Columns::Office of Institutional Research and Planning prepares for change

since 12/15/98

Columns::January 27, 2003

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Campus News

New directions
Office of Institutional Research and Planning prepares for change

By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu

The Office of Institutional Research and Planning will be undergoing significant changes this year as a new director is chosen and recommendations of an external review team are implemented. The office now reports to Bob Boehmer, associate provost for institutional effectiveness. Columns recently talked with Boehmer about new directions in IRP programs and operations.

Columns: Why is this assessment being conducted now?

Boehmer: An external review was conducted because of a number of recent major changes in the organization of IRP. First, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness was formed in late 2001, and IRP now reports to the associate provost for institutional effectiveness. Second, IRP moved from the Holmes-Hunter Building to the seventh floor of the Bank of America building. Third, IRP’s long-time director retired and a search for a director is now under way. Finally, the SACS Reaffirmation Committee Report recommended a review. Accordingly, the time was right to bring in a team of experts to assist us in creating a vision for the future for this key university office.

Columns: What did the evaluation team identify as IRP’s major strengths? Areas for improvement?

Boehmer: The external review team identified the office’s personnel as a key strength--highly experienced, hardworking and dedicated. They pointed out that the university community views this office as the source of the most credible databases and information on campus.
The team’s core recommendation is a shift in priorities. Specifically, the office needs to move aggressively to play a more active role in advance analyses of the impact of trends in higher education upon UGA. In addition, the wealth of information in its databases must be more easily available to the university community on a timely basis.

Columns: What do you foresee as the most important outcomes of this evaluation process?

Boehmer: The evaluation has enabled us to step back and formulate a clear vision for the future role of this office. Achieving that vision will, as a practical matter, require more direct lines of communication between the IRP staff and its key constituencies. A major step in that direction has already been taken by the creation of a high-level advisory board. Soon we will identify individual IRP staff members to serve as liaison with particular units on campus.

Columns: What is the vision of IRP’s mission and its relationship to other university units?

Boehmer: A vibrant institutional research office is essential to the overall “institutional effectiveness” function of the university. That function seeks to create a direct link among long-term strategic planning, ongoing evaluation of progress towards strategic goals, and the budgeting process. In order to create the linkage, it is essential to have an institutional research office which is positioned to provide timely, accurate data and--more importantly--analysis of that data.

Columns: What will be IRP’s role in overall assessment of university effectiveness?

Boehmer: This office is the primary source of accurate data about the university for internal purposes. For example, it produces the data used in comprehensive program reviews. It will become the source of data for the newly adopted plan to comprehensively review all support units every seven years.
It also serves as the primary source of data for numerous external purposes. For example, it is responsible for providing data for SACS accreditation and the specialized accreditations of individual units, as well as for reports to the state system of higher education and to the federal government.
In the future, its role will expand to provide more analytical studies based on its extensive databases. These will play a key role in decision making by senior administrators and in the long-term strategic planning process.

Columns: New leadership for IRP is one area of obvious importance. What qualifications and characteristics are desirable in a new director?

Boehmer: The search for a director to succeed David Clements is now under way. The ad is currently running in the Chronicle of Higher Education. It will close on March 1. Members of the newly created advisory board are serving as the search committee.
Filling the shoes of David Clements is, needless to say, a difficult process. The search committee is seeking a person with senior-level IR experience at a major institution, including experience in managing a budget and large staff. Additionally, this person will need a unique combination of communication skills, analytical skills, organizational skills and skills in research methodology. The person will be managing a large staff and budget, communicating daily with key university administrators and committees, and designing studies to enable the university to respond to emerging trends in higher education. Student retention, for example, has become a major issue of policy discussions in higher education. The office led by this director must, of course, be able to provide us with accurate data on this topic. More importantly, the director must be able to design analytical studies to assist us in identifying trends so that UGA can lead the nation in designing approaches to improving retention.

Columns: What is the time frame for selecting a new director?

Boehmer: The plan is to interview finalists late this spring. Hopefully, the director will be in place no later than fall.

Columns: What other changes can be anticipated in the coming months?

Boehmer: “Change” will be the theme as this key office seeks to position itself to serve UGA over the next decade.
In order to manage this change, there must be more direct contact between staff of the office and the university community. Accordingly, a “liaison” relationship between key staff members and functional units that are heavy users of the office’s services will be established.
Another visible change will be in the well-known and widely used Fact Book. Less emphasis will be placed on distribution of paper copies. More emphasis will be placed on the Web and the new CD version of this resource.

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