Commencement

Amy Driscoll

Amy Driscoll has dedicated her career to helping institutions better engage with their communities and better assess and facilitate student learning. She has had an enormous impact at California State University, Monterey Bay and on higher education nationally and internationally. Her exemplary work and leadership in the areas of teaching and learning, student learning outcomes assessment and community engagement, coupled with her work as CSU Monterey Bay's founding director of the Center for Teaching, Learning & Assessment, make her an ideal recipient of an honorary degree during CSU Monterey Bay's 25th anniversary celebration.

Dr. Driscoll founded CSU Monterey Bay's Center for Teaching, Learning & Assessment in 1998. Previously, she served as the director of community/university partnerships at Portland State University. At CSU Monterey Bay, working with the new university's faculty and programs, she played a key role in establishing CSU Monterey Bay as a national leader in outcomes-based education. After retiring, Dr. Driscoll continued to make significant contributions to university/community engagement and college-level teaching, learning and assessment.

In 2005, Dr. Driscoll coordinated development of the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. In 2006 and 2008 she coordinated the Carnegie classification of 197 universities and colleges as community-engaged institutions. She has presented at the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) Academic Resource Conference, the Association of American College and University conferences and the Assessment Institute of Indianapolis. She has mentored more than 60 institutions nationally and internationally in student learning outcomes assessment. In addition to authoring the widely-used textbook, “Early Childhood Education, Birth-8" and many influential articles, Dr. Driscoll's books include: “Making Outreach Visible: A Guidebook to Documenting Professional Service"; “Assessing Service Learning"; “Taking Ownership of Accreditation: Processes that Promote Institutional Improvement and Faculty Engagement"; and “From Outcomes-based Assessment to Learner-centered Education".

In what may be Dr. Driscoll's most significant contribution to student learning, she established and facilitated WSCUC's Assessment Leadership Academy. Over the past 12 years, the Assessment Leadership Academy has provided professional development on conducting learner-centered assessment to more than 300 assessment leaders worldwide.

In recognition of her leadership in community engagement and student learning, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California State University, Monterey Bay are proud to confer upon Dr. Amy Driscoll the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.