Three things...

When asked what are the three questions I would like to answer or that will help me focus and learn more about my job, I think back to what attracted me to the job in the first place.  These are things I still have yet to "crack" but would like to master within the next few years.

1.  The Common Data Set - it doesn't make sense to me that we are asked all of these similar (but not exactly the same) questions by all of these surveys, reporting entities and other institutions, and yet we don't have a singular database to contain all of this information.  Well, we do, somewhat, in IPEDS, but answers to IPEDS surveys don't always translate to other data collections.  Attempts have been made to create a template for containing the common data set, but there is no singular template by which all of the requesting entities and data collectors ask for data.  It's craziness to someone like me.  I want to develop something.  I am not sure what that something is, yet.  I need to learn more about this beast.  Meantime, I peck away at the excel spreadsheet template shared with me via the Common Data Set website, which is little more than a collective of shared suggestion.

2.  Alternative methods of surveying students - this one is easy.  Students today are saying ENOUGH ALREADY with the surveys.  We ask them about their high school experience.  Volunteer work.  Extracurricular time.  What they think of our dining services.  What they think of our faculty and coursework and facilities.  Whether they think they are in a diverse community.  About their drinking, smoking, nocturnal and other habits.  Do they drink coffee? Do they prefer the library to the lab? What do they think of the film festival? They are surveyed out.  Even incentives don't work any more, and student survey responses are going down.  This is a problem.  If we are to depend on surveys to collect data from our students, we are going to have to find creative ways to get this information from them without them running screaming in the other direction.

3.  Fostering communication - There is generally not a lot of trust between faculty and administration on most college campuses.  It's just the nature of the beast.  One of my bosses is the Budget Director at RISD.  One time, she was talking about integrity, and presenting in front of faculty.  She takes great pride in her work and likes to think that the faculty trust her, even though some of the data she presents to them comes from "the dark side" (the administration) a body which is never completely trusted.  This results in my boss having to be on the defensive from the get-go.  However, she is extremely detail oriented and presents her data very clearly.  To me, there is nothing more irritating than a question at the end of a presentation that has already been answered within the presentation itself, due to the fact that the questioner was so busy coming up with the question that s/he wasn't paying attention to the presentation at all.  To avoid prolonged irritation and potential political upheaval, it is my intention in this job to facilitate communication between administration and faculty.  I know.  It's a daunting task.  But if we keep giving them numbers that are indisputable, and somehow engage them through communications (with vehicles such as blogs like this), perhaps we can be even better at we do, with their help.  We are the external and internal reporters, but they are the teachers on the front line.  They know the students, they know the reality.  I want to see more than just the numbers and percentages.

So those are my three goals.