I am pleased to announce the official appointment of Dr. Nathan Brandstater as Director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. This appointment became official at the last Board meeting on November 9. A brief outline of his new role and function follow below. There will be more information to come in January as we work with the Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Committee to clarify what we can and should attempt to accomplish this year and in the future in institutional research and reporting and assessment and planning. However, for those who are not familiar with the position, here is a general statement of purpose.

The concept of institutional effectiveness support and management is imperative to assessment, planning, and accreditation and is central to institutional operation and program effectiveness in higher education. The general work of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and its directors to provide campus-wide support for the University's on-going quest for quality and the demonstration of how and how well the University fulfills its stated purpose. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness is to assist and support campus entities in their documentation of quality and effectiveness through the maintenance and operation of a comprehensive system for their work of assessment, planning, and evaluation.

Dr. Brandstater's responsibilities will include:

• Provide technical assistance to campus departments for designing and carrying out their work of assessment, measurement, planning, and evaluation
• Coordinate and provide technical assistance for developing guidelines and procedures to evaluate educational effectiveness, including the quality of student learning, research, and service
• Collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data that demonstrate student achievement and effectiveness and efficiency of service and operations
• Collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data that demonstrate capacity for providing high quality academic and academic support programs, such as those which pertain to instructional delivery, facilities, equipment, standardized tests, theses and dissertations, portfolios, recitals, course and program completion rates, job placement type and rates, licensing examinations success rates, employer evaluation of graduates, follow-up studies of alumni, follow-up of transfer students, and so forth
• Collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data that demonstrate capacity for providing high quality, efficient administrative and educational support services considering internal and external factors
• Aid administrators, faculty, staff, students and the Board in maintaining and adhering to clearly defined and articulated statements of purpose under supervision of the Provost
• Coordinate decentralized institutional research activities and provide centralized institutional research services to campus entities, including collecting and analyzing data, disseminating research results, and evaluating the effectiveness of institutional research processes for on-going timely data collection, accurate and efficient analysis and dissemination of data, use of external studies and reports, design and implementation of internal studies related to students, human resources, fiscal and physical resources, programs, and services
• Develop and maintain data bases suitable for longitudinal studies and statistical analyses
• Aid in the formulation and publication of educational and service goals consistent with the University mission and purpose(s)
• Coordinate and/or facilitate the development and implementation of procedures to evaluate the extent to which University goals and objectives are being achieved
• Coordinate and facilitate the use of assessment and evaluation results and data for use in improving academic programs, services, and operations
• Provide administrators, faculty and staff access to information relevant to their work
• Provide and facilitate the development and use of a variety of assessment and measurement tools on campus
• Provide and assist in the use of assessment data and evaluation results for the improvement and enhancement of academic and support programs and service and administrative operations
• Working through the appropriate campus structures, assist in the planning and decision-making processes
• Gather and report routine, required data to various internal and external populations and agencies, and publish assessment and evaluation findings--as appropriate--to the University's publics and constituent groups
• Coordinate and facilitate the work of the Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Committee/Team
• (That "other as needed" category)

In addition, to help the University's work move forward, Dr. Brandstater will coordinate the work of the CIS staff, for a period, while we attempt to bring in a full-time permanent director of CIS. He will continue as the only designated institutional research staff, although we will seek to strengthen that area as we are able by adding a part-time and then a full-time staff person for that work in the future, if the need continues.

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by Ella S. Simmons, Provost and Vice President for Academic Administration