If you have news to contribute (and all contributions are gladly accepted), please send them to the Editor, at Fred.Cohen@NYU.EDU or:

This year continues to fly past and I have been noticing a disconcerting 'tic' when writing checks... I keep putting 1987 for the date! If anyone can provide an explanation, I would appreciate it. It is not as if the world was a better place then, what with primitive and mostly dumb terminals and no web. I think I was still using a graphics plotter - remember those?

The Steering Committee, and particularly the Program and Local Arrangements Chairs, have been very busy over the summer planning and organizing the 1997 Annual Conference (Nov. 1-4, Hartford, Connecticut). They will update you in this newsletter about the plans, suffice for me to say that I am very excited about the content and the form of the event!

The conference theme "Accountability and Institutional Research: Measuring Results" seems to me more timely on a daily basis. It is clear that in spite of the best efforts of those of us in IR, many failures of communication exist between the various stakeholders in higher education. Failing putting us in charge (which would solve all the problems in one fell swoop (what does that expression mean?)), we need to do a lot of listening and talking to those to whom we are accountable about what they want to know, and in what form they want to know it.

Denise Krallman (our Program Chair) and Bob Yanckello (Local Arrangements Chair) and I hope that the conference will provide some 'time out' for all of us to listen and talk and to share successes and failures so that we can be even more effective in supporting the mission of our institutions and organizations.

In addition to the workshops and presentations and networking, our annual conference includes our NEAIR business meeting. The agenda will include your opportunity to vote on proposed amendments to the NEAIR constitution, to review our budget information, to thank outgoing members of the Steering Committee, to hear the results of the elections, to be reminded about the Research Grant program, to think about nominees for the new "Distinguished Service Award" described in the Spring Newsletter, and to welcome Craig Clagett as NEAIR President for 1997/98. Oh, almost forgot, and to eat a good lunch.

Craig has conducted an assessment of NEAIR programs and services (I am sure you completed your survey when it arrived) during this year and will be presenting the results at the conference. Your responses to the survey will guide the Steering Committee's work over the next year.

All this means that this is my last 'President's Corner'. I don't want to get all soppy, but I do want you all to know that it is a great honor to serve as President of this excellent organization and I have very much appreciated the opportunity to do so. Members of NEAIR are among the most collegial, supportive, hard working and fun folks to be found in any professional organization!

I look forward to seeing you soon in Hartford, a great New England city with lots of things to do and places to see! The folks at the Sheraton have been most helpful in the pre-conference work, making sure that things go smoothly. I am sure they will be as helpful through the conference.

Bob and the Local Arrangements Committee are eager to host you and to make sure that you are as comfortable, well fed and entertained as possible.

Denise (with the help of all of you who submitted proposals for workshops, work-shares, table topics and presentations) has an outstanding program lined up for your delight.

And of course, Brenda Bretz, our wonderful membership secretary (and now Registrar at Dickinson College) will ensure registration is a breeze!

Thanks for a terrific year. See you all soon.

Jennifer Brown

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Now is the time to finalize your arrangement to attend the 1997 Hartford conference. The local arrangements committee has been preparing for your visit and anticipates an exciting, eventful and high quality experience for all who attend.

Please visit the conference web site at http://www.opir.ccsu.edu/neair/neair1.html to get information on the Sheraton Hartford Hotel, travel arrangements, the Preliminary Conference Program, as well as local weather conditions and some Hartford area attractions.

Our 1997 host, the Sheraton Hartford Hotel, is conveniently located beside the Civic Center Mall, and is just a few steps away from the Bushnell Theater, the Old State House, and the Wadsworth Atheneum museum. On Saturday, November 1st at 7:00 p.m. the New England Blizzard of the women's American Basketball League will be hosting the Philadelphia Rage at the Hartford Civic Center. Tickets should be available at the door.

Hartford is a good convention location, easily reached by trains, planes and automobiles, and we hope that you are making plans right now for what is expected to be one of the friendliest and most useful regional IR meetings. If you have any questions about the local arrangements please contact Bob Yanckello at yanckello@ccsu.edu, or by phone at (860) 832-1782.

Don't forget to check out the 1997 conference web site! http://www.opir.ccsu.edu/neair/neair1.html

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This year's conference promises to be another outstanding program, with 13 pre-conference workshops running on Saturday and Sunday, and over 40 conference sessions. Joining the "traditional" pre-conference workshops "Newcomers to Institutional Research" and "Statistics for Institutional Research" are workshops on such topics as "Graphic Design Basics for the IR Office," "Web Basics for Institutional Researchers," and "Managing a Program of Outcomes Assessment." Truly an assortment of workshops with something for everyone.

Conference sessions are divided among research papers and workshares, and include practical presentations such as "Decision Support in a One Person Institutional Research Office" and "Internet Surveys" as well as research works such as "Retention, Attrition, and Graduation at an Urban Public 2-Year College" and "The UD Longitudinal Study: A Descriptive Look at Freshman to Senior Year Changes." Look over your copy of the preliminary program (or visit our web site http://www.bates.edu/IR/NEAIR/ ) and see what's in store.

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The NEAIR Steering Committee (SC) voted at our last meeting (after thorough discussion among ourselves, investigation of other organizations and discussion with a university attorney) to bring to the membership two constitutional amendments to both provide for leadership continuity and to cover the possibility that an elected official needs to be relieved of his/her duty. Concern that our constitution lacked such clauses was raised by a potential insurer. The SC felt that while such events were a remote possibility, it would be irresponsible not to protect the organization from such eventualities and therefore we recommend that the membership vote in support of the resolutions at the business meeting during the Annual Conference.

Proposed Amendment 1

Article IV, Section 4 to be amended by adding the italicized text:

The terms of the President and of the President-elect shall be for one year or until their successors are elected. The terms of the Secretary and of the Treasurer shall be for two years or until their successors are elected.

Rationale: This allows for the easy and automatic continuation of leadership if there is no election or a replacement is not elected.

Article IV, Section 5 to be added:

Any officer may be removed at any time with cause by a majority vote of the Steering Committee then in office at any Special Meeting of the Steering Committee called for that purpose, provided that at least one week's notice shall be given of the proposed action to the entire Steering Committee then in office.

Rationale: In a small volunteer organization, the functioning of the organization can be severely impacted by an officer not fulfilling his or her duties. The constitution currently does not provide a means to remove an officer for cause, to deal with such situations; this amendment would correct the situation.

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The Research Grants Program supports professional development opportunities for NEAIR members either through 1) attendance and participation at international IR meetings or domestic professional meetings of related non-IR disciplines; or 2) collaborative research with colleagues from other countries, or research in this country on important IR issues that are under-represented in meeting programs, literature, or because of institutional resource constraints.

The grants, which range from a maximum of $800 for an individual conference grant to $1000 for an individual research grant, are awarded based on their merit and value to NEAIR and to the profession. Grant recipients are required to report on their findings to NEAIR members. Please note that ALL ACTIVE NEAIR members are eligible for this program. All applicants should submit a proposal by the deadlines (March 1 and September 1) to:

Peter Murray
Executive Director and CIO Center for Planning and Info.Technology
200 Leahy Hall
The Catholic University of America
Cardinal Station Post Office
Washington, D.C. 20064

 Remember that there are two proposal review periods and two submission deadlines each year. They are March 1 and September 1. This grants program is an opportunity for any member of NEAIR to have his or her research or conference attendance supported by NEAIR. The Research Grants Committee encourages those of you who are interested in having your research or conference attendance supported by NEAIR to submit a proposal. Please contact Peter Murray (murraryp@cua.edu) if you have any questions about this program.

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NEAIR-L is the mailing list of the NorthEast Association for Institutional Research. Traffic is generally light, and includes such items as job postings and requests for assistance. For those who have yet to join your colleagues on this discussion forum, here are the instructions on how to sign up:

To join NEAIR-L, simply send an e-mail message to:

LISTPROC@LISTS.NYU.EDU

The subject line of the message should be blank, and the message should contain a single line

SUBSCRIBE NEAIR-L <your name>

where you substitute your first and last names for "<your name>".

Once you have joined the list, to send a message to the other list members simply send an e-mail message to

NEAIR-L@LISTS.NYU.EDU

(Please do not send subscription requests to NEAIR-L@LISTS.NYU.EDU. Everyone on the list will receive them.)

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This edition of the Internet Corner examines the treasure trove of information of use to institutional researchers which the federal government has made available on the web. If you need to quote the latest Consumer Price Index, find out how many persons received doctoral degrees in anthropology, or predict how many persons will be entering higher education in the next decade, the figures are out there for the taking. More than once, the web has come to my rescue to help answer those tough "I need the number, and I need it now!" questions.

The White House web page (http://www.whitehouse.gov/) is a good starting point if you're just beginning to investigate the world of federal statistics. It's worth taking some time to just explore the site. For example, you can listen to the latest presidential radio address (or to Socks the Cat), discover President Clinton's favorite foods (chicken enchiladas, bananas, apples, and vegetable beef soup), or read the latest executive orders or press briefings. After the urge to be a tourist is satisfied, follow the link to "The Briefing Room".

Among the useful links at the White House are the Economic Statistics Briefing Room (http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/esbr.html) and the Social Statistics Briefing Room (http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/ssbr.html). The pages provide direct connections to popular statistics compiled by other federal agencies, such a the Consumer Price Index, personal and family income, demographic information, and education statistics. Several very useful summary charts are available.

The FedStats (http://www.fedstats.gov) site is maintained by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy to provide easy access to the full range of statistics and information produced by over 70 federal agencies. The page claims to have "One Stop Shopping for Federal Statistics". A topical key word index helps guide you directly to the material you need.

Most of us will head most often to the Department of Education. (http://www.ed.gov/). Some of the more useful links include:

Database of Department of Education Publications. (http://www.ed.gov/pubs/pubdb.html).

Find any publication produced or funded by the U.S. Department of Education since its creation in 1980

The Condition of Education: 1997. (http://nces01.ed.gov/NCES/pubs/ce/index.html)

A compendium of key indicators about education, designed for a general audience. Most indicators include a data table, a chart, and a textual summary.

Digest of Education Statistics, 1996. (http://www.ed.gov/NCES/pubs/D96/index.html)

The Digest includes more than 400 tables accessible by a subject index, which can be downloaded in Lotus format. The Digest contains more data than The Condition of Education, but in a less attractive format. Why buy the $44.00 book?

EDSearch: Educational Statistics on Disk (1996): (http://nces.ed.gov/pubs97/97076ins.html)

Over 2,600 tables, charts, etc. from several of the most popular Department of Education publications. Contains downloadable software for Windows/DOS machines, but many of the files can be used by Macintosh users as well.

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. (http://www.ed.gov/NCES/ipeds/index.html)

Download the results of all the IPEDS surveys you fill out. Final results are often a year out of date, but "early release" drafts of several current surveys are available.

Updates on Legislation, Budget, and Activities. (http://www.ed.gov/news.html#budget)

The Department's attempt to summarize some of the latest legislative and budgetary changes that will affect our lives.

Author's note: This link replaces one in the printed version of the article that has mysteriously vanished. As an alternative, try looking at the government regulations page at AACRAO (http://www.aacrao.com/policy/govrel/index.html).

Projections of Education Statistics to 2007. (http://www.ed.gov/NCES/pubs/pj/index.html)

Who will be graduating from high school in the next decade? How many students will be going to colleges? Will they attend public or private institutions?

WebCaspar. (http://caspar.nsf.gov/)

WebCASPAR is a database system established by the National Science Foundation to provide easy access to a large body of statistical data resources dealing with science and engineering (S&E) and research at U.S. academic institutions. It also provides access to custom reports from many of the IPEDS surveys (enrollment, completions, finance faculty salary). It is also contains the results of studies about graduate-level study and research. Users are asked to register and access is controlled by password.

If you're doing any demographic research, don't forget to check out the Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/). Several interactive software tools (http://www.census.gov/main/ www/access.html) allow you to generate live detailed and specialized extracts from the 1990 census or other geodemographic databases. The site includes a gazetteer, custom mapping utilties, and several census data extraction tools.

Finally, as we leave the government and return to the real world, don't forget to check out the new NEAIR web site (http://www.bates.edu/IR/NEAIR/). In additional to information about our organization's government (constitution, officers, etc.), you'll find pages dealing with past, current, and future conferences, the most recent NEAIR newsletter, and links to AIR, other regional affiliates, and other tools and pages to help us in our research.

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I worked with an individual who plugged their power strip back into itself and for the life of them could not understand why their computer would not turn on.

We had an intern who was none too swift. One day he was typing and turned to a secretary and said, "I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?" "Just use copier machine paper," she told him. With that, the intern took his last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier, and proceeded to make five blank copies.

I was in a car dealership when a large motor home was towed into the garage. The front of the vehicle was in need of repair, and the whole thing generally looked like an extra from the movie "Twister." I asked the manager what happened. He told me that the driver had set the cruise control, then went in the back to make a sandwich.

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