10 Questions for Academy Mentor Marissa Cope

Marissa Cope, assessment director at Saint Louis University in Missouri, has mentored higher ed leaders being trained at HLC’s Assessment Academy since 2020.  A participant and presenter on assessments at HLC’s annual conference for many years, Cope drafts HLC arguments on behalf of her university. She also is married to a professor who chairs an assessment of student learning committee at another university, making it possible to discuss assessment even over dinner.  

When and how did you first learn about accreditation?     

I first learned about accreditation in my higher education master’s program at Iowa State University. We discussed this primarily in the Program Evaluation and Assessment course (yes, this was my favorite class, much to the confusion of my fellow cohort members), and also talked about accreditation in other related courses such as Organization and Administration. 

How do you explain your work with HLC to people who aren’t familiar with accreditation?  

Specific to HLC’s Assessment Academy, I explain as an Academy mentor that I can provide support for campus teams developing and implementing high-quality assessment practices. When explaining accreditation in general, I describe it as a systematic way for institutions of higher education to ensure that they are meeting standards for quality. 

Why did you want to get involved with HLC?  

I enjoy serving in consultant roles where I can be helpful to a variety of campuses. Due to my various experiences, including serving as an assessment consultant for more than 30 campuses, I felt I could bring a perspective that could be helpful to many who are looking to further their assessment of student learning practices through the HLC Assessment Academy. 

What aspects of your background have been particularly helpful in your work with HLC?  

I have worked at small and private liberal arts universities, a large public land-grant institution, a community college and my current organization, which is a private Catholic Jesuit institution focusing on research, health care and community engagement. My roles at these institutions have been in academic program-level and general-education assessment, accreditation, institutional research and effectiveness, and student-affairs assessment and strategic planning. I also was an HLC Assessment Academy team member at two of the institutions. Given all of this, I have much experience to draw from when working with campuses on assessment initiatives. My love of planning, organizing and systematically documenting information doesn’t hurt!  

What have you learned from working with HLC that’s been beneficial to you?   

Frequently I see campus teams in the Assessment Academy initially set very lofty goals that may end up being unmanageable and unwieldy. This is a good reminder that narrowing goals and making actual progress can be more important than trying to accomplish everything possible. We can always create new goals as time goes on, but if we start off feeling overwhelmed, it will be tricky to get anywhere. I use this principle in my personal life, too.  

What has been one of your most memorable experiences working with HLC? 

I always enjoy going to Chicago for the annual conference.  It is a nice time to see former colleagues, learn more about the successes of other institutions, and spend time in my favorite city.  

How do you find the time to volunteer with HLC?  

I really enjoy working with campus teams on their Assessment Academy projects, so it isn’t hard to make time to do so. I am thinking about assessment of student learning at my own campus much of the time anyway, so it is actually fairly easy to switch into thinking about it for other campuses, especially given my consulting background. Every campus is different, though, so the real challenge is to think about how various strategies may or may not work well for each campus considering its culture, history with assessment, and current leadership priorities. 

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?  

First female president of the United States…I’m fine with my current position. 

What is your greatest career or life achievement so far?  

In my time at the State University of New York at Fredonia, I served on the Task Force on Baccalaureate Goals; our charge was to develop an institutional learning goals framework. We had a wonderful group of faculty members who worked collegially, thoughtfully and intentionally with the campus community to identify the skills and knowledge we desired for Fredonia graduates. We developed a four-word framework (Skilled, Connected, Creative, Responsible), which is still guiding the work there a decade later. Overall, it was a very positive experience with an outcome that truly influenced the future of the institution and education for its students. 

What’s your favorite part of being a member of the HLC community?  

I appreciate that while we are all working at a variety of institutions, in a variety of areas and disciplines, and with a variety of student populations, most of the people I have met through HLC prioritize high-quality learning and engagement experiences for students. It is comforting to know that, ultimately, this is guiding our work in higher education.