Institutional Research Advisory Committee

The Institutional Research Advisory Committee provides both leadership and oversight for the development and implementation of an assessment plan for the College. The committee is working strategically with the Office of Institutional Research  and Assessment to craft an institutional assessment plan to enhance student learning and institutional effectiveness. Through its work, the committee addresses issues of internal improvement and external accountability.

Committee Members, 2012-13

Meetings, 2012-13
We meet on the second Wednesday of each block. All meetings are held 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. in 310 Cole Library.

Current Work
For the 2012-13 academic year, the committee will focus on assisting OIRA to implement the strategies to assess to what extent students' critical thinking and writing skills, as related to Educational Objective Three. In addition, the committee will begin to develop a plan to assess the student outcomes associated with Educational Objective Five. An overview of the College's progress in assessing its educational objectives is available here.

Past Work
2005-06
During the 2005-06 academic year, the committee worked on articulating the College's general educational outcomes. The document, What Does It Mean to Be a Cornell Graduate?, resulted from this work.

2006-07
The Cornell graduate document was reviewed and revised by the College community during the 2006-07 academic year. Over the course of this process, the document was revised by the faculty Committee on Academic Affairs and, following that, presented to the Faculty for approval. The faculty voted to approve the document, Cornell College Educational Objectives, in early spring 2007.

2007-08
In the 2007-08 year, the committee focused on three primary topics: (1) our consultative visit with the Higher Learning Commission, which took place in December, (2) how to connect data with decisions being made across campus, and (3) how best to assess the College's educational objectives.

2008-09
The Committee focused on three main issues: (1) collaborating with the Reaccreditation 2012 Committee to create an assessment plan and cycle for the College; (2) identifying new, and strengthening existing, means to close the feedback loop for faculty, administrators, and students; and (3) reviewing the current slate of surveys being administered with students.

2009-10
The Committee focused on ensuring that the College's assessment plan was underway. Once that work was completed, the Committee set about helping the Director identify a plan for assessing the College's general educational objectives.

2010-11
The Committee developed an assessment strategy for looking at the College's progress on Educational Objective One (specifically examining critical thinking and writing skills).

2011-12
The Committee assessed Educational Objective One (specifically examining critical thinking and writing skills) through the CAAP Exam.