The Ithaka S+R surveys team has continued to grow to support our exciting and expanding portfolio of projects, including the US Faculty Survey, US Library Director Survey, Local Surveys program, Community College Libraries & Academic Support for Student Success (CCLASSS) project, and the Community College Academic and Student Services Ecosystem (CCASSE) project. Through these and other projects, the surveys team collaborates with and provides advisory services for academic libraries, public libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and content providers to inform evidence-based decision-making.

Nicole Betancourt, our assessment associate who joined Ithaka S+R in February 2018, leads the implementation of many of these surveys. To date, over 100 colleges and universities in the US, Australia, Canada, China, and New Zealand have partnered with us to study faculty, graduate students, or undergraduates on their campuses. Nicole works closely with all local survey participants to help them secure institutional approvals, customize their questionnaires, maximize their response rates, and receive timely reporting. She also leads the administration of our large-scale surveys of faculty members and students, including the recently-fielded US Faculty Survey 2018 and a survey of community college students across seven diverse institutions, as well as the upcoming US Library Director Survey 2019. Nicole previously worked  at Clarion Research, where her work focused on managing market research projects within the transportation, media and entertainment, and technology sectors.

Melissa Blankstein, our surveys analyst who joined in November 2018, leads the analysis for these institution-specific and large-scale research projects. Melissa analyses and reports on the findings of surveys that study the attitudes and practices of important higher education communities, including faculty members, students, and library leaders, to provide key insights and recommendations. Melissa comes to us from the State University of New York at New Paltz graduate psychology program where she conducted research on stigmas associated with seeking mental health services and taught psychological statistics.

During my time at Ithaka S+R, we have continued our important national studies of faculty members and library directors while also addressing new areas of focus. We are conducting collaborative research on public library data collection and community college student needs, and we have expanded our national and local studies of faculty members to include topics like learning analytics and open educational resources. I am thrilled to be leading this team and have Melissa and Nicole contributing to this work.

We look forward to continuing to extend the reach and impact of these projects and will continue to share more as our work proceeds. Follow along as we tweet, post on the blog, and publish reports!