This paper was presented at AEA 2012. It addressed the special challenges for using data to influence policy in the context of higher education assessment, with a focus on general education policy. Data were presented from the University of Rhode Island to illustrate both the assessment activities and the policy influence process. The author is John Stevenson. Paper Abstract: A mid-sized university in the Northeast chose to focus general education assessment on an innovative first-year seminar program, which placed senior faculty in all-freshman general education classes with global issues as the topics, and paired those courses with collaborating sections of “skills” courses (writing or oral communication). In this microcosmic faculty community, representing almost every college at the university, instructors provided multiple sources of assessment data over two years, including instructor focus groups, student course evaluations, and course assignments reflecting general education learning outcomes (approximately 500 students in 30 sections per year). This paper reports on efforts to make the results influential at two levels: seminar program and university-wide requirements. The central example shows how assessment informed the use of faculty peer mentors to convey promising practices for achieving outcomes associated with complex problem-solving. Processes and challenges for engaging faculty at each stage of assessment are illustrated.#AssessmentinHigherEducation #2012Conference