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After participating in the American Council on Education’s year-long fellowship program, Professor Shawn Boyne (seated front row, center, with ACE Fellows) is eager to put the knowledge and skills she learned to use at IUPUI.

Professor Boyne’s year included participating in several week long fellows’ retreats, working on a team consulting project for another university and spending the fall in residence at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

While in residence at JMU, she worked with mentors President Jonathan Alger and Provost Heather Coltman.

“I am truly grateful to both President Alger and Provost Coltman for taking me under their wing and helping me to understand some of the challenges facing higher education leaders today,” Professor Boyne said. “I was able to spend time at James Madison, not only observing senior leadership meetings, but also speaking with key players around the campus to learn more about everything from construction to community engagement.”

In addition, Boyne participated in numerous workshops sponsored by JMU’s Center for Assessment & Research Studies. Throughout the year, the ACE Fellowship provided opportunities to engage in work surrounding key topics, such as athletics, food scarcity, student success and change management during three retreats, including a closing retreat Boyne attended recently in Portland, Oregon.

Established in 1965, the ACE Fellows Program is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing faculty and staff for senior positions in college and university administration through its distinctive and intensive nominator-driven, cohort-based mentorship model.

Throughout the year, Boyne worked on a project under the supervision of IUPUI’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer Kathy E. Johnson and Stephen Hundley, Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Planning and Institutional Improvement, Professor of Organizational Leadership, and Executive Editor of Assessment Update.

As part of that project, Boyne visited six other higher education institutions to study how those institutions structure assessment of student learning at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has already put some of that knowledge to use as she joined with JMU’s Keston Fulcher, Executive Director of the Center for Assessment and Research Studies and Associate Professor, Graduate Psychology, and Jeanne Horst, Associate Assessment Special and Associate Professor of Graduate Psychology, to make a joint presentation at the Annual Conference of the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education in St. Paul, Minnesota.

 “Because law schools have only recently been required to implement an assessment program, initially my knowledge of assessment was limited to what other law schools are doing. I am grateful that I now understand a wide range of assessment techniques and processes. Hopefully, I can work with my colleagues in the law school in the coming year to expand our assessment efforts.”

Professor Boyne has been at IUPUI since 2008. She participated in IUPUI’s Next Gen 2.0 Leadership Program’s inaugural cohort. During her tenure at the law school, Professor Boyne has received an IUPUI DRIVE Fellowship, a Trustee’s Teaching Award, as well as a Prestigious External Award Recognition (PEAR Award). She is Senior Mosaic Faculty Fellow, Co-Director of the J.D. Program Evaluation & Assessment.

She is also four-time recipient of the John S. Grimes Research Grant and has been elected as a Fellow in the European Law Institute (ELI). She also directs the IU McKinney Summer Law and Leadership Academy, which is in its fifth year and has become a pipeline program for the law school.

Vice Chancellor Johnson nominated Professor Boyne for the ACE Fellowship.

“I’m delighted that Shawn was able to participate in the ACE Fellows program because the insights that Fellows gain from their time spent at other institutions are usually transformative,” Vice Chancellor Johnson said. “Shawn’s interest in assessment, coupled with the knowledge that she has gained from her time spent at James Madison University, will almost certainly benefit the McKinney School of Law and the rest of the IUPUI campus as we prepare for reaffirmation of accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission.”

To build on her ACE Fellowship experience, Professor Boyne will combine teaching at IU McKinney School of Law with working part time with Professor Hundley during the 2019-202 academic year. As part of that effort, Boyne will return to James Madison University for a week in July to lead a team from IUPUI participating in JMU’s “Learning Improvement by Design Workshop.”

 Beginning in August, Professor Boyne will work with Susan Kahn, Director, IUPUI Office of Institutional Effectiveness, on a campus-wide assessment initiative. In addition, this fall Boyne will attend training to become more familiar with the accreditation process as she has been invited to become a member of the Higher Learning Commission’s Peer Corps.

“I am profoundly grateful for IU McKinney Dean Andy Klein’s support and the support of Kathy Johnson and Stephen Hundley, for giving me the opportunity to participate in the ACE Fellows Program,” Professor Boyne said. “It has been a tremendous learning experience and I now am part of an incredible network that I can draw on as I continue my career. I also appreciate the fact that I was able to draw on the experience and guidance of my sage, Sara Jayne Steen, President Emerita of Plymouth State University, who helped me to navigate the program’s challenges. Now that I am back at IUPUI, I am committed to ensuring that every student is given the opportunity to succeed.  I look forward to continuing to learn how I can make a difference.”