Office of Institutional Research 
-- Unite Provided Insight Into Higher Education

One the most interesting and overlooked aspects of the College of Education’s history is its relationship with the Office of Institutional Research (OIR), which was established at MSU in the 1960s as the university began to grow rapidly.

OIR was never part of the college, but many a doctoral student in higher education passed through its doors, and its legendary director, Paul Dressel, was briefly on the faculty and mentored and helped recruit outstanding graduate students to the college over the years.

Some of the students who were graduate assistants at OIR or were influenced by Dressel went onto to impressive careers. They include MSU Provost LouAnna Simon; former University of Illinois President Stan Ikenberry, who also served as president of the American Council on Education; Jim Votruba, president of Northern Kentucky University; and Neil Cullen, chief financial officer at Phillips Academy.

It isn’t hard to see why a graduate assistantship or having someone like Paul Dressel on your doctoral committee was an ideal situation. The Office of Institutional Research was the data gathering and evaluation arm of the university at a time when MSU was undergoing staggering growth.

Prior to OIR, there was no central research unit to examine programs and initiatives within the university. “Institution was the key word in the title,” said Professor Emeritus Margaret Lorimer, who was part of the OIR staff and who at one point served as its interim director. “Its goal was to serve every college, but be independent of all the colleges. That was the key. We were to be neutral.”

There was little that the office was not prepared to investigate. Lorimer engaged in projects that ranged from intercollegiate athletics (she examined graduation rates of MSU student-athletes) to the effectiveness of the Honors College (she surveyed graduates and their satisfaction with their education).

The office was not, however, a large operation so there was always room for graduate students to be involved. “We always had graduate assistants,” said Lorimer, who retired in 1981. “They were very helpful. They were essentially doing their dissertations. There was no doubt about that. The exposure they were getting was helping them craft their dissertations, but they were also helping with our evaluations.

“So it was helpful for us, but it was particularly valuable for the students."

For Simon, it was her meeting with Dressel and the opportunity to engage in the work of OIR that strongly influenced her decision to pursue her doctorate at MSU.

“I was very fortunate that Paul offered me an assistantship within the Office of Institutional Research, which provided a basis for me to do scholarship at the beginning of my program,” she said.

Throughout its existence, the office proved influential in providing senior administrators at the university with data on which to base decisions, and Dressel emerged as a leading figure in higher education research, publishing numerous books during his distinguished career.

In 1981, the office was merged into what is now the Office of Planning and Budgets, and institutional research remains an important part of the university. It’s clear that throughout its years as an independent unit, the Office of Institutional Research helped provide countless doctoral students at the College of Education invaluable insight into the nature of institutions of higher education, and played a key role as the university evolved into a world-renowned university.