Yesterday marked the deadline to complete the student satisfactory survey sent to students through tigermail. As the e-mail states, the survey is used to measure the attitudes of all Ouachita students toward academic and administrative activities of the university and identify areas in which the university has opportunities to improve.
Brett Powell, vice president of administrative services, said that he makes sure to read any specific comments that students have written so that he can ensure that any immediate concerns may be addressed. One comment reported mold in a dorm and Powell was able to forward that issue to the proper department for attention.
Another issue that has already been addressed by the staff is the quality of dining in the cafeteria. The staff has received ideas from the students on how services can be improved. “The best way to know what’s wrong is to ask,” Powell said.
Stan Poole, vice president of academic affairs, is involved with the school accreditation. He explained that the Higher Learning Commission, Ouachita’s accrediting agency, requires the evaluation of effectiveness of educational programs and support services. Those results are required to improve what Ouachita does.
Poole also said that the results are distributed to deans, administrators and faculty committees where it is analyzed to help determine what can be improved.
“We certainly encourage students to take the survey seriously and give us honest feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of our programs and services,” said Poole.
The survey’s program summarizes the results and separates them by demographics. Problems are then communicated to the appropriate department.
The results of the survey will be reported in late November or early December, and the evaluation process will not be until the beginning of the year.
As of Friday, Oct. 26, Powell had received 315 responses to the survey. The survey was conducted back in 2005 and received 727 responses.
