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Interested in knowing the percentage of the total IU Southeast student population residing in Washington County? Or the retention rate for students entering IUS for the first time in 1992? With the opening of IUS's new Institutional Research (IR) Office last summer, this type of statistical information is now available on campus.
Mary Anne Baker, IUS professor of psychology, has been assigned half time to direct the work of the new office. Deborah Bulleit, computer services, has been appointed full-time to handle programming, data management and system design.
What exactly is institutional research?
"Institutional research involves the collection, access, analysis and interpretation of information about the campus," explained Baker. "At this time, the primary emphasis of the office is to support planning and decision-making related to student recruitment, persistence and attainment. When time and resources allow, these services will be provided within IR. When that cannot be accomplished in a timely manner, IR will provide consultation and help in finding other information sources."
Previously, campus data were stored in files maintained on the Bloomington campus for the entire IU system.
"One of the goals of the new office is to make some of the frequently used data more easily accessible to those who need it for planning and decision-making," said Baker. "We have created a Student Retention Database focusing on students enrolled from 1990 to 1996. The data in this file will allow us to better understand factors that affect student retention and success." The office will be involved in data gathering of current students and will work to provide data analyses and interpretation to support campus planning.
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