Washington, D.C. | May 26–29, 2026

Mary Ann Coughlin, Emeritus Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs; Springfield College 

Are you looking to advance in your career? This seminar will help you develop the human-centered skills essential for leadership and professional growth within and beyond IR/IE. While technical expertise and domain knowledge are crucial in your work, their value is only realized when your insights are effectively communicated and understood. This seminar centers on the mindsets and habits required to connect with a variety of stakeholders and translate findings to actionable information.  Key topics include the power of listening, understanding and overcoming the curse of knowledge, and navigating change. Participants will be challenged to push beyond their comfort zones in a supportive environment designed to help them grow into more holistic and effective data professionals and leaders. 

Carrie Mata, CM Education Insights and Solutions 

As a result of this bootcamp, participants will be able to:

• Understand common data-related higher education terminology 
• Identify a research design appropriate to address stated research questions.
• Understand quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques, sampling, and testing for reliability and validity. 
• Construct a high-quality survey and conduct proper validity tests on the survey instrument 
• Identify and conduct proper descriptive statistics to best summarize research findings 
• Create effective visualizations and reports to community findings. 

Marianne Bujacich, Institutional Research Analyst, Georgetown University 

R is an open-source and free technology that offers tools to wrangle, analyze, and visualize data in one platform, helping to streamline analytics work. For those interested in adding another tool to their toolkit, this workshop will provide basic and introductory training in R. In this workshop, participants will set up R and R Studio, will learn how R can be useful in their work, and will be introduced to R's analytic and visualization tools. Participants will practice using these tools with real-time coding throughout the workshop. The workshop will also introduce advanced uses of R, such as creating written reports and slides, for those interested in continuing their R journey beyond the workshop. 

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to: 

• Understand the basics of using R for analysis and visualizations.  
• Analyze institutional data in R.  
• Create data visualizations in R. 

Most IR/IE directors and other management staff move up from within the field. But when we are promoted into management positions, we rarely receive any formal or structured learning opportunities on what management means and how to do it well. Allocating resources, managing workflow, and leading a team require different mindsets and skills from the individual contributors we used to be. In this workshop, we focus on building, managing and communicating with your team and effectively managing resources such as staff time and budget to achieve your office goals, including exercises designed to consider how you might apply what you’ve learned when you return to your institution. Whether you are new to managing an office or just never had the opportunity to learn about it in a structured way, this is the experience for you.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the shift in mindset needed to move from a staff member to the office leader.
• Discuss management techniques like staff hiring, staff retention, managing office workload, and budgeting.
• Discuss the difference in strategies between office staff management and “managing up”.
• Discuss how to adapt/adopt the knowledge shared in this workshop to their unique office setting. 
  

Juan Carlos Apitz, Associate Director; Mahmoud Albawaneh, Assistant Vice President; and Tammy Dupuy, Senior Research & Reporting Analyst, California State University-Long Beach

Transform your career with in-demand admissions analytics skills using Google Colab and innovative Vibe Coding techniques. This hands-on bootcamp introduces Python programming and machine learning through real higher education scenarios with no coding experience required. Get hands-on experience with admission rate calculations, explore yield prediction concepts, and build your first machine learning model. This foundational workshop provides a taste of modern analytics capabilities with code examples and clear pathways for advancing these skills further. Technology requirements: Google account and web browser with no software installation required.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Calculate basic admissions metrics including admission rates and yield rates using Python and Google Colab.
• Build a machine learning model for admissions prediction using guided instruction.
• Practice Vibe Coding techniques for collaborative analytics and confident code development.
• Utilize Google Colab effectively for basic data analysis workflows.
• Create simple reports and visualizations for admissions data.

Liz Rennick, Director of Institutional Research & Data Analytics, Trident Technical College

IR professionals often work with data that arrives in unusable formats from multiple sources. Power Query, built into both Excel and Power BI, provides a powerful, user-friendly environment for cleaning, reshaping, and combining data without programming. This hands-on workshop will introduce data professionals to the fundamentals of Power Query through practical, higher education–focused examples. Participants will learn how to navigate the interface, import data, and apply essential transformations such as unpivoting, merging, and grouping.

The session is designed for data professionals who may not have access to advanced data infrastructure or IT support, but who need efficient, repeatable ways to prepare data for analysis. Examples will be drawn from common tasks. By the end of the workshop, participants will have built working queries they can take back to their institutions, along with the confidence to adapt these techniques to their own data preparation challenges.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the layout and functionality of the Power Query interface, including ribbons, panels, applied steps, and query settings.
• Import and connect to data from Excel, text/CSV, and database sources using Power Query.
• Apply core data transformation techniques such as filtering, unpivoting, merging, grouping, and creating calculated columns for common IR scenarios.
• Build reproducible workflows that reduce manual effort and ensure transparent, documented steps.
• Apply hands-on examples to their own institutional reporting and analysis needs.
• Recognize advanced Power Query features such as conditional and custom columns, the M language, and the advanced editor, and identify how these can be applied to more complex IR tasks.

This informative and interactive workshop is designed for individuals who are new to the field of institutional research. We review the typical roles and responsibilities associated with IR, highlight useful resources, and learn how to develop connections with others in the field. 

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand common projects and responsibilities in institutional research. 
• Identify useful resources to aid their work and professional development. 
• Develop relationships with other professionals in the IR field. 

Sarah Gallimore, Director, Planning and Decision Support, The University of North Texas, Health Science Center 

Institutional leaders frequently ask: “What happens if…?” What if GPA cutoffs were raised, department budgets shifted by 5%, or enrollment grew differently across majors? This interactive workshop shows how to answer those questions with Power BI’s scenario modeling tools. Attendees will learn how to create parameters, connect them to outcomes using DAX, and design dashboards that allow decision makers to test assumptions in real time. Through three higher education–specific cases—admissions criteria modeling, budget planning with percentage adjustments, and enrollment/revenue forecasting—participants gain hands-on practice and leave with reusable templates for their own campuses. The session is designed for data professionals seeking to expand their toolkit for supporting evidence-based decision making. 

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to: 

• Create scenario parameters in Power BI and use them to simulate admissions, budget, and enrollment assumptions. 
• Connect parameters to outcomes using DAX to calculate changes in headcount, budgets, and tuition revenue. 
• Design interactive dashboards that allow decision makers to test assumptions in real time. 
• Adapt reusable templates from admissions, budget, and enrollment case studies for their own institutional needs. 
• Support evidence-based decision making by integrating scenario modeling into regular reporting and analysis. 

Linli Zhou, IR Analyst, Lasell University

The growth of predictive analytics and machine learning (ML) has transformed higher education research and student success initiatives. However, traditional ML models often operate as “black boxes,” raising concerns about bias, transparency, and accountability in decision-making. Explainable AI (XAI) provides a pathway toward interpretable, transparent, and responsible use of predictive modeling in institutional research and student outcomes. This pre-conference workshop equips participants with conceptual grounding, hands-on experience, and practical frameworks to apply XAI in higher education. Through interactive coding demonstrations and collaborative discussion, participants learn how to balance predictive accuracy with interpretability to support ethical and effective decision-making. 

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the challenges and risks of using opaque predictive models in higher education.
• Learn the conceptual foundations and practical methods of Explainable AI (XAI).
• Gain experience interpreting SHAP and LIME outputs to explain predictions.
• Explore counterfactual scenarios for guiding student interventions.
• Apply XAI principles to enhance accountability, transparency, and equity in institutional decision-making.

Chris Orem, Director of Institutional Research, James Madison University

In this workshop, participants gain a practical introduction to enrollment forecasting tailored for higher education institutions. We explore a range of forecasting approaches, with a focus on straightforward models that are accessible and easy to implement—regardless of institutional size or resources.  

Participants learn best practices for building forecasting processes that foster collaboration across campus, enhance transparency, and build trust in the results. We’ll also cover effective communication strategies to ensure your forecasts are clearly understood by stakeholders at all levels of the institution.  

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Describe several methods for enrollment forecasting
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of different forecasting methods
• Consider necessary questions to determine the most appropriate forecasting model for their needs
• Use different strategies to communicate enrollment forecasts effectively to a variety of audiences

Movement from data insights to taking action involves more than access to data, analyses, and reports—it requires leadership, facilitation, and strategic communication to translate information into action. Institutional research and effectiveness professionals are uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between data and making data-informed decisions. This interactive, half-day workshop is based on the Change with Analytics Playbook (AIR, EDUCAUSE, NACUBO, 2024) and will help you learn to navigate the path to data-informed decision making and, more importantly, lead efforts to do so at your institution. Through a series of interactive exercises, you will develop strategies to engage stakeholders, navigate resistance, and foster a culture of data-informed decision making.

You will depart the workshop with a Change Readiness Toolkit that includes a facilitation guide for use at your institution, strategies for stakeholder engagement, and a roadmap for implementation. AIR’s goal is for IR/IE professionals to have the confidence, mindsets, knowledge, skills, and abilities to lead change and help ensure that critical resources like data and analytics become catalysts for change.

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:

• Assess your institution’s readiness for analytics-informed change.
• Communicate data and information in ways that spark conversation and create calls to action.
• Engage stakeholders and colleagues in the data-informed decision-making process.
• Anticipate, plan for, and overcome resistance to change among stakeholders.
• Apply the Change with Analytics Playbook to your work.
• Develop a customized roadmap for analytics-informed change.
• Create a comprehensive Change Readiness Toolkit to guide and implement your efforts.

Santhana Lakshmi Ponnurasan, Data Analyst Institutional Effectiveness; Andrew Sommer, Chief Data Officer; and Brianna Reddick, Associate Director of Analytics, Missouri University of Science & Technology 

Power BI dashboards are powerful tools for decision-making, yet many users struggle to design visuals that are both clear and actionable. This half-day workshop provides a practical, end-to-end framework for creating effective dashboards. Participants will learn how to connect and model data, select appropriate chart types and color palettes, and apply accessibility best practices to make dashboards usable for diverse audiences. The session also explores advanced techniques such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) visuals, interactivity, and storytelling strategies that transform dashboards from collections of charts into compelling narratives. Additional focus will be given to paginated reports, demonstrating how they complement dashboards for specific reporting needs. Finally, participants will practice publishing and sharing in the Power BI Service, including collaboration and governance considerations.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Prepare and model data effectively for visual analysis in Power BI.
• Design visuals that are accessible, engaging, and tailored to the data story.
• Apply advanced visual techniques such as SVG and interactive elements.
• Incorporate storytelling and paginated reports to make dashboards clear and actionable.
• Publish dashboards to the Power BI Service and manage sharing and collaboration.

G. Marc Turner, Associate Vice-President, Texas State University; Sarah Gallimore, Director, Planning and Decision Support, The University of North Texas, Health Science Center

Supervisors in Institutional Research (IR) are often promoted for technical expertise but receive little formal training in leading people. This interactive workshop provides a Supervisor’s Toolkit of practical, easy-to-apply techniques—covering delegation, feedback, recognition, and team alignment—tailored to the realities of IR offices. Rather than theory, the session emphasizes hands-on practice: participants will role play common situations such as vague requests, missed deadlines, or competing project priorities, and apply structured techniques to resolve them. Through realistic scenarios and action planning, attendees will gain immediately usable strategies to strengthen clarity, build trust, and enhance the effectiveness of IR teams on their campuses.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Apply clarity frameworks to transform vague or incomplete requests into clear, actionable tasks with specific requirements and deadlines.
• Use structured feedback models to address performance issues and reinforce positive behaviors in constructive, non-threatening ways.
• Recognize contributions effectively by linking employee actions to their impact and broader meaning within the IR mission.
• Prioritize and delegate with confidence using practical tools such as the 5W Handoff Rule and Rule of Three Priorities to reduce overload and sharpen focus.
• Strengthen team alignment and trust through quick check-in techniques and consistent leadership practices that participants can implement immediately in their offices.
  

John Ingram, Assistant Director of Institutional Research, Delaware Valley University; Cathleen Kisak

As higher education faces pressure to demonstrate its value, institutions must proactively tell their own stories with data. This workshop equips institutional research professionals to use data they already collect to estimate and communicate their institution’s economic impact. Drawing on practical experience and a real-world case study, participants will learn accessible methods to quantify contributions to local employment, wages, and community vitality. The session emphasizes turning analysis into compelling narratives for legislators, donors, community stakeholders, and internal leadership. With more than half of institutions either lacking an economic impact study or unsure if one was conducted, IR professionals are uniquely positioned to fill this gap. Participants will leave with tools, templates, and a flexible framework to build or enhance their own economic impact story, aligning evidence with strategic messaging to strengthen advocacy, advancement, and planning.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify the core data components and public tools (e.g., IPEDS, RIMS II) needed to estimate their institution’s economic impact.
• Apply a structured framework to translate campus-level data into a compelling economic narrative aligned with advocacy, advancement, and planning goals.
• Use templates and real-world examples to begin building an institution-specific economic impact case study.
• Understand the strategic uses of economic impact data across internal and external stakeholder groups, including boards, legislators, donors, and the public.

Rahul Garg, Director of Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine; Lawrence LeClaire, Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Chair of Assessment Committee, Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine

Our interactive workshop will explore the transformative potential and endless opportunities with artificial intelligence (AI) in curriculum mapping and outcomes assessment within higher education and professional training programs. This workshop will help advance faculty and administrators' application of AI in all arenas of curriculum teaching and advancement. Participants will learn how to use readily available AI tools such as Microsoft CoPilot to streamline data collection, enhance analysis of learning outcomes, and support continuous improvement efforts within the safe, familiar, and University level, Microsoft 365 suite environment. Through case studies, demonstrations, and hands-on activities, attendees will gain practical insights into integrating AI-driven solutions for mapping competencies, evaluating program effectiveness, and aligning curricula with accreditation standards. No prior technical expertise required—just a curiosity about innovation in educational assessment.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the role of AI in curriculum and outcomes assessment, including its benefits and limitations.
• Identify opportunities to integrate Microsoft Copilot into existing assessment workflows.
• Use Copilot to automate and enhance key assessment tasks, such as curriculum mapping, data analysis, and report generation.
• Apply AI tools to support accreditation and continuous improvement, aligning assessment practices with institutional and regulatory standards.
• Communicate assessment findings effectively using AI-generated visualizations and presentations.
• Develop a personalized action plan for implementing AI-enhanced assessment strategies in their own programs.