OPAIR

The nexus of research, accreditation, assessment, and strategic planning that supports individual unit endeavors towards organizational excellence by making institutional data and strategic information easily accessible, clearly understood, and well-leveraged both within the University and across the Commonwealth.

Key Projects

DEIB Dashboard

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Data Digest

A Modern Approach to the Factbook

iTwo (Institutional Insight)

Interactive Data Analysis and Distribution

Self Study 2024

Reaffirmation of Institutional Accreditation

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News and Updates

Registration open for annual Nuventive training sessions

Mar 20, 2025

The Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research will host a series of virtual training sessions from March through May to assist users of Nuventive, the University’s online assessment management system.

Nominate a Penn State Assessment Champion today

Mar 20, 2025

Nominations of faculty, staff and academic administrators who are involved in program-level assessment aimed at enhancing student learning and academic excellence are now being accepted for the 2025-26 cohort of Assessment Champions.

OPAIR Spotlight: Marie Sullivan- Director of Accreditation

Mar 7, 2025

“I’m an attorney, and that training serves me well in the field of accreditation and compliance. I enjoy research and am used to parsing the language of the law to break down the necessary elements for compliance.”

Self Study 2024

Penn State is accredited by The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), an institutional accreditor recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education. MSCHE provides accreditation for all programs offered by the University. To maintain accreditation, the University must meet MSCHE’s rigorous Standards of Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation.

MSCHE accreditation assures students, their families, and the public of the educational quality of a Penn State education. Institutional accreditation is also a requirement for the University to participate in the Department of Education’s Title IV federal financial aid program.

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Strategic University Projects

OPAIR works on special projects outside of the areas of accreditation, assessment, institutional research, and strategic planning due to strategic resources and talent found within the office. This section is a collection of those projects.

CARES Act/CRRSAA/ARP Act Information

Penn State was allotted nearly $55 million from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relieve and Economic Security (CARES) Act, nearly $84 million from the fund as part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), and $150 million from the fund as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. Half of Penn State’s CARES Act allocation – or approximately $27.5 million – and the same amount of the CRRSAA allocation along with more than $76 million of the ARP allocation were designated by law to be disbursed as emergency cash grants to students impacted by disruptions to campus operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Penn State’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund reporting information is available here.

Foreign Gift and Contract Reporting

Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires institutions to disclose to the Department of Education (DoE) contracts, grants, agreements with or gifts from a foreign source, with a value of $250,000 or more, considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with the same foreign source, within a calendar year. Units should adopt procedures whereby any unit signing a contract or accepting a gift should ascertain whether the other party is a foreign source.

More information on Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, due diligence, and reporting resources are available here.

Nuventive Assessment Management System

Penn State uses Nuventive Improve for its Assessment Management System (AMS). The AMS is an online tool that supports University-wide learning outcomes assessment, strategic planning, and Middle States accreditation. Academic programs use the AMS to document their Program Learning Objectives (PLOs), create curriculum maps, plan program assessment efforts, and report results. Strategic planning units use the system to document unit-level plans and align plans with University-level outcomes.

Information and training resources for the AMS are available here.

We Earn

Penn State graduates more than 21,000 students annually across more than 200 academic programs and all degree levels. Our alumni impact the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the nation, and the world. The University participates in two projects designed to estimate Penn State graduates’ return on their higher education investment from 2001 through 2022.

First, we collaborate with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry to evaluate alumni who have worked and are working across the Commonwealth. Second, we are part of a national Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) project with 29 other states and the U.S. Census Bureau to assess earnings and area of employment, comparable by geography and by years since graduation.

Information from Labor and Industry and from US Census was merged with internal Penn State data on 224,291 graduates across all degrees, levels, and campuses. This information provides the best current estimate of the value a Penn State degree carries across the United States. We welcome the public’s exploration of recent graduates’ earnings and alumni with ten years of workforce experience.

Learn more about the value of being a Nittany Lion.

What is the Value of a Penn State Degree?

Dynamic. Accurate. Relevant.

The Data Digest is a tool that has the power to propel the University’s data users into the future. No longer is data hidden behind multiple screens and clicks.

Today, users can access fully customizable dashboards with ease, find the data they desire, carry their filters forward through their search, and export it in one click into Excel.

OPAIR is proud of the Pennsylvania State University Data Digest and works hard to provide more data and features.

Explore the Data