Professor honored for creating national survey

George Kuh, a Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Higher Education at the IU School of Education, has been awarded the 2013 Robert Zemsky award for Innovation in Higher Education. 

Kuh, who started working at IU in 1976 and retired in the summer of 2010, received the award mostly for his work with the National Survey of Student Engagement, which he started here in Bloomington. 

In his years at IU, Kuh taught various levels of classes in the School of Education, including master’s level classes, education and student affair classes and higher education administration classes.

On Jan. 17, Kuh was presented with the award in Philadelphia, according to a press release.

“A lifetime of work contributed to the Zemsky award,” Kuh said. “Primarily due to NSSE, which is now used in over 1,400 universities in the U.S. and Canada.”The NSSE is an annual report that shows how students spend their time and other factors about their undergraduate experience.

“There are also in-depth studies of high-performance institutions and what makes them that way,” Kuh said.

It was created to be more in-depth than typical college rankings by gathering data regarding the use of effective educational practices on campus. The NSSE has grown from a small survey used at about 70 schools in 1990 to a larger survey that is now spreading outside of the country. Kuh is traveling to Ireland next week to help set up a survey similar to NSSE.

The Zemsky was awarded by alumni of the Executive Education Management program at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and is only the second of its kind ever awarded. The goal of the award is to annually honor people whose leadership in higher education results in transformations in colleges and universities.
 
Although Kuh is now retired from IU, his work endures on campus. 

“Kuh founded the Center of Postsecondary Research, and that work still continues,” said Gerardo Gonzalez, dean of the School of Education. “It was one of the first centers of its kind in the country.”

Kuh’s work during his 34 years of teaching made a difference in the program that is now in place.

“The School of Education is ranked amongst the top 10 of its kind,” Gonzalez said. “And a large part is due to Professor Kuh.”

The award and Kuh’s work are also bringing more attention to IU. 

“The award draws attention to good work that’s being done,” Kuh said. “It elevates the status and recognizes the attempts to improve undergrad educations.”

Along with his work at IU and with NSSE, Kuh has also published more than 300 items, according to a press release. These include national reports, 30 books, 70 book chapters and about 200 scholarly articles. 

In reply to the Zemsky award, Kuh said what helped him the most was the people.
“It’s great to be around smart, hard-working people,” he said. “And that’s been my advantage every time.”