Paul Koch receives VP promotion

by: erin tiesman
Staff Writer

Paul Koch is taking on new responsibilities these days after being promoted from his chair as the dean of the college of arts and sciences to the vice president of assessment and institutional research.

After serving in the arts and sciences chair for over six years, this is a new step for Koch.

"I’m very excited for my new position," he said. "I have many goals and objectives as the vice president, not only professionally but personally as well."

Koch said his new position will require him to keep the mission in tact.

"As an institution, we must always start at our mission," he said.

Part of this reinstatement of the mission is the main heading on a website Koch is putting together to help unite assessment and institutional research.

"The primary purpose of this office is to assist the faculty, staff and administration of St. Ambrose University in collecting, interpreting and using evidence about whether the institution is achieving its mission, student learning and other outcomes, and to support the overall institutional effectiveness and excellence," states Koch’s website. 

Koch explains that the purpose of assessment and institutional research is to "improve student learning" and broaden the research to help make the SAU community run more smoothly.

He said the idea to reinstate a vice president of this office was based on need.

"We realized we were doing okay but we needed to be excellent," Koch said. "With this position, we are bringing assessment and institutional research under one umbrella."

The two categories used to be fairly separate, but Koch believes the union of both will help effectiveness here at St. Ambrose.

"Higher education is not just a plan, it’s a tool," he said.

Also on Koch’s soon to be released website, he lists the goals and objectives of his new office from evaluation plans to specific programs to help faculty, staff and students.  Budgeting, policy formulation, decision-making and many other important bullets also play a key factor in this newly revised position and Koch plans on doing the best he can to provide the best assistance to the university.

"It’s a never-ending process, refining and measuring," Koch said. "It will keep me on track to have the goals and objectives."

Assessment is a regular task at the university and acts as a way for departments and the college as a whole to checklist what they need to be doing or are already doing to keep things running at a supreme level.  Institutional research, on the other hand, is a way of looking deeper into ways of improving.

"Institutional research provides a data-informed decision, as we like to call it," Koch said. "It provides the data to inform decision making."

Koch explained that this process is also called "decision mining", which helps create better predictions and responses for the future. 

Currently Katie Trujillo is serving as acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, a position that Koch said will hopefully be filled by summer of 2006.

"Right now they have a search committee that will find the right candidate to fill the chair," Koch said.

Some of the responsibilities as the dean will be support of the university mission, excellence in teaching, strategic planning, budgeting, and other assets like coordinating, assessing and evaluating academic programs in the college and understanding of the promotion and tenure system. 

Many other factors are involved as well, and applicants are expected to have a doctorate or appropriate terminal degree in an area of arts and sciences, as well as teaching and administrative credentials.