Faculty and staff at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have developed several tools to assess campus civic engagement initiatives. This chapter describes the IUPUI Faculty Survey and the Civic-Minded Graduate Scale, and reports on findings from campus-based assessment and research.

The community college environment is complex and dynamic, requiring constant monitoring. To ensure that workforce education, a core component of community colleges' missions, remains aligned with colleges' environments, responsive to employers' needs, suited to students' interests and abilities, and current in content and technology, it is…

In 2002 President Martin Jischke initiated a new era in strategic planning at Purdue. Under his leadership, strategic planning became a centralized activity with unit plans aligned to the university plan. Strategic goals were designed to have maximum impact, which would be measurable through metrics. Strategic planning at Purdue would be an…

A taxonomy of developmental planning considerations and corresponding areas in which institutional researchers and developmental professionals can collaborate to assess and improve fund-raising activities is presented. (MSE)

The contemporary context and some recent trends affecting college program reviews or evaluations, current options in purposes and practices, and impacts on programs and institutions are discussed. It is recommended that the process be viewed as a contribution to the general knowledge base for campus constituencies rather than as "right answers"…

Evaluation of the impact of prospective students' contacts with the institution is an objective of the admissions research agenda at Tufts University (Massachusetts). An annual survey gathers information on individuals who make inquiries but do not submit an application and on the parents of matriculating students. (MSE)

Review of literature concerning the use of program review in higher education lists sources discussing the review process, focusing on the links between program review and other institutional processes, and addressing application of program review principles and practices to different higher education settings. Critical factors for successful use…

This paper describes an emerging model for a comprehensive staff and organizational development program as a continuous and integral activity of the college, and discusses the role of the office of institutional research in such programs. A comprehensive program includes instructional development (instructional evaluation, diagnosis,…

A case history is presented that recounts the evolutionary development of a unified evaluation, budgeting, and planning system at Michigan State University. It is a system that is strongly based on the collection and analysis of department, college, and institutional data. (Author/MLW)

The conception and development of a unit at the College of Saint Mark and Saint John (England) to support improvement of instructional quality are described. Issues addressed include the meaning of "quality," organizational structure, the unit's role in program and faculty evaluation, establishment of objectives, and operational…

This chapter offers techniques that can help institutional researchers play a more active role in the process of creating and modifying instructional programs to meet workforce needs. (Contains 1 table.)

A public relations model provided the basis for the five-step ROPES college fund-raising model: (1) research on the institution, the funding opportunity, and the publics targeted; (2) objective setting for both office output and program impact; (3) programming to meet those objectives; (4) evaluation of the effectiveness, not just efficiency, of…

The Higher Education Management Institute's (HEMI) management development and training program, designed to improve college and university performance by helping managers understand and carry out their responsibilities, is discussed. Management teams, program organization, identifying needs, action planning, management training, and program…

The article proposes that the key to tracking and evaluating the academic progress of college students, particularly at complex institutions, is development of a longitudinal tracking system with flexibility to support a diverse community of users and applications. Considerations for efficient maintenance and effective use of such a system are…

There are several signs that a college can use to determine if a program needs evaluation from a consumer point of view. Answers to the following questions can be very revealing: How many students start the program per year? How many graduate per year? What do they do when they graduate? How much money do they make? How long do they remain in the…