faculty Assessment Fellow

Per the NFA Contract, Article 9, TMCC is announcing to all eligible Academic and Administrative faculty that a need exists for a Faculty Assessment Fellow.

Posting Date

Jan. 6, 2025

Description

The purpose of the Faculty Assessment Fellows program at Truckee Meadows Community College is to foster a sustainable culture of faculty-led assessment across academic and learning support programs. This fellowship provides faculty with professional development opportunities to further their expertise in program learning outcomes assessment. Additionally, fellows will play a key role in supporting program learning outcomes assessment through outreach, training, and resource development.

Faculty Assessment Fellows will serve as key contacts and resources for academic faculty and learning support  staff with developing meaningful, measurable program-level student learning outcomes, curricular maps, and assessment plans. Emphasizing culturally competent and equity-minded assessment practices, Fellows will guide data collection and analysis while ensuring that the student voice is integrated into the assessment process. Fellows will:

  1. Develop and expand deeper expertise in learning outcomes-based assessment practice, in part, through completing and participating in guided discussions of selected readings. 
  2. Design, develop, and implement a project focused on assessment resources and/or professional development sessions around assessment.
  3. Act as an assessment liaison throughout academic divisions and learning support areas to support program faculty, Chairs, Coordinators, with:
    1. Writing or revising measurable program and course learning outcomes 
    2. Developing program curricular maps
    3. Aligning assessment measures from courses to program learning outcomes and/or general education learning outcomes
    4. Determining appropriate assessment methods that align with program learning outcomes
    5. Promoting equity and culturally responsive assessment practices
    6. Analyzing assessment results through improvement, equity, and culturally responsive lenses
  4. Participate in regular meetings with the Assessment and Planning office to collaborate on planning and share progress and impact of their work.
     

Scope of Work

For Spring 2025 and academic year 2025–26, five (5) Fellow positions will be available. Our goal is to have representatives from across the college, including the academic divisions and learning support. The hourly commitment may vary throughout the year, but the expectation is that each fellow will commit an average of 2 hours a week to this work.

Responsibilities and Deliverables

Faculty Assessment Fellows will be expected to deliver the following:

  • Maintain a log that documents each meeting, including the participants, meeting objectives, outcomes achieved, how the meeting contributed to the advancement of program learning outcomes assessment, and next steps. Logs will be submitted to the Associate Dean of Assessment and Planning and VPAA as evidence of the fellowship's effectiveness.
  • Complete brief discussion exercises outlining how selected readings can be applied to support or enhance program learning outcomes assessment.
  • Submit a brief proposal outlining the scope and end goals of a project that promotes program learning outcomes assessment resources.
  • Complete a project that may include creating assessment resources, facilitating professional development workshops to enhance faculty understanding and implementation of assessment practices, designing surveys to incorporate student voice in assessment, or other assessment-related undertakings.
  • Periodically attend Academic Leadership Team (ALT) meetings to share progress and impact of the work with deans and the VPAA.
  • Complete a final survey to assess what worked well and identify areas for improvement in future fellowships.
  • Fellows’ work will be reviewed on a regular basis by the Associate Dean of Assessment and Planning.
  • Fellows would be expected to attend a kick-off orientation, regular professional development meetings, and Assessment Days.

Qualifications

  • Instructional and non-instructional academic faculty at TMCC are all welcome to apply.

Compensation

Each Fellow will receive a 3 credit release per year, which can be taken in the fall or spring, or split between them, or equivalent stipend. Each Fellow will also be provided with materials to support their own professional development in the area of assessment. Support for conferences or workshops intended for activities that will benefit the fellowship may also be available.

Reports To

Associate Dean of Assessment and Planning

Application Process

Interested faculty will submit a letter of interest describing special qualifications and background information no later than 5 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2025

To apply, please submit a letter of interest (no more than 2 pages) addressing the following:

  1. Explain your interest in this fellowship opportunity. Please indicate whether you are interested in starting in Spring 2025 or Fall 2025. 
  2. Describe your previous experience with program-level assessment of student learning.
  3. Describe what assessment-related knowledge and skills you would bring to this position.
  4. Explain what you would hope to learn or gain through the fellow experience.
  5. Beyond this fellowship, discuss how you would expand the culture of assessment at TMCC during and after the fellowship.
  6. Identify potential indicators of success for your participation in this program.

Participation requires supervisor’s support. Reassigned time support is needed from the Chair for scheduling purposes. Each application should also be accompanied by a statement from the appropriate department chair, director, or coordinator indicating their support for the applicant serving as a fellow and their acknowledgement of the course release. Awarding of the fellowship is subject to approval by the academic or learning support dean.

The letter should be addressed to Melissa Deadmond, Associate Dean of Assessment and Planning. Both the nominee’s letter of interest and the letter of support can be emailed to: mdeadmond@tmcc.edu. Please put “Faculty Fellows” in the email subject line.

Note: Administrative faculty must include a documented plan for separation of the additional assignment work from regular work time.
The first cohort of fellows will take on the role for the Spring 2025 semester with the opportunity to re-apply to extend their fellowship through the 2025-26 academic year. After that each fellow will take on the role for a full academic year. Applicants may also apply to begin their fellowship in Fall 2025; however, priority will be given to those applying to start in Spring 2025. Please indicate your intended start date in your application letter. Applicants must apply every year.

Feel free to email Melissa Deadmond or Jinger Doe with any questions about the position or the application process.

Selection Process

The Dean will notify applicants of the hiring decision on or before Feb. 5, 2025.

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