by John Papinchak, University Registrar, Carnegie Mellon University
Institutions of Higher Education keep vast amounts of data. That data is now viewed as an institutional resource and asset, especially for analytics to improve student experiences and learning, research, teaching and faculty efforts. Andy Hannah and Scott Campbell from the University of Chicago’s University Registrar’s Office have begun to tackle this growing institutional issue by leading the way in creating a
centralized data governance structure. This structure can help ensure that you and your school are leveraging data in a permissible and effective way.
The University of Chicago created a data stewardship council in 2008 to address issues concerning data management and Campbell and Hannah are responsible for the student education records as key participants in that council. The Council is a collaborative University-wide representative body to promote consistent and effective administrative data policies and best practices across the University. They have created policies and practices regarding data requests usage, guide to sensitive information, data classifications, standardization of data models and codes, as well as data retention and permanent archives.
These practices have led to the creation and function of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) that oversees technology implementation. The TAC has assisted with a key collaboration with Procurement and IT Security to inset common student privacy language into all vendor contacts. This challenges us all to consider and to think about vendor integrations and our campus relationships.
Learn more about the University of Chicago’s Data Stewardship Council.