Applied Research Center Staff
Sally Bosshart
Research Technician, Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis
Ms. Sally Bosshart is currently a Research Technician in the Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis. She has been at the University of Wisconsin-Stout since 1984, and served as a program assistant in various offices on campus including the Provost Office prior to assuming her current position. She has been involved with institutional research for fourteen years which has included designing, producing and disseminating institutional research studies and reports to support planning and decision-making. She also develops and maintains data as an institutional resource for the university and outside publishers.
ARC project: Alumni Follow Up Survey, Custom requests
Tammy Cutsforth
Budget and Policy Analyst-Advanced, Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis
Ms. Tammy Cutsforth is currently a Budget and Policy Analyst-Advanced in the Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis. She has been at the University of Wisconsin-Stout since 1999, and served as Budget and Policy Analyst-Senior prior to assuming her current position. She has been involved with institutional research for nine years which has included designing, producing and disseminating institutional research studies and reports to support planning and decision-making. Ms. Cutsforth has worked specifically on projects like the NSSE, Morale Evaluation, One-Minute Climate Assessment, teaching workload and salary studies. Ms. Cutsforth has a BS in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
ARC projects: Custom requests
Dan Riordan, PhD
Professor of English, Director of the Teaching and Learning Center
Dan Riordan came to UW-Stout in 1970. During his years at Stout he has been active in pedagogical and curricular affairs. He helped develop the Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Communication and has created numerous courses in support of that degree. His textbook, Technical Report Writing Today is in its 9th edition. Since becoming director of the Teaching and Learning Center, he has focused on issues of active learning, student engagement and student retention. He led UW-Stout’s four-year Scholarship of Teaching and Learning program, which resulted in over 100 presentations by approximately 40 scholars. As part of a research group he worked on a two–year study of student definitions of engagement. He is currently facilitating groups that study the relationship of engagement to learning, the role of Second Life in education, and the causes of non-retention at the university. For many years he has been the faculty representative to the University of Wisconsin System’s OPID (Office of Professional and Instructional Development). In July he will assume duties as the Director of UW-Stout’s Center for Interdisciplinary Collaboration.
Richard Tafalla, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology
Minority Faculty Leadership Intern
My research interests are varied but are approached from a socio-psychophysiological perspective. Broadly, I am interested in environmental factors and health. I have conducted research on physical fitness and physiological and psychological stress resistance. Currently, I am focusing on the physiological, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of playing violent video games. I, along with several of my colleagues, am managing our National Science Foundation funded program C-NERVE (Cognitive Neuroscience, Education and Research Valued Experience). This is a 3-year, student focused education and research experience designed to teach Cognitive Neuroscience. I have conducted extensive program evaluation studies including a longitudinal study of a 7th grade girl’s STEM education summer camp.
ARC projects: Custom requests
Wendy Swanson
Institutional Planner, Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis
Wendy Swanson, M.S. is an Institutional Planner in the office of Budget, Planning and Analysis. She has been with the BPA office since 2005, first as an Associate Institutional Planner and most recently, as an Institutional Planner. Ms. Swanson works extensively with student learning and engagement at UW-Stout, and has presented nationally on the UW-Stout Student Engagement Study and follow-up survey conducted at UW-Stout. Ms Swanson received her Master of Science degree from UW-Stout in Applied Psychology, where her thesis described conducting focus groups as part of a needs assessment of Student Health Services.
ARC projects: Student Engagement Survey, Exit Interview Survey, Mobile Technology Assessment, Custom requests
Meridith Wentz, PhD
Director of Budget, Planning and Analysis
Dr. Meridith Wentz is the Director of the Office of Budget, Planning and Analysis. She has been at the University of Wisconsin-Stout since 2001, and served as an institutional planner and director of institutional research prior to assuming her current position. The BPA office is responsible for institutional research, institutional planning, and administering the annual and biennial budget process, as well as the capital planning and budget process. She has also been involved with Baldrige efforts at the UW-Stout, and has presented nationally on UW-Stout’s quality improvement initiatives. Dr. Wentz received her doctorate from the University of Minnesota in Evaluation Studies. Her dissertation was on developing a model for evaluating ubiquitous computing programs.
ARC projects: Student Engagement Survey, Alumni Follow Up Survey, Mobile Technology Assessment, Exit Interview Survey, Custom requests