Jillian Kinzie

Dr. Jillian Kinzie is Associate Director, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Center for Postsecondary Research, Indiana University School of Education.

She conducts research and leads project activities on effective use of student engagement data to improve educational quality, and serves as senior scholar with the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) project. She is co-author of Transforming Academic Culture & Curriculum: Integrating and Scaffolding Research Throughout Undergraduate Education (2024), Radical Reimagining for Student Success (2023), Delivering on the Promise of High-Impact Practices: Research and Models for Achieving Equity, Fidelity, Impact and Scale (2022), Assessment in Student Affairs (2016), Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (2015), Student Success in College (2005/2010), and One Size Does Not Fit All: Traditional and Innovative Models of Student Affairs Practice (2008/2014).

She is co-editor of New Directions in Higher Education, is on the editorial board of Innovative Higher Education and the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success and serves on the board of the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. She is a peer reviewer for several accreditors and regularly consults with colleges and universities about assessment, effective educational practice, inclusive excellence, high-impact practices, and support for student success. 

Her scholarly interests include the assessment of student engagement, how colleges use data to improve, student and academic affairs partnerships and the impact of programs and practices to support student success, as well as first-year student development, teaching and learning in college, access and equity, and women in underrepresented fields. She has published on these topics and translated this scholarship at hundreds of institutions and higher education member organizations to increase the use of assessment results to inform improvements in undergraduate education and to enhance conditions for student success. She served as PI on the Lumina Foundation funded “Assessing Quality and Equity in HIPs”; a Strada Foundation study, “Learning about Undergraduates’ Preparation for Work and Careers” an assessment of college students career and workforce preparation, and an NSF supported project studying the implementation of scaffolded research-rich curriculum in STEM fields.

She was awarded the NASPA George D. Kuh Outstanding Contribution to Research in 2024 and received the Robert J. Menges Honored Presentation by the Professional Organizational Development (POD) Network in 2005 and 2011. Kinzie earned her PhD from Indiana University in higher education with a minor in women’s studies. Prior to this, she served on the faculty of Indiana University and coordinated the master’s program in higher education and student affairs. She also worked in academic and student affairs at Miami University and Case Western Reserve University.