From the Assistant Director
Meet Melody Cottingham
Melody Cottingham
Assistant Director of Assessment, Quality Enhancement Plan (CADENCE)
Chair, QEP Steering Committee
Welcome
Welcome to CADENCE, Tennessee State University's Quality Enhancement Plan.
I believe meaningful student success work begins with a simple question: What does the evidence tell us our students need, and what are we going to do about it?
That question guides my approach to assessment and my work with CADENCE. Assessment should extend beyond collecting data or meeting reporting requirements. When done well, it helps us understand the student experience, identify opportunities for improvement, make informed decisions, and ultimately create better systems of support for students.
As Assistant Director of Assessment for the Quality Enhancement Plan, I lead the implementation and assessment of CADENCE in collaboration with our QEP team, Steering Committee, faculty, staff, students, and university partners. My work includes overseeing student learning outcome assessment, analyzing and communicating QEP data, coordinating cross-campus initiatives and partnerships, supporting continuous improvement, and helping move CADENCE initiatives toward long-term sustainability.
Leading the Work of CADENCE
CADENCE is centered on helping Tennessee State University students make meaningful connections among their academic choices, personal goals, experiences, and future careers.
That work requires collaboration.
As Chair of the QEP Steering Committee, I work alongside representatives from academic and student-facing areas across the university to advance QEP priorities and support implementation. The Steering Committee structure emphasizes shared responsibility for carrying out QEP work and supporting effective implementation.
I am also fortunate to work with a dedicated CADENCE team whose expertise spans faculty engagement, academic technology, advising technology, administration, assessment, and student support. Together with our campus partners, we use evidence to evaluate our progress, strengthen implementation, and determine how successful QEP practices can become sustainable parts of the Tennessee State University student experience.
Why This Work Matters to Me
Student success is not the responsibility of a single office, program, or person. Students experience a university as one institution. The systems we create should reflect that.
I am passionate about building structures that help educators move from information to action and help students receive the right support at the right time. Whether that means improving an assessment process, examining a trend in student data, strengthening an advising practice, developing a new resource for faculty and staff, or bringing the right people together to solve a problem, I believe continuous improvement should ultimately result in a better experience for students.
The recognition of CADENCE as a SACSCOC QEP Project of Excellence is an exciting milestone for Tennessee State University. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the faculty, staff, students, administrators, and QEP team members whose work has contributed to the initiative and to consider how we carry that work forward.
There is always more to learn, more to improve, and more we can do on behalf of our students.
That is the work that continues.
About Melody
Melody Cottingham is the Assistant Director of Assessment for Tennessee State University's Quality Enhancement Plan and Chair of the QEP Steering Committee. She brings experience across K–12 and higher education in assessment, data-informed intervention, program implementation, professional learning, academic advising, and student success.
She holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a Master of Science in Criminology and Research from Johnson & Wales University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Her professional interests include student success, assessment and continuous improvement, data-informed decision-making, early intervention, academic advising, and developing systems that help institutions translate evidence into action.
Melody Cottingham
Assistant Director of Assessment, Quality Enhancement Plan
Tennessee State University