2020 AIRUM Virtual Annual Conference Schedule*

Wednesday, October 28

1-2 pm             

AIRUM New Member Orientation
Join with your colleagues in this session geared for members new to AIRUM and the IR/IE community. Steering
Committee leaders will provide a helpful overview and facilitate a discussion and member meetup.
2:30-4 pm Keynote: Amelia Parnell, NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education
IR is Evergreen: Leveraging Data for Student Success and Beyond
Institutional Research is both a profession and a function, leading to inevitable tensions in aspects of our work. With institutions increasingly focused on "Student Success", how can IR leverage data and partner with others across campus to build a better understanding of what it means for a student to be successful? How do campus culture, institutional needs, and social movements intersect in building this understanding? Dr. Amelia Parnell will bring her unique perspective from IR and student affairs to bear on these questions during our AIRUM Conference Keynote.
4:15-5:15 pm                  AIRUM Business Meeting followed by Social Hour
Come for a short business meeting where we recap 2020 for our organization and stay for a casual social hour to network with AIRUM colleagues.

 

Thursday, October 29

10-11 am                                                                                           

Member Panel: Accreditation in a Pandemic
Chris Feit, Loras College (IA); Meridith Wentz, University of Wisconsin-Stout (WI); Angie Bauman Power, Cornell College (IA); Marla Smith, Mitchell Technical College (SD)
Amidst all the challenges facing institutions this year, assuring educational quality through the process of accreditation was still among them. Hear from four different institutional perspectives about their accreditation processes, the experience of being a peer reviewer in this most unusual year, and what the presenters are thinking about going forward in meeting institutional obligations to the accreditation process.
12-1 pm

Lunch and Lunch Panel: Taking Care in 2020
Join your colleagues for this timely presentation on the challenges of this year and how they've impacted students, faculty, and staff at different campuses. Researchers from the SERU/gradSERU Consortium will present key findings on the impact on students from their COVID-19 Surveys; researchers from HEDS will discuss findings from their survey of faculty and staff at liberal arts institutions; and an HR director will discuss strategies for supporting your staff and colleagues as we all take care, together.
2-3 pm

Collaborating Across Campus followed by Conversation Tables
How can we work across campus organizational divisions to support students? What are the perspectives we bring as institutional researchers, and how can we be aware of those as we work with colleagues in different divisions to improve the educational experience for our students? Hear from Dr. Becki Elkins, a former IR director turned student affairs faculty member, and join in the discussion. The last half hour of this session will provide an opportunity for attendees to break into smaller "conversation tables" on various IR topics related to IR/IE.
4-5:30 pm 

Data in the Age of COVID-19 Member Lightning Presentations followed by social half-hour
This spring found us in a flurry of activity, being asked questions our institutions had not previously considered, as we re-imagined our work and our lives in a remote environment. Through a series of 5-7 minute lightning presentations, AIRUM members will share their experiences in this time and moving forward through this period of uncertainty. Q&A and networking will follow the completion of all selected presentations.

 

Friday, October 30

10:45-11:15 am      Coffee Chat and Conference Wrap-Up with AIRUM Steering Committee
Join the Steering Committee as we recap the conference and look forward to 2021.
11:30 am-12:30 pm          Plenary Book Talk: Tia Brown McNair, AAC&U
From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding
Tia Brown McNair, co-author of "From Equity Talk to Equity Walk," will start the session with remarks on her book, definitions of equity, how it relates to institutional research/institutional effectiveness, and how we in IR/IE can work on our Equity Walk. We then open up the session to a conversation, where all attendees will have a chance to ask Dr. McNair questions and engage in a dialogue on these key issues in higher education.

 *Schedule is subject to slight modifications.