• Data availability
• Criteria and conditions for the use of survey or administrative data
• Limitations on the publication of data
• Confidentiality
• Self-service options for retrieving information
• Availability of alternate resources

The purpose of the document is to be a useful resource for anyone needing institutional information to support a project, initiative, or presentation.

The document is posted on our website here.

[ Photo by Flickr user alexanderdrachmann / Creative Commons licensed ]

IR&DS has long had a mission statement, but until recently had not had a long-term vision.  During staff retreats this winter, IR&DS staff got away from the office for a few hours and went through the process of envisioning where we want the organization to be five years from now. We thought carefully about the changing environment in higher education, the things that are important to Stanford and its leadership, and our own strengths, values, and opportunities.  In the end we formulated a vision that incorporates our goals for our customer relationships, the data we provide, the technology we use, and our own team.  We hope that you will join us as we strive to achieve our goals.

IR&DS Vision

Institutional Research & Decision Support is the first-choice provider of timely, high-quality, accessible management information and analysis for informed decision-making at Stanford. We accomplish this by:

• Having exceptional client relationships that are collaborative, respectful partnerships in which ongoing active listening, communication, and feedback enhance the mission of the University.
• Ensuring that high-quality enterprise data is readily available and meaningfully conveyed to appropriate stakeholders.
• Fostering an environment where IR&DS staff work effectively, efficiently, and collaboratively, sharing best practices, strengths in research methodology, access to resources, and knowledge of critical issues in higher education.
• Providing a state-of-the-art website that describes IR&DS capabilities, projects, and services; educates clients about data definitions, policies, methodologies, and tools; facilitates self-service access to selected Stanford data; and supports internal IR&DS collaboration.

[ Photo by Flickr user kenteegardin / Creative Commons licensed ]

To take a next crucial step in the development of Business Intelligence, the Systems Governance Group (SGG) approved a new position proposed by the BI Steering Committee, a Data Governance Manager (DGM).  The DGM will develop and administer a new data governance process at Stanford across our many administrative systems, databases, and organizations.  This person will be responsible for data quality processes and programs, and will work with subject area data stewards and technical staff to ensure that data is collected, stored, shared and reported accurately, in accord with the needs of the University.  This will be Stanford’s first long-term, systematized effort on data quality.  The DGM will also work cooperatively with the committee responsible for data privacy and security, which has been in place for many years now.

The job was posted in late January, and after a long search process, we are pleased to announce the hiring of Matthew Hoying.  Matthew will begin his duties on August 15.  Matthew comes to Stanford from UPS, where he has worked for the past two years to build a data governance structure and capability.  He brings experience and enthusiasm to the job, and is excited to get started!

Matt holds a BS and MEng in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University.   Outside of his love for good data, Matt enjoys the outdoors and spends time camping, kayaking or hiking along with many artistic hobbies such as painting, photography, and music.  Matt currently lives in Hawthorne, New Jersey and is looking forward to becoming a Californian.

In IR&DS we are in the business of providing information.  We’re pretty serious and purposeful about providing data, but we’d like to provide some interesting tidbits, just because, well, they are interesting!

See if you know the answers to the following trivia questions, and then hit “Read more” to see the answers.

1.  How many courses (approximately) does Stanford offer during the academic year?

2.  How many student residences and dining halls does Stanford have?

3.  How many students were enrolled in the most highly enrolled class for Fall 2010?

4.  What percentage of undergraduate students received financial aid in 2009-10 from both internal and external sources?

5.  How many pianos are in Stanford dorm lounges?

Answers:

1.  Stanford University offers approximately 8,000 courses during the academic year

2.  Stanford has 360 student residences and 19 dining halls

3.  458 students in “Programming Methodology” in Computer Science

4.  80% of undergraduate students received financial aid in 2009-10 from a variety of internal and external sources.

5.  There are 44 pianos in Stanford dorm lounges.

DSS currently updates sponsored projects (SPO) data from SPIDERS monthly, and our last update was March 6.   DSS plans to do future updates of sponsored projects data from the EDW (Enterprise Data Warehouse, the same source as ReportMart3 financial and research reports) rather than directly from SeRA, as is consistent with our overall plan for data architecture.  Sourcing from the EDW will ensure that DSS reconciles to RM3 reports.

This means that the SPO Data Universe in Business Objects will only have data as of March 6, 2011.  If you run reports on Awards and Proposals from this universe please keep in mind what data is available.

We expect to have the DSS SPO universe back with current data at the end of this summer.  We will keep you informed as we get more information regarding when data will be available for us.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.  Please feel free to contact Kathy Mahler or Lillian Lee at dss-support@lists.stanford.edu if you have any questions or concerns regarding sponsored projects data.

[ Photo by Flickr user woodleywonderworks / Creative Commons licensed ]

Major additions in this ‘new and improved’ Department Profile format include:

• Multi-year history graphs for selected faculty, student, teaching, research, and financial data
• Faculty and student counts by gender and ethnicity
• PhD admission, completion, and time to degree data
• Teaching and research data presented from both the department perspective (activity within the department, from any source) and the faculty perspective (activity conducted by department faculty, occurring anywhere)
• Fund balances, by category, at the beginning and end of the fiscal year
• Summaries of definitions within each profile page, as well as a substantially expanded Data Sources and Definitions section
• Lists of programs included in each profile page, provided in Data Sources and Definitions

More information about this report can be found on our website. We hope to release the FY10 Profiles soon.

Lynn Kaiser

We are sad to report the passing away of Lynn Kaiser on June 26 from cancer.  Lynn went on medical leave last summer and recently officially retired.  Lynn devoted 30 years to Stanford, working in various departments during her long career.  Her countless contributions to Stanford’s mission will be missed, as will her quiet and kind personality.  We will long remember Lynn as a friend and devoted colleague.

Susan Hawke

IR&DS hired Susan Hawke last summer to work with Paddy McGowan to support the University’s needs for student-related information while Lynn Kaiser was on medical leave. We are so pleased that she has decided to join the Farm for the long term!

Susan came to us from HP/Agilent, where she worked for 28 years.  While with HP, she traveled to HP Productivity computer shows nationwide as part of the Registration team, where she had the frequent opportunity to chat with Bill (Hewlett) and Dave (Packard)!   For Agilent, she worked as a report developer to support worldwide support business reporting against Oracle and Siebel platforms.

Susan received her B.S. in mathematics from Santa Clara University, while also satisfying the requirements for a B.A. in German.  Susan then attended Stanford and earned an M.A. in linguistics.  Between high school and college, she spent a year in Germany as a foreign exchange student.

When not working, Susan enjoys jogging, reading, theatre and traveling to London and Cambridge in the UK.

Yan Huang

IR&DS was pleased to have Yan Huang working with us this spring on a leave from her doctoral studies from Ohio University.  Yan is originally from Nanjing, China.  She completed her undergraduate degree in Economics at Nanjing University.  In 2005, she received a master’s degree in the field of Educational Research and Evaluation from Ohio University, and is currently working to complete her doctoral work.  Her research interests focus on measures to improve cognitive assessment.  Yan has a four-year-old daughter and is expecting a son next month!  She contributed greatly to the work of IR&DS, helping Jenny Bergeron with survey research and analysis.  She’s been a great fit and a pleasure to work with!

Kathryn Flack Potts

IR&DS is pleased to announce that Kathryn Flack Potts will be expanding her hours in IR&DS to full-time.  For the past two years, Kathryn has split her time between IR&DS and teaching as a Lecturer in Stanford’s linguistics department.  While this is certainly a big loss for linguistics students, we are looking forward to seeing Kathryn each day and capitalizing fully on her many talents.

[ Photo by Flickr user Pink Sherbet Photography / Creative Commons licensed ]

IRDS Newsletter: Summer 2011 [PDF]