Special Features

The 2021 Chronicle of Higher Education Trends Report was released in February in both print and digital form. Consisting of five feature-length articles, this year’s report links the challenges of the COVID-19 pand...

What Is Data Mining and Why Would I Want to Use It? Data mining combines the areas of statistics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to discover relationships and insights hidden within large volumes of data....

Have you ever been involved in a conversation in which two or more people are using the same term but with different meanings? Establishing the meaning of common terms prevents miscommunications and helps move conversati...

As stated in the Change with Analytics statement, the “Association for Institutional Research (AIR), EDUCAUSE, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) stand together with ...

I interviewed Karl Konsdorf, Director of Research, Analytics and Reporting at Sinclair Community College, to learn about their strategies for using predictive analytics. Can you share some examples of how you are using P...

In 2018, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), a public Research I university with a medical center in Richmond, VA, adopted its current strategic plan, Quest 2025. The plan advanced institutional priorities in four ar...

As institutions grapple with closing persistent equity gaps, institutional research holds clues to promising solutions. Read about two institutions that have effectively used data in combination with the...

Attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in higher education has intensified in recent months on many campuses. Increasingly, institutional leaders acknowledge that advancing social justice requires involving...

If this issue’s content piqued your interest, here’s a roundup of additional articles and resources: High-Impact Practices: Interrogating Quality and Equity (NSSE) How to Persuad...

eAIR sat down with Jacqueline Bichsel, Ph.D., Director of Research at CUPA-HR, to learn more about its suite of tools and resources that can help IR and HR support employee diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiati...

Amid the ongoing pandemic and the associated economic impacts, higher education has a key role supporting our regional economies. To hear some perspectives on how institutional research can help, we connected with Shawn ...

Post-secondary institutions are feeling pressure from the top down to predict trends based on enrollment, student retention, and graduation rates. Student success measures have become a baseline for developing strategic ...

In these times of uncertainty, disruption, and financial constraints, AIR and the AIR community are called to be forward-looking and responsive—open to new ideas while remaining attentive to our core purpose and va...

We live and work in highly complex times, and institutional research is directly impacted. It used to be there was a major innovation every decade or so followed by a period of stability. Not so anymore. Today, the...

Rhyan had the opportunity to speak with Kate Akers, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Advanced Data Analytics at Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education. Her office coordinates with ins...

There are so many leadership models out there—in the business literature, in the psychology literature, in education to name a few—and the models range from servant leadership to autocratic to charismat...

Data governance structures in higher education can lead to a lack of understanding of the value of data within an institution. According to the most recent American College President Study, college and un...

What will higher education look like in a year or five years? How is the pandemic upending ways institutions operate, students learn, faculty teach, and equitable outcomes are achieved? What role will data and analytics ...

Whether beginning a new position or continuing in an established one, data and information expectations for Institutional Research (IR) offices continue to expand at an accelerated pace. Open source availability of tools...

We lost a prolific scholar, influential thought leader and innovator on August 15, 2020, with the passing of Arthur Wright Chickering. His distinguished career spanned more than six decades and is marked by a long-standi...