Student success and institutional effectiveness go hand in hand at Dominican. Institutional Effectiveness encompasses a wide range of equity-based evaluation and assessment activities for the purposes of active reflection, strategic planning, and continuous improvement.
There are four sections describing our data:
- University Facts
- Student Learning
- Student Experience and Achievement
- Career Outcomes
University Facts
The University Facts provides a comprehensive look at who our students are and what they study, as well as their persistence and completion rates.
Student Learning
At Dominican, students explore purpose and meaning through breadth of knowledge in general education and a depth of knowledge in majors and graduate study. Learning outcomes are important in developing and assessing students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities as they advance through the core curriculum, as well as within their specific fields of study.
The Institutional Learning Outcomes represent our commitment that every Dominican Graduate will have the opportunity to gain knowledge, skills, and personal capabilities throughout their studies and experiences.
Goal: Exploration and Acquisition of Knowledge |
Goal: Practice of Civic Skills and Social Responsibility |
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Students explore: Purpose and meaning through breadth of knowledge in general education and a depth of knowledge in majors and graduate study. |
Students gain skills to become global citizens who act within diverse contexts. Students practice:
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Goal: Development of intellectual, professional and artistic skills |
Goal: Cultivation of Well-Being |
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Students prepare for a successful life and career through research and practical application of skills. Students develop:
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Students engage in personal development to build resilience and support the flourishing of self and others. Students cultivate:
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Each undergraduate and graduate program has a link to their learning outcomes on their program page as well as the course catalog.
Dominican students have multiple opportunities to make their learning visible. The pages below highlight some examples:
Student Experience and Achievement
During their time at Dominican, students are immersed in personal development opportunities to build resilience and support the flourishing of self and others, while becoming prepared for a successful life and career through research and practical application of skills. Through the four high-impact practices of the Dominican Experience, as well as additional opportunities to engage more broadly with the campus and the greater community, students are empowered to persist and complete their degree.
The Dominican Experience is designed for the twenty-first century student –– the thinker, the doer, the artist, the activist, the trailblazer, the entrepreneur –– from every walk of life.
Engaged learning is an area of distinction for Dominican. Students have multiple opportunities to participate in research, events, community service, groups, clubs, activities, and more. The pages below highlight some examples:
What is the NSSE?
The National Survey of Student Engagement collects information about first-year and senior students' participation in programs and activities for their learning and personal development. The results give a picture of how undergraduate students spend their time and what they gain from attending Dominican.
Senior engagement in high-impact practices
Percentage of senior respondents who reported participating in the following high-impact practices (HIPs) during their time at Dominican:
| Participation in 2+ HIPs | 85% |
|---|---|
| Community-Based Project/Service-Learning | 80% |
| Internship or Field Experience | 79% |
| Culminating Senior Experience | 64% |
| Research with Faculty | 47% |
| Learning Community | 42% |
| Formal leadership role in student organization/group | 38% |
Areas of greatest gains from Dominican education:
Seniors reported that their educational experience at Dominican contributed most positively to “Thinking critically and analytically,” followed by "Working effectively with others." The table below includes additional areas that were either“very much” or “quite a bit” improved also.
| Working Effectively with Others | 83% |
|---|---|
| Thinking Critically and Analytically | 87% |
| Writing Clearly and Effectively | 75% |
| Developing or clarifying a personal code of values and ethics | 75% |
| Understanding people of other backgrounds (economic, racial/ethnic, political, religious, nationality, etc.) | 75% |
| Speaking clearly and effectively | 74% |
Career Outcomes
Dominican educates and prepares students to become ethical leaders and socially responsible global citizens who incorporate the Dominican values of study, reflection, community, and service into their lives. Upon graduation, alumni enter a variety of fulfilling career paths and/or courses of study to continue their education.
Read about recent alumni success in our News Hub.
All information for this section sourced from public LinkedIn profiles for undergraduate Dominican alumni who graduated between 2017 & 2021 (data captured July 2022).
Top industries of employment include:
- Hospital and Healthcare
- Marketing and Advertising
- Accounting
- Higher Education
- Health, Wellness and Fitness
- Medical Practice
- Nonprofit Organization and Management
- Broadcast Media
- Public Policy
- Public Relations and Communications
Select employers include:
- Academy of Art University
- Adventist Health
- Amazon Web Services
- Bay Area Community Resources
- Bay Area Healthcare Center
- BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
- Buzzfeed
- California State Assembly
- Canal Alliance
- Catholic Charities
- Children's National HospitalCommunity Action Marin
County of Sonoma - Dominican University of California
- Genentech
- John Muir Health
- Kaiser Permanente
- Kentfield Rehabilitation & Specialty Hospital
- Marin Community Clinics
- Marin County Sheriff's Office
- Marin General Hospital
- Mayo Clinic
- Microsoft
- Nonprofit Intelligence Partners, LLC
- Oakland Unified School District
- Regional Medical Center of San Jose
- Santa Clara Valley Medical Center
- Stanford Children's Health | Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
- Stanford University School of Medicine
- Sutter Health
- Tesla
- UC Davis Health
- UCSF Medical Center
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
- University of Michigan
- University of San Francisco
- University of Southern California
- VCA Animal Hospitals
- Willamette University
Top areas of study for Dominican graduates who continued their education in graduate programs include:
- Occupational Therapy
- Biology (General or Other)
- Business Administration and Management or Business Analytics
- Healthcare (Leadership or Other)
- Nursing (Family Practitioner or Other)
- Education (Teaching/Administration)
- Psychology (Clinical/Counseling/Applied)
- Physical Therapy
- Law
- Medicine
Select Graduate Schools include:
- Academy of Art University
- Dominican University of California
- Samuel Merritt University
- San Francisco State University
- Sonoma State University
- The George Washington University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, San Francisco
- University of Denver
- University of San Francisco
- University of Southern California
- University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences
- University of the Pacific
- University of Washington School of Law
- Vanderbilt University Law School
Graduates indicated their “Problem-solving" skills were most transformed as part of their Dominican educational experience. Additional skill areas viewed as improved either “Quite a bit” or "Very much" are listed below.
| Problem-solving | 97% |
|---|---|
| Teamwork | 90% |
| Integrative thinking | 83% |
| Creative thinking | 80% |
| Preparation for graduate school | 76% |
| Preparation for current career | 73% |
| Civic Engagement | 72% |
Attaining Institutional Learning Outcomes
Students who graduated in 2020-21 reported they made the most progress in the "Development of Intellectual, Professional, and Artistic Skills" Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) while at Dominican. See below for the percentage of students who Agreed or Strongly Agreed with the related ILO statements.
| Prepared for a successful life and career through research and practical application of skills (Development of Intellectual, Professional, and Artistic Skills) | 96% |
|---|---|
| Engaged in personal development to build resilience and support the flourishing of self and others (Cultivation of Well-Being) | 92% |
| Explored purpose and meaning through breadth of knowledge in general education and a depth of knowledge in my major (Exploration and Acquisition of Knowledge) | 92% |
| Gained skills to become a global citizen within diverse contexts (Practice of Civic Skills and Social Responsibility) | 83% |
All information for this section was reported by 2020-2021 Dominican graduates who participated in HEDS Alumni Survey within one year of graduation.
