The Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Knowledge Community of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) recognizes Dr. Sara Finney as its Excellence in Publication award winner. Dr. Finney serves as Professor (Assessment and Measurement PhD program) and Associate Director of the Center for Assessment and Research Studies at James Madison University.  

Dr. Finney’s 90 publications (which have been cited over 13,000 times) focus on the incorporation of program theory and implementation fidelity in the outcomes assessment process, the study of test-taking motivation and attitudes during institutional accountability testing, and the application of latent variable modeling techniques to better understand the measurement of psychoeducational constructs. She collaborates regularly with graduate students on assessment-related research and purposefully shares this work in a variety of outlets including Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, Research & Practice in Assessment, Educational Assessment, International Journal of Testing, and Journal of Experimental Education (to name only a few).  

Dr. Finney’s research raises important questions for the field and offers potential solutions. She, in turn, provides practical guidance to assessment professionals seeking to improve their assessment processes, which has resulted in 6 national awards related to outcomes assessment in higher education.  

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Finney on this national award recognizing her outstanding scholarly contributions to the field! 

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