Yassaman Mirdamadi, director of the Office of Testing Services in the Graduate School and International Education, is retiring after a 39-year career at the U of A.

The campus community is invited to a drop-in reception honoring Mirdamadi on Friday, April 29, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Gearhart Hall room 206.

Mirdamadi graduated from the U of A with a Doctor of Education Degree in Educational Administration in 1983 and began her career at the university as the Learning Lab coordinator in the Academic Development Office. Appointed as director of Testing Services in 1986, Mirdamadi built a robust nationally accredited Computer-Based Test Center serving the campus community, the region, the State of Arkansas and the country. During the pandemic, the center started administering tests remotely internationally as well. She championed her office through a dramatic transformation in the world of testing, building one of the first institutional computer-based test centers in the United States at a time when few had experience with personal computers.  

Mirdamadi’s excellence in her profession has been recognized both regionally and nationally. She has received multiple Service Recognition Awards by the National College Testing Association, and in 2019, the Arkansas College Testing Association awarded her its Lifetime Achievement Award. 

In addition to her work in testing services, Mirdamadi has been a zealous advocate for diversity and inclusion at the university. Mirdamadi helped form the Iranian Student Association and has served as its adviser for many years. In that capacity, she has personally met and assisted nearly every Iranian student who has enrolled at the university over the last three decades. Her work to further international diversity and support international students was recognized last year by the university on its Portraits of Progress website and her appointment to the Chancellor’s Council on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She also recently won the Diversity and Inclusion Awards MVP category form the Diversity and Inclusion Student Council.

Jim Gigantino, associate dean of the Graduate School, said he is grateful for Mirdamadi’s strong support for international education and in building a strong testing center on our campus.

"Our campus has been fortunate to have Mirdamadi as a member of our community for the last four decades," Gigantino said. "Her expertise in growing a nationally accredited testing center to serve our state, as well as her steadfast support of international students, has helped our students in more ways than we know. Our campus community and her students will sorely miss her."