About OIR

Staff:
Frank Doherty, Director

Chuck DeHart, Policy/Planning Specialist II

Rosemary Brenner, Policy/Planning Specialist I

Tina Grace, Administrative & Program Specialist III and SACS Self-Study Secretary

Peggy Simmer, GA for the SACS Self-Study

Lauren Tucker, GA

Olivia Ciobotaru, GA

Questions about OIR's activities can be directed to
Institutional Research.

Introduction

The Office of Institutional Research welcomes you to the new academic year. One of the important functions of OIR is to conduct research about the university to support decision making. Since many of you depend on our office for official information for a variety of purposes, we decided to create a quarterly newsletter to tell you about research activities that might be useful to you. We welcome your comments about our newsletter and appreciate your support. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Frank J. Doherty, Ph.D. Director, OIR

Mission

The mission of the Office of Institutional Research is to actively contribute to the creation of James Madison University as a student-centered institution dedicated to teaching and learning. We seek to dynamically and efficiently support decision-making, accountability, and planning.

Our primary functions are:

• developing, collecting, and communicating measures of institutional effectiveness

• providing management information and policy analysis
• supporting the university's planning process
• collecting and reporting mandated information

We value honesty, integrity, accuracy, timeliness, responsiveness, community, innovation, accountability and foresight.

Recent Additions to OIR's Web Site:

We have greatly updated the peer information on our web site, including the following:

AAUP Data: Data on average faculty salaries for JMU's peer group are displayed for 1992-93 to 1999-00.

Peer Information: Several tables of information that compare JMU with our peers have been added. These include information about graduation rates, finances, costs, etc.

OIR's program reviews, annual reports, and 2000-01 goals.

Academic performance of transfers at JMU.

Current Projects

SACS Self-Study

OIR is very involved in supporting the SACS Self-Study. OIR provides a significant amount of data for the Self-Study as well as organizes and maintains the Self-Study online library catalog.

Facilities Inventory

Each year OIR and Resource Planning submit a facilities inventory file of all space on campus. We currently have more than 10,000 spaces in the file. It is critically important that these files be accurate so that we can eventually request the appropriate amount of space for the campus. Questions about this can be directed to Rosemary Brenner (brennero@jmu.edu) or Mack Moore (mooremg@jmu.edu). Eventually we hope to put the inventory online so that departments can see the specific spaces used by them and inform OIR/Resource Planning when changes have been made.

SCHEV Data Files

One of OIR's primary functions is mandated reporting to the State and Federal governments. Over the next two months, OIR Staff will develop and submit the official data files to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).  Student-specific data will be delivered for Fall 2000 Headcount, Fall 2000 Admissions, and the Graduation Rate Survey for the Freshman Class of 1994.

Research Notes

Faculty Activity Survey, Fall 1999

The Office of Institutional Research conducts a survey of faculty activity every other year. Information from these surveys since 1972 has been used for a variety of purposes, including accreditation studies, support of grant applications, and the clarification of the public's understanding of faculty workload and responsibilities.  Fall 1999 was the first time the survey was conducted online instead of by paper/pencil.

Full-time faculty and all other individuals who taught a course for credit were asked to complete the Fall 1999 survey. The Office of Institutional Research identified a total of 640 full-time faculty as being eligible for inclusion in the survey. Of these, 457 returned usable survey forms for a response rate of 71 percent.

The full Research Notes for the survey is available at OIR's web site.

Statistical Summary

Annually OIR produces a Statistical Summary of important information about JMU. Five years ago OIR placed its first Statistical Summary on the web. Now, as information is collected and verified, we will place new pages on our web site. The link to the Statistical Summaries since 1995-96 is: http://www.jmu.edu/instresrch/statsum.htm

Pages currently available for 2000-01 include:

• TABLE 2-9 Comparison of On-Campus Headcount Enrollment, Summer Sessions, 1981 through 2000
• TABLE 2-12 On-Campus Credit Hours and Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment by Level of Student, Regular Session, 1989-90 through 1999-00
• TABLE 2-13 Comparison of On-Campus Credit Hour Production by Department, Summer Session, 1997 through 2000
• TABLE 2-14 Summary of On-Campus Credit Hours Produced by Level of Student, Summer Session, 2000
• TABLE 2-15 On-Campus Credit Hours and Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment by Level of Student, Summer Session, 1990 through 2000
• TABLE 2-22 Median Cumulative Grade Point Averages of Undergraduate Students by Sex, Spring Semester, Alternate Years, 1984-85 through 1998-99
• TABLE 2-24 Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment by Session, 1980-81 through 1999-00
• TABLE 2-25 Graduation Rates for Entering Class Students, Fall 1983-84 through Fall 1996-97
• TABLE 2-26 Percent of Entering Class Students Returning After One, Two, and Three Years at JMU, Fall 1989-90 Through Fall 1999-00
• TABLE 3-2 Total Degrees Conferred, 1985-86 through 1999-00
• TABLE 3-3 Bachelor's Degrees Conferred by Major Field of Study and CIP Code, 1996-97 through 1999-00
• TABLE 3-4 Second Major of Students Graduating with a Double Major by CIP Code, 1999-00
• TABLE 3-5 Graduate Degrees Conferred by Major Field of Study and CIP Code, 1996-97 through 1999-00
• TABLE 3-6 Degrees Conferred 1909 Through 2000