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Abbey’s Institutional Research Department Wins “Best Paper Award”

The paper was presented at the Southern Association of Institutional Research conference.

Three members of Belmont Abbey College’s Institutional Research Department have won an award for a paper they presented at the Southern Association of Institutional Research (SAIR) conference in October. Dr. Sandra Nicks Baker, Karen Price and Mary Heuser received the “Best Paper Award” for their paper entitled Measuring students’ engagement on campus: Are the NSSE benchmarks an appropriate measure of adult students’ engagement?  The “Best Paper Award” is chosen by “a panel of reviewers appointed and chaired by the Member-At-Large responsible for handling awards.”

Baker, Price and Heuser will receive a plaque for their award at the 2012 SAIR Conference.

The three women have also been invited to present their paper at the national Association of Institutional Research (AIR) Forum, which will be held this June in New Orleans. Part of the SAIR award will assist them with their travel-related expenses to the Forum. Additionally, the North Carolina Association of Institutional Research will provide $300 to assist with Forum expenses.

SAIR is “dedicated to the advancement of research leading to improved understanding, planning, and operation of institutions of post-secondary education” and “provides a forum for the dissemination of information and interchange of ideas on problems of common interest in the field of institutional research.” (www.sair.org)