Complex adaptive systems (CASs) theory provides a framework for understanding how systems of multiple, independent, and intelligent agents interact with each other in a nested and overlapping set of environments to create both a whole that has an identity apart from any of its individual components as well as a setting in which simple…

This article outlines the impacts of COVID-19 on higher education and provides a contextual assessment of how higher education systems can provide support to institutions and stakeholders through a formulated planning process which helps identify, plan, and achieve strategic goals in response to fluctuating priorities.

The operation of a system office for community college institutional research occurs in a majority of the fifty states, and how states handle institutional research functions can vary for a variety of reasons. In this chapter, the authors review the results of a survey of the fifty states and the District of Columbia to see which states have…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research in California. As the system IR office for the largest community college system in the nation, it is often looked to as a leader for other states and community college IR systems. The author notes the office's administrative environment, its staffing and…

The system office for community college institutional research (SOCCIR) plays a role in the drama of higher education that states must orchestrate to help community college systems operate effectively and efficiently over the long term. But how exactly does the SOCCIR enable a state to accomplish what the separate institutional research (IR)…

System offices for community college institutional research differ in many ways from campus offices for community college institutional research. The other chapters in this volume describe salient characteristics of system IR offices, but many readers may want to see a direct comparison of system IR offices to campus IR offices in the community…

College student self-reported gains are used frequently in institutional research and in general research on college outcomes (Gonyea, 2005). These self-report measures serve not only to identify experiences and programs associated with student growth but also to draw comparisons across colleges and universities. The vast majority of institutions…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. What makes this System Offices for Community College Institutional Research (SOCCIR) somewhat different from the others reviewed in this volume is that the Minnesota system IR office has responsibilities for both…

This chapter describes the system office for community college institutional research (SOCCIR) for the State of Florida. The Division of Florida Colleges has a long history of providing reports that contain information on issues of interest to both the individual members of the system and the public. Fact books have been produced by the office for…

This chapter serves as a beginner's guide to some essentials of human resource faculty data and cost data and their integration into products to facilitate institutional decision making. It begins with a brief overview of general higher education cost data concepts, followed by a similar synopsis of relevant higher education human resource data.…

An open-systems framework is used to describe how institutional researchers analyze the inputs, processes, outputs, and environmental considerations of higher education; resources for collecting and analyzing data are specified. Additional resources for institutional research professionals are listed. (MSE)

A summary of themes and observations in the development of management and planning techniques for colleges and universities is presented. Suggestions are included on how institutional researchers may assess changes in the management systems of their own institutions. (MSE)

The University of Toledo has applied a systems approach to the design of an academic program evaluation model. The systems approach seems to be the most appropriate because it emphasizes the whole system instead of component systems. Selected evaluation models are reviewed, Toledo's research paradigm is described, and the function of a university…

Instead of collegiate priorities determining resource allocation, the resource allocation process can often shape the priorities. Current approaches are reviewed with focus on (1) how different approaches to setting priorities accommodate lack of consensus on campus; (2) incentives incorporated into resource allocation approaches; and (3)…

Sustainability is an evolving and often misused word in business. As the landscape changes in terms of how resources are evaluated, so does the context of sustainability. In the most general terms, Ben & Jerry's looks at sustainability from the perspective of the social and environmental resources. Improper use of the term has been called…