Institutional Research, Effectiveness, and Planning shares data collected across campus and gets curious about its implications and uses. We explore the relationship between what the data tells us and the lived experiences of UNC Asheville students and employees. As a campus community we want to start to understand – What does this data mean? What is the context? To do this, we are partnering with you, the people on campus, who are making an impact!
Have an example to share? Send it to datastories@unca.edu and we will update it on this page.
Student Interest Data
Students Initial Interest Areas
During their application process, students are asked to choose which majors are of interest to them. Over the summer, the Office of Institutional Research conducted an interest analysis and discovered several thought-provoking findings. For instance, there were some differences based on sex – interest in Computer Science, Engineering, and Economics was dominated by males, while interest from females dominates Health and Wellness Promotion, Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology.
Sophomore Elevation Experience
Continuing surveys confirmed what our ASC and Career Center colleagues already suspected, sophomores often face issues related to retention and success. “It’s an ‘in-between time’ where Sophomores are settled into campus, so the nerves and excitement have calmed down, but then they face the big questions of ‘what do I want to do with my life?’ Students also begin to take more challenging classes in their major and even realize they may not want to pursue the major they intended” says Anne Marie Roberts, Associate Director of Advising.
Post-Graduation
Post-Graduation
More than half of students want more support in understanding what they can do with their degree and figuring out what they want to do when they leave UNC Asheville. Over 50% of students responded “agree” or “strongly agree” to the statements, “I wish I had more help understanding what I could do with my degree” and “I wish I had more help figuring out what I want to do when I leave UNC Asheville.” The Career Center offers career coaching for free to all students: they can talk about who they want to be, where they want to be and what impact they want to have on the world. Only 15% of students take advantage of the career center, and 20% of Career Center appointments are with alumni.
Institutional Effectiveness Committee
In 2016, UNC Asheville Faculty Senate approved the following changes to language in the Faculty Handbook about the University’s Institutional Effectiveness Committee (IEC) that are designed to better reflect recent organizational and staffing changes related to support for institutional effectiveness – chiefly, the creation last year of the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning (IREP) with three positions providing centralized support for the assessment work of academic and administrative departments on campus:
The Institutional Effectiveness Committee serves as an advisory group for UNC Asheville’s institutional effectiveness process.
Duties
The duties of the Institutional Effectiveness Committee include:
• Advising the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning on the design and implementation of institutional effectiveness processes, procedures, and reporting formats.
• Raising campus consciousness about the importance of assessment and providing a forum for the sharing of assessment techniques and practices.
• Reviewing, and providing feedback on, institutional effectiveness reports submitted by academic and administrative units.
• Reviewing, and providing feedback on, reports on University student learning outcomes submitted by the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning to the committee that advises the Liberal Arts Core
• Advising the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning on how best to communicate with University leadership and the wider University community about important issues that emerge from regular reviews of institutional level data on institutional effectiveness.
• Submitting a written report to the Faculty Senate at its first meeting each academic year that chronicles the activities of the Committee in the previous academic year.
Membership
The Institutional Effectiveness Committee will be composed of eleven members, three of whom will be permanent members based upon their positions and regular duties in connection to assessment efforts. The members are as follows:
• Director of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning (Ex Officio)
• Associate Director of Institutional Effectiveness (Ex Officio)
• Associate Director of Academic Analytics and Assessment (Ex Officio)
• Administrative representative appointed by Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations
• Administrative representative appointed by Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
• Administrative representative appointed by Vice Chancellor for Advancement
• Administrative representative appointed from the Chancellor’s Office by the Chief of Staff
• Administrative representative appointed by the Provost
• Three faculty members, appointed by the Senate from a list of candidates provided by FWDC, balanced by Program Area Membership Terms
The Director of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning, the Associate Director of Institutional Effectiveness, and the Associate Director of Academic Analytics and Assessment are permanent ex officio members of the committee. Administrative representatives are appointed for staggered three-year terms. The Faculty members are appointed for staggered two-year terms.
InfoCenter
InfoCenter
The UNC InfoCenter contains downloadable reports and data tables and interactive data tools. The InfoCenter supports transparency and accountability to North Carolina taxpayers and other stakeholders, and it supports efforts to increase the University’s efficiency and impacts. Visit Institutional Research News for other information about developments in institutional research, effectiveness and planning at UNC Asheville.
Need Assistance?
If you are a member of UNC Asheville, to request data or information not available on our website, or to request assistance with surveys or other assessment activities, please contact us via our Data Request web portal.
If you are not faculty, staff, or a student, please email us at irep@unca.edu.
Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning
201 Lipinsky Hall (CPO 2205)
1 University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804