The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Selects TracDat to Manage Institutional Assessment Initiative
Initiative to Focus on Accreditation and Continuous Quality Improvement

PITTSBURGH, PA, September 14, 2006 – Nuventive, a leading provider of individual and institutional assessment solutions, today announced that The Art Institute of Pittsburgh will implement Nuventive TracDat, an enterprise assessment management solution to manage the process of institutional assessment and continuous improvement. The Art Institute of Pittsburgh is one of The Art Institutes, a system of 32 educational institutions located throughout North America, which provides an important source of design, media arts, fashion, and culinary arts professionals. Education Management Corporation, the parent company of The Art Institutes, is among the largest providers of proprietary postsecondary education in the United States

Since 1921, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh has focused on an industry-relevant curriculum to prepare students for creative careers. In addition to its successful two-year associate's degree programs, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh made history in January 2000 as the first post secondary career school to obtain bachelor's degree-granting status from the Pennsylvania State Department of Education. The institution initiated its formal assessment process in March of 2003, with the development of the institutional self-study related to its application for accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

The implementation of TracDat will enable The Art Institute to transform its current assessment process into a consistent, integrated approach, establishing a shared understanding of methodology and terminology throughout the institution. “With TracDat, we can systematically incorporate our goals, objectives and assessment data into a common framework where they can be reviewed, evaluated, revised, reported and shared with all constituents,” said Anthony Corasaniti, Vice President and Director of Career Services. “TracDat also enables us to establish clear and consistent reporting processes to accrediting bodies and all other parties to whom we must report our institutional assessment results and annual strategic plan. The data collection and reporting capabilities of TracDat support the reporting formats we must utilize for these purposes.”

TracDat is a highly flexible solution that can be easily configured to incorporate assessment practices that are already in place at an institution. As a result, data that The Art Institute gathered from previous assessment initiatives, including information recently gathered from program and department workshops, will be entered and integrated into the assessment process. TracDat helps improve organizational alignment by linking course and program objectives that support the institution’s strategic plan and mission. The Art Institute intends to use TracDat to help manage the annual strategic planning process. The Art Institute Online, a Division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and the hub of online services for the Education Management Corporation member schools, will also manage its assessment effort through TracDat.

“The Art Institute of Pittsburgh plans to make the assessment process a key quality initiative of the institution,” said Mr. Corasaniti. “While our immediate focus is to successfully complete our Middle States accreditation process, we plan to incorporate the total assessment process on an ongoing basis. We believe that TracDat will play a critical role in helping us achieve our goal of measurable continuous quality improvement.”

“Leading institutions such as The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, are constantly seeking new ideas and approaches to improving the quality of education for their students and achieving the objectives of the organization while remaining faithful to the mission on which the institution was founded,” said Dr. David Raney, Nuventive CEO. “We are very pleased that TracDat was selected by an institution that is helping to produce the next generation of creative talent leaders and we are proud to play a key role in the initiative for successful accreditation as well as the commitment to continuous quality improvement at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.”

About The Art Institute of Pittsburgh
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh offers bachelor’s degree programs in Advertising, Culinary Management, Entertainment Design, Fashion & Retail Management, Hotel & Restaurant Management, Media Arts & Animation, Game Art & Design, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Digital Media Production, Interactive Media Design, Photography and Visual Effects & Motion Graphics. Associate’s degree programs are also offered in Culinary Arts, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interactive Media Design, Photography, Restaurant & Catering Operations and Video Production. Twelve-month diploma programs are available in The Art of Cooking, Digital Design, Residential Planning, and Web Design. The Art Institute is currently accredited by The Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS).

Advertising, Fashion & Retail Management, Game Art & Design, Graphic Design, Interactive Media Design, Interior Design and Media Arts & Animation programs are also available fully online through The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
http://www.artinstitutes.edu/pittsburgh

About The Art Institute Online
The Art Institute Online was launched in the year 2000 as a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh and offers 14 creative-focused academic programs. The Art Institute Online is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). The Art Institute of Pittsburgh is authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to award Bachelor of Science and Associate of Science degrees.

About Nuventive
Nuventive is a leading provider of comprehensive, integrated real-time solutions that enable its customers to support the continuous process of assessing, managing and improving learning. Nuventive customers are institutions, faculty, administrators, students and private sector users in over 20 countries. Institutional customers include Western Michigan University, the 14 campus Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Delgado Community College and Providence College. Nuventive maintains strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as the European Institute for E-Learning (EIfEL).Thousands of users around the world have licensed Nuventive products and the Company has received industry as well as customer recognition for its innovative solutions.

Nuventive is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with distribution in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. For more information, please visit www.nuventive.com or call 1.412.847.0280 or 1.877.366.8700.

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