Amy Buhrow’s path to the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost is steeped in education.
Amy Buhrow will serve as NIU’s vice provost of Assessment and Accreditation beginning Aug. 1, 2023.
The trail begins with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and agriculture education, something that launched a professional journey that includes corporate training, graduate school and a long career at NIU.
Off campus, her volunteer activities similarly reflect that same commitment: She’s served as a member on the Ashton-Franklin Center CUSD #275 Board of Education since 2017 and is vice president of the Ashton-Franklin Center Future Farmers of America Alumni.
Working for the NIU College of Business from 2005 to 2022, Buhrow cultivated college-wide internship relationships, facilitated strategic planning and data-driven decision making, assured student learning in five degree programs and guided Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation activities.
Her roles included senior director for Strategy, Student Success and Accreditation; director of Accreditation, Academic Reporting and Strategy; and director of Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business/Assessment.
Beginning Aug. 1, she will share her expertise throughout campus as assistant vice provost of Assessment and Accreditation.
“I enjoy the strategy and collaboration needed for assessment and accreditation. Both require deep understanding of the campus community, teaching and learning and connections to faculty, students and staff,” Buhrow says. “When done in the spirit of continuous improvement, they have the power to unite us in working toward our mission of educational excellence.”
Returning to NIU and its “transformational impact” will allow her to “ensure the processes and resources are in place to support learning, degree completion and the success of all NIU students,” she adds.
“My No. 1 goal is to always deploy assessment and accreditation as continuous improvement tools,” Buhrow says. “Accreditation gives us a guide for best practices. Assessment gives us a student-focused continuous improvement framework. When deployed this way, students always come first – and compliance follows.”
The NIU alumna – she earned an M.S.Ed. in Adult Education in 2005 – holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and agriculture education from Illinois State University.
Originally planning to teach high school agriculture and horticulture, she instead accepted a job offer from Maple Park-based agricultural machinery company CNH Industrial to become a training coordinator.
It was during Buhrow’s earlier internship there that she realized she preferred teaching adults; once that work began, she then recognized her need to learn more about best practices for teaching adults, which brought her to the NIU College of Education.
Completing her master’s degree also helped her to build her professional network, leading to a job as a marketing specialist for NIU Outreach and, two years later, as an outreach specialist for the Experiential Learning Center in the NIU College of Business. Most recently, she has “enjoyed connecting people to plants as marketing director at Proven Winners.”
Since 2011, Buhrow also has worked as an independent consultant to higher education clients engaged in accreditation processes.
That résumé supports her new job description’s requirement of “a deep understanding of the role that assessment plays in improving the student experience on a campus” and a focus on “academic excellence and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.”
“Amy brings broad experience, particularly in accreditation and assessment with the NIU College of Business,” says Alicia Schatteman, vice provost for Academic Affairs. “She’s a well-respected colleague with an excellent reputation across campus. We are excited for her to join our team.”
Responsibilities of the assistant vice provost of Assessment and Accreditation include serving as a resource and guide for departments, colleges and divisions as they develop approaches and methods for measuring progress on their goals.
The assistant vice provost will collaborate with faculty and staff, academic administrators, the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Institutional Research, curricular deans and university curriculum committees to build and implement assessment policies and practices to link assessment activities with institutional accreditation and academic planning.
In this role, Buhrow also will serve as the academic liaison officer to the Higher Learning Commission, providing oversight and leadership for institution-wide accreditation including annual reporting, periodic reporting as required and all activities associated with the 10-year accreditation cycle; NIU’s next reaffirmation of accreditation is scheduled for 2023-24.
