Twenty-five teams from small and mid-sized private colleges and universities participated in a workshop on the effective use of data in making campus decisions on October 5–7, 2006. In all, 75 people attended the Data and Decisions Workshop, jointly sponsored by CIC and the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) with funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center on Education Statistics (NCES). This workshop, the sixth in the series, was held in St. Louis, Missouri.

The CIC/AIR workshops help participants make better use of institutional and comparative data to enhance strategic planning and decision-making. Workshop topics include performance indicators, comparison groups, strategic planning, operational issues, assessment, action plans, and publicly available national data sources. Participants at the October workshop received hands-on training with NCES’ online Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), which includes extensive data on all U.S. higher education institutions.

Workshop faculty members included Mary Ann Coughlin, professor of research and statistics at Springfield College (MA); Edward Delaney, president of Strategical Analyses: Organizational Planning and Research (VA); Hal Hartley, CIC director of research; Richard Howard, director of institutional research and reporting at the University of Minnesota; Gerald McLaughlin, director of institutional research and planning at DePaul University (IL); and Josetta McLaughlin, associate professor of management at Roosevelt University (IL).

The fall 2006 participating institutions included Austin College (TX), Caldwell College (NJ), Carroll College (MT), College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Eastern Mennonite University (VA), Edgewood College (WI), Johnson C. Smith University (NC), Kenyon College (OH), Lesley University (MA), Madonna University (MI), Millsaps College (MS), Mount Marty College (SD), Naropa University (CO), North Central College (IL), Rider University (NJ), Saint Joseph College (CT), St. Edward’s University (TX), St. Mary-of-the-Woods College (IN), Stephens College (MO), Taylor University (IN), Texas Lutheran University, University of Bridgeport (CT), University of Indianapolis (IN), Westminster College (MO), and William Jewell College (MO). Since fall 2001, more than 150 CIC member institutions have taken advantage of this special training opportunity. The next workshop will be in Long Beach, California, October 4–6, 2007 and registration materials are available on the CIC website. The workshop will be offered annually through 2010.