Webinar: Strengthening Critical Thinking & Analysis for Assessment, evaluation, and research

In order to make important decisions thoughtfully and carefully, it is important to enhance your critical thinking and analysis skills so that you are taking intentional, well-informed actions. These skills are important for making decisions and justifying those decisions with strong rationales, no matter what audience you are addressing. This program is intended to help participants learn more about identifying, gathering, and synthesizing data to support your critical thinking.  

About the Presenters

• Kristen Ernst currently serves as the executive director of the student center at Rice University, which is comprised of three main functional areas: facilities and events, student-run businesses, and student activities. Within her role she also supports student leadership development, large-scale campus programming such as Moody Fest, and overall departmental assessment and reporting. Kristen has a master’s of education in higher education administration from the University of Houston and also has bachelor’s in both English and film studies from Boston College. She has been an active volunteer with ACUI for over 10 years and has been a member of ACUI’s Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Program Team since 2020.  
•  Christopher Howard is currently the chief audio engineer and technology specialist for the Stony Brook Music Department, where he manages recording, live streaming, live sound, and classroom technology. Chris worked in student centers operations from 2022–26, most recently as the assistant director of operations and events for the Campus Life Centers at Stony Brook University. With a focus on data analysis and strategic thinking, Chris has extensive experience in digging to the root of a problem and creating dynamic spreadsheets to help make decisions backed by data.  

ACUI Core Competencies

• Assessment, Evaluation, and Research 

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, participants will:

• Be able to use critical thinking to identify data or metrics most aligned with the relevant issue/topic being addressed  
• Learn best practices in how to gather data  
• Be able to synthesize their data and apply their findings to enact practical solutions  
• Learn how to roll out their solutions in a holistic manner, reflecting on impacts and audience 

Registration Details

• Individual at Premium or Full Tier Member Campus: Free
• Individual at Digital Tier Member Campus – $20
• Individual at Nonmember Campus – $50

Each person who wants access to event or resources following event should register individually. Members must be associated with the correct campus account to receive the $0 rate, where applicable; please contact acui@acui.org with questions or issues.