Project Proposal Melody Haak

A Needs Assessment of a New Member Orientation for the Student Government Association

PURPOSE
● Prepare the new members for participation in Senate, SGA’s General Body Meeting
o Inform them of parliamentary procedure
o Teach the attendance policies/membership requirements
o Familiarize them with the internal structure of the organization
BACKGROUND
Every year, new members are inducted into Student Government Association and don’t fully understand
the membership requirements or how to go about Senate Procedures. This results in new members being
too timid to participate. To overcome this issue, a structured new member orientation may exist.
KEY STAKEHOLDERS
The key stakeholders are the Student Government Association. The Leadership Team members: Speaker,
Membership Chair, and Parliamentarian are the main stakeholders.
FRAME FACTORS
A frame factor is that there is no consistent prior orientation that has been used to train members other than
a PowerPoint. There is an overview of ideas of things new members need to be taught, but no structure.
Also, this orientation only occurs once a semester, so there will be a limited ability to test this course.
DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS
● New Member Orientation Requirements: List of topics new members must be familiarized with
● Document review: Documents outlining membership requirements and parliamentary procedures.
● Semi-structured interviews: Membership Chair (Abby Cannella, who knows membership
requirements), Parliamentarian (Tara Snowden-who knows proper procedures), and Speaker
(Danny Gaffin-who runs Senate).
● Data analysis: analysis of prior orientation presentations and needs expressed in interviews,
PROJECT PLAN DUE KEY PERSON(S)
Initial Client Meeting 9/16 Melody
One-Page Proposal 9/20 Melody
Permission Letter From SGA 9/23 Melody
Data Collection
● Past orientation presentation documents 9/30
● Interviews Melody
Data Analysis
● Review of past orientation presentations
● Content analysis of the interviews 10/3 Melody
Submit Progress Report 10/4 Melody
Submit Draft Report and Presentation 10/6 Melody
Final Feedback from Client 10/7 Melody
Final Report to Professor Chaudhuri and Client 10/11 Melody
Final Presentation to Client 10/11 Melody