WSU Program Assessment Grants
Goals
To promote best practices in program-level assessment of student learning outcomes and student services programs' goals, the Office of the Provost offers one-time funds to pilot, create, significantly revise, or effectively implement new or revised assessment instruments or processes, or to obtain professional development in program assessment.
The 2025 call for proposals has closed. See the 2025 awards below!
Since 2018, 76% of proposals have been funded, with an average award of 2737ドル per project.
Project teams and their programs benefit from their grant projects:
"By implementing a sustainable process to assess the alignment between NLN standards and the GCNE curriculum, we have increased our confidence that the GCNE program effectively develops student competencies and accurately reflects these in our data. ... We have an opportunity to pursue publication of our assessment redesign project in a peer-reviewed nursing education journal. Finally, Drs. Singh, Wheeler, and Villaseñor are now NLN Certified Nursing Educators!" – College of Nursing 2023 project team
"For the first time, the advanced administrative certification programs have all valid and reliable assessments. ... [As] a result of the updated assessment system, all assessments are now aligned with CAEP, InTASC, and MDE standards and can meet the reporting needs for the state and national annual reports, as well as university Planning requirements." – College of Education 2023 project team
- Developing more useful, practical assessment methods or instruments
- Improving assessment processes to make them more practical and sustainable
- Building capacity for assessment through professional development and colleague engagement
- Aligning assessments with changes to specialized accreditation requirements
To get ideas for a project for your program, see the summary of current projects below, read reports of completed projects, watch the grant panel videos, or review examples of successful proposals. Reviewing the rubric for evaluating proposals can help you refine your proposal.
Contact WSU Sr. Director of Assessment Cathy Barrette with questions or for a consultation about your project ideas or draft proposal.
Congratulations to the 2025 WSU Program Assessment Grant awardees!
(Grant recipients: See the forms page for reporting templates.)
Based on recommendations from a review committee of faculty and staff with extensive experience in assessment, six projects received 2025 assessment grants:
Student Success, Support & Engagement
Academic Success Center
Enhancing Student Support Through Assessment-Driven Service Improvements at the Academic Success Center
The Academic Success Center (ASC) project focuses on developing a comprehensive survey assessing student awareness, usage, and perceptions of ASC services, including Supplemental Instruction, tutoring, study skills coaching, and student success workshops. This project aims to collect data that will guide improvements to our services, outreach, and staff development efforts.
Shaina Allen, Len Hernandez, Sara Berisha, Elaria HissyLiberal Arts & Sciences
PhD in Economics
Transforming Culture through Curriculum: Reassessing the Economics PhD in Response to Credit Hour Reductions
This project uses the recent Ph.D. credit hour reduction to initiate cultural change and build a sustainable assessment process in Economics. Faculty will collaboratively revise program learning outcomes, redesign curriculum maps, and implement aligned assessment tools to improve coherence, promote shared responsibility, and support continuous improvement across the doctoral program.
Liang Hu, Young-Ro Yoon, Felicien Goudou
Medicine
MS in Genetic Counseling
Revising the Genetic Counseling Program’s Assessment Plan to Align with Updated Genetic Counseling Practice-Based Competencies
The Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC) has recently developed new practice-based competencies (PBCs) to guide genetic counseling student training. The purpose of this project is to revise the Genetic Counseling Program’s assessment plan to align with the new PBC’s and to engage program faculty in identifying innovative ways to assess outcomes.
Angela Trepanier, Erin Carmany, Melissa Hicks, Courtney Kokenakes, Kara Pappas
Medicine
Doctor of Medicine
SmartSteps: AI-Driven Study Plans and Personalized Mentorship to Support Step 1 Success
The SmartSteps intervention strategy pairs an AI-driven interactive PDF study-plan tool with near-peer mentors. It functions as both an assessment system and a remediation approach. Data feeds into a Power BI dashboard that displays study plan progress, UWorld analytics, and mentor feedback. Training, reflections, and check-ins build students’ self-directed learning.
Marissa Zhu, Jason Booza, Ashley Gregory
Medicine
PhD in Pathology
Assessment power! Maximizing professional development to increase student and faculty engagement
To increase engagement with program assessment in the Department of Pharmacology, the Assessment Coordinator will attend and participate in the 2025 Assessment Institute – afterward collaborating with the Graduate Program Officer to design and deliver a departmental seminar that builds understanding of the assessment process and facilitates conversations about possible improvement..
James Jackson, Andrew GarrettSocial Work
Bachelor of Social Work
BSW Capstone Assessment, Revised
We will revise the capstone to align competencies with 2022 Council on Social Work Education Accreditation Standards, including justice, Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and National Association of Social Workers ethical technology standards. Updates include outcomes, objectives, assignments, case studies, rubrics, grading tools, and training modules for faculty and students.
Norma Love-Schropshire, Debra Patterson, Nichole Pangburn, Tiera Smith