A workshop this fall on the use of comparative data in institutional decision-making, co-sponsored by CIC and the Association for Institutional Research (AIR), brought together academic and business officers, institutional researchers, enrollment managers, and other administrators. The Data and Decisions Workshop, held September 16-18 in Charlotte (NC), assisted college and university leaders in making strategic decisions based on targeted information about their own institutions and up-to-date information about peer institutions. Twenty-five institutional teams (the maximum number possible) participated in this fourth such workshop. Two additional workshops will be held in the next two years.
      The program draws on the strong interest of institutional leaders in the use of data in making decisions, but recognizes that many institutions can devote only modest resources to information gathering and analysis. Recent technological advances have made important national data sets more readily (and inexpensively) accessible, and AIR has developed templates and guidelines to assist institutions in working with such data.
      Participants included teams from Albertson College of Idaho, American College of Greece, Benedictine College (KS), Cabrini College (PA), College of Mount St. Joseph (OH), College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University (MN), Converse College (SC), Dean College (MA), Dordt College (IA), Elmira College (NY), Flagler College (FL), Friends University (KS), Gannon University (PA), Lynchburg College (VA), Mount Aloysius College (PA), Pacific Lutheran University (WA), Paul Smith’s College (NY), Roger Williams University (RI), Saint Leo University (FL), Siena College (NY), Wesleyan College (GA), and Wilmington College (OH).