Karen Vance
Karen Vance, associate vice provost for planning, assessment, and institutional research with the Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research (OPAIR), was recently selected to serve on the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) board of directors.
“We in OPAIR are tremendously proud of Karen’s leadership across Penn State and beyond,” said Vice Provost for Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research, Lance Kennedy-Phillips. “Karen is a dedicated institutional research professional who understands what is needed to succeed in today’s world of IR as well as enhance its growing role within higher education.”
Vance began her career at Penn State in 2018, where she currently leads the University’s data science and analytics team. She also sits on various governance, executive, and advisory committees that support the strategic efforts of Penn State’s 24 campus locations.
A global association of higher education professionals, AIR was founded in 1966 with the mission to utilize data, analytics, information, and evidence to make decisions and take actions that benefit students and institutions and improve higher education. The association is governed by a 12-member board elected by its membership.
Board members of AIR set the organization’s vision and purpose, establish its expectations through policies, and monitor the outcomes of operational activities. Organizational operations are led by an executive director and a staff dedicated to implementing the board’s vision through strategies and actions that advance the profession and improve higher education through data-informed decisions.
When discussing issues she believes institutional research will need to address in the next five years to maintain and enhance its value to higher education, Vance shared, “As data become democratized, institutional researchers will serve a more prominent role in data governance, including data literacy and integrity components,” adding, “Institutional researchers will have a growing responsibility to their colleagues in ensuring that data consumers have access to reliable and valid data to inform decisions. Institutional research professionals will assume the role of data coaches in support of data literacy.”
Vance was elected as one of three new board members-at-large. Karen Egypt, assistant director of data analytics at Anne Arundel Community College, and Wen Qi, director of faculty analytics in the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty & Academic Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington, will join Vance and officially take office during AIR’s annual business meeting on June 8. Members-at-large serve a three-year term.
“As the [AIR] board is the ‘voice of the members,’ I will work collaboratively with other board members to solicit input from all facets of the IR profession to inform decisions regarding leadership and engagement opportunities relevant to members,” said Vance. “As someone who has committed their career to IR, I genuinely enjoy conversations with other institutional researchers. I often take the opportunity to reach out to others to seek input, advice, and thoughts about issues relevant to the field. There’s always something to learn from others – fresh perspectives, new ideas, arising challenges, and commonalities – by simply initiating a conversation and listening attentively.”
