The UNM Office of Institutional Analytics and Office of Assessment/Academic Program Review’s collaborative event this fall that focuses on all things data — including how to gather it, how to analyze it, and how to communicate it in ways that result in positive impacts for students — is now open for registration through Oct. 10.

The Art & Science of Data: From Numbers to Narratives! will be a hybrid event, taking place Oct. 16 online and Oct. 17 in person with a livestream option.

The purpose of the event is to provide guidance on how to use data to inform decision-making and advance student success at UNM, said Charla Orozco, director of the Office of Institutional Analytics.

The event — which is open to faculty, staff and students — will feature concurrent breakout sessions on the first day, and three to four sessions designed for a broader audience on day two. There will also be a networking opportunity immediately following the event, for those interested in collaborating on data-related projects and initiatives.

Oct. 16 sessions (virtual) include:

  • Keynote speaker: Phillip Wallace, director of development analytics at Georgia Institute of Technology, who will present “Beyond Waffle House: Shifting from Transactional Data Providers to Strategic Data Partners.”
  • “Well-Being Unlocked: Findings from the 2024 UNM Student Well-Being Assessment,” presented by Tina Zuniga and Graeme Nicholl, that will present key findings from the UNM 2024 American College Health Association Well-Being Assessment.
  • “Using For-Loops in R for Data Processing.”
  • “Data Without Barriers: Practical Approaches to Accessibility.”
  • “Collecting and Analyzing Data to Empower and Promote Success of UNM Students, Faculty and Staff.”
  • “U.S. Census Bureau Data to Narratives.”
  • “Battle of the ‘Boards” showdown of Tableau vs. Power BI.
  • There will also be quick sessions throughout the day topics including Tableau, Power BI, cohort analytics and more.

Oct. 17 sessions (in-person and hybrid) will include:

  • Opening remarks from Barbara Rodriguez, interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
  • “Nice Data, Now Show Me the Story,” by Charla Orozco, who will explore the importance of data literacy in higher education and the how to transform data into meaningful context.
  • “Qualtrics 101.”
  • “Self-Service Analytics: Building Custom Insights.”
  • “The Data Behind PREA: A Fifty-State Study of Audit Data Availability.”
  • Data Round Table at Draft & Table.

For complete details on sessions, see the website and online program.