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MidAIR 2026

"Navigating Change: Collaboration, Compliance, and Continuous Improvement"

November 11-13 on the campus of Johnson County Community College

Rates:

*Groups of more than three receive a $25 discount per person

Standard Registration:

1 Attendee- $370

1 Attendee (Current Student Rate) $75

2 Attendees- $740

3 Attendees- $1110

4 Attendees $1380*

5 Attendees $1725*

6 Attendees $2070

View Program at a Glance

Professional Development Opportunities (PDO) - Wednesday November 11

PDOs will be held Wed, Nov 11 and are included in your conference registration.

Lunch will be provided to participants.

Morning (9am-12pm):

-Newcomers Session with Egon Heidendal & John Clayton

-Assessment with Frederick Burrack

-Power BI Office Hours: Ask, Share, and Learn with Matt Harris

Summary: No slides. No formal agenda. Just your questions, challenges, and ideas. This interactive, three-hour session is driven entirely by participants. Bring your laptop and join fellow Power BI users for an open forum focused on solving problems, sharing best practices, and learning from one another. Whether you're refining data models, writing DAX, creating visualizations, or navigating governance and deployment challenges, moderators and attendees will collaborate to troubleshoot issues, demonstrate techniques, and discuss practical solutions. Come with specific questions or just relax and listen. Either way, you'll leave with new ideas and connections to a community of Power BI users.

-AI Workshop Part 1 with Rob Voss

Afternoon (1-4pm):

-IPEDS Training with Debbie Phelps

-Strategic Planning with Misty Tollett

-Getting Started With Power BI: Transforming Data Into Insight with Matt Harris

Summary: This interactive, three-hour workshop offers a practical introduction to Power BI, guiding participants through the platform's core capabilities—from connecting to data sources and transforming data to designing, publishing, and sharing reports. Through hands-on exercises, attendees will discover how Power BI can support institutional research, streamline reporting processes, and enhance data-informed decision-making across their organizations.

-AI Workshop Part 2 with Rob Voss

Sessions at a Glance (Date/Times TBD):

Navigating a Moving Target: Skills, Programs, and the Labor Market

Presented by: Chandler Allen & Kara Wilkes, Lightcast

Theme(s): Collaboration, Continuous Improvement

As AI reshapes work, skill requirements evolve, and demand for skilled trades shifts, how can institutions keep pace? This session explores the speed of labor market change and the challenge of identifying the right data to inform academic program decisions. Drawing on research into AI, evolving skills, and workforce trends, attendees will learn how to navigate labor market complexity and use workforce intelligence to support program alignment and institutional planning.

From Prediction to Action: Using Machine Learning to Increase Enrollment Yield at a Community College

Presented by: Christina Cox & Swarga Kakoti, St. Charles Community College

Theme(s): Collaboration, Continuous Improvement

St. Charles Community College developed a predictive enrollment model to identify applicants most likely to enroll and support targeted recruitment efforts. This session will share how we built and refined the model, key predictors of enrollment, lessons learned, and how results were translated into actionable outreach strategies. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for using predictive analytics to improve enrollment outcomes at their institutions.

From Data to Action: Building an Early Alert System to Support Student Success

Presented by: Christina Cox & Nhi Tran, St. Charles Community College

Theme(s): Collaboration, Continuous Improvement

St. Charles Community College developed an Early Alert Dashboard to identify students who may need intervention and connect them with support before challenges become barriers to success. This session will share the development process, stakeholder collaboration, implementation lessons, and strategies for turning student data into timely, actionable interventions that improve student outcomes.

Evidence, Alignment, and Engagement: Missouri State’s Path to HLC Reaffirmation

Presented by: Mary Bohlen & Stephanie Dixon, Missouri State University

Theme(s): Collaboration, Compliance

Missouri State University leveraged institutional effectiveness, assessment, and evidence practices to complete its 2026 Higher Learning Commission reaffirmation of accreditation through a structured, multi-year process led by an HLC Oversight Committee. This session will show how the university coordinated evidence mapping, stakeholder conversations, and campus-wide communication to prepare an Assurance filing and offer practical strategies to strengthen accreditation planning and evidence use.

Building a Fully Automated Dashboard

Presented by: Nick Irby, Oklahoma City Community College

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

This session demonstrates the construction of a fully automated, self-updating dashboard using Python, Windows Task Scheduler, and Tableau. Content will feature a basic "how to" along with a discussion of best practices. While the presentation demonstrates the process using these tools, the principles and methods are applicable to a wide range of coding and visualization platforms.

This will be a lecture-style presentation.

First Quarter Feedback to Boost Student Success

Presented by: Josephine Kershaw & Matthew Husky, Jefferson College

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

Jefferson College for a number of years has been using First Quarter Feedback from faculty as part of a campus-wide effort to improve student outcomes. Often by the time traditional midterm grade deficiencies are reported, students do not have ample time to change course. Furthermore, faculty can usually tell early on which students might struggle. A faculty-led initiative at Jefferson College works to identify problems early to help students access campus resources and end the semester strong.

On-Campus Tutoring and Student Outcomes

Presented by: Ryan Kelly, Jefferson College

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

Jefferson College hosts on-campus tutoring services at our Academic Success Center. For several years we have tracked student usage to assess the impact these services have on student performance. Using statistical analysis across multiple variables such as clock time and visit count, we have found statistically significant differences in student outcomes.

Developing Business Intelligence at an Open Access Municipal University

Presented by: Christa Smith, Washburn University & Dr. Samantha Bradley, Associate, rpk GROUP

Theme(s): Collaboration

This lecture-style session spotlights Washburn’s evolving business intelligence strategy, led by institutional research in partnership with IT, centering on new uses of existing data and systems. Designed for institutional researchers navigating a fast-changing higher education environment, the presentation shows how BI can help leaders make timely, informed decisions with long-term impact. Attendees will hear the story of a practical BI journey that IR offices can adapt on their own campuses.

Data Informed Decision Making: There's An App for That

Presented by: Matthew Simpson, Ozarks Technical Community College

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

This presentation will cover how Ozarks Tech used Microsoft Power BI and Fabric Lakehouse capacities to build a new data architecture and move from report and dashboard based deployments, to a single personalized app environment for the delivery of data. It will cover the process of creating this new architecture and app environment, concluding with live demonstration of the results and discussion on how this work led to higher levels of employee engagement with their data.

From Centralized Review to Shared Governance: KU's Survey Coordination Committee Model

Presented by: Tyler Hall & Sandrine Zerbib, University of Kansas

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement, Compliance, Collaboration

As survey use expands in higher education, institutions face survey fatigue, duplication, and inconsistent practices. The University of Kansas developed a cross-functional Survey Coordination Committee to address these challenges through shared governance. This session explores the committee's development, policies, review processes, implementation challenges, and early outcomes, offering a practical framework for balancing institutional data needs with respondent engagement and survey quality.

Beyond the Likert Scale: Using MaxDiff Principles to Reveal What Students Prioritize

Presented by: Emmanuel Ocran & Ankita Maharjan, Southeast Missouri State University

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

Traditional rating scale surveys can make nearly everything appear important, making prioritization difficult. Using an academic advising study as an example, this session explores how principles of MaxDiff can help reveal clearer student priorities. Attendees will see how Qualtrics and R were used to collect and analyze preference data and will gain practical ideas for applying similar approaches in institutional research.

Institutional Research Across Cultures: Supporting New and International IR Professionals

Presented by: Emmanuel Ocran & Eric Chambers, Southeast Missouri State University

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

This session explores the challenges faced by new and internationally trained Institutional Research professionals as they navigate IR responsibilities, U.S. higher education, and workplace culture. Drawing on practitioner and supervisor perspectives, it offers practical strategies for building confidence, strengthening communication, understanding expectations, and fostering inclusive environments that support professional growth and effectiveness.

Code-Driven Continuous Improvement: Transforming IPEDS Data with Python

Presented by: Kirk Skoglund, Maryville University of Saint Louis

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

Ever been frustrated by custom IPEDS data files? Wanted to be able to combine IPEDS data for other benchmarking and unique ways without downloading new data? This session will cover the use of python to extract, transform, and load complete IPEDS data files into easy to use and load into any SQL database. The session will go over the basics of the python scripts used and share examples of ways this information has been used to help inform decision making and continuous improvement.

When it Counts But Can't be Counted: Qual Data

Presented by: Mike McBride, Northwest Missouri State University

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement

This will be a discussion of effective methods and strategies used to collect qualitative feedback from students of different levels and content areas. While an open discussion, this session will be guided by the improvements made at Northwest Missouri State University, and how qualitative data collection from senior education majors has evolved from an 'honest attempt" to a repeatable, valid method that gathers actional feedback for program improvement.

Reduced Credit Hours, Increased Complexity: Compliance Considerations for Reduced Credit Hour Degrees

Presented by: Eric Chambers, Southeast Missouri State University

Theme(s): Compliance

In fall 2026 SEMO launched the first 90-credit hour Bachelor's degree in the state of Missouri. Other reduced credit hour (RCH) degree programs are expected to proliferate rapidly. This session will discuss how SEMO has implemented the first RCH degree, including coding and tracking questions, student success measures, and compliance issues with state & federal reporting.

Bad Medicine: Faculty Feedback to Assessment Processes

Presented by: Mike McBride, Northwest Missouri State University

Theme(s): Continuous Improvement, Collaboration

One of the most difficult kinds of feedback to deal with can be linked to your own assessment processes. While this feedback can be hard to accept, heeding it is vital to success.

This session will cover a qualitative data collection among Northwest Missouri State University faculty on our assessment and data procedures. It was not a comfortable process, but the results have been invaluable to creating new streamlined procedures and building trust between faculty and administration.