Institutional Research and Assessment Mission
Core Purpose and Core Values
The following represents Institutional Research and Assessment's (IRA's) core purpose and values. These guide our daily work and inform our decisions. We strive to make our values apparent in our work and interactions with our customers.
Core Purpose
Support of faculty and staff in educating students: In accordance with the University's Mission, our primary core purpose is to support the administration of the University in its mission to provide an environment in which teaching and learning occur by contributing information critical to effective decision making. The manifestation of this purpose includes both (1) supporting the University by providing data and analyses to external constituencies that evaluate the University and to internal University decision makers; and (2) scanning the environment, especially the higher education environment, for changes that may impact the University and reporting those back to appropriate university officials.
Core Values
Data integrity. Sound data collection, analysis, and dissemination require accurate and timely data. While IRA is not responsible for the collection and storage of most University data, staff members test data integrity as they complete analyses, and work closely with other offices that are responsible for the collection and storage of University data to ensure its accurate and timely use. Staff members do not present data in a misleading fashion or utilize or release data of questionable accuracy.
Professionalism. We take pride in our work and endeavor to accomplish our tasks in an ethical and unbiased manner. We strive to be honest, impartial, and objective in all of our analyses and presentations, regardless of the target audience or the source of sponsorship. We are also committed to paying incredible attention to the detail of our work.
Collaboration and Communication. Efficient and effective work in IRA often requires collaboration between the IRA staff with technical expertise and our customers with content knowledge of their area. Effective collaboration requires communication and expert analysis is meaningless until it is effectively communicated to those who need to know the information.
Purposeful innovation. Being a leader in data collection, analysis, and dissemination requires constant purposeful innovation along with an endless pursuit of greater efficiency and organization of our tasks as we work toward greater productivity. Achieving greater productivity requires knowledge of the changing industry in which we work and good awareness of the office within which we work so that we know when to improve operations and when to be satisfied with existing operations. Maintaining currency on technology applications is a primary means of innovation.
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Staff
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Martha (Marty) Smith Sharpe, Vice Provost
A.B., cum laude, Psychology, Davidson College
M.A., Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Ed.D., Higher Education, The College of William and Mary |
As a member of the Provost's senior staff, Marty Smith Sharpe is responsible for the oversight of the institutional research function at Old Dominion.She oversees the University's response to state and federal reporting requirements, coordinates the University's response to accountability measures such as SCHEV's Reports on Institutional Effectiveness and for the University's official enrollment projections. She assists in the coordination of the University-wide and college-level strategic planning and accreditation processes and serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the Reaffirmation of Accreditation in 2002 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools/Commission of Colleges.Marty has played a leadership role in the development and implementation of the Banner information system and is the project leader on the development of the University's Banner Data Mart.To learn more see: Martha Sharpe's Home Page.
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J. Worth Pickering, Associate Director and Senior Research Associate
B.A., Psychology, Guilford College
M.Ed., Counseling, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Ed.D., Counseling (Student Development), The University of North
Carolina at Greensboro |
Worth Pickering is responsible for tracking retention, attrition, and graduation rates of all entering students (freshmen, transfers, graduate students) and all reports of these rates. He also works with the University Assessment program, specifically the Freshman Survey that is used to identify freshmen at-risk for academic difficulty and/or attrition. In addition, Worth completes several of the SCHEV reports, in particular the Admissions Data File that includes a record for each new student at the University. Finally, Worth is involved in many of the data collection efforts utilizing surveys and focus groups.
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