During our monthly Data Liaisons Group meeting on September 9, 2024, we invited each member to share recent data wins from their areas. This was an excellent discussion and we had the opportunity to hear from several colleagues about how they use data to support students, streamline operations, and provide necessary context about the institution to leadership. The following are some highlights from this discussion:

Jim Buss, Dean of Honors College

Dean Buss has a long history of using data to inform action. IRDS has been working with Jim to create data products that he can use to make the honors college more effective. It started when Jim first joined BSU and the creation of the Honors College Suite of dashboards. This suite is used to help the Dean focus on the data he needs to see on a regular basis. More recently, we worked with Jim to create a view that shows, day by day, withdrawals from Honors College. This data is disaggregated by dimensions such as major and demographic information that is paired with data from exit interviews. The dean uses this information to change programming in the College. Preliminary data indicates a significant reduction in the dropout rate for Fall 2024. Dean Buss plans to continue to assess, ask more questions, get more data, make additional changes and continue this cycle of assessment and action for the benefit of Honors College students, faculty and staff.

Weiwu Zhang, Associate Dean, CCIM

Weiwu recently used information in Tableau dashboards, and other data sources, to support the reporting of the new Dean, Kristen McCauliff, to the BSU Board of Directors. He also has used similar data sources to demonstrate the level of teaching load in CCIM to assist with planning and understanding what is possible.

Andrew Friedman, Associate Dean, CFA

Andrew has been examining the non-instructional teaching load in the College of Fine Arts by Major and credit load. He has been able to pair this information with budget data in order to seek the most equitable distribution of non-instructional workload.

Zach Mickler, Senior Director, Budget

Zach has been working with IRDS for some time as one of our Explorers. As a member of the Explorer program Zach has access to the tools needed to create data sources and build dashboards. Zach has used this access to create a suite of budget dashboards. Recently he has been working with IRDS to grant wider access to the Budget to Actual Variance report using an innovative security model developed by Jonathan Voth in the Office of Institutional Research.

Richard Petts, Associate Dean, CSH

Richard has been working with Tableau data, and other sources, to help report on progress in the college on the Inclusive Excellence Plan. He has used the available disaggregated data to report on metrics like fall-to-fall retention; recruitment; and degrees awarded. He has been exploring the data recently to attempt to determine some of the trends he is seeing on fall-to-fall retention.

David Frye, Director of Academic Platforms, Student Success

David is also one of our Explorers and an early adopter of Tableau dashboards. Some time ago, we collaborated with David to build an Advisor Caseload dashboard. David has made extensive use of these dashboards to better understand the workload of advisors in University College. He has an eye toward equitable distribution of caseload; monitoring that in an ongoing way; and using the visuals to assist this analysis. More recently BSU began to use advising clusters for the first-year class. David has been adding new data to these dashboards recently to help pinpoint students who may need additional help and to point the advisors in the right direction to find them. David consistently uses data to inform action and then assess the results to seek more data to drive improved actions.

Alicia Miller, Assistant Director, International Programs

Alicia is an avid user of the Academic Unit Review packet that was created by our Decision Support office to support unit reviews. Recently Alicia’s unit has started up a “shared wins” document and included in that document will be wins related to data. We look forward to hearing more!

Shannon Dieringer, Associate Dean, TC

Shannon uses Tableau data (particularly enrollment by department) and other sources to have productive conversations with department chairs with respect to faculty hiring. Recently Shannon has been involved with the very early rollout of the Academic Performance Management tool. She has been interested in using this data to understand workload by tenure, tenure track and non-tenure track faculty.

Ayo, Systems and Reporting Specialist, Registrar

Ayo recently has used Banner and other tools to better understand space utilization. Using in-house tools, Registrar was able to help Facilities and Planning better understand space management without needing to rely on an outside vendor.

Cody Johnson, SQL Developer, IT

Cody works generally on the backend of the Data Warehouse. Recently he helped IRDS put direct links from the Tableau environment into Data Cookbook. Look for this icon to appear on a dashboard near you!

 

 

Kathy Maple, Office of Student Success and Engagement, MCOB

Kathy makes heavy use of Tableau data sources for accreditation needs (the AACSB is always thirsty for data). Recently she has been looking at data disaggregated by Pell eligibility and non-white populations. She has leveraged DFW data to help her college better understand the scope of the DFW situation and to help develop action plans to best support students who need assistance.

Lori Pence, Director, Student Services

Lori has utilized the Faculty Overload Report, one of the most requested reports from the early development of the BSU data warehouse. Lori has been examining faculty overload and why it was occurring in certain departments more than others. Lori was able to use the Multiple Majors dashboards to better understand the departments that have a large number of students with minors and to better allocate resources based on this data.

Scott Reinke, Senior Technology Analyst, Student Affairs

Scott recently presented divisional Ball State Engagement Survey data during the Division of Student Affairs’ annual Fall Opening Meeting. In addition to sharing and acknowledging survey results, the presentation also focused on topics of data literacy to help staff understand and utilize their own unit-level survey responses. As a member of the Tableau Explorer group, Scott looks forward to building dashboards for student engagement in the near future.

Ashley Green, Schedule and Facilities Specialist, College of Health

Beginning last fall, the College of Health developed “Departmental Check-Up” meetings with each of their units. Department chairs/directors and college leadership meet each fall to evaluate the current “health status” of the respective unit. This has been a great way to acknowledge aspects of each department that are working well. It also provides a chance to assess opportunities for improvement. Tableau dashboards, as well as internal College data, faculty load data, and curriculum-related information are all heavily utilized to ensure a data-driven framework when discussing action steps for continued success or improvement for their units.

 

 

In summary, the Data Liaisons Group meeting showcased the diverse ways in which data-driven decision-making is enhancing various aspects of our institution. From improving student retention and success to optimizing faculty workload and budget management, these initiatives highlight the critical role of data in fostering institutional excellence. We look forward to continued collaboration and sharing of best practices in our future meetings.