Associate Vice President for Planning, Assessment and Innovation

Email: pjbowers@mailbox.sc.edu
Phone: 803-777-3925
Office: Osborne 110

Pam Bowers leads efforts to develop a culture of evidence-based decision making, transparency of purpose, intentional program delivery, and accountability for results, documented in Blueprints for Excellence.  Experience includes service as Consultant-Evaluator for the Program to Evaluate and Advance Quality with the Higher Learning Commission, and training as Institutional Effectiveness Evaluator with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). 

Bowers serves on the University Assessment Advisory Committee; chairs the Planning, Assessment and Innovation Council; leads an assessment community of practice, and serves on the Carolina Core Committee (General Education). She has taught institutional assessment courses in the USC Higher Education in Student Affairs (HESA) master’s program; the South Carolina Community College Leadership Alliance; and in the Master of Science in Higher Education / Business Administration Program (HEBA).

In collaboration with the office of the provost and the division of information technology, Bowers leads university efforts to document learning associated with student involvement in educationally purposeful support and enrichment programs, serving as project leader to develop and implement a supplemental student information system, Beyond The Classroom Matters®.   BTCM was selected for the Lumina Foundation Comprehensive Student Record Project and has been featured in webinars and publications sponsored by NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education; American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO); Coalition of Urban Serving Universities (USU); Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU); Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC); Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U); Wiche Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET); and Educause.

Bowers earned a PhD in applied behavioral studies from Oklahoma State University.  Her doctoral research focused on analysis of the relationship of employment outcomes to developmental variables and job search strategies of college graduates.