Steven Culver to lead Office of Assessment and Evaluation
Steven Culver has been named assistant provost for assessment and evaluation at Virginia Tech.
Culver has served as interim director of the office since the retirement of Ray Van Dyke in September 2013.
“Steve is an experienced professional who has worked with programs across campus to track and document improvements in student learning and program outcomes," said Ken Smith, vice provost for resource management and effectiveness. "Steve’s abilities and experience allowed him to step into the interim position and continue operations of the office with little disruption. His knowledge of the program and his vision for the future of assessment and evaluation at Virginia Tech make him the right person to continue leading the office to its next phase of evolution in service to the broader campus.”
"I look forward to the opportunity to continue working with and leading the capable team in the Office of Assessment and Evaluation as we work to promote and facilitate a culture of continuous improvement at Virginia Tech," said Culver. "Especially rewarding will be serving academic programs and departments, administrators, faculty, researchers, and students who depend on the work of our office."
Before his appointment as interim director last fall, Culver had served for six years as senior associate director in the Office of Assessment and Evaluation.
Prior to coming to Virginia Tech, he held a variety of academic positions at Radford University and was a tenured professor in the School of Social Work in the Waldron College of Health and Human Services.
Culver has been published widely in the areas of educational evaluation, assessment, and vocational education. He also held several editorial positions for academic journals, including his most recent as guest editor of a special edition of the European Journal of Higher Education focused on assessment in 2013.
Culver received a bachelor's degree in English from Ohio Northern University, and a master's degree in English and a doctoral degree in educational research and evaluation from Virginia Tech.
The Office of Assessment and Evaluation is a component unit of the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost. The Provost's Office seeks to promote academic quality and advance the strategic goals of Virginia Tech by providing academic leadership, service, and effective management of university resources.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
