Media Advisory

TO:                     News Directors and Education Reporters

FROM:                UAF University Relations

SUBJECT:           Fall Convocation
                            "Are UAF Students Learning? How do we Know?"

LOCATION:         Wood Center Ballroom, UAF Main Campus

DATE & TIME:     1 p.m., Thursday, September 19, 1996

Ted Marchese, vice president of the American Association for Higher Education and executive editor of "Change," the nation's most widely read magazine about issues facing colleges and universities, is guest speaker at UAF's Fall Convocation, Thursday, Sept. 19, at 1 p.m.

Faculty, staff, students and the public are invited to hear Marchese discuss why colleges and universities should reevaluate traditional methods of determining student academic success. Marchese has led national efforts to bring concepts of continuous quality improvement into university life.

UAF began a student learning assessment last year with the creation of the Educational Effectiveness Evaluation Team, chaired by statistics professor Dana Thomas. The team's draft policy on measuring student success was adopted this spring by the UAF faculty senate and signed by Chancellor Wadlow.

In part, the policy states that an important element of a student's overall education is learning that occurs outside of classes and that evaluation of activities and student support services will be conducted at UAF.

FOR MORE INFORMATION contact: Dana Thomas, Chancellor's Assistant on Enrollment and Educational Assessment, (907) 474-6990.

DPD/9-18-96/97-016