2026 Pre-Conference Workshops
The 53rd Annual SAIR Conference will be held October 24-27, at the Little Rock Marriott in Little Rock, Arkansas.
| Saturday | 8:30am - 4:00pm (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Newcomers Workshop ($100) Dr. Eric Godin, St. Thomas University The workshop will provide an introduction to institutional research, its principal components, and the practices of institutional researchers including the sourcing of data, communication and reporting of data, and the role of institutional research in supporting assessment and accreditation. The workshop will also address how institutional research offices function and how to be an effective practitioner of institutional research. | ||
| Saturday | 8:30-11:30am (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Building Dynamic President’s Scorecard Metrics: A Hands-On Workshop Using Next-Term Registration as a Case Study ($150) Dr. Mel Jenkins-Simpson, Dr. Jacob Pleitz, and Emily Rothenbacher, The University of Alabama Executive scorecards are most useful when they include dynamic indicators that support timely action, not just lagging outcomes. This pre-conference workshop provides a hands-on framework for developing strategic metrics for presidential dashboards using next-term registration as a case study. Participants will work through metric selection, operational definition, validation, checkpoint reporting, drill-down design, and governance for ongoing use. Attendees will also begin applying the framework to a metric aligned with their own institutional priorities. The model can be adapted for other dynamic measures such as credit completion, gateway course success, first-year momentum, and progress-to-degree metrics. | ||
| --- Using AI and Quarto to Transform Higher Education Data Workflows ($150) Claire Heacox and Cecile Gliezes, Auburn University Higher education professionals are asked to produce more reports, analyses, visualizations, documentation, evidence files, and executive-ready deliverables with limited time, staffing, and budgets. This workshop introduces practical ways to combine AI with Quarto, a free, flexible publishing tool inside RStudio that can bring queries, R, Python, narrative, documentation, tables, charts, and output formatting into one reproducible workflow. Participants will see how work that once took weeks can often be prototyped, refined, documented, and reproduced in hours. The session will include examples of repeated reporting (like Common Data Set), data visualization, AI-assisted coding, privacy-aware prompting, and hands-on practice with fake data. Newer users will receive guided setup and beginner-friendly exercises, while more experienced users can move quickly, bring their own reporting challenges, and explore how AI and Quarto can improve the everyday data work behind IR, assessment, accreditation, planning, institutional effectiveness, and related higher education functions. | ||
| --- Establishing an Effective University-Wide Assessment Process in the Midst of Accreditation Uncertainty ($150) Dr. Bethany Bodo and Dr. Molly Hall, Virginia Tech Join us to learn how institutions can implement an effective university-wide assessment process. Adding to this already challenging task is the recent uncertainty related to institutional accreditation. In this workshop, we will outline the university-wide assessment process at Virginia Tech that covers all areas of institutional assessment including academic programs, post-baccalaureate certificates, administrative units, academic and student support services, and general education assessment. We will discuss how the processes for these areas align not only with each other, but effectively meet the requirements of most, if not all, programmatic accreditors (e.g., ABET) as well as institutional accreditors (e.g., SACSCOC). | ||
| --- Building Better SAS Tables: Mastering PROC TABULATE and REPORT ($150) Saraswathi Sundararajan, S Usha Kilasevalpatti, and Funda Karapinar Reilly, The University of Texas at Arlington This workshop offers a hands-on introduction to PROC TABULATE, focusing on how table structure affects totals and percentage calculations. It begins with simple one-variable row and column examples, then progresses to more complex layouts with multiple variables, including hierarchical structures and subtotals. Participants will learn to compute row, column, and cumulative percentages, as well as group-level percentages by department and college. The session also introduces PROC REPORT, highlighting calculated columns and spanning headers. Attendees will gain practical skills to create accurate, flexible, and effective SAS reports for institutional reporting needs. | ||
| Saturday | 1:00-4:00pm (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Em-Power BI: A Hands-On Data Visualization Workshop for Institutional Researchers ($150) Dr. Charlie Wilder and Dr. Rachel Whitman Rotch, Auburn University Analysts at Auburn University’s Office of Academic Insight leverage an experienced Power BI skillset to deliver reports to a range of campus stakeholders. This immersive experience, tailored for IR/IE professionals, aims to equip participants with essential Power BI skills for data analysis, visualization, and reporting. Attendees will learn to import, clean, transform, and model data, and create impactful visualizations. The hands-on training will cover themes; data preparation; creating visuals, buttons, slicers, and bookmarks; and publishing reports with row-level security (as time allows). Practice datasets are provided, and attendees should bring a laptop with Power BI Desktop installed. Come join us for this exciting learning opportunity! | ||
| --- From Story to Action – Designing Dashboards to Guide Decisions ($150) Dr. G. Marc Turner, Texas State University Dashboards have become common in higher education, yet many fail to produce meaningful action. They often overwhelm users with metrics, lack shared definitions, or present information without the context needed for effective interpretation. This workshop reframes dashboards as stories that influence understanding, priorities, and action rather than as collections of KPIs. Using a storytelling framework, participants will explore how dashboard design shapes interpretation and decision-making across different audiences. Through hands-on activities and group exercises, attendees will examine common issues including metric overload, visual complexity, and inconsistent definitions that erode trust in data. The workshop will also connect dashboard effectiveness to broader institutional practices such as data governance, semantic consistency, and data literacy. Participants will leave with practical strategies for designing dashboards that reduce cognitive load, improve trust and usability, and better support institutional planning, assessment, student success, and operational decision-making. | ||
| --- Making Sense of Competency-Based Learner Data: Analytic Strategies for Institutional Research ($150) Dr. Emily Erwin, Louisiana State University Competency-based education (CBE) generates complex, high-volume learner data that often defies traditional institutional research approaches. Rating scales are ordinal, assessments are nested and context-dependent, progress is nonlinear, and decisions are often judgment-based rather than threshold-based. As a result, IR analysts are frequently asked to support high-stakes decisions—progression, accreditation, program evaluation—using data not designed for conventional performance modeling. This interactive workshop introduces a framework for analyzing competency-based learner data. Participants will examine analytic strategies appropriate for ordinal, longitudinal, and nested data; explore how to interpret variability and missingness responsibly; and practice translating analytic findings into defensible, stakeholder-ready summaries. The session emphasizes analytic reasoning and communication rather than specific software tools, making it applicable across institutional contexts. | ||
| --- Data Reporting as Curriculum Design: Helping Stakeholders Understand and Act on Data ($150) Ginny Cockerill, Greenville Technical College This interactive workshop reframes institutional research reporting as a form of curriculum design, positioning reports, dashboards, and presentations as intentional learning experiences rather than static outputs. Participants will explore how to structure reporting to guide stakeholders through a progression of understanding—from context to insight to action—using principles from data storytelling and data literacy. Through hands-on activities, attendees will assess and redesign reporting products to better support interpretation and decision-making. The session provides a practical framework for aligning reporting with institutional priorities while building a culture of data-informed decision-making across campus. | ||
| Sunday | 8:30am - 4:00pm (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| Visualizing Data to Measure and Communicate Using Tableau Public ($200) Elizabeth Wakefield, Arkansas State University - Newport, and Dr. Eric Atchison, Arkansas State University System As a market-leading choice for modern business intelligence, the Tableau software platform is known for taking data from almost any system and turning it into actionable insights with speed and ease. This full-day workshop will provide attendees with a background in data visualization basics and how to:
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| Sunday | 8:30-11:30am (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| IPEDS Data Tools ($150) Carolyn Mata, CM Education Insights and Solutions Full workshop description coming soon | ||
| --- Institutional Research Project Management: Building Scalable, Structured, and AI-Enabled IR Operations ($150) Samantha James, Georgia Tech Institutional Research (IR) offices are increasingly managing complex, cross-functional, and compliance-driven work, yet project management practices are often applied informally rather than systematically. This interactive workshop introduces a practical, IR-tailored project management framework grounded in PMI principles and enhanced through modern tools and AI-supported workflows. Participants will explore how to translate project management concepts into real IR contexts, including structured intake, scope definition, stakeholder alignment, and knowledge management. The session also highlights how AI can support documentation, communication, and process consistency, helping reduce administrative burden and improve efficiency. Through guided activities and real-world examples, participants will apply these concepts to their own work and leave with actionable strategies, templates, and a clear next step for implementation. | ||
| --- Power BI Introduction: Getting Started with Power BI Dashboards ($150) Andrew Brady, Logan Poland, and Gene Cilluffo, Florida State University Power BI is a business analytics service by Microsoft. This software provides interactive visualizations and business intelligence capabilities with an interface that end users can create their own reports and dashboards. In a hands-on training structure, instructors guide users on building a Power BI dashboard from the ground up. The session starts with basic data cleaning in Excel and concludes with an interactive dashboard featuring several visualizations. Along the way, the user will learn important information and navigation of the tool, import the cleaned dataset, build the visualizations, incorporate interactive slicers (filters) and format the final dashboard. | ||
| --- From Compliance to Capacity: Building AI Agents for Assessment and Continuous Improvement ($150) Dr. Will Miller, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Assessment and continuous improvement work too often traps talented faculty and staff in repetitive, bureaucratic processes that pull attention away from teaching, mentoring, innovation, and strategic thinking. This workshop explores how institutions can use AI agents to reclaim that time and redirect expertise where it matters most. Participants will examine practical applications of generative AI and agent-based workflows to support writing measurable learning outcomes, conducting curriculum mapping, drafting annual assessment reports, summarizing evidence, and streamlining accreditation and compliance documentation. Rather than replacing human judgment, these tools enhance institutional effectiveness by reducing administrative friction and improving consistency, clarity, and scalability across assessment processes. The session will focus on actionable strategies, implementation considerations, governance, and examples that participants can immediately adapt within their own institutions. Attendees will leave with a framework for building AI-supported assessment ecosystems that strengthen continuous improvement while giving faculty and staff more time for high-value, human-centered work. | ||
| Sunday | 1:00-4:00pm (additional fee and pre-registration required) | |
| IR Refresher: IPEDS, ACTS, USNWR, and the Changing Landscape in Higher Ed ($150) Dr. Justin Shepherd, Emory University Are your offices of General Counsel and Government Affairs your new best friends? This workshop will review best practices around the rapidly changing landscape of higher education. We will review admissions, enrollment patterns, financial aid changes, post-graduate outcomes, accreditation, state guidelines, and other policies currently impacting our institutions. Participants will leave with a better understanding of policy and how IR offices can develop frameworks for data governance and analysis that produces valid and reliable reporting data. | ||
| --- Power BI Intermediate: Enhancing Power BI Dashboard Development Skills ($150) Andrew Brady, Logan Poland, and Gene Cilluffo, Florida State University In this intermediate Power BI training, users are provided with a completed college-level dashboard and will refine it to meet specific departmental decision-making needs. This session begins with reconnecting the dashboard to its underlying data source. Users will learn to add page navigation, apply custom sorting, use filters and slicers, create calculations, and share their report. Users will also create visualizations and be introduced to DAX Quick Measures and Power Query. Prerequisite: Participants should have experience using Power BI to create simple visualizations prior to this training. Completion of the Introduction to Power BI Workshop can be substituted for prior experience. | ||
| --- Excel Basics for Institutional Research ($150) Jason Wang, Georgia Tech Are you new to Institutional Research (IR) or looking to refresh your Excel skills? Join this workshop where you will learn the basics of using Excel for IR. Through a combination of tutorials and example problems specific to IR, this interactive session will cover topics such as data management, documentation, data analysis, and use of Copilot. Get ready to walk away with tips, tricks, and efficiencies that will wow your colleagues! | ||
| --- Data Governance and Relational IR: Building Trust, Collaboration, and Shared Understanding ($150) Heather Epstein-Diaz and Dale TeGantvoort, Florida State University This workshop introduces participants to the practical foundations of modern data governance and how it supports trusted analytics, institutional decision-making, and scalable data operations. Grounded in the principles of relational institutional research (Relational IR), the session highlights how effective governance depends on collaboration, shared understanding, and strong cross-functional relationships (not just policies and technology). Through real-world scenarios, guided discussion, and interactive exploration, attendees will examine how governance connects data architecture, metadata, data quality, stewardship, and analytics delivery to reduce reporting inconsistencies, address siloed practices, improve collaboration, and build trust in institutional data. Designed for analysts, data professionals, institutional leaders, and emerging governance practitioners, the workshop focuses on practical approaches for establishing sustainable, “minimum viable” governance that supports analytics maturity and AI readiness. |