If you have news to contribute (and all contributions are gladly accepted), please send them to the Editor, at krallmda@muohio.edu or:

It is an honor to serve as NEAIR president during the Association's 25th year. Before discussing our exciting, evolving plans for this historic year, I want to acknowledge the efforts of everyone who made this past year such a success. I know I join the rest of the NEAIR membership in expressing appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the outgoing members of the Steering Committee: Ellen Kanarek, Fred Cohen, Wendell Lorang, Peter Murray, Jim Ritchie, and Marge Wiseman. Special kudos are due Je nnifer Brown, Denise Krallman, Bob Yanckello, and everyone else who made the conference in Hartford such an outstanding success. And, as always, continuing thanks to Brenda Bretz who keeps the Association going year after year.

1997-98 Leadership Team. The Steering Committee got to work immediately following the Hartford conference. While newly-elected Secretary Denise Krallman can provide detailed meeting minutes, I want to briefly mention several actions taken at our first meeting. At the recommendation of newly-elected Treasurer, Becky Brodigan, the Steering Committee agreed to replace the Association's non-interest-bearing checking account with a cash management account currently paying 5.6% interest. The account w ill require two signatures for checks above a minimum amount. Becky and past president Jennifer Brown agreed to join a subcommittee chaired by Jim Trainer to review the Association's documents for consistency, prudent fiscal procedures, provision of elec tronic meetings of the Steering Committee, and overall usefulness and appropriateness for the operations of the Association. Jim, Becky, and Jennifer will bring a set of recommendations to the Steering Committee at its spring 1998 meeting. Other appoint ments announced at the meeting were Kelli Armstrong as chair of the Mentor Program Committee and Richard Heck as chair of the Research Grants Committee. Corby Coperthwaite agreed to serve another year as Publications Committee chair. The 25th Anniversar y Conference will be coordinated by program chair Helen Schneider and local arrangements chair Steve Thorpe. Rounding out the 1997-98 leadership team are president-elect Karen Bauer and Steering Committee members-at-large Marilyn Blaustein, Jim Fergerson , and Eleanor Swanson.

Website Guidelines. The Steering Committee adopted a set of guidelines for operating the Association website. Jim Fergerson, developer of the NEAIR website and author of the guidelines, was appointed to a two-year term as NEAIR web editor. Joini ng Jim on the Web Advisory Group are the publications chair, Corby Coperthwaite, the 1998 local arrangements chair, Steve Thorpe, and Andrea Habbel of Hamilton College. The guidelines can be reviewed on the website at http://www.bates.edu/IR/NEAIR/.

Philadelphia in 1998! NEAIR's next conference will be held on November 14-17,1998, at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel in Philadelphia. Philadelphia has been frequently requested as a conference site, and according to an analysis by Jim Fergerson , it is the city in closest proximity to a majority of NEAIR members. Easily accessible by car, the location may enable many NEAIR members to forgo airfare expenses. The last time we met in Philadelphia, 1986, a total of 239 people attended. Steve Thor pe, Tim Walsh, and I visited several hotels before unanimously agreeing on the Sheraton. The Sheraton Society Hill is a relatively small, deluxe hotel located in the historic part of Philadelphia. Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are within easy w alking distance.

25th Anniversary Celebration. Several activities are being planned to celebrate the Association's 25th anniversary. Wendell Lorang has agreed to coordinate an effort to identify and invite all charter members of NEAIR to Philadelphia. If you, or someone you know, attended the first NEAIR conference in Williamstown in 1974, please contact Wendell at . Program chair Helen Schneider plans a number of events recognizing past presidents of NEAIR. If you are a past president , please plan to attend and present a session at Philadelphia. If you know a past president from long ago who may not be on the current NEAIR mailing list, please let Helen know so she can make contact . The Associati on will present its first Distinguished Service Award at Philadelphia to honor an individual who has made significant and sustained contributions to the field of institutional research, the professional development of NEAIR colleagues, and the vitality an d success of NEAIR as an organization. Membership Secretary Brenda Bretz has agreed to write a history of the Association based on the NEAIR archives. Brenda's history will be included in a 25th Anniversary Commemorative Program, which will also include r eflections on the evolution of IR and NEAIR by former NEAIR presidents.

Newcomers. While wishing to remember and celebrate NEAIR's past, the Steering Committee is committed to welcoming and meeting the needs of newcomers to the profession and to NEAIR. The Mentor Program is being reviewed, and several innovations to serve newcomers will be introduced at the Philadelphia conference.

Volunteer Opportunities! If you would like to become more involved in NEAIR, contact any member of the Steering Committee. There's lot to do and lots to learn! Conference chairs Helen Schneider and Steve Thorpe welcome newcomers and oldtimers al ike to help with planning and implementing the Philadelphia meeting.

Craig Clagett
Director, Institutional Research & Analysis
Prince George's Community College
cc5@pgstumail.pg.cc.md.us

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NEAIR-L is the mailing list of the North East 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 foru m, 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 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.

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The 1997 NEAIR Conference Accountability and Institutional Research: Measuring Results was held at the Sheraton-Hartford Hotel in Hartford, Connecticut from November 1 through November 4 and as is the norm for all of our conferences it was a tremen dous success. As this year's Program Chair, I would like to extend some special thank-you's:

• Bob Yanckello was "awesome" as the Local Arrangements Chair. He and his local arrangements committee put together a great package for us Ð including maps, a marvelous information packet and restaurant lists. Monday night plans included a trip to th e casinos which filled very quickly.

• Brenda Bretz who was a steady constant in what at times for me was a stream of deadlines and dilemmas. Also, thank-you for organizing the "Fun Runs".

• Jennifer Brown was my strong supporter throughout the year-long process. She was instrumental in helping pull together the panel for the opening plenary session and graciously stepped in at the last minute as a panelist in our closing session.

• Workshop Presenters once again offered up an excellent and varied choice for the members. We had several new workshops this year that were well received and hopefully will continue into the future. And, of course, we had our wonderful mainstays tha t continue to offer valuable tools to our members.

• Presenters in papers, table topics, and workshares were (as always) the highlight of the conference. Without the willingness of NEAIR members to share their experiences through these presentations, the conferences would never be the success that the y are. Which brings up the announcement of Best Paper for the 1997 Conference:

• Karl Boughan's paper New Approaches to the Analysis of Academic Outcomes: Modeling Student Performance at a Community College was selected as this year's best paper. Special thank-you's to the committee that read all the papers and made the f inal determination: Ellen Kanarek, Linda LeFauve, and Rob Toutkoushian.

  I hope that everyone who attended the conference had a fulfilling experience and will join us again next year in Philadelphia.

Opening Plenary: Panel Discussion

For this year's opening session, we had the rare opportunity to hear four of the major figures in Connecticut higher education discuss What Does Accountability in Higher Education Mean to You? The participants were:

• Dr. Andrew G. DeRocco, Connecticut Commissioner of Higher Education
• Mr. John A. Doyle, Member of the Connecticut State Board of Trustees
• The Honorable William R. Dyson, Connecticut State Representative
• Dr. Merle W. Harris, President of Charter Oak State College and
• Mike Middaugh, who served as Moderator for the discussion.

The opening panel discussion was taped and has been transcribed for inclusion in either the proceedings or on the NEAIR web site.(Thanks to the University of Connecticut's Office of Institutional Research and Pam Roelfs for the transcription.) More inf ormation will be forthcoming.

Closing Plenary Session

This year we again closed with an invited plenary session Ð another panel discussion on What Does Accountability in Higher Education Mean to You? but this time from the point of view of three members of NEAIR: Jennifer Brown, Anne Marie Delaney and Fred Volkwein. This closing session was intended to bring closure to the conference and what had been discussed during the past three days and send us off with thoughts and ideas of where institutional research fal ls in the search for accountability. Our panelists did not fail us! The session was well-attended and it was a pleasure to see no one leave early as we listened to three very different perspectives on accountability and institutional research.

Mentor Program Report

This year we had six people request mentors with many more people volunteering to be mentors. Letters were sent out to both mentors and mentees approximately a week before the meeting. Although the mentor/mentee room was right next to the opening plenar y session, people went directly to the reception and we had to hunt for the mentees. It possibly would have helped to make an announcement just prior to dismissing the general session. Nonetheless, all matches that were made were actively engaged in con versation going into dinner.

This service does provide new people with someone to meet, if desired, and make contacts for future networking. (New Chair: Kelli Armstrong)
Marge Wiseman

November Steering Committee Minutes

The complete minutes of the November 4, 1997 meeting of the Steering Committee can be found on the NEAIR web site: http://www.bates.edu/IR/NEAIR

Or contact Denise A. Krallman at krallmda@muohio.edu

Upcoming Conference Dates

• March 9: Ohio AIR, Columbus, Ohio Guest Speaker: John Minter Contact: wpeterson@wright.edu
• April 2-3: Conference on Research on Alumni and Alumni Programs
• April 17: New Jersey AIR
• May 16-20: AIR in Minneapolis, Minn.
• Nov 14-17: NEAIR in Philadelphia

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In this edition of the Internet Corner, I'd like to quickly point out a few of my favorite internet tools and reference sites. If you're new to the web or a web wizard, these are gems which should be on your collection of bookmarks. In no particular ran k order, they include:

Kevin Werbach's "The Bare Bones Guide to HTML" http://werbach.com/barebones/barebone.html" provides a quick and dirty cheat sheet with the syntax and options available for all HTML (HyperText markup Language) tags. If all you need is the templa te for a command, go here.

For more extensive information, see John December's HTML Station http://www.december.com/html/. HTML Station is an all-purpose reference guide with technical information about all versions of HTML, extensions, and related tools, languages, and utilities. Need to find out mo re about a special HTML syntax? Many web page demonstrations are available. This is a site for both beginners or experts.

Another exhaustive guide for novices or web gurus is ZDNet's Internet User. http://www5.zdnet.com/products/internetuser.html. As the site of the Ziff-Davis suite of computer trade maga zines, it deals with all aspects of the Internet, and includes sections for news, downloads, product guides and reviews. This is a good place to visit periodically to learn about the latest in internet technologies.

The Internet Scout is one of the better net newsletters. The collected wisdom from the newsletter is gathered and organized at The Internet Scout Toolkit. See .

If you want to step beyond HTML and learn about the Java language, Gamelan: The Java Directory at http://www.gamelan.com/ is the place to go. The site contains a complete set of links, references, tutorials,and demonstrations about Java, JavaScript, ActiveX, and other tools.

Sun Microsystem's Guide to Web Style http://www.sun.com/styleguide/ calls itself "a cookbook to help people create better web pages". It deals with the human side of web design. How long should a web page be? How should information be laid out? What are the best ways to incorporate graphics? What works? What doesn't?

Netscape and Microsoft both provide collections of sample templates and collections of utilities to help users design better web pages. See Netscape's http://home.netscape.com/home/gold3.0_templates.html or Microsoft's Site Builder Network Gallery http://www.microsoft.com/gallery/default.asp.

URL-Minder http://www.netmind.com/html/url-minder.html and The Informant http://informant.dartmouth.edu/ allow you to register some of your favorite web pages. Periodically, these services check the pages and let you know if the page has been updated. You can also set up a key word search and the service will notify you when it detects a new site matching your search criteria. I use these to monitor mychanges to my favorite pages and also to let me know when new IR office home pages are published.

Confused by a technical acronym or other bit of obscure computer jargon? The PC Webopaedia http://www.pcwebopaedia.com/ provides plain English definitions of terms, as well as extensive related links, tutorials, and articles for further reference.

Doctor HTML http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/ is a web page analysis tool which checks the HTML syntax, structure, and even the spelling of any submitted web page. It checks document and table struct ure, verifies that links are still active, and even estimates the amount of time that a user needs to download a page. The site offers free analysis of single pages, but site analysis is available for a fee.

If you're looking for a tool or utility to convert some proprietary file format into something that will display well in a web browser, Yahoo!'s HTML Converters area is the place to go. The collection is loosely organized in typical Yahoo! fashion, but it you need to find atranslation utility, it's likely to be here. See: http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_ and_Internet/Software/Internet/World_Wid e_Web/HTML_Converters/.

Finally, don't forget to visit the NEAIR pages at: http://www.bates.edu/IR/NEAIR. The site contains a growing set of information about the North East Association for Institutional Research and pointers to many other tools and sites of interest to institutional researchers. Many of the links mentioned here are available on the NEAIR site in A Toolbox for Institutional Researchers at http://www .bates.edu/IR/NEAIR/other.tools.html. As always, your comments and suggestions are requested.

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The New Jersey Association for Institutional Research will hold its annual meeting on April 17, 1998 at Ramapo College. Topics will include Distance Learning, Using Sure Data for IR projects, the New Jersey Data Center and Geographic mapping. For more i nformation contact: Indira Govindan, Director, IR & Budget, Drew University igovinda@drew.edu

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On April 2-3, 1998, AIR and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) will cosponsor a conference on Research on Alumni and Alumni Programs at Georgetown University. A selection of the best papers from the conference will be published i n a volume of New Directions for Institutional Research. The goal of the conference and the monograph is to advance the practice of research on alumni to improve institutions of higher education and to improve services to alumni.

Seventeen papers have been selected by a panel for presentation and discussion. Topics to be covered include services to alumni (discovering their needs, designing and evaluation existing services), using alumni in institutional/program assessment (acad emic and non-academic), fundraising from alumni (modeling & analyzing giving patterns, motivation, etc.), organizing, supporting, conducting research on alumni (staffing, funding, outsourcing, relations with other offices, using databases, etc.) and evalu ating alumni offices and programs. Copies of papers will be circulated in advance to conference participants.

In order to ensure opportunities for discussion, attendance at the Alumni Research Conference conference will be limited. A registration fee of $125 will include advance copies of the conference papers, an opening reception, and a closing luncheon.

For complete information on the conference, including a list of the papers, authors and directions for registration, please click on the AIR-CASE Conference on Alumni Research item in the AIR homepage or go directly to it with the following address: http://www.fsu.edu/~air/caseair.html

Joseph Pettit
VP Office of Planning & Institutional Research
Georgetown University

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The theme for the 25th Annual NEAIR Conference will be The Future is Now: The Role of Institutional Research in Campus Transformation. While we plan to celebrate and reflect on NEAIR's twenty-fifth anniversary, the conference will be focused on th e future and the role of institutional research in campus transformation. Special sessions with former NEAIR presidents, new workshops and special events for newcomers are being planned. You too can participate! Plan ahead to submit a proposal for a wo rkshare, a panel, or a paper presentation. While all proposals related to institutional research and planning will be considered, we are especially interested in sessions relating to how new and evolving technologies are transforming not only the practic e of institutional research but higher education itself. Institutional research, in addition to adopting new technologies, can help campus decisionmakers guide and manage technology-driven transformation. Campus technology needs assessments, evaluations of distance learning programs, and development of campus intranets, data warehouses, Websites, and decision-support systems are but a few examples of possible IR involvement. Information is at the heart of the IR profession, and the information technolo gy revolution profoundly affects everything we do.

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Qing Ling Mack, CSU Assistant for Institutional Research
Julia Lin Mack born on Nov. 9, 1997

And

John Pryor, Coordinator, Evaluation and Research, Dartmouth College Margaret Grace Rogers Pryor born on Dec. 23, 1997

Moves, Promotions and Other Changes

April Dobbs has taken a new position. She is now at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing. She can be reached at aldobbs@pobox.upenn.edu.

If you know of any other moves, new hires, promotions, etc. please be sure to contact Denise A. Krallman at krallmda@muohio.edu.

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Below is a summary of Jennifer's presentation at the closing panel discussion that she has graciously given me to share with you:

As a last minute panelist, I do not have the carefully crafted presentations offered by my colleagues. They are hard acts to follow. What I would like to talk about are a few things I learned or was reminded about by the opening panelists. I had 6 shar able thoughts.

1. Whatever the state and whatever the sector of higher education (public or private), we do in fact exist in the environments the panelists represented. Whether we like it or not, whether we disagree with their perspectives or not, whether we think they ought to think as we do or not, they do frame the reality in which we live and work and they are the people to whom we are accountable. It would be a good thing if we were prepared to go part way to meet them.

2. Often, what folks in these positions need is much simpler than we imagine. While using sophisticated statistics is fun and debating the fine points of methodology is fulfilling, those to whom we are accountable would often be happier with a few clear, simple to understand numbers and a little text. This does not mean that all the other work is not important. It is and we need to do it. We just need to accept that non-IR people may not want to hear about it!

3. We must not forget to repeat ourselves, repeatedly! I realized after the business meeting this noon that I had been so concerned with getting through the agenda and not forgetting anything that I forgot that for many of the newcomers in the room, the governance of the organization was a mystery. It would have been helpful to have explained that a little before launching into all the business. I think that many of us do this in our professional lives, we forget that not everyone remembers what we do and when we did it last and what the results were! We forget the rapidity of changes in staffing, the shortness of memory and the limited capacity all of us have for retaining information in the face of constantly competing demands.

4. NO ONE understands that data analysis and policy recommendations require data gathering and data maintenance and that this is very time consuming and it cannot be pushed aside if questions are to be answered. There is nowhere to go with this comment, it is just the way it is. It is like housework, one of those time consuming processes that is invisible. It is one of those things IR folks will probably always complain about, like farmers and the weather.

5. One should continue to ask one's customers what they want Ð even though they may not know what it is they want until they see it. I was reminded of this by the Trustee who spoke on the opening panel. I have staffed the committee on which he serves as long as he has been on the Board. I was interested, therefore, to hear him say that he wished there was a more predictable schedule to the progress of that committee's work. This is certainly something we can work on but Ð who knew!?

6. We must not forget that IR is a bridge/translator/connector within our institutions, as the other panelists have both said in other ways. We need to recognize and talk about that part of who we are so that we can do it better! I am constantly reminde d of how many things we have to know a bit about and how few offices within our institutions for which this is the case. It is a strength of our profession and our positions that we can help facilitate the communication across the Ôlanguages' of the diff erent administrative and academic divisions. It is easy to think that this is not Ôreal IR work' as it is often intangible, with no physical product. It is, however, an important contribution to our organizations.

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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 r esearch 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 findi ngs to NEAIR members. Please note that ALL ACTIVE NEAIR members are eligible for this program. All applicants must submit a proposal by the deadlines (March 1 and September 1) to:

Richard C. Heck
Executive Officer
Dartmouth College
111 Parkhurst Hall
Hanover, NH 03755

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 Richard Heck r.heck@dartmouth .edu if you have any questions about this program.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NEXT DEADLINE IS MARCH 1, 1998.

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