About Us

The Kirkwood Community College Office of Institutional Research exists to support the college, students, and community stakeholders by providing accurate data, statistics, and analysis to inform educated decisions.


Our Mission

Inform decisions that advance the college’s mission, vision, values, and strategic initiatives through the collaborative creation and stewardship of knowledge.


Services

  1. Compliance Reporting - The Compliance Reporting Team, which includes members of Institutional Research and Reporting Services (IT), conducts annual reports, including state MIS reporting, federal IPEDS reporting, Higher Learning Commission accreditation reporting, and other types of required reporting. 
  2. Benchmarking and Trend Tracking - Using compliance reporting and other information, we conduct benchmarking and trend tracking of Kirkwood’s performance in a range of domains. In addition, Kirkwood participates annually in the National Community College Benchmarking Project (NCCBP) and the Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA).
  3. Surveying Stakeholders - We survey a variety of stakeholders each year, including current students, students who are about to graduate, students who have graduated, students who have left without graduating, and members of advisory committees. Additional surveys are conducted as needed.
  4. Action Research - In collaboration with stakeholders, we support student success through research on interventions and other institutional operations. In general, action research is ad hoc in nature and may employ quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodologies.
  5. Protection of Human Research Subjects (Institutional Review Board) - Kirkwood’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) is facilitated by Institutional Research to protect human research subjects. This includes supporting research conducted by external entities that have been approved through Kirkwood’s IRB process
  6. Data Governance - Collaborating across the institution, we maintain accountability to standards and practices for management of data and information, raise awareness of associated risks, and contribute to shared institutional understanding through integration into daily operations.

Meet Our Team

Cort Iverson
Senior Director, Institutional Research and Data Governance

319-398-7116

1154E Linn Hall

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Jen Hughes

Compliance Reporting Manager

319-398-5618

1162 Linn Hall

Ethan Wykert
Program Manager, Data Governance

319-398-7110
1154B Linn Hall

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Melissa Kumle
Research Analyst

319-398-7112
1154C Linn Hall

Becky Weininger
Research Analyst

319-398-7113
1154D Linn Hall

Mark Schmidt
Compliance Reporting Analyst

319-398-5899 x4034
1164 Linn Hall

Cody Simpson
Compliance Reporting Analyst

319-398-2581
1164 Linn Hall



Office of Institutional Research

1154 Linn Hall

319-398-7116

ir@kirkwood.edu

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