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Patrick Barlow

University Assessment Coordinator
Institutional Research University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

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Patrick Barlow

University Assessment Coordinator

Institutional Research

Specialty area(s)

Learning Outcomes Assessment, Positive Psychology, Test/Survey Construction and Analysis, Program Evaluation

Brief biography

My career began as a professor with with interests in psychometrics and statistics that has been a foundation to serve in faculty development and coordinator of learning outcomes assessment.  My current role in the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Planning is to facilitate assessment projects through consultations with faculty, staff, and departments. I also coordinate and provide analysis of college-wide assessment projects (NSSE, Collegiate Learning Assessment, etc.) and other campus level reports (First Destination Survey, UW System Partnerships Report). I've been fortunate to continue to teach on occasion through an online course in Positive Psychology and our First Year Seminar.  It has been good to also collaborate with various faculty on campus with research projects serving in a statistical support role.

Current courses at UWL

FYS 100 First Year Seminar
PSY 406: Positive Psychology (online)
PSY 481: Individual Projects in Psychology

Education

Ph.D., Psychology, Iowa State University
Dissertation Project: “The Measurement of Optimism and Hope in Relation to College Student Retention and Academic Success”

M.A., Psychology (Clinical Emphasis), University of Northern Iowa
Thesis: “The Study of Optimism in a Freshman College Student Population: An Analysis of the Optimism About College Life Scale”

B.A., Psychology, Loras College, Magna Cum Laude , Minor: Philosophy

Career

Teaching history

Viterbo University
--General Psychology with Lab
--Biopsychology
--Research Methods I
--Psychopharmacology
--Senior Seminar
--Positive Psychology (Online)

Gannon University
--Introduction to Psychology
--Introduction to Psychology (Honors)
--Scientific Methods in Psychology
--Psychometrics
--Physiological Psychology
--Positive Psychology Seminar
--Theories of Personality
--Nature or Nurture (Behavioral Genetics)
--Graduate Physiological Psychology

Iowa State University
--Psychology of the Normal Personality
--History of Psychology
--Psychological Measurement
--Introduction to Psychology

Professional history

June 2010- present University Assessment Coordinator, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
June 2007-June 2010 Director of College Assessment, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
August 2005- June 2007 Assistant Professor of Psychology, Viterbo University
August 2002- August 2005 Assistant Professor of Psychology, Gannon University
Summer 2000, 2001, 2002 Temporary Instructor of Psychology, Iowa State University
August 1997-May 2002 Graduate Teaching Assistant in Psychology, Iowa State University

Research and publishing

Publications:
Vianden, J., & Barlow, P. J. (2015). Strength the bond: Relationships between academic advising quality and undergraduate student loyalty, NACADA Journal, 35 (2), 15-27.

Eager, E.A., Peirce, J., & Barlow, P. (2014). Math Bio or BioMath? Flipping the Mathematical Biology Classroom. Letters in Biomathematics,1(2), 139-155.

Vianden, J., & Barlow, P. J. (2014). Showing the love: Predictors of student loyalty to undergraduate institutions. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 51 (1), 16-29.

Barlow, P. J., Tobin, D. J., & Schmidt, M.M. (2009). Social interest and positive psychology: Positively aligned. Journal of Individual Psychology. 65 (3), 191-202.

Presentations:

Skemp, K., Pettit, M., & Barlow, P. (2023, November), Coping with a Crisis: The Intersection of Spirituality and Social Media. Presentation at the American Public Health Association 2023 Annual Meeting & Expo, Atlanta, GA.

Carlson, J., Kim, E., Zimmerman, M., Her, V., Bababkhani Teimouri, S., & Fisher, T., Peacock, E., & Barlow, P. (2023, August). Piloting the Path to Assessment: Use of the VALUE Rubrics for Assessment of the GE Program.  Poster presented at the 24th Annual Conference on Teaching and Learning, UW-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI.

Skemp, K., Pettit, M., & Barlow, P. (2023, May). Coping with a crisis: The intersectionality of spirituality and social media.  Poster presentation at the 5th Annual UW-La Crosse Research and Creativity Symposium, La Crosse, WI.

Barlow, P. (2022, November). Supporting of General Education Reform: Use of Multiple Student Cohorts. Presentation at the 2022 Association for Institutional Research in the Upper Midwest (AIRUM) Annual Conference, Bloomington, MN.

Barlow, P., Pearson Hennen, J., & Cover, S. (2022, November). And the Survey Says: Insights and Ideas for Ensuring a Meaningful Survey Experience. Presentation at the 2022 Association for Institutional Research in the Upper Midwest (AIRUM) Annual Conference, Bloomington, MN.

Marshik, T., Solverson, N., Barlow, P., & Dale, T. (2019, August).  Instructor and Student Outcomes Related to Campus-Wide Efforts to “Reimagine the First Year.” Poster presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Solverson, N., Barlow, P. J., & Vianden, J. (2019, June).  Designing Meaningful Assessment to Strengthen our Outcomes. Student Affairs/Higher Education Teaching Symposium, UW-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI.

Barlow, P. J. (2018, November). Tracking Alumni Employment Patterns: Taking on a Challenging Task.  Presentation at the 2018 Association for Institutional Research in the Upper Midwest (AIRUM) Annual Conference, "IR for Changing World", Bloomington, MN.

Barlow, P.J. (2018, June).  Guiding Good Practice: Leveraging Taskstream AMS for Efficient Review of Assessment Work. Digital Poster at Watermark Engage 2018 Conference, Austin, TX.

Bryan, C., Guinn, M., Palmer, J., Wise, N., Palomba, S., Barlow, P.J., & Villarreal, A.  (2018, June).  Engaging Stakeholders in Using Watermark’s Tools.  Panel Presentation at Watermark Engage 2018 Conference, Austin, TX.

Barlow, P.J., Vianden, B., Bald, K., & Lesher, S. (2018, January). Where do they go from here?; Understanding the First Destination Survey and Alumni Tracking for Program Assessment.  Panel presentation at the 2018 Assessment Commons: Asking Questions, Sharing Practices, Finding Answers, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI.

Solverson, N., Engen, G., Sturm, M., & Barlow, P. J. (2018, January). Data on Tap: Reflections on Existing Data Sources and Data Requests from the IRAP Team.  Panel presentation at the 2018 Assessment Commons: Asking Questions, Sharing Practices, Finding Answers, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI.

Barlow, P. J. (2017, November). Getting your Feet Wet: Taking the Plunge to Translate your Assessment Process into a Software Based System. Presentation at the 2017 Association for Institutional Research in the Upper Midwest (AIRUM) Annual Conference, "IR Reconsidered:  Leveraging Institutional Research Capital for Campus Success", Bloomington, MN.

Barlow, P. J. (2017, June). Rebooting your Assessment Reporting and Review Process. Presentation at the 2017 Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) Annual Conference “Promoting Assessment for Learning", Louisville, KY.

Barlow, P. J. (2016, June). Setting the Stage: Ensuring Alignment of Assessment Tasks with Program Learning Outcomes. Presentation at the 2016 Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) Annual Conference “Assessing What We Value: A Focus on Student Learning, Milwaukee, WI.

Thompson, W., Aitken, R., Barlow, P., Fager, J., & Rose, T. (2016, June). What does it really take to establish, grow, and sustain assessment systems and processes on campus? Panel Presentation at the 2016 Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE) Annual Conference “Assessing What We Value: A Focus on Student Learning, Milwaukee, WI.

Thoune, D., Kopp, B., & Barlow, P. J. (2016, April). Translating data into action: Coordinating university and program-specific writing assessment. Presented at the 2016 CCCC Annual Convention, Houston, TX.

Kudos

presented

Patrick Barlow, Institutional Research, Assessment & Planning; and Michele Pettit and Karen Skemp, both Public Health & Community Health Education; presented "Exploring the nexus of mental health, spirituality, and social media" at American Public Health Association 2024 Annual Meeting & Expo: on Oct. 27 in Minneapolis, MN. Spirituality includes a sense of connection to something bigger than oneself and may become prominent when an individual confronts adversity. Resilience refers to the ability to bounce back from challenging situations. This study examined spiritual coping and resilience in relation to social media use, anxiety, depression, and stress among a campus community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty, staff, and students from a mid-sized Midwestern public university completed an online survey consisting of items from the Spiritual Coping Strategies Scale, a revised version of the Facebook Intensity Scale, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, and the Brief Resilience Scale. Age may be a protective factor in offsetting adverse mental health effects of social media. Similarly, religious spiritual coping may be a protective factor against anxiety.

Submitted on: Nov. 20

presented

Patrick Barlow, Institutional Research, Assessment & Planning; and Michele Pettit and Karen Skemp, both Public Health & Community Health Education; presented "Coping with a crisis: The intersection of spirituality and social media" at American Public Health Association 2023 Annual Meeting & Expo: on Nov. 13 in Atlanta, GA. Spirituality includes a sense of connection to something bigger than oneself and may become prominent when an individual confronts emotional stress, physical ailments or mortality. Resilience refers to the ability to bounce back when presented with challenging situations. COVID-19 presented a challenging situation for people across the globe. To that end, the purpose of this study was to examine spiritual coping in relation to social media use, resilience, stress, depression, and anxiety among a campus community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Submitted on: Nov. 20, 2023

presented

Patrick Barlow, Scholarship Resource Center, presented "Support General Education Reform: Use of Multiple Student Cohorts" at AIRUM Annual Conference on Nov. 3 in Bloomington, MN. Patrick presented on the process of using multiple surveys to current and past UWL students to collect information on student experiences with general education.

Submitted on: Nov. 8, 2022

presented

Patrick Barlow, Institutional Research, Assessment & Planning, presented "And the Survey Says: Insights and Ideas for Ensuring a Meaningful Survey Experience" at AIRUM Annual Conference on Nov. 4 in Bloomington, MN. Patrick shared his experience of using and reporting on survey projects as part of a panel. Other presenters included Jennifer Pearson Hennen, Century College, and Shelia Cover, Mid-State Technical College.

Submitted on: Nov. 8, 2022

presented

Patrick Barlow, Institutional Research, Assessment & Planning, presented "Tracking Alumni Employment Patterns: Taking on a Challenging Task" at the 2018 Association for Institutional Research in the Upper Midwest (AIRUM) Annual Conference, IR in a Changing World on Nov. 8, 2018 in Bloomington, MN. Barlow's session reviewed how the UWL IRAP office has coordinated the First Destination Survey over the past two years and has adapted that effort with the use of the online career portal Handshake as the data collection tool.

Submitted on: Nov. 8, 2018

presented

Patrick Barlow, Institutional Research, Assessment & Planning, presented "Guiding Good Practice: Leveraging Taskstream AMS for Efficient Review of Assessment Work" at Watermark Engage 2018 Conference on June 20, 2018 in Austin, TX. The focus of this was the use of Taskstream at UWL to provide feedback to faculty on general education and program assessment and the tools in the software to create this process.

Submitted on: June 26, 2018