ABSTRACT
I was a PhD student at Indiana University when George Kuh and his talented team of researchers created and launched the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Professor Kuh was my dissertation advisor at that time. I somehow knew then that the survey would become what it is now. NSSE responded to a timely need for data about how college students spend their time and the extent of their engagement in activities, programs, and experiences that have been empirically proven to produce positive educational outcomes. Over an impressively short time period, George, my dear friends Jillian Kinzie and Brian Bridges, and other scholars in the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research brilliantly evolved one great idea into a multifaceted suite of useful surveys, student engagement tools, and institutional transformation experiences. I am not at all surprised that thousands of colleges and universities have benefited from these contributions—NSSE and everything associated with it were destined to succeed from the start. This is just one of many reasons why I am among the proudest graduates of the Indiana University Higher Education and Student Affairs program.
