Questions That Matter: How Jon Hill Evaluates Student Outcomes
From running student programs to now assessing them, Jon Hill works with staff and students at Texas A&M to support their professional and personal development.
From California to Illinois. Illinois to Massachusetts. Back to Illinois and California. Finally, to Aggieland. Jon Hill’s journey in student affairs spans thousands of miles, taking him across the country twice.
Hailing from Westminster, Calif., Hill grew up near sunny Huntington Beach when he moved north to attend California State University, Monterey Bay as a kinesiology and exercise science major. Serving as a resident advisor, Hill was introduced to student affairs as he frequently worked with the housing office and its leadership team to train other residence staff.
“After a conversation with my supervisor about possibly making this a career, I traveled to Providence, R.I. for the Stars College program run by the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International, where I learned more about the different pathways in the field,” said Hill. “There, I met one of my mentors who used to work at Western Illinois University, and I learned about the student affairs opportunities there.”
Inspired by his mentor, Hill made his first move out-of-state to Western Illinois University for his master’s degree in college student personnel. There, he joined a team as a graduate assistant to manage all the health education programs on campus that supported approximately 7,500 students.
“Since I had already covered the West Coast and Midwest, I wanted to do a summer internship on the East Coast,” said Hill. “That led me to the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where I focused on budgeting and finances while in charge of operations for multiple buildings that were being used for summer camps.”
After earning his master’s degree, he briefly moved back home when he saw a position open up as a health educator in Student Life. He interviewed, received the offer and made his final stop at Texas A&M. For five years, Hill managed alcohol education and interpersonal violence prevention programs and workshops and presented to various faculty, staff and student groups to promote student safety on campus.
“What really meant a lot was when students would come up to me while I was walking on campus to tell me how they incorporated the skills they learned in their lives,” said Hill. “For example, I was talking with one of the director staffs at Fish Camp when he recognized me from a previous Green Dot presentation about interpersonal violence.”
The more you think you know, the more you don’t know. When we come together as a team to develop surveys, or as I like to call it “survey smithing,” we’re able to answer questions differently to find the best approach.
From Student Facing to Data
About a year ago, Hill transitioned to the department of Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research (SAPAR) as a student learning coordinator. This was a welcome challenge for him to grow professionally.
“I’m a third-year doctoral student in the higher education administration program at Texas A&M, and being part of an office that does a lot of quantitative and qualitative work, as well as building up my skills for that, was really important as I prepare to write a dissertation focused on student learning in interpersonal violence prevention programs,” Hill shared.
Instead of presenting on the front end, Hill now supports students and staff to assess their own programs and events, focused on answering: Are we accomplishing what we set out to do?
When a project request comes in, he sits down with students or other division staff to develop assessments that provide insights into how programs are performing. From there, he creates reports that outline recommendations to improve student learning outcomes such as professional skills training and leadership development.
“Overall, I think the main premise of my role is still to educate others, as I have the opportunity to explain higher education topics in a wide variety of different ways through data,” Hill said.
He also emphasized how much he has been able to learn by working with the other staff members in SAPAR, and how assessment is made better through collaboration.
“The more you think you know, the more you don’t know,” Hill explained. “When we come together as a team to develop surveys, or as I like to call it ‘survey smithing,’ we’re able to answer questions differently to find the best approach.”
Get to know Jon Hill
You’ve now been a part of SAPAR for a little over a year. Could you describe what you currently do in your role?
In addition to building assessments with student organizations and teams across the division, I work closely with my supervisor, Susan Fox-Forester, to promote the division’s Student Affairs Transformational Experience (SATE) initiative. This ensures that student-facing experiences build in self-reflection, in addition to meaningful student learning.
While we are the experts in assessing outcomes, we aren’t the experts in the content of programs or experiences. As a result, this requires a lot of collaboration with those who are managing the experiences to find out what they entail, understand what they need from us and then help them meet the requirements to be designated as a SATE.
What are some of the key considerations that go into assessing student learning?
We think about student learning outcomes as a whole. This includes whether programs, resources or events actually include meaningful learning outcomes that provide students professional and personal growth opportunities. We also evaluate whether participants can retain information if that’s a goal of a presentation or workshop.
You are also pursuing your Ph.D. in higher education administration. What was behind that decision?
What I really wanted to do while pursuing my Ph.D. was to take time in the classroom. When I was in my master’s program, my goal was to gain skills that would enhance my career, so I was focused on the assistantship.
Looking back on that experience now as a doctoral student, I think the classroom is really important because you have the opportunity to hear from others and actually take a deeper dive into the course material. That’s the reason why I decided to go back and get my Ph.D.
How does your professional experience in Student Life and SAPAR impact your perspective in your doctoral program?
I’ve been able to have a greater perspective and think about things from a bigger landscape. It also grounds me in reality and in what’s possible when thinking about “How do we create policies and procedures?” or “How do we streamline processes?” I’ve been able to evaluate these questions from a department, division and university perspective. That helps me become more well-rounded as a student and professional.
Outside of work and your Ph.D., how do you like to spend your free time?
I’d have to say hanging out with friends and trying new things or experiences. This isn’t going to be a shock to most people I know, but I play Pokémon GO and have traveled across the country for it. I’m also very active in the gym, and I decided to participate in the Bryan-College Station Half Marathon in December, which I will be training for during the fall semester.
