Assessment drives cultural change on campus.

If "People don't plan to fail, they only fail to plan" is true, then reducing the chances of failure can be as simple as regularly measuring progress toward the goal.

To move the academy forward around work/life issues, the emphasis should focus on changing the culture. For those programs that are intended as a cultural catalyst, regular assessment can identify how much they have accomplished. The task is easier if assessment is built into various points in the program from the beginning.

ADVANCE programs seek to increase the number of women in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. Their design and focus vary from school to school, but most emphasize improving work/life balance and reducing the challenges women face due to outmoded cultural expectations.

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By their nature ADVANCE programs are expected to change the campus culture for women. Leaders need to know how the programs are going and whether or not to make adjustments, long before the outside sources of funding dries up. Funders like the National Science Foundation, which funds their start-up, also require an accounting of how the grant money is spent.

For best results, administrators need a strategic approach to assessing cultural change, said Dr. Ann Austin, the Erickson Professor of Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education (HALE) program at Michigan State University. Austin has conducted assessments of the ADVANCE program at many schools.

As part of a panel on the measurement and assessment of policies and flexibility at The New Norm of Faculty Flexibility: Transforming the Culture in Science and Engineering conference, Austin outlined why it's important to regularly assess cultural change. Her comments were based on work from her book Rethinking Faculty Work: Higher Education's Strategic Imperative, with co-authors Judith Gappa and Andrea Trice. The conference was held on the Iowa State University campus at Ames in October.