Annual Assessment Report Form for Student Learning Outcomes Assessment s2

Spring 2008 Semester Assessment Report Form

Directions: Please complete a form for each of the programs within your department. This form was designed to provide a format for assessment reporting and should not be used to limit the amount of information provided. Each box that is attached to each of the sections is designed to adjust to varying lengths. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Bea Babbitt at x51506 or via email at: .

***Please submit the report electronically to

1. Program Information:

Program / Graduate Programs: M.S. and Ph.D.
Department / Environmental Studies
College / Greenspun College of Urban Affairs
Program Assessment Coordinator / Krystyna Stave
Semester Data Collected / Spring 2008
Report Submitted by / Krystyna Stave
Phone/email / 895 – 4833, 895 – 4440/
Date Submitted / 3/3/10

2. According to the Assessment Plan for this program (M.S), what were the planned assessments to be conducted during the 2008 Spring Semester? You may want to copy and paste from this program’s assessment plan.

2. According to the Assessment Plan for this program (Ph.D.), what were the planned assessments to be conducted during the Spring 2008 semester? You may want to copy and paste from this program’s assessment plan.

Which outcomes for this program were measured? / How did you measure the outcomes? / What results did you expect? If the students performed well what would their performance look like, i.e. percentages, means, or comparisons to a national standard? /
_14___outcomes out of a total of _14___ outcomes evaluated this semester.
Recognize major current environmental policy issues . / Assignments and course grades in ENV 750. / Expect doctoral students to be able to identify major environmental policy issues.
Expect B+ or better on assignments based on this outcome.
Generalize the functions of science and stakeholders in policy processes. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 750 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to understand that science and stakeholders are part of decision making processes.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Identify the social and scientific parameters of environmental and resource management decisions. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 750 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to identify social and scientific parameters of environmental and resource management decisions.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Evaluate how scientific information fits into environmental or resource management decisions. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 750 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to evaluate scientific information.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Analyze information related to a major environmental issue. / Assignments from ENV 701, 725 and 750 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to analyze information.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Explain management options for a particular environmental or resource issue. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 750 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to explain management options for an issue.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Apply appropriate management tools to a significant topic in environmental science. / Assignments from ENV 725 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to apply appropriate management tools to a significant topic in environmental science.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Model environmental systems. / Assignments from ENV 725 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to model an environmental system.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Present information pertinent to an environmental or resource management topic. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 7750 and course grades.
Student presentations in other departments, at conferences, and to other relevant audiences. / Expect doctoral students to be able to present information on an environmental or resource management topic.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grades.
Judge the completeness and adequacy of environmental or resource management analyses created by others. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 725 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to judge the completeness and adequacy of analyses created by others.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grades.
Design an independent research program / Assignments from ENV 701 and course grades.
Program progress review completed each year by Graduate Coordinator. / Expect doctoral students to be able to design an independent research program.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grades.
Demonstrate comprehensive mastery of knowledge relevant to a focused environmental or resource management research area. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 750 and course grades. / Expect doctoral students to be able to demonstrate comprehensive mastery of knowledge relevant to a focused environmental or resource management research area.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grades.
Demonstrate academic expertise on a particular environmental or resource management topic. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 725 and course grades.
Participation in professional activities such as presentations in other departments, at conferences, and to other relevant audiences. / Expect doctoral students to demonstrate academic expertise on a particular environmental or resource management topic.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grades.
Conduct original academic research on an environmental or resource management topic. / Assignments from ENV 701 and 725 and course grades.
Program progress review completed each year by Graduate Coordinator. / Expect doctoral students to conduct original academic research on an environmental or resource management topic.
Expect B+ or better on assignments and overall course grade.
Expect students to make adequate progress to complete their programs in a timely manner.

3. Results, conclusions, and discoveries. What are the results of the planned assessments listed above? What conclusions or discoveries were made from these results? Describe below or attach to the form.

Results, conclusions, and discoveries
Table 1: Summary Information about Graduate Student
Performance in three courses
Courses Taught Spring 2008 / M.S. Students / Ph.D. Students / Percent of students from another program or non-admitted
n / percent >= B / n / percent >= B+ / percent
ENV 701 / 4 / 100 / 1 / 100 / 29
ENV 725 / 4 / 100 / 4 / 100 / 0
ENV 750 / 2 / 100 / 1 / 100 / 70
Source: Spring 2008 Grade Rosters
Table 1 provides a brief summary of grades greater than or equal to B for M.S. students and grades greater than or equal to B+ for Ph.D. students. Note the percentage of students who are either from another graduate program or are non-admitted graduate special taking our graduate courses.
The Graduate Coordinator (Krystyna Stave) reviews the M.S. and Ph.D. student files each year. Students are notified of their compliance with program benchmarks.
Three M.S. students and one Ph.D. student graduated in Spring /Summer 2008.
Graduate student involvement in professional development activities in the Spring/Summer 2008 included the following:
· Ilene Ruhoy successfully defended her doctoral dissertation: Examining Unused Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
· Mike Dwyer (Adjunct Faculty and PhD, 2007) participated in a roundtable on Integrated Resource Management to Achieve Sustainability in Southern Nevada
· Recently graduated Master's student Megan Hopper (MS 2007) traveled to the 26th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society in Athens, Greece from Romania, where she is serving in the Peace Corps, to present a poster on her Master's work (Hopper, M. and K.A. Stave. 2008. Assessing the Effectiveness of Systems Thinking Interventions in the Classroom.)
· Michael Dwyer (PhD 2007) coauthored a paper on his research that was presented at the System Dynamics Conference in Athens (Dwyer, M. and K.A. Stave. 2008. Group Model Building Wins: The results of a comparative analysis. )
· The UNLV Sustainability Task Force, Chaired by David M. Hassenzahl, and with participation from department students including MS student Heather Skaza submitted its report to UNLV President David Ashley
· Ilene Ruhoy (Doctoral Candidate) gave a keynote speech at the Healthy Environment Forums in Portland, OR, sponsored by the Oregon Environmental Council
· Ilene Ruhoy (Doctoral Candidate) gave a presentation titled “Developing a Drug Take-Back Program” at the American Society of Clinical Pharmacists Geriatrics ’08 Meeting in Las Vegas, NV, May, 2008
· Carole Eddington successfully defended her doctoral dissertation entitled Comparing Values for a Private Environmental Good, Xeriscape: Hedonic Price Method versus Contingent Valuation Method. Helen Neill (Associate Professor) chaired her committee.
· Ilene Ruhoy (Doctoral Candidate) participated in a session on Pharmaceutical Waste: Concerns at the State at the Medical Waste Institute s WasteExpo 2008 in Chicago, IL
· Master’s students Heather Skaza and Jennifer Ward participated in a round table on environmental issues with a group of Rotary Club young professionals visiting from Australia.
· Several members of the Department participated in the 2008 National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment in Washington DC. Tricia Mynster (MS, 2005 and Visiting Instructor), Nick Grenier (MS Candidate) and David M. Hassenzahl (Department Chair) ran a half-day workshop on Teaching Climate Change to Undergraduates.

4. Use of Results. What program changes are indicated? How will they be implemented? If none, describe why changes were not needed.

5. Dissemination of results, conclusions, and discoveries. How and with whom were the results shared?

This assessment report will be shared with faculty, students, staff, administrators as well as any reviewers of our programs.