The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) will be honored with the 2020 Contribution to Higher Education Award at this year’s American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Annual Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. The Contribution to Higher Education Award recognizes individuals and organizations who advance a broad higher education agenda through meaningful work at the institutional, regional, and national levels. This award acknowledges the impact NILOA has had across the higher education landscape as they work tirelessly to inform and enhance assessment work focused on improvement of teaching and learning.
NILOA—affiliated with the College of Education and co-located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Indiana University—is a research- and resource-development organization dedicated to documenting, advocating, and facilitating the systematic use of learning outcomes assessment to improve student learning. Founded in 2008, NILOA supports colleges and universities in designing learning experiences and assessment approaches that strengthen the experience of diverse learners within a variety of institutional contexts. NILOA works in partnership with a broad range of organizations and provides technical assistance and research support to various projects focused on learning throughout the U.S. and internationally. Across all of these efforts, NILOA maintains a strong and consistent focus on equity, which has served to inspire change across the assessment landscape to utilize more equitable and culturally responsive approaches to learning outcomes assessment.
NILOA is led by the vision of Dr. Natasha Jankowski, executive director and research assistant professor, and Dr. Gianina Baker, assistant director; both of whom are graduates from the College of Education at Illinois. The rest of the NILOA team is comprised of College of Education alumni: Katie Schultz, project manager, Dr. Verna Orr, post-doctoral researcher, and Erick Montenegro, communications coordinator and research analyst. Erick is also a doctoral candidate in the Department of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership.
The entire NILOA team is honored to receive this distinction alongside a great group of individuals, organizations, and institutions also being honored at this year’s ACPA awards reception. NILOA would like to thank ACPA, all of our partners in this work, and past members of the NILOA team.
