Special Projects

On behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Alvarez & Marsal, working in partnership with a faculty team from the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), invited Kristin McKinley to participate in a focus group at the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) Forum in May 2018. McKinley was subsequently invited to the Postsecondary Success Capacity Development Convening held in August 2018 at the HGSE. The project researched the market for tools, services, and programs that help colleges and universities improve their performance in three core operating capacities (Strategic Finance, Institutional Research, and Leadership) necessary to support post-secondary transformation and drive student success. Findings were discussed at the convening. 

Lawrence is accredited as a degree-granting institution by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and is in good standing. HLC has three Pathways for Reaffirmation of Accreditation (Standard, AQIP, and Open) and we are on the Open Pathway, which follows a 10-year cycle. As part of the Open Pathways we undergo institutional reviews including regular monitoring, Assurance Review (Year 4), Quality Initiative (Years 5-9), and a Comprehensive Evaluation (Year 10). The Director of Research Administration is a standing and active member of the Presidential Committee on Accreditation and Assessment and is the lead for Federal Compliance. The Office of Research Administration houses the Consumer Information disclosure requirements. 

Launched in December 2016, the American Talent Initiative (ATI) is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and was founded with a national goal of educating 50,000 additional high-achieving, lower-income students at the 270 colleges and universities with the highest graduation rates by 2025. Based on the most recent federal data available, there are approximately 430,000 lower-income students enrolled at these 270 institutions. ATI’s goal is to increase and sustain the total number of lower-income students attending these top-performing colleges to about 480,000 by 2025. Lawrence joined the ATI in February 2017.

Press Release

The Association for Institutional Research (AIR) was awarded a $675,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to focus on three key projects addressing institutional research (IR) capacity in the U.S. One key project was a National Survey of Institutional Research (IR). Kristin McKinley served as a peer reviewer and participated in a pilot test of the survey. The survey was administered in 2015 to establish a baseline of IR office capacities. Data on resources, organizational structures, and assigned tasks were collected. 

The purpose of this study was to provide the city of Appleton with the findings of an evaluation of a passive-activated in-roadway warning light (IRWL) system at two crosswalks on a refuge median, divided four-lane roadway running through the Lawrence University campus. Based on a before-after design, the analysis of videos that tracked vehicles within a 60 feet window which started 200 feet back from the crosswalks indicates that compared to when there was no IRWL system 1) drivers engaged their brakes sooner within the 60 feet window after the lights were installed, 2) there was a larger reduction in velocity from when vehicles entered the 60 feet window to when they exited after the lights were installed, and 3) a higher percentage of vehicles decelerated only and a lower percentage of vehicles accelerated only within the 60 feet window after the lights were installed.