The Data Beast, a manifestation of the expansion of assessment activity by the University of Tennessee (UTC) at Chattanooga and its accrediting body; with no meaningful quantitative information on student progress in its undergraduate program. Any formal assessment that took place was done because someone outside the department had demanded it, not from any belief in or commitment to the process; the department constructed its assessment practices in response to those external demands rather than its own needs; and assessment was carried out as an obligation. The utility of formal assessment processes in higher education continues to be the subject of much debate. However, in the authors' experiences suggest that by careful combination of appropriate assessment protocols with clear articulation of departmental learning objectives, it is possible to transform the Data Beast into a beast of burden, usefully assisting with the work of undergraduate teaching. In this case study, they will show how a curriculum revision in the Department of History at UTC benefited from the use of a curriculum mapping assessment process and the articulation of clear learning goals based on the American Historical Association's Tuning Project. Together, these allowed the faculty to develop a consistent, transparent program-level curriculum that organically integrates ongoing evaluation of student progress with teaching and learning in the classroom.