NSSE works to change the discourse about college quality to focus on what matters to student learning and success and to provide participating institutions with actionable data to inform efforts to improve undergraduate education. Since its inception in 2000, over 1,600 institutions in the U.S. and Canada have participated in NSSE’s surveying, which provides participating institutions valid, reliable data on student engagement. Institutions are also provided with online tools to facilitate the exploration and disaggregation of results, along with an identified student data file so they can conduct their own analyses. As NSSE enters its third decade assessing what matters for student engagement and success, the organization will continue to help colleges and universities and higher education foster more effective, equitable undergraduate experiences that reach all students.
“Alex McCormick has moved the NSSE survey forward with revisions and new modules that continue to make a difference for the institutions using the survey,” said IU School of Education Executive Associate Dean Vasti Torres. “Drs. Kilgo and Kinzie have complementary strengths that will be valuable in this transition period.”
“Dr. Alexander McCormick has led NSSE through a major revision of the survey instrument, helped keep NSSE at the forefront of the assessment industry and guided NSSE skillfully through the tumult the pandemic brought to higher education,” said Thomas Nelson Laird, Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research. “He has been a champion for institutional efforts to improve undergraduate education and a significant contributor to conversations about college quality. He will be missed as the leader of NSSE and a colleague here at IU.”
“I am very pleased to see two accomplished scholars join forces as the new co-directors of NSSE,” said Elsa Núñez, chair of NSSE’s National Advisory Board and President of Eastern Connecticut State University. “I have worked with Jillian Kinzie in the past in her role as NSSE associate director. I know she will continue to provide leadership and her own expertise in the use of student engagement data to advance academic quality and student life on our campuses. Cindy Ann Kilgo is keenly focused on using data to inform best practices in support of at-risk and disenfranchised student groups on our campuses. They have also written extensively about their research on high-impact educational practices that can help the higher education community become more inclusive and equitable. I am delighted that Cindy Ann will be joining Jillian to lead NSSE going forward.”
The IU School of Education is committed to supporting the vital work NSSE does; as part of that support, the organization will be conducting a national search for a director in 2022.
